Brigham Henry Roberts
Encyclopedia
Brigham Henry Roberts was a Mormon
leader, historian, and politician who published a six-volume history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and was denied a seat as a member of United States Congress
because of his practice of plural marriage
.
, Lancashire
, England
, the son of Benjamin Roberts, an alcoholic blacksmith and ship plater, and Ann Everington, a seamstress. In the year of his birth both parents converted to the LDS Church. Benjamin Roberts then abandoned his family. Roberts later wrote, "My childhood was a nightmare; my boyhood a tragedy."
Assisted by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, B. H. Roberts and a sister left England in April 1866. In Nebraska
they joined a wagon train and proceeded to walk—for much of the way barefoot—to Salt Lake City, where they were met by their mother, who had preceded them. In 1867, Roberts was baptized into the LDS Church by Seth Dustin, who two years later became his stepfather. Dustin eventually deserted his family, and "after several reappearances, he finally disappeared completely." Ann Dustin was granted a divorce in 1884.
Roberts became a miner and participated in the gambling and drinking typical of that time and place. (He was once disciplined by a Salt Lake bishop, and alcohol "would not only beat him to his knees but to his elbows and chin.") But Roberts eventually learned to read and, after a series of menial jobs, was apprenticed to a blacksmith while attending school. He then became a "voracious reader, devouring books of history, science, philosophy," and especially the Book of Mormon
and other Mormon religious texts. In 1878 Roberts married Sarah Louisa Smith (they eventually had seven children), and in the same year he graduated first in his class from University of Deseret, the normal school
precursor of the University of Utah.
and Nebraska
, "but because the cold weather was hard on his health, he was transferred to Tennessee in December of 1880." There he rose to prominence as the president of the Tennessee Conference
of the Southern States Mission
.
On August 10, 1884, a mob in the small community of Cane Creek murdered two LDS missionaries and two members of the Mormon congregation. (One of the latter had killed a member of the mob before he was in turn slain.) At some personal risk, Roberts disguised himself as a tramp and recovered the bodies of the two missionaries for their families in Utah Territory
.
During a brief return to Utah, he took a second wife, Celia Dibble, by whom he had eight children. In December 1886, while serving as associate editor of the Salt Lake Herald, Roberts was arrested on the charge of unlawful cohabitation
. He posted bond to appear in court the next day and that night left on a mission to England
.
In England, Roberts served as assistant editor of the LDS Church publication the Millennial Star
and completed his first book, the much reprinted, The Gospel: An Exposition of Its First Principles (1888). Later that year he was ordained to the First Council of Seventy.
Returning to Salt Lake City in 1888, as full-time editor of The Contributor, he was chosen as one of the seven presidents of the First Council of the Seventy, the third highest governing body in the LDS Church. "Tiring of evading federal authorities," Roberts surrendered in April 1889 and pled guilty to the charge of unlawful cohabitation. He was imprisoned in the Utah Territorial Prison for five months. Following his release he moved his families to Colorado
and married a third wife, Dr. Margaret Curtis Shipp (his third marriage was childless), either shortly before or shortly after Wilford Woodruff
, president of the LDS Church, issued the 1890 Manifesto
that abolished plural marriage
. (Robert's third wife was seven years his senior and had obtained a degree in obstetrics
. Roberts seemed to prefer Margaret's company, "and this created some trouble" with his other families—although Roberts continued to have children by his other wives.) Roberts resigned as an editor of the Salt Lake Herald in 1896 giving his reason that the position that the paper had taken on the recent ‘Manifesto’ was apt to place him in a false light.
, "and the Saints were encouraged to align themselves with the national parties." Roberts became a fervent Democrat
and was elected Davis County
Delegate to the Utah State Constitutional Convention in 1894. Roberts proved a vocal member of the Convention, particularly in his opposition to women's suffrage
.
In 1895, Roberts was the losing Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, and Roberts believed LDS Church leaders, who were predominately Republicans
, "had unfairly influenced the election by publicly reprimanding him and fellow Democrat Moses Thatcher
for running for office without express permission of the Church." The LDS church then issued the "Political Manifesto of 1895," which forbade church officers from running for public office without the approval of the church. Both Roberts and Thatcher refused to sign and were suspended from ecclesiastical office. Roberts, believing such a requirement was a basic infringement of his civil rights, capitulated just hours before a deadline of March 24, 1896, signed the manifesto, wrote a letter of apology to the First Presidency, and was reinstated. Thatcher was more stubborn: he refused to sign, was expelled from the Quorum of the Twelve and barely evaded excommunication. In 1898 Roberts was elected as a Democrat to the 56th
Congress, but the House of Representatives
refused to seat him because of his practice of polygamy
.
The governor of Utah had appointed Roberts a chaplain in the Utah National Guard; and in 1917, when the United States declared war on Germany
, Roberts volunteered to serve as a U. S. Army chaplain. The age limit of forty was waived—Roberts was then sixty—and Roberts became chaplain to the 145th Field Artillery, which arrived in France
in September 1918 but did not see action before the Armistice was signed in November.
and became the de facto
editor of this official periodical of the LDS Church. He even wrote a novel based on the Book of Mormon, which in dramatized form may have been briefly produced on Broadway
. Roberts' six-volume History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Period I, History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet by Himself featured "critical notes, new documents, sidebar headings for most paragraphs, and extensive interpretive essays that introduced each volume. Unfortunately, Roberts continued the confusing structure of the original, where various documents were spliced together and inaccurately attributed to Joseph Smith." Roberts served as Assistant Church Historian from 1902 until his death in 1933.
Roberts most important work was a comprehensive treatment of Mormon history, which he began in 1909 as a series of monthly articles for a non-Mormon magazine. Roberts repeatedly (and for many years, unsuccessfully) asked church leaders to republish the articles as a multivolume set. Finally, in 1930 the Church agreed to publication as part of its centennial celebration. The six-volume Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Century I (3,459 pages) covered for the first time many late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century developments. Further, although its viewpoint was "unabashedly Mormon", Roberts "disdained...faith promoting myths" and "was a partisan, not an unquestioning apologist."
Roberts "frequently took a broader view" of the place of the LDS Church "in the heavenly scheme of things than did some of his colleagues. In 1902 he told the Saints that 'while the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is given a prominent part in this great drama of the last days, it is not the only force nor the only means that the Lord has employed to bring to pass those things of which His prophets in ancient times have testified.'" Robert's theology included belief in "the modern liberal doctrine of man and the optimism of the nineteenth century, and it required a bold, rebellious and spacious mind to grasp its full implication."
Roberts hoped that the church would publish his most elaborate theological treatise "The Truth, The Way, The Life", but his attempt to use contemporary scientific theory to bolster Mormon doctrine led, in 1930, to a conflict with Mormon Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith
, who had been influenced by the writings of young earth creationist
George McCready Price
. Smith publicly opposed Roberts' quasi-evolutionary views in deference to a literal reading of both the Bible and the Mormon scriptures. The controversy was debated before the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and it "declared a draw: Neither the existence nor the nonexistence of pre-Adamites would constitute church doctrine." The Truth, The Way, The Life was not published until 1994.
, he also wrote three studies, unpublished until 1985, that wrestled with Book of Mormon problems. The first, "Book of Mormon Difficulties: A Study," was a 141-page manuscript written in response to a series of questions by an inquirer, referred to Roberts by Mormon president Heber Grant. When Roberts confessed that he had no answer for some of the difficulties, and the General Authorities chose to ignore them, Roberts produced "A Book of Mormon Study," a treatise of more than 400 pages. In this work he compared The Book of Mormon to the earlier-published View of the Hebrews, written by Ethan Smith, and found significant similarities between them. Finally, Roberts wrote "A Parallel," a condensed version of his larger study, which demonstrated eighteen points of similarity between the two books, and in which he reflected that the imaginative Joseph Smith might have written The Book of Mormon without divine assistance.
Mormon historians have debated whether the manuscript reflects Robert's doubts or was a case of his playing the devil's advocate
. When he presented "A Book of Mormon Study" to Church leaders, he emphasized that he was "taking the position that our faith is not only unshaken but unshakable in the Book of Mormon, and therefore we can look without fear upon all that can be said against it." However, Roberts withheld some of his materials from the General Authorities.
Roberts asserted that the authenticity of the Restoration must “stand or fall” on the truth of Joseph Smith’s claim that the Book of Mormon
was the history of an ancient people inscribed on a cache of gold plates; and Roberts predicted that if church leaders did not address the historical problems of church origins and possible anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, these problems would eventually undermine “the faith of the Youth of the Church.”
Roberts continued to affirm his faith in the divine origins of the Book of Mormon until his death in 1933; but as Terryl Givens
has written, "a lively debate has emerged over whether his personal conviction really remained intact in the aftermath of his academic investigations." When Robert's controversial study became better known, especially after its publication by the University of Illinois Press
in 1985, Mormon apologists (according to religion writer Richard N. Ostling) "went into high gear" and "churned out responses" because "Roberts could not be dismissed as an outsider or an anti-Mormon
."
of the Eastern States Mission
, and there he created an innovative "mission school" to teach LDS missionaries
the most effective ways to proselytize. In 1923 Roberts, suffering from diabetes, collapsed at a conference "commemorating the Centennial anniversary of the revealed existence of the Book of Mormon." He was treated with the relatively new drug insulin
. A year after the death of his third wife, his companion in New York, Roberts returned to Utah where he became president of the First Council of Seventy. Roberts died on 27 September 1933 from complications of diabetes. He was survived by thirteen children and by his second wife.
Regardless of his ultimate religious beliefs, most scholars would accept the judgment of Brigham Madsen that Roberts possessed a "deeply embedded integrity, and above all...fearless willingness to follow wherever his reason led him. He could be abrasive in his defense of stubbornly held beliefs, but he had the capacity to change his views when confronted with new and persuasive evidence." To Leonard J. Arrington
, Roberts was "the intellectual leader of the Mormon people in the era of Mormonism's finest intellectual attainment."
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
leader, historian, and politician who published a six-volume history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and was denied a seat as a member of United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
because of his practice of plural marriage
Plural marriage
Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...
.
Early life
Roberts was born in WarringtonWarrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the son of Benjamin Roberts, an alcoholic blacksmith and ship plater, and Ann Everington, a seamstress. In the year of his birth both parents converted to the LDS Church. Benjamin Roberts then abandoned his family. Roberts later wrote, "My childhood was a nightmare; my boyhood a tragedy."
Assisted by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, B. H. Roberts and a sister left England in April 1866. In Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
they joined a wagon train and proceeded to walk—for much of the way barefoot—to Salt Lake City, where they were met by their mother, who had preceded them. In 1867, Roberts was baptized into the LDS Church by Seth Dustin, who two years later became his stepfather. Dustin eventually deserted his family, and "after several reappearances, he finally disappeared completely." Ann Dustin was granted a divorce in 1884.
Roberts became a miner and participated in the gambling and drinking typical of that time and place. (He was once disciplined by a Salt Lake bishop, and alcohol "would not only beat him to his knees but to his elbows and chin.") But Roberts eventually learned to read and, after a series of menial jobs, was apprenticed to a blacksmith while attending school. He then became a "voracious reader, devouring books of history, science, philosophy," and especially the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
and other Mormon religious texts. In 1878 Roberts married Sarah Louisa Smith (they eventually had seven children), and in the same year he graduated first in his class from University of Deseret, the normal school
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
precursor of the University of Utah.
Church service
After graduation (and the birth of his first child) Roberts was ordained a Seventy in his local church branch and taught school to support his family. The LDS Church sent him on a mission to IowaIowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
and Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
, "but because the cold weather was hard on his health, he was transferred to Tennessee in December of 1880." There he rose to prominence as the president of the Tennessee Conference
District (LDS Church)
A district of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative unit composed of a number of congregations called branches. A district is a subdivision of a mission of the church and in many ways is analogous to a stake of the church. The leader of a district is the...
of the Southern States Mission
Mission (LDS Church)
A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...
.
On August 10, 1884, a mob in the small community of Cane Creek murdered two LDS missionaries and two members of the Mormon congregation. (One of the latter had killed a member of the mob before he was in turn slain.) At some personal risk, Roberts disguised himself as a tramp and recovered the bodies of the two missionaries for their families in Utah Territory
Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....
.
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
. He posted bond to appear in court the next day and that night left on a mission to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
In England, Roberts served as assistant editor of the LDS Church publication the Millennial Star
Millennial Star
The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star was the longest continuously published periodical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, being printed from 1840 until 1970....
and completed his first book, the much reprinted, The Gospel: An Exposition of Its First Principles (1888). Later that year he was ordained to the First Council of Seventy.
Returning to Salt Lake City in 1888, as full-time editor of The Contributor, he was chosen as one of the seven presidents of the First Council of the Seventy, the third highest governing body in the LDS Church. "Tiring of evading federal authorities," Roberts surrendered in April 1889 and pled guilty to the charge of unlawful cohabitation. He was imprisoned in the Utah Territorial Prison for five months. Following his release he moved his families to Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and married a third wife, Dr. Margaret Curtis Shipp (his third marriage was childless), either shortly before or shortly after Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...
, president of the LDS Church, issued the 1890 Manifesto
1890 Manifesto
The "1890 Manifesto", sometimes simply called "The Manifesto", is a statement which officially disavowed the continuing practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
that abolished plural marriage
Plural marriage
Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...
. (Robert's third wife was seven years his senior and had obtained a degree in obstetrics
Obstetrics
Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...
. Roberts seemed to prefer Margaret's company, "and this created some trouble" with his other families—although Roberts continued to have children by his other wives.) Roberts resigned as an editor of the Salt Lake Herald in 1896 giving his reason that the position that the paper had taken on the recent ‘Manifesto’ was apt to place him in a false light.
Political and military career
During the transitional period following 1890, the LDS Church disbanded its People's PartyPeople's Party (Utah)
The People's Party was a political party in Utah Territory during the late 19th century. It was backed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its newspaper, the Deseret News. It opposed Utah's Liberal Party.- Beginnings :...
, "and the Saints were encouraged to align themselves with the national parties." Roberts became a fervent Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and was elected Davis County
Davis County, Utah
Davis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2010 the population was 306,479, a 28.2% increase over the 2000 figure of 238,994. It was named for Daniel C. Davis, captain in the Mormon Battalion. The county is part of the Ogden–Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area as...
Delegate to the Utah State Constitutional Convention in 1894. Roberts proved a vocal member of the Convention, particularly in his opposition to women's suffrage
Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
.
In 1895, Roberts was the losing Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, and Roberts believed LDS Church leaders, who were predominately Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, "had unfairly influenced the election by publicly reprimanding him and fellow Democrat Moses Thatcher
Moses Thatcher
Moses Thatcher was an apostle and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
for running for office without express permission of the Church." The LDS church then issued the "Political Manifesto of 1895," which forbade church officers from running for public office without the approval of the church. Both Roberts and Thatcher refused to sign and were suspended from ecclesiastical office. Roberts, believing such a requirement was a basic infringement of his civil rights, capitulated just hours before a deadline of March 24, 1896, signed the manifesto, wrote a letter of apology to the First Presidency, and was reinstated. Thatcher was more stubborn: he refused to sign, was expelled from the Quorum of the Twelve and barely evaded excommunication. In 1898 Roberts was elected as a Democrat to the 56th
56th United States Congress
-House of Representatives:- Leadership :- Senate :* President: Garret Hobart , until November 21, 1899 , vacant thereafter.* President pro tempore: William P. Frye * Democratic Caucus Chairman: James K. Jones...
Congress, but the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
refused to seat him because of his practice of polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
.
The governor of Utah had appointed Roberts a chaplain in the Utah National Guard; and in 1917, when the United States declared war on Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Roberts volunteered to serve as a U. S. Army chaplain. The age limit of forty was waived—Roberts was then sixty—and Roberts became chaplain to the 145th Field Artillery, which arrived in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in September 1918 but did not see action before the Armistice was signed in November.
Career as a writer
Before his death Roberts completed two biographies, eight historical narratives and compilations, and another dozen books about Mormon theology. In the late 1890s, he also helped establish the Improvement EraImprovement Era
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970....
and became the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
editor of this official periodical of the LDS Church. He even wrote a novel based on the Book of Mormon, which in dramatized form may have been briefly produced on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. Roberts' six-volume History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Period I, History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet by Himself featured "critical notes, new documents, sidebar headings for most paragraphs, and extensive interpretive essays that introduced each volume. Unfortunately, Roberts continued the confusing structure of the original, where various documents were spliced together and inaccurately attributed to Joseph Smith." Roberts served as Assistant Church Historian from 1902 until his death in 1933.
Roberts most important work was a comprehensive treatment of Mormon history, which he began in 1909 as a series of monthly articles for a non-Mormon magazine. Roberts repeatedly (and for many years, unsuccessfully) asked church leaders to republish the articles as a multivolume set. Finally, in 1930 the Church agreed to publication as part of its centennial celebration. The six-volume Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Century I (3,459 pages) covered for the first time many late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century developments. Further, although its viewpoint was "unabashedly Mormon", Roberts "disdained...faith promoting myths" and "was a partisan, not an unquestioning apologist."
Roberts "frequently took a broader view" of the place of the LDS Church "in the heavenly scheme of things than did some of his colleagues. In 1902 he told the Saints that 'while the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is given a prominent part in this great drama of the last days, it is not the only force nor the only means that the Lord has employed to bring to pass those things of which His prophets in ancient times have testified.'" Robert's theology included belief in "the modern liberal doctrine of man and the optimism of the nineteenth century, and it required a bold, rebellious and spacious mind to grasp its full implication."
Roberts hoped that the church would publish his most elaborate theological treatise "The Truth, The Way, The Life", but his attempt to use contemporary scientific theory to bolster Mormon doctrine led, in 1930, to a conflict with Mormon Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. was the tenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1970 until his death. He was the son of Joseph F. Smith, who was the sixth president of the LDS Church...
, who had been influenced by the writings of young earth creationist
Young Earth creationism
Young Earth creationism is the religious belief that Heavens, Earth, and all life on Earth were created by direct acts of the Abrahamic God during a relatively short period, sometime between 5,700 and 10,000 years ago...
George McCready Price
George McCready Price
George McCready Price was a Canadian creationist. He produced several anti-evolution and creationist works, particularly on the subject of flood geology...
. Smith publicly opposed Roberts' quasi-evolutionary views in deference to a literal reading of both the Bible and the Mormon scriptures. The controversy was debated before the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and it "declared a draw: Neither the existence nor the nonexistence of pre-Adamites would constitute church doctrine." The Truth, The Way, The Life was not published until 1994.
Studies of the Book of Mormon
Although Roberts continued to testify to the truth of The Book of Mormon, a foundational work of MormonismMormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
, he also wrote three studies, unpublished until 1985, that wrestled with Book of Mormon problems. The first, "Book of Mormon Difficulties: A Study," was a 141-page manuscript written in response to a series of questions by an inquirer, referred to Roberts by Mormon president Heber Grant. When Roberts confessed that he had no answer for some of the difficulties, and the General Authorities chose to ignore them, Roberts produced "A Book of Mormon Study," a treatise of more than 400 pages. In this work he compared The Book of Mormon to the earlier-published View of the Hebrews, written by Ethan Smith, and found significant similarities between them. Finally, Roberts wrote "A Parallel," a condensed version of his larger study, which demonstrated eighteen points of similarity between the two books, and in which he reflected that the imaginative Joseph Smith might have written The Book of Mormon without divine assistance.
Mormon historians have debated whether the manuscript reflects Robert's doubts or was a case of his playing the devil's advocate
Devil's advocate
In common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who, given a certain argument, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with, just for the sake of argument. In taking such position, the individual taking on the devil's advocate role seeks to engage others in an argumentative...
. When he presented "A Book of Mormon Study" to Church leaders, he emphasized that he was "taking the position that our faith is not only unshaken but unshakable in the Book of Mormon, and therefore we can look without fear upon all that can be said against it." However, Roberts withheld some of his materials from the General Authorities.
Roberts asserted that the authenticity of the Restoration must “stand or fall” on the truth of Joseph Smith’s claim that the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
was the history of an ancient people inscribed on a cache of gold plates; and Roberts predicted that if church leaders did not address the historical problems of church origins and possible anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, these problems would eventually undermine “the faith of the Youth of the Church.”
Roberts continued to affirm his faith in the divine origins of the Book of Mormon until his death in 1933; but as Terryl Givens
Terryl Givens
Terryl Lynn Givens is professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond where he holds the James A. Bostwick Chair in English...
has written, "a lively debate has emerged over whether his personal conviction really remained intact in the aftermath of his academic investigations." When Robert's controversial study became better known, especially after its publication by the University of Illinois Press
University of Illinois Press
The University of Illinois Press , is a major American university press and part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic projects...
in 1985, Mormon apologists (according to religion writer Richard N. Ostling) "went into high gear" and "churned out responses" because "Roberts could not be dismissed as an outsider or an anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormonism is discrimination, persecution, hostility or prejudice directed at members of the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
."
Later years
From 1922 to 1927, Roberts was appointed presidentMission president
Mission president is a priesthood leadership position in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . A mission president presides over a mission and the missionaries serving in the mission...
of the Eastern States Mission
Mission (LDS Church)
A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...
, and there he created an innovative "mission school" to teach LDS missionaries
Mormon missionary
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
the most effective ways to proselytize. In 1923 Roberts, suffering from diabetes, collapsed at a conference "commemorating the Centennial anniversary of the revealed existence of the Book of Mormon." He was treated with the relatively new drug insulin
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....
. A year after the death of his third wife, his companion in New York, Roberts returned to Utah where he became president of the First Council of Seventy. Roberts died on 27 September 1933 from complications of diabetes. He was survived by thirteen children and by his second wife.
Regardless of his ultimate religious beliefs, most scholars would accept the judgment of Brigham Madsen that Roberts possessed a "deeply embedded integrity, and above all...fearless willingness to follow wherever his reason led him. He could be abrasive in his defense of stubbornly held beliefs, but he had the capacity to change his views when confronted with new and persuasive evidence." To Leonard J. Arrington
Leonard J. Arrington
Leonard James Arrington was an author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his many influential contributions to the field.-Biographical background:Arrington was born in Twin Falls,...
, Roberts was "the intellectual leader of the Mormon people in the era of Mormonism's finest intellectual attainment."
External links
- John W. WelchJohn W. WelchJohn Woodland "Jack" Welch is an LDS law and religion scholar who currently teaches at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University .- Biography :...
, "Roberts, Brigham Henry," American National Biography Online, February 2000. - Roberts Papers biography.
- "Introduction" to John Sillito, ed., History's Apprentice: The Diaries of B. H. Roberts (Salt Lake City: Signature BooksSignature BooksSignature Books is a press specializing in subjects related to Utah, Mormonism, and Western Americana. The company was founded in 1980 by George D...
, 2004).