Scholar Becomes Chief Explainer in a ‘Mormon Moment’

Posted by Kendall Harmon

As an undergraduate at Harvard, Richard Lyman Bushman was offered some friendly advice by a favorite professor: he was a fine student, but his Mormonism was seen by the Harvard establishment as a “bunch of garbage.”

Mr. Bushman would do himself a favor, the professor told him, to leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints behind as a relic of his upbringing.

“I reacted just the opposite,” Professor Bushman said in a phone interview. “I said, ‘You’re not going to bully me, you big representative of Harvard culture.’ ”

That was 57 years ago. Since then, Professor Bushman has retained his Mormon faith even while forging an Ivy League academic career, earning posts at Columbia and Harvard.

In fact, as his teaching and research focused on colonial American history, Professor Bushman also managed to become something of an ambassador for Mormonism to the outside world.

Read the whole thing.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • US Presidential Election 2008 • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths

5 Comments
Posted July 28, 2007 at 10:16 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Irenaeus wrote:

Underscoring the significance of this story . . .

I predict that Romney will be the Republican nominee. None of the major candidates fit well with the GOP’s Christian Right base but Romney fits better than the others. The more Republican voters of any persuasion learn what an unpleasant human being Giuliani is, the less they will stomach him.

Romney—-smooth, telegenic, and personally unspotted—-would probably also be the Republican best able to stand up to Hillary Clinton. Hillary, the probable Democratic nominee, could dismember most of Romney’s rivals. Romney could best capitalize on Hillary’s greatest weakness: the fact that so many voters dislike and distrust her personally.

July 28, 12:30 pm | [comment link]
2. libraryjim wrote:

One still needs to point out that no matter how effective an ‘ambassador’ he may be, Mormonism is not Christian.  Christians and Mormons have very different theologies on the nature of God/Trinity, redemption, sin, etc.

July 28, 8:00 pm | [comment link]
3. talithajd wrote:

Of course, Romney’s previous support for gay rights and abortion rights and universal health care, might just endear him to Dems.  You know how much we like flip-floppers!  raspberry

A Romney v. Edwards campaign would certainly be the prettiest we’ve had in a whild!

July 28, 9:36 pm | [comment link]
4. azusa wrote:

Mormon Beefcake versus The Breck Girl. Way to go!

July 29, 2:04 am | [comment link]
5. NWOhio Anglican wrote:

The interesting thing about this article—and about Mormons in general—is that so many well-educated Mormons, including the top-notch historian who is the subject of this article, can hang with the claims that the history in the Book of Mormon is objectively true. Not only is there a lack of evidence supporting it (as there is for many parts of the OT, though there have been a number of confirmatory finds that help me to trust it) but there is positively contradictory archeological evidence.

Mark Twain was certainly no more intelligent or perceptive than Dr. Bushman, yet his exposure to the Book of Mormon left him quite underwhelmed.

July 29, 9:22 pm | [comment link]
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