Publisher Description

At a meeting of the LDS Quorum of the Twelve in 1860, one of the church's senior apostles, Elder Heber C. Kimball, complained that "Brother Orson Pratt has withstood Joseph [Smith] and he has withstood Brother Brigham [Young] many times and he has done it tonight and it made my blood chill. It is not for you to lead [the prophet]," Kimball continued, "but to be led by him. You have not the power to dictate but [only] to be dictated [to]."Whenever the quorum discussed Elder Pratt's controversial sermons and writings and his streak of independent thinking, the conversation could become heated. As documented by Gary James Bergera in this surprisingly suspenseful account, Pratt's encounters with his brethren ultimately affected not only his seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve but also had a lasting impact on LDS doctrine, policy, and organizational structure."There is not a man in the church that can preach better than Orson Pratt," Brigham Young told the twelve apostles on another occasion. "It is music to hear him. But the trouble is, he will ... preach false doctrine."Pratt responded that he was "not a man to make a confession of what I do not believe. I am not going to crawl to Brigham Young and act the hypocrite. I will be a free man," he insisted. "It may cost me my fellowship, but I will stick to it. If I die tonight, I would say, O Lord God Almighty, I believe what I say.""You have been a mad stubborn mule," Young replied. "[You] have taken a false position ... It is [as] false as hell and you will not hear the last of it soon."Not infrequently, these two strong-willed, deeply religious men argued. Part of their difficulty was that they saw the world from opposing perspectives--Pratt's a rational, independent-minded stance and Young's a more intuitive and authoritarian position. "We have hitherto acted too much as machines ... as to following the Spirit," Pratt explained in a quorum meeting in 1847. "I will confess to my own shame [that] I have decided contrary to my own [judgment] many times. ... I mean hereafter not to demean myself as to let my feelings run contrary to my own judgment." He issued a warning to the other apostles: "When [President Young] says that the Spirit of the Lord says thus and so, I don't consider [that] ... all we should do is to say let it be so."For his part, Young quipped that Pratt exhibited the same "ignorance ... as any philosopher," telling him "it would be a great blessing to him to lay aside his books." When Pratt appealed to logic, Young would say, "Oh dear, granny, what a long tail our puss has got."Ironically, Orson Pratt would have the last word both because Young preceded him in death and because several of Young's teachings and policies had proven unpopular among the other apostles. One of Young's counselors said shortly after the president's death that "some of my brethren ... even feel that in the promulgation of doctrine he [Young] took liberties beyond those to which he was legitimately entitled." Meanwhile, Pratt continued to hold sway with some of his colleagues. His thoughtful--if ultra-literalistic--interpretations of scripture would also influence such later church leaders as Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce R. McConkie.Bergera's nuanced approach avoids caricatures in favor of the many complexities of personalities and circumstances. It becomes clear that the conflict in which these men found themselves enmeshed had no easy, foreseeable resolution.

Author Biography

Gary James Bergera is managing director of the Smith-Pettit Foundation in Salt Lake City, former managing director of Signature Books, and former managing editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. He is co-author of Brigham Young University: A House of Faith, editor of Line Upon Line: Essays on Mormon Doctrine, The Autobiography of B. H. Roberts, Statement of the LDS First Presidency, and companion volumes of Joseph Smith's Quorum of the Anointed, 1842-1845, and The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845-1846 (also co-editor) and On Desert Trails with Everett Ruess, and a contributing author in The Prophet Puzzle: Interpretive Essays on Joseph Smith, Religion, Feminism, and Freedom of Conscience: A Mormon/Humanist Dialogue, and The Search for Harmony: Essays on Science and Mormonism. He is also the recipient of a Best Article Award from the Mormon History Association.

Excerpt from Book

PREFACE This is a study in interpersonal conflict and group dynamics. It is a story that illustrates issues of freedom and obedience and the fragile fabric they share. Among the many beliefs embraced by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon), few are as pervasive as the perception that harmony prevails within the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve Apostles, the tightly knit core of the church''s governing hierarchy. (There are other general authorities or officers, but all are subservient to the First Presidency and Twelve.) As former LDS church president and official Church Historian Joseph Fielding Smith once explained: "There is no division among the authorities, and there need be no divisions among the people, but unity, peace, brotherly love, kindness and fellowship one to another" (qtd. in Bruce R. McConkie, comp., Doctrines of Salvation [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-56], 2:245-46). While such assurances stand as the rule, human nature and Mormonism''s turbulent history suggest that within the highest councils, differences of opinion can and do erupt into debates among men who hold similar convictions yet possess vastly different temperaments. An examination of the controversies arising between nineteenth-century LDS leaders Orson Pratt and Joseph Smith, and later between Pratt and Brigham Young, illustrates the degree to which such disharmony can affect church doctrine, policy, and organization. Aside from the personal views and experiences of these men, all of whom were deeply spiritual and strong-willed individuals, their influence and interplay in their quorums are what is significant. Their actions affected the entire structure of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the rest of the church as well. I focus on Pratt because he was the common denominator in these disputes. Given his eventual demotion in his quorum, he is the one who was most directly impacted by the controversies. However, it should not be inferred that the overriding characteristic of the church, during this period or later, was conflict. Nor do I mean to question the faith or inspiration of any of these men. My interest is in exploring expressions of faith when one leader clashed with an equally sincere and devoted colleague. Neither the conflict nor the men themselves were "right" or "wrong," "good" or "bad." Their actions resulted in consequences that were favorable or unfavorable depending on the criteria one employs or judgments that are made. I have tried to consider each person''s perspective in terms of how he interpreted his circumstances. If a reader suspects that I favor one man over another, another reader may see evidence that I side with a different individual. I have tried to set aside my own preconceptions and biases as much as possible and let their own words, and the context in which they were spoken, form the core of this study. A note about the sources used. Much, but not all, of the research was undertaken in the historical archives of the LDS church beginning in the late 1970s. Policies regarding access to the papers of general church officers were different then. In some cases, I have had to rely on notes and photocopies without being able to examine the originals a second time. Nevertheless, I have tried to present these documents as faithfully as possible, including peculiarities of spelling and punctuation. I regret that interested readers will not be able to verify independently all of my references and transcriptions. For their assistance, encouragement, and especially example, I thank Thomas G. Alexander, Lavina Fielding Anderson, Leonard J. Arrington, Lisa Orme Bickmore, Martha Sonntag Bradley, Newell G. Bringhurst, David John Buerger, Eugene E. Campbell, Todd Compton, Everett Cooley, Scott H. Faulring, Steven Heath, Michael Homer, Scott G. Kenney, Stanley B. Kimball, Boyd Kirkland, Brigham D. Madsen, H. Michael Marquardt, D. Michael Quinn, Alien D. Roberts, John Sillito, George D. Smith, Susan Staker, Richard Van Wagoner, Dan Vogel, and David J. Whittaker. I also appreciate the support of Ron Priddis, Connie Disney, Jani Fleet, Greg Jones, Keiko Jones, and Tom Kimball. I have benefitted immensely from their perspectives and involvement.

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