"Faith is the antidote to fear." Yes! We need more of this faith.
Part of me wonders whether BYU administrators know that their students are on TikTok and Instagram watching videos from people like biblical scholar and fellow Latter-day Saint Dan McClellan. It seems like if they did, they would already know that a traditional seminary approach to religious studies won't cut it today, as students have questions that are far more informed and rigorous than what was common 30 years ago — all of which means that now is the time to be *more* academic on campus so that more students can see how, as you (and Joseph Smith) say, Zion and scholarship are not at odds with each other.
I love the people and faculty at BYU, and I assume the administrators mean well. I am hopeful that the university will do away with all this needless and destructive fear and instead choose faith.
Gilbert gets wrong what people who have little trust get wrong. Several days after I arrived to assume a faculty position at the Y, I wrote in my journal that the biggest challenge I saw at the Y was that people did not trust each other--I was talking mostly about administrators not trusting faculty members, and faculty members not trusting students. And in the three or four "retrenchments" I've witnessed in my 29 years here, it has all come down to trust. They have also come as a reaction to something someone said. Lamanite Generation turned into Living Legends because of a misguided talk of the dangers of diversity. The most recent came from a devotional turned into a nostalgic trip, that is someone remembering how nice BYU was when they met their wife, and how things are going to the dogs because we lack muskets. There are a lot of wonderful people at the Y, but there are so many "reactors" who are always in search of how to "please" their leaders even before their leaders ask for anything. Kevin Worthen knew how to handle most of this, but our new, and very youngish president, is at the early stage of being a leader. I remember when first called to be a bishop, that it was tempting to simply follow along and do everything the man who had called me wanted me to do. I soon found out that I was the shepherd of my ward not the stake president and he had little idea of how to lead a spanish speaking unit. He was a great man, but like all of us, he had his blindside. Our retrenchers also have a blind eye, and one reason is that they trust only in their own perceptions. President Monson use to say that "where there is no information, there is no inspiration". Gilbert could learn a lot if he asked, and if he trusted those who have given their lives to do good at BYU.
Brother Gilbert should look to the past for a bit of well needed inspiration. I was a graduate student at BYU from 1969 to 1972
Through the 70s and 80s I taught as an adjunct. These are a few of the men who took me under their wing and taught a red neck kid how to think critically - Louis Midgley, Doyle Buckwalter, Richard Beal, Karl Snow , Dale Wright, and many others. Probably the greatest inspiration in my intellectual development was Martin Hickman. Dean Hickman was a highly principled academic who taught many of my generation. He didn't fear that ideas would lead us a stray, but would produce strong, thinking minds. Dean Hickman is still the standard I use to measure myself against. No lazy scholastic answers for him, but just the next round of questions.
First, this was incredibly well written. I relate to so much of what you said regarding the academic and personal challenges we’ve all seen at BYU over the years.
Second, I love BYU as much as the next guy, but we have to ask ourselves: Are we striving to be an elite institution like Notre Dame, or have we sacrificed the farm to position ourselves as the next Liberty University?
Finally, intellectual curiosity, academic freedom, and a willingness to engage with complex ideas should be embraced, not feared. Faith should inspire deeper inquiry, not restrict it. A truly great academic institution balances spiritual conviction with rigorous intellectual exploration.
Hugh B. Brown said it best:
“We must preserve freedom of the mind in the Church and resist all efforts to suppress it. The Church is not so much concerned with whether the thoughts of its members are orthodox or heterodox as it is that they shall have thoughts.”
This was so well said! I loved my time at BYU and have (maybe had?) hopes that my children would attend. But my oldest is a freshmen in high school, and with the limits on academic freedom I've been having doubts that it is a place that he could thrive spiritually and academically. I find myself frequently thinking, "Come one BYU! Get your act together. You've got 3.5 years!"
Fine article, yet the article appears to suggest that perhaps brother Seamons has spent a life overly-complicating gospel truths, and therefore seeing conflicts and contradictions where they are actually extensions of the same doctrine. Might it be possible that a reason some gave him those pat answers, what he calls "cliches", were because those truths held the keys to answers to the questions? It is possible that students will learn better under a greater profusion of the Spirit? Might Elder Gilbert, graduating from Harvard, have some exposure to and appreciation of intellectual rigor? As for my 10 years credits in classes at five major universities, including the Y, the U, and Harvard, I found too much "serious" output from PhDs merely drivel that had little accuracy or relevance to the greater questions in life, including philosophical issues, and far too much of it intellectually damning to any student who gave it credence, let alone leaving them spiritually handicapped. Perhaps some students struggle with seeking to find the answers to truth in the pure dogma of the gospel, feeling they need to look elsewhere to validate all things; I don't know. But I've discovered that pondering truth has gotten me a lot further than my classes in economics and other humanities at the Y. As to drawing teachers from the seminaries and institutes, surely the cream of them have both the credentials and intellectual power to hold their own. Finally, the cliche "faith overcomes fear" is too often used to suggest that we should put our faith in worldly philosophies and leave our students dangling by a rope, hoping they will figure things out for themselves, and we've seen how well that works in society. So, how about putting our faith in teaching with a focus on purer truths? And expecting this of faculty and their interactions with students? How about trying it wholeheartedly?
Gospel-informed inquiry was already standard practice before Elder Gilbert's arrival. Faculty were already hired based on that understanding and learning outcomes were already expected to conform to the Mission and Aims of a BYU education. That was all happening without a heavy hand.
"Faith is the antidote to fear." Yes! We need more of this faith.
Part of me wonders whether BYU administrators know that their students are on TikTok and Instagram watching videos from people like biblical scholar and fellow Latter-day Saint Dan McClellan. It seems like if they did, they would already know that a traditional seminary approach to religious studies won't cut it today, as students have questions that are far more informed and rigorous than what was common 30 years ago — all of which means that now is the time to be *more* academic on campus so that more students can see how, as you (and Joseph Smith) say, Zion and scholarship are not at odds with each other.
I love the people and faculty at BYU, and I assume the administrators mean well. I am hopeful that the university will do away with all this needless and destructive fear and instead choose faith.
Gilbert gets wrong what people who have little trust get wrong. Several days after I arrived to assume a faculty position at the Y, I wrote in my journal that the biggest challenge I saw at the Y was that people did not trust each other--I was talking mostly about administrators not trusting faculty members, and faculty members not trusting students. And in the three or four "retrenchments" I've witnessed in my 29 years here, it has all come down to trust. They have also come as a reaction to something someone said. Lamanite Generation turned into Living Legends because of a misguided talk of the dangers of diversity. The most recent came from a devotional turned into a nostalgic trip, that is someone remembering how nice BYU was when they met their wife, and how things are going to the dogs because we lack muskets. There are a lot of wonderful people at the Y, but there are so many "reactors" who are always in search of how to "please" their leaders even before their leaders ask for anything. Kevin Worthen knew how to handle most of this, but our new, and very youngish president, is at the early stage of being a leader. I remember when first called to be a bishop, that it was tempting to simply follow along and do everything the man who had called me wanted me to do. I soon found out that I was the shepherd of my ward not the stake president and he had little idea of how to lead a spanish speaking unit. He was a great man, but like all of us, he had his blindside. Our retrenchers also have a blind eye, and one reason is that they trust only in their own perceptions. President Monson use to say that "where there is no information, there is no inspiration". Gilbert could learn a lot if he asked, and if he trusted those who have given their lives to do good at BYU.
Well said Professor, hope you're doing well. Miss you!
It's been a long time. Hope things are going well for you.
Brother Gilbert should look to the past for a bit of well needed inspiration. I was a graduate student at BYU from 1969 to 1972
Through the 70s and 80s I taught as an adjunct. These are a few of the men who took me under their wing and taught a red neck kid how to think critically - Louis Midgley, Doyle Buckwalter, Richard Beal, Karl Snow , Dale Wright, and many others. Probably the greatest inspiration in my intellectual development was Martin Hickman. Dean Hickman was a highly principled academic who taught many of my generation. He didn't fear that ideas would lead us a stray, but would produce strong, thinking minds. Dean Hickman is still the standard I use to measure myself against. No lazy scholastic answers for him, but just the next round of questions.
First, this was incredibly well written. I relate to so much of what you said regarding the academic and personal challenges we’ve all seen at BYU over the years.
Second, I love BYU as much as the next guy, but we have to ask ourselves: Are we striving to be an elite institution like Notre Dame, or have we sacrificed the farm to position ourselves as the next Liberty University?
Finally, intellectual curiosity, academic freedom, and a willingness to engage with complex ideas should be embraced, not feared. Faith should inspire deeper inquiry, not restrict it. A truly great academic institution balances spiritual conviction with rigorous intellectual exploration.
Hugh B. Brown said it best:
“We must preserve freedom of the mind in the Church and resist all efforts to suppress it. The Church is not so much concerned with whether the thoughts of its members are orthodox or heterodox as it is that they shall have thoughts.”
This was so well said! I loved my time at BYU and have (maybe had?) hopes that my children would attend. But my oldest is a freshmen in high school, and with the limits on academic freedom I've been having doubts that it is a place that he could thrive spiritually and academically. I find myself frequently thinking, "Come one BYU! Get your act together. You've got 3.5 years!"
Fine article, yet the article appears to suggest that perhaps brother Seamons has spent a life overly-complicating gospel truths, and therefore seeing conflicts and contradictions where they are actually extensions of the same doctrine. Might it be possible that a reason some gave him those pat answers, what he calls "cliches", were because those truths held the keys to answers to the questions? It is possible that students will learn better under a greater profusion of the Spirit? Might Elder Gilbert, graduating from Harvard, have some exposure to and appreciation of intellectual rigor? As for my 10 years credits in classes at five major universities, including the Y, the U, and Harvard, I found too much "serious" output from PhDs merely drivel that had little accuracy or relevance to the greater questions in life, including philosophical issues, and far too much of it intellectually damning to any student who gave it credence, let alone leaving them spiritually handicapped. Perhaps some students struggle with seeking to find the answers to truth in the pure dogma of the gospel, feeling they need to look elsewhere to validate all things; I don't know. But I've discovered that pondering truth has gotten me a lot further than my classes in economics and other humanities at the Y. As to drawing teachers from the seminaries and institutes, surely the cream of them have both the credentials and intellectual power to hold their own. Finally, the cliche "faith overcomes fear" is too often used to suggest that we should put our faith in worldly philosophies and leave our students dangling by a rope, hoping they will figure things out for themselves, and we've seen how well that works in society. So, how about putting our faith in teaching with a focus on purer truths? And expecting this of faculty and their interactions with students? How about trying it wholeheartedly?
Gospel-informed inquiry was already standard practice before Elder Gilbert's arrival. Faculty were already hired based on that understanding and learning outcomes were already expected to conform to the Mission and Aims of a BYU education. That was all happening without a heavy hand.
Absolutely true to my own experience. BYU would do well to internalize this.