Martha Beck
Encyclopedia
Martha Nibley Beck is an American sociologist, therapist
, life coach and best-selling author. Beck is the daughter of deceased LDS (Mormon) scholar and apologist, Hugh Nibley
. She received national attention after publication in 2005 of her best-seller, Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith in which she accuses her father of sexual abuse
.
in 1962, one of eight children of Hugh Nibley
and Phyllis Nibley, and raised LDS in a prominent Utah family. Her father was a professor at Brigham Young University. She received an BA
degree in East Asian studies
, along with an MA
and a Ph.D.
in Sociology
from Harvard University
.
Beck met John Christen Beck, a fellow Mormon from Utah
, during her undergraduate studies at Harvard. They married in the LDS Salt Lake Temple
on June 21, 1983 in Salt Lake City, Utah
, and eventually had three children together.
After the birth of their second child, Adam, who had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome
prior to his birth, Beck returned with her husband and children to Utah, to be nearer to family and support. Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth and Everyday Magic is Beck's story about her decision to give birth to and raise Adam.
In 1990, soon after the birth of her third child, Beck joined the faculty of Brigham Young University
(BYU) in Provo, Utah, teaching a course on the Sociology of Gender in the Department of Social Science. During her tenure at BYU, five faculty members were excommunicated from the LDS church as a consequence of public writings that were deemed critical of the church. She and husband John Beck also made critical public statements about both the excommunications and other church and BYU matters, which led to first John, then Martha herself, leaving the LDS church in 1993.
Beck later wrote a book detailing the catalyst for her resignation from the church, Leaving the Saints, in which she alleges having been sexually abused as a child, and the Mormon community's subsequent reaction.
Her first book, coauthored with her husband, John Beck, Breaking the Cycle of Compulsive Behavior treated homosexuality as one of several "compulsive behaviors," like bulimia. However, both Martha Beck and her now ex-husband subsequently came out publicly as gay
and have stated that they no longer consider homosexuality a form of compulsive behavior. In 2003, Beck separated from her husband, divorcing from him in 2004. She began living with her partner Karen Gerdes, a social worker and professor, during her marriage and has continued this relationship.
Today, Beck lives in Phoenix
, Arizona
and is a partner in NorthStar, Inc. a life coaching consulting and seminar company. Beck also writes a monthly column in O: The Oprah Magazine. She has also written several self-help
books, including Finding Your Own North Star, a book aimed at providing guidance to finding a purpose in life, The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life, which offers insights into the importance of healthy and happy living habits to a fulfilling life, and Breaking Point: Why Women Fall Apart and How They Can Re-create Their Lives, which analyzes stresses and challenges that modern women face and offers advice on coping with and overcoming these issues.
, loosely based on her life (with a male main character), but was changed to recount her personal experiences, with the encouragement of her publishers. Ultimately released in March 2005, the book is a narrative in which Beck describes recovered memories
of alleged sexual abuse
by her father, prominent LDS academician Hugh Nibley
; her experiences teaching at Brigham Young University
; cultural dissonance
and anomalies in Utah
; her spiritual journey leaving the LDS church. Prior to and after publication of the book, several national newspapers in the United States
reported that Beck's memoir had quickly become controversial in Mormon circles.
Numerous articles were published in response to the book, including a critical essay by the Mormon author of Hugh Nibley's biography, Boyd Jay Petersen. Petersen states in his conclusions, "Throughout this book, as with her other books, it is obvious that she distorts the record as much as or more than she reports it, jumps to conclusions more than provides evidence leading to conclusions, and blurs fact and fantasy. But to stick to the facts requires more than simply assuring readers that you do. You actually have to stick to them, something it seems Martha seldom does." Beck responded to some of these criticisms by stating that she began having memories of her traumatic events prior to the use of any therapy (including hypnosis), that her vagina had scarring that may have been the result of sexual abuse, and that her memories were vivid and intrusive. Family members have also pointed out the impossibility of activities such as Beck described being carried out in the tiny Nibley home, where there was little or no privacy and multiple children shared every bedroom. Some members of Nibley's surviving family also challenge Beck's allegations by pointing out inconsistencies in her descriptions of events to various media sources. Hugh Nibley's family, including Beck's siblings, have claimed the book's accusations against their father are false and have expressed "outrage" at the book and accusations.
Although most of the criticism centered around Beck's allegations of sexual abuse, a substantial portion of the book involves a discussion of the LDS church and its policies. BYU professor Robert L. Millet
criticized some of her portrayals as "nonsense", "ludicrous", or "paranoia", saying that she "seems to be a magnet for improbable happenings" and "equate[s] weird anomalies in Mormon culture with the norm." The book also mentions that her father may have misinterpreted certain Egyptian hieroglyphics in order to support some of the writings of early church leaders, including Joseph Smith.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
, life coach and best-selling author. Beck is the daughter of deceased LDS (Mormon) scholar and apologist, Hugh Nibley
Hugh Nibley
Hugh Winder Nibley was an American author, Mormon apologist, and professor at Brigham Young University...
. She received national attention after publication in 2005 of her best-seller, Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith in which she accuses her father of sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
.
Biography
Martha Nibley was born in Provo, UtahProvo, Utah
Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...
in 1962, one of eight children of Hugh Nibley
Hugh Nibley
Hugh Winder Nibley was an American author, Mormon apologist, and professor at Brigham Young University...
and Phyllis Nibley, and raised LDS in a prominent Utah family. Her father was a professor at Brigham Young University. She received an BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in East Asian studies
East Asian studies
East Asian Studies is a distinct multidisciplinary field of scholarly enquiry and education that promotes a broad humanistic understanding of East Asia past and present...
, along with an MA
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
and a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Beck met John Christen Beck, a fellow Mormon from Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, during her undergraduate studies at Harvard. They married in the LDS Salt Lake Temple
Salt Lake Temple
The Salt Lake Temple is the largest and best-known of more than 130 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the sixth temple built by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth operating temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo,...
on June 21, 1983 in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, and eventually had three children together.
After the birth of their second child, Adam, who had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome
Down syndrome
Down syndrome, or Down's syndrome, trisomy 21, is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. It is named after John Langdon Down, the British physician who described the syndrome in 1866. The condition was clinically described earlier in the 19th...
prior to his birth, Beck returned with her husband and children to Utah, to be nearer to family and support. Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth and Everyday Magic is Beck's story about her decision to give birth to and raise Adam.
In 1990, soon after the birth of her third child, Beck joined the faculty of Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
(BYU) in Provo, Utah, teaching a course on the Sociology of Gender in the Department of Social Science. During her tenure at BYU, five faculty members were excommunicated from the LDS church as a consequence of public writings that were deemed critical of the church. She and husband John Beck also made critical public statements about both the excommunications and other church and BYU matters, which led to first John, then Martha herself, leaving the LDS church in 1993.
Beck later wrote a book detailing the catalyst for her resignation from the church, Leaving the Saints, in which she alleges having been sexually abused as a child, and the Mormon community's subsequent reaction.
Her first book, coauthored with her husband, John Beck, Breaking the Cycle of Compulsive Behavior treated homosexuality as one of several "compulsive behaviors," like bulimia. However, both Martha Beck and her now ex-husband subsequently came out publicly as gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and have stated that they no longer consider homosexuality a form of compulsive behavior. In 2003, Beck separated from her husband, divorcing from him in 2004. She began living with her partner Karen Gerdes, a social worker and professor, during her marriage and has continued this relationship.
Today, Beck lives in Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and is a partner in NorthStar, Inc. a life coaching consulting and seminar company. Beck also writes a monthly column in O: The Oprah Magazine. She has also written several self-help
Self-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
books, including Finding Your Own North Star, a book aimed at providing guidance to finding a purpose in life, The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life, which offers insights into the importance of healthy and happy living habits to a fulfilling life, and Breaking Point: Why Women Fall Apart and How They Can Re-create Their Lives, which analyzes stresses and challenges that modern women face and offers advice on coping with and overcoming these issues.
Leaving the Saints
In 2005, she received national attention for her bestselling book, Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith. According to the magazine, Sunstone, the book may have originally been conceived as a novelNovel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, loosely based on her life (with a male main character), but was changed to recount her personal experiences, with the encouragement of her publishers. Ultimately released in March 2005, the book is a narrative in which Beck describes recovered memories
Recovered memory
Recovered memory is the description given to the apparent resurrection of the memory of events that had been forgotten or suppressed for a relatively long time. Retrograde amnesia secondary to physical or emotional trauma , or the suppression of painful memories from any cause, is an accepted concept...
of alleged sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
by her father, prominent LDS academician Hugh Nibley
Hugh Nibley
Hugh Winder Nibley was an American author, Mormon apologist, and professor at Brigham Young University...
; her experiences teaching at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
; cultural dissonance
Cultural dissonance
Cultural dissonance is an uncomfortable sense of discord, disharmony, confusion, or conflict experienced by people in the midst of change in their cultural environment...
and anomalies in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
; her spiritual journey leaving the LDS church. Prior to and after publication of the book, several national newspapers in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
reported that Beck's memoir had quickly become controversial in Mormon circles.
Numerous articles were published in response to the book, including a critical essay by the Mormon author of Hugh Nibley's biography, Boyd Jay Petersen. Petersen states in his conclusions, "Throughout this book, as with her other books, it is obvious that she distorts the record as much as or more than she reports it, jumps to conclusions more than provides evidence leading to conclusions, and blurs fact and fantasy. But to stick to the facts requires more than simply assuring readers that you do. You actually have to stick to them, something it seems Martha seldom does." Beck responded to some of these criticisms by stating that she began having memories of her traumatic events prior to the use of any therapy (including hypnosis), that her vagina had scarring that may have been the result of sexual abuse, and that her memories were vivid and intrusive. Family members have also pointed out the impossibility of activities such as Beck described being carried out in the tiny Nibley home, where there was little or no privacy and multiple children shared every bedroom. Some members of Nibley's surviving family also challenge Beck's allegations by pointing out inconsistencies in her descriptions of events to various media sources. Hugh Nibley's family, including Beck's siblings, have claimed the book's accusations against their father are false and have expressed "outrage" at the book and accusations.
Although most of the criticism centered around Beck's allegations of sexual abuse, a substantial portion of the book involves a discussion of the LDS church and its policies. BYU professor Robert L. Millet
Robert L. Millet
Dr. Robert L. Millet is a professor of ancient scripture and emeritus Dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah...
criticized some of her portrayals as "nonsense", "ludicrous", or "paranoia", saying that she "seems to be a magnet for improbable happenings" and "equate[s] weird anomalies in Mormon culture with the norm." The book also mentions that her father may have misinterpreted certain Egyptian hieroglyphics in order to support some of the writings of early church leaders, including Joseph Smith.