Book Review: Patrick Q. Mason: Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

Review of Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2015. 219 pp.

Patrick Q. Mason, born in 1976, is a believing, active, and lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Howard W. Hunter Chair in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University in California, he received a PhD in history from Notre Dame in 2005.

Planted is written to both those who are going through what we might generally term “faith crises” and to those who have not faced such crises but who want to understand and support their struggling brothers and sisters (and to prepare themselves for their own crises that may be ahead). I am not talented enough to write a clever review that will summarize this book while placing it in some broader context, so I will just come to the point: I highly recommend this book to those who are members of the church and who believe or want to believe but who are struggling with doubts related to issues of church history or doctrine or who feel the church (either at the local level or more broadly) is not a good fit for them culturally or socially (such as because the church does not fit gay people well enough, or poor people, or black people, or liberals, or divorced people, etc.). And I highly recommend this book to anyone who knows and cares about anyone who is described in the prior sentence. Not only does Mason offer what I feel is compassionate and wise counsel to all of us with respect to responding to these faith crises (from whatever chair we are sitting in), but he also says a lot of things that strengthened my testimony of Christ’s atonement and the value of being a member of the church. This book is not a list of issues with pat responses, or a list of tips to post on the fridge. It is a very deep conversation by an extremely intelligent historian and writer about what it means to be Christian and a Mormon Christian, and about why believing is hard but worthwhile. For me the book is more of a beginning than an end to anything–it has opened my eyes and expanded my focus considerably and encouraged me (indirectly) to read the scriptures more carefully.

A bit of a caution on audience, I suppose: the book generally (but not entirely) avoids Mormon studies jargon but is still on the academic side as far as vocabulary and complexity of sentence structure. It appears aimed at college graduates and at those who have been members of the church for a long time.

In lieu of a traditional narrative-style book review, I will here provide a summary of the book’s ten chapters, interspersed with a number of favorite or representative quotations:

1. Faith and Trust in a Secular Age. Mason gives an overview of what faith crises are like for many Latter-day Saints. They have been a believing, active member of the church for a long time. They find information online or elsewhere about a controversial issue with the church’s history or doctrine. They first do not believe what they have read, but over time they determine that many of the claims have at least some basis in truth. They may turn to a church leader or friend for more information or counsel. Often, rather than getting understanding from those they turn to, they may be questioned about worthiness or told to pray harder or that sort of thing. The person they turn to may actually (and innocently) give them wrong doctrinal/historical information. The people going through the faith crisis, having found no help, turn online or to some other community of people with similar doubts for more information or support. And this leads to more withdrawal from church, though the people may continue to attend (sometimes for family reasons). A few may turn bitter and rage against the church. A number of people not only lose a testimony of the church but begin to doubt all spiritual experience. For many, family ties are strained, as there may be a spouse or parents or children who still believe. Mason says that the still-believing family members and ward members should not assume that the person is unworthy, or unfaithful, or lazy, or looking for excuses. Nor is counsel to “read  your scriptures and pray” terribly effective, as in most cases the person has been praying and studying very seriously for answers. Mason describes how we live in a secular age, when there is a steady decline in religious affiliation and confidence.
2. Testimonies. “The world is a symphony of diversity. The variety of plant and animal life alone is staggering. Add the infinite range of human personality, talent, and experience, and we begin to appreciate the boundlessly creative mind of God, who is both the Organizer of all that diversity and the Chief Delighter in it” (25). People believe in different ways. Some, like Nephi, seem to have an easy time believing from their youth. Others, like both Almas, may go through difficult passages before full conversion. “There is no cookie-cutter version of belief, even for those in the church” (31). It is natural to doubt, and for some people it seems that doubt comes more easily than faith. “We sometimes treat doubt as a character flaw rather than simply a part of many people’s struggle with belief in a secular age” (32-33). Even the most faithful, like Jesus and Joseph Smith and Mother Teresa, may have periods where they feel forsaken by God. “A life of faithful perseverance is possible for the doubter” (38).
3. Foolishness and Scandal. Religion is supposed to be difficult. Because we are all familiar with the New Testament, we don’t often consider how outlandish to his contemporaries were the things Jesus said or did, or that his followers believed about him. Jesus was a stumblingblock, a snare, a scandal (Greek skandalon) to many. He was born of a virgin, he walked on water, he rose from the dead, he told people to be perfect, he said he was God’s son, he rebuked sin in the strongest and clearest terms. “To believe in the Jesus of scripture should  be a demanding thing. It should assault our modern sensibilities” (55). Some episodes of Latter-day Saint history will not trouble members of the church one hundred or two hundred years from now, because they will be fully included in the narrative, will have reached the status of myth. But they are often a stumblingblock now; they feel like scandals. “Mormonism does demand a willingness to appear the fool in the face of exclusivist rationalism” (57).
4. Unicorn and Rhinoceroses. Marco Polo, who had read about unicorns before his famous travels, used the label unicorn to describe a new animal he encountered. Today we know the animal as the rhinoceros. Polo seemed disappointed the “unicorn” was dirty, hairy, and brutish–nothing like the magical beast he had read of. Polo faced a certain set of incontrovertible facts (what the animal looked like) but reached the wrong conclusion (in thinking he was looking at a unicorn). When we are too quick to make conclusions based on “facts” from history, we make the same mistake. We think we have all the facts and are making a rational judgment, but we forget that facts can be interpreted differently and that interpretations change over time–we may forget the limits of our knowledge. “We must recognize that history is always a work in progress. It is not just there. . . . Our understanding of the past is constructed, fashioned by both participants and later historians, and is always subject to change. This does not mean that nothing is real, but it does mean that reality may not be quite as definitive as we think.” (71).
5. A Principled Approach to Church History. “Our initial impulse in recording our lives and remembering the past is to emphasize the good, even the heroic” (77). Likewise, the church and church leaders have emphasized the positive in official curriculum and other materials. “In their effort to put the church’s best foot forward and offer inspiration, hope, and guidance to the Saints, church leaders and teachers have usually steered clear of the more controversial aspects of our past. I am convinced this is not, as some have accused, part of a massive conspiratorial cover-up campaign. It has more often been undertaken as an act of ministry. There is enough trouble and strife in this world, and many people come to church simply to get a bit of peace, inspiration, and strength to carry on. . . . Most are not looking for an academic history lecture, with its intricate arguments and counterarguments.” Nevertheless, the church can do better and more recently has done better in addressing difficult issues in official material. Mason outlines five principles for “thinking about church history”: (a) Tell the truth. Honest history will strengthen testimony. (b) Do your homework. In researching issues, look beyond the Internet, just as you would if you were doing research about some condition that threatened your health. As you study, continue to exercise faith–praying, fasting, exercising charity, etc. (c) The past is a foreign country. We should not expect Mormons of the past to behave or think the way we do. Their culture was foreign to us in many ways (for example, women could not vote, and extralegal violence was common), as were a number of aspects about the church (the Word of Wisdom was not emphasized as it is today, for instance). (d) There is none good but God. If we see sin in others (either past actors or people we know today), it should remind us of our own need for God’s grace and of the need to minister with compassion to others. (e) Learn the lessons of history. Those who have studied history seriously know that history is nuanced and complex. They know that figures seen by many as heroic had flaws–they were real people. They know that interpretations of history change over time. We need to look at church history the same way. “We allow what we do not know to coexist alongside what we do know rather than to immediately overwhelm it” (96).
6. In All Patience and Faith. “Many of our problems stem from the fact that in the church we have developed an erroneous cultural notion of prophetic infallibility that has its foundation neither in scripture nor in the teachings of the modern prophets themselves” (103). We should not expect perfection of our church leaders. We need to act charitably toward leaders, “who are themselves participating in the plan of salvation” (105). If God required perfection of church leaders, it would be counter to the plan of salvation, under which all people, including prophets, have free agency. “God treats the church very much like he treats individuals” (108). It takes patience, faith, and trust to follow church leaders whom we know are not perfect. “The covenant to sustain living, fallible men as prophets and apostles is one of the most countercultural and arguably difficult aspects of Mormonism” (109). When we see that leaders are acting against correct principles of Christlike leadership, “our first impulse as Christians should be to look inward and consider how this reflects upon and even tests our own discipleship” (113). Are we willing to forgive the prophets and apostles themselves for their faults, and to be patient with them?
7. Abide in the Vine. Christ is the Prince of Peace. He is the vine that we need to abide in; the issues we get caught up in are the branches. “By far the most important principle in navigating our relationship to the church, especially when we encounter issues that trouble our hearts, is to rely” on Christ (118). “This church, its prophets, its history, its doctrines, and its practices are beneficiaries of the redemption of Jesus Christ as surely as are you and I” (119). “Christ is not only the Redeemer of Israel and redeemer of our souls but also the redeemer of history. The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything. It extends the timeline for the achievement of justice, righteousness, and peace, allowing for the arc to stretch well beyond any person’s mortal sojourn” (125). Because we know Christ and goodness triumph in the end, we are like competitors on a sports team that we know is going to win the game. Despite various setbacks during the game, we still know the outcome. We “put our faith in Christ and stay on the field” (126). “As we ponder on certain controversies and conundrums, sometimes we are simply left without a good answer, either for ourselves or for those we love. These are the moments that test our hope. In our pain and disorientation, we are forced to plumb the depths of our faith, our hope, and our love–the very foundation of Christian discipleship. . . . We must find Christ and abide in him” (129). (My summary is not doing any kind of justice to this chapter. It is a powerful and insightful essay on our need for Christ.)
8. The Church Is True. “Every one of us is an integral ingredient in the great soup of Mormonism, with each person retaining his or her own unique character while also contributing to and flavoring the whole” (135). The church provides a place for training, including in temporal things like giving a talk, organizing a group. We can’t become Christlike in the abstract. The church gives us a place to practice and learn Christian virtues. The church is the place where priesthood authority to perform saving ordinance resides. It is a powerful social organization animated by the Spirit of God and doing the work of Christ. Because the church is organized geographically, we are forced to interact with people we may not have otherwise interacted with–for example, rich interact with poor, black with white, well groomed with poorly groomed, conservatives with liberals, and everyone with others who may annoy or challenge them in some way. We are commanded to love these people, and we learn to love them as we get to know them and serve them. “The church is not only a repository of true doctrine and ordinances but is also a laboratory of love, where we discover and encounter Christ through fellowship with and service to our sisters and brothers” (148).
9. When Church Is Hard. Mason gives some practical tips for how to respond when being a member of the church has become difficult, or as we consider how to help those we love who are struggling: (a) Simplify. Don’t try to do everything. Perhaps choose a favorite scripture to live by and stick with that as a guide. Or ask: “If I could do only one thing well today, what should it be?” (b) Creatively work it out. Find compromises that work for our particular challenges. (c) Create spaces of inclusion. Look for ways to include others–for example, the ring ceremonies that have become more popular in recent years make space to include people who cannot be present for the temple ceremony. (d) Make a place for yourself. Be earnest and active in reaching out to others in the ward and in sharing your talents. (e) Use the church to accomplish good things. For example, if you are involved with a civic group doing charitable work, recruit people from your ward to help. (f) Work with church leaders. Discussing concerns privately with church leaders will work better than public confrontation (though private concern may not resolve problems either). This list concluded, Mason then goes on to draw an analogy from the movie Gravity. No matter how beautiful and enjoyable it may be to be floating around by ourselves in space, ultimately we want to be connected to other human beings. “From the remoteness of the printed page, I am severely limited in the empathy I can demonstrate for those” who face faith crises. “As a general rule, however, I am saddened when people give up their rich church culture, a culture that they are an integral part of” (163). Mason urges that if people do feel they need to leave the church, they should consider whether they have somewhere else to go (rather than that they are just fleeing from the church). “It is possible to live within the church even while racked with doubts, questions, and feelings of alienation. . . . In most cases, issues can be best worked through in the company of other Saints rather than by leaving them and the church behind” (164).
10. Embracing Mormonism. “For its power in shaping devoted Christians and builders of Zion, Mormonism is worth embracing. But if Christ is our compass and Zion our goal, then Mormonism also has an obligation to embrace the diverse identities and experiences of all God’s children” (177).