MoFem Adventures in reading the Old Testament: Intro

This year, the course of study for LDS (Mormon) adult Sunday school is the Old Testament. I'm a Sunday school teacher right now (and for the last 4 years), but not everything ends up making it into my lessons (plus I only teach every 3 or 4 weeks), so I thought I'd have an irregularly recurring series on the Old Testament with regard to a feminist, and specifically a Mormon Feminist (MoFem) viewpoint. I'm not an Old Testament scholar, and I'm not using a lot of resources to back up my ideas. This is just a place to explore my own thoughts and feelings as I understand the scriptural stories and messages.

"I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father"

I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; (1 Nephi 1:1)

There has been considerable discussion as to the meaning of the phrase "goodly parents" over the years. It is frequently used synonymously with "good parents", but some have questioned why Joseph Smith didn't translate it using the simpler "good" instead of the fancy "goodly". They have posited, based on dictionary entries, presumed limited accessibility of education, and in-text descriptions of Lehi's wealth, that "goodly" means "rich" instead. I will confess to having been persuaded by these arguments for some time. But the more recent publications of The Joseph Smith Papers has changed my mind. In one version of his life story, Joseph Smith refers to his parents as "goodly". They could by no stretch of the imagination have been described as wealthy, so he must have been simply saying that they were good parents, perhaps alluding to Nephi's good parents with this phrasing. I find my self returning to the "goodly" = "good" camp based on this evidence.

The next clause explains what these good parents did for him. They taught him what they (or at least what his father) knew. As I read this, I expect that the learning of his father included a secular education. In modern times we have so much available to us in the way of educational opportunities! Supporting our children in their schooling is important to give them the tools to understand and navigate the world.

In reading this with an eye to discovering what I should do (see my previous post), I wondered what is said elsewhere in the Book of Mormon about what parents should teach their children. Here is a sampling of what I found:

• what's in the scriptures (Mosiah 1:4) -- Lehi taught his children what was in the brass plates, including the commandments of God, and they taught their children. It's hard to keep the commandments if you don't know what they are!
• to keep the commandments of God (Alma 53:21, Helaman 5:13) -- This one came up several times. It was taught by the parents of the stripling warriors and by Helaman to his sons, Lehi and Nephi. Teaching not only what the scriptures say (academically), but also that they have significance as a code of conduct is important.
• the language of their fathers (Mosiah 1:2) -- This could mean a historical language that wasn't currently being spoken, probably useful for future rulers who might need to access historical records. Parents who speak a language that's not the dominant language where we live should pass this language on to their children. As a linguist, I value linguistic diversity, and I think bilingualism is important as a marker of our heritage as well as a useful skill in society.
• if they do not doubt, God will deliver them (Alma 56:47) -- This one is tricky, because it implies that we will always be rescued from dangerous situations if we have faith. Which implies that if we aren't rescued we don't have enough faith. But in the case of the stripling warriors it seems to have been justified, so it could be a case of their parents being inspired to teach them this. In any case, I think the writers in the Book of Mormon would advocate teaching our children to have faith.
• about the Lord (3 Nephi 22:13) -- This is a quote from Isaiah 54: "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord". Making sure our children have a strong gospel foundation is important.

These are just the references to parents teaching their children. There's plenty more teaching discussed, not to mention preaching, expounding, etc., and I'll talk about those in future posts.

My children are grown now, and some have children of their own. But I hope I taught them the things described here--to read and apply the scriptures, to have faith, and to love the Lord. 

"Not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written"

“And your minds in time past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all. And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion.” (Doctrine and Coventants 84:54–58)

This statement was included in a revelation dated 1832, which surprises me because I thought at that point the church was all about the Book of Mormon and the revelations Joseph Smith was receiving. And then President Benson told us that the church was still under this condemnation in 1986! And really, not much has changed since then. We’ve had a couple of Book of Mormon reading challenges, but not much in-depth analysis and discussion of what this means. 

So I want to see if I can change this in myself, to improve my ability “not only to say, but to do” what I find in the scriptures. Really, if my mind has been darkened through not paying attention to the light and truth I’ve already received, I should go back and look at it from a different perspective.

Starting with the Book of Mormon because that’s the scripture that’s named in the revelation, I’m going to post what I see that I should be doing, and try to implement that.

What I did today

Graded final portfolios
Tweeted a response to someone
Was told I had misunderstood
Ate more than I should have
Cuddled with my dog
Downloaded some images I might use next semester
Unpacked my veggie delivery (mostly fruit this week)
Cleaned up my living room so my visiting teachers could get in
Chatted with my visiting teachers
Went to tithing settlement
Chatted with my daughter
Graded more portfolios

All in all, an ok day.

It will all work out; it will be ok.

What a day!
I started off by voting. This was probably the longest ballot I've ever voted on. Last night my family sat around and went through it with the League of Women Voters guide, and it took well over an hour to figure out who to vote for in each race which judges to retain (well, that was easier--all of them, following the recommendation of the judicial review website my husband found), 5 constitutional amendments, and then the bond issues. By the end I felt like, "Borrow all the money! I don't care any more; just don't make me read any more 4-pt. type!" Then I went to the polling place this morning and they gave me something I didn't expect--a flair felt-tipped pen. I had to fill in all 742 bubbles again. Whew! Even copying the bubbles felt like a lot of work.

After that I got a nice long visit in with my dad and stepmom. They're in town for a conference, and I sat and visited with them for several hours and had a lovely time. I had a meeting at 5:30, and I had to meet my daughter at 5 to give her a notebook she'd left home, but I figured I had just enough time to get from place to place. I had left my phone at home, but I knew where I needed to be and when I needed to be there, so everything would be fine.

Well, here's where the hard part begins. I drove to the theater to meet my daughter, but she wasn't there. I waited, and she still didn't show up. Finally it was 5:25, so I left and was only 10 minutes or so late to my meeting. Thank heavens, the interpreters hadn't left, because without my phone I couldn't let them know I was on my way.

The meeting was good, but chaotic and a bit overwhelming. The conference we're planning is next week, so all the last-minute details are coming up. It will all work out; it will all be ok. I noticed when I booted up my computer that I had an extremely large number of unread emails (because, of course, I didn't have my phone or my computer all afternoon). We got through the meeting with, of course, a long list of things for each person to do. (It will all work out; it will be ok). I stopped at the theater on my way home to give my daughter her notebook, and this time she was there (in the middle of a rehearsal, but I tried to be discreet).

At home, I finally started going through my email. Turns out I had left a half-set-up appointment with a student at 5:00 that I didn't know she'd accepted and I'd forgotten about. (Really, it will all work out; it will be ok.) Then a presenter at the conference emailed me to tell me she hadn't gotten the message her paper had been accepted. What!? I hope she can still do it, because hers was one of the talks I was hoping to go to. (It will.)

Hard day, but: my daughter gave me a hug and my student graciously agreed to reschedule.

Critical Discourse Analysis for the Win!

So I spent the weekend watching the LDS General Conference. Every six months the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a conference in which the leaders speak and members and other interested people watch, either from their TVs, at stake centers, or now on the web. I usually watch/sleep through at least most of it, and I usually find that I'm uplifted and strengthened by the talks.

A speaker who is consistently one of my favorites (and not just mine) is Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. When my husband was a student at BYU Elder Holland was the president of the university, and I enjoyed hearing him and his wife speak from time to time. Now he's a member of the church's quorum of the twelve apostles, one of the highest positions in the church. In terms of conference, this means that he now speaks in every conference.

One of the things he does in his talks that I really love is that he gets into a scriptural story or concept and really explores the wording and motivations and context to make it more meaningful and powerful, and he updates some of the language to make it more accessible. I am often amazed and thrilled at the insights I get from listening to him speak, and yesterday was no exception (I hope that link works; right now it loads a template page).

This talk was about faith, and Elder Holland shared the story from Mark 9, beginning at verse 14, where a father asks Jesus if he can do anything to help him and his son, who is possessed by evil spirits. He discusses the anguish and faith of this father (Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Mark 9:24) and the compassion of Jesus, who cast out the spirit and raised up the son. As always when I listened, I was excited and inspired. And I finally figured out why: Elder Holland does critical discourse analysis on the scriptures!

Critical discourse analysis is a branch of linguistic analysis that I have always had mixed feelings about. It's usually done to uncover bias or discrimination in texts, and it's a valuable and important sort of analysis, but when I do it I always find a dark cloud hanging over me. It's incredibly depressing, because you're always looking for the negative. In general I'm a pretty positive person, so once I realized this I decided to stay away from it. But here is a situation where the technique of examining language, power relations, and society is used to highlight the positive and redeeming nature of Christ's loving response to a man who was willing to trust, to exercise his faith. Wow! Now that I can get excited about!

Reflection

This afternoon I attended a discussion on using reflection in my composition classes. I realized a couple of things over the course of this discussion. One, I haven't been using reflection enough in my classroom. And two, I haven't been using reflection enough in my life.

Though we were talking about how to create assignments and activities that will help our students reflect effectively on their writing, I was struck by the necessity of reflection in general in our lives. Reflection is how we make sense of the world, the way we make the connections that give us inspiration.

I remembered one semester in particular when I was taking what felt like too many classes. I was rushing from assignment to assignment, writing responses and essays that I hadn't had any time to think through, just to get the assignments in on time. And I was miserable, because nothing made sense or seemed to fit together.

So I try now to be sure that when I write a response to a reading that I've actually thought, at least for a few minutes, about what it means, how it relates to other things I've read, and how I might be able to use this perspective/experience in my own work. The more I'm able to do this, the more satisfied I am with my work and the better my work is.

I've come across a few blogs and websites this evening that talk about reflection, mostly in an educational setting, though this morning LinkedIn also sent me a post about scheduling downtime--for what the author calls it 'strategic thinking'--into the work day.

Then there are all the spiritual practices that have arisen throughout history: prayer, meditation, scripture study, mindfulness. These are all ways to focus and reflect.

As we go about our lives we experience many things, but until we take time to reflect on them, the connections don't become apparent. But those connections are where new ideas (or new implementations of old ideas) come from, and for me that is where the excitement is!