Eugene England: A Mormon Liberal (Introductions to Mormon Thought)

Had Kristine Haglund managed to merely write a book about Eugene England--perhaps the most visible and influential Mormon intellectual of the last 50 years--it would have been an invaluable contribution to the burgeoning field of Mormon Studies. But the author has done much more than that. By setting England in conversation with the religious and intellectual spaces he inhabited, Haglund has created one of the most important guides we have to the development of Mormonism as an intellectual and cultural force in the 20th century.The key to Haglund's portrayal of England lies in the subtitle: A Mormon Liberal. In clarifying this term, she brings us a picture of the man. England was not, she argues, a theological liberal in the way that most Catholics and Protestants would understand the term. Nor can his liberalism be described as a position along the American political spectrum. Even the classical liberalism of Locke and Rousseau doesn't quite fit when talking about Dr. England. To understand him, we must understand what a fundamentally Mormon variety of liberalism might look like.As a Mormon liberal, Eugene England believed that Mormonism itself--its core doctrines and its spiritual tradition--created an ideal environment for what might be called a liberal approach to things like beauty, truth, and meaning. In such an approach, members of a spiritual community meet together, as spiritual equals, to create meaning together. The community values open dialogue, epistemic humility, and continual growth. England believed these things with all of his heart, and he increasingly found himself at odds with both a university and a corporate church that rejected them in favor of an illiberal and undemocratic model of authority and obedience. In this sense, Haglund argues, Eugene England was the last Mormon liberal--the final signpost for a path that Mormonism might have taken.Haglund focuses her analysis of England's life and work through the illuminating lens of a Mormon liberalism that is both fully Mormon and fully liberal. She analyzes his work as an essayist--one of the founders and early practitioners of a distinctively Mormon style of theologically infused, spiritually grounded personal essay. She explores his role as a co-founder of _Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought_, which has been published continually for 55 years and remains the periodical of record of the intellectual and creative life of the Mormon people. And she examines his deep and lifelong commitment to a concept of atonement that brings people together and provides the opportunity for spiritual growth.In the process of explaining Eugene England, Kristine Haglund also explains a lot about modern Mormonism as both the comprehensive spiritual tradition that he saw more clearly than anyone else of his time, and as the collection of correlated, bureaucratized institutional practices that he never saw quite clearly enough. This book is a rare gift to those who knew Eugene England and a perfect starting place for those who want to know him better.

This looks to be an interesting book. In fact, I would like to have a copy of this book. That is what I ordered, but I received another book. The cover of this book is the correct cover, but the rest of the book has nothing to do with its purported topic. This book is supposed to be about Eugene England. But the first chapter begins this way: "This book is about American public administration and the idea of the state." The next 138 pages to not even mention England. The charitable explanation would be that there was a foul-up at the University of Illinois Press when binding this book.

This is my second review of a book about Eugene England in three months. While it may not be fair, it is difficult not to make comparisons between the two. Terryl Givens’ Stretching the Heavens is a straight forward biography of the popular and at times controversial Mormon scholar and writer. Kristine Haglund’s Eugene England: A Mormon Liberal, the subject of this review, differs in being more a treatment of England’s scholarship, his theological musings, and his impact on Mormon thought.And in spite of Givens’ fine writing and deep research that produced a volume of more than 300 pages, I came away with a sense that Givens never really caught the full essence of Eugene England, despite Given’s familiarity with his work and England’s obvious influence (one of Givens’ books with his wife Fiona Givens is titled The God Who Weeps, an echo of England’s last published essay, The Weeping God of Mormonism). At less than half the pages, Haglund captures a more accurate picture of who England was and why he was important,The difference is in the treatment. Haglund’s volume is part of a series, Introductions to Mormon Thought, edited by Matthew Bowman and Joseph M. Spencer and published by the University of Illinois Press. Instead of a biography, Haglund chooses to focus on England’s contributions to theology and lived religion through his teaching, activism, and writing. In the process Haglund finds the key to England’s lasting influence over several generations of students, scholars, and lay church members.Haglund has organized England’s life and thought into four chapters. The first is a brief biography and examination of the influences that shaped him. She uses the symbol of “safe valleys” to describe the material influence of growing up in the deeply Mormon corridor of Utah and Idaho, and also a spiritual sense of having a safe haven in a family of faith, grounded in awareness of one’s place in the eternal scheme of things. Haglund then provides three chapters devoted to the ideas that manifested themselves in England’s life. Chapter Two pairs the idea of integrity with England’s writing, particularly personal essays, and his hopes for a faithful, yet vibrant, Mormon literature. England was both a critical reviewer of Mormon literature, as well as personally developing and advancing the personal essay as a particular Mormon genre. His collections of essays continue to inspire and inform Mormon letters with his powerful, yet always respectful voice.Chapter Three discusses dialogue as a tool for exploring theology and reconciling differences. England never shied away from an opportunity to thoughtfully engage difficult and often painful topics in conversation with others of different viewpoints. employed throughout his life. Haglund posits both the limitations and promise of dialogue, and how England balanced what he once described as “speculative theology” with a commitment to faithfulness and a hope for reconciling competing ideas. As Haglund describes it, England sat at the “…fault line between Mormonism as a regional communitarian church, and Mormonism as a worldwide church with strong centralized authority over both doctrine and procedure.” [p57] Dialogue was to England as breathing is to the rest of us, a “…central organizing principle of his life and work.” [p46] He viewed it as a way to draw together and seek understanding in the absence of complete agreement.Chapter four ventures into “…how Mormons can be divided (always imperfectly), and have divided themselves, into categories liberal and conservative…” both theologically and politically, and how England hoped to bridge those gaps via reconciliation, with the Atonement as a type. England was politically conservative, a lifelong Republican, yet embraced liberal ideas such as pacifism and a commitment to international humanitarian relief that he felt were grounded in basic Christian principles. Haglund shows how England viewed reconciliation through the example of the Atonement as foundational to promoting a healthy tension between opposing viewpoints. Compassion and faithfulness always underscored his thoughts and writings. Haglund also shows how easily misunderstood and difficult these efforts could be in actual practice. England often found his words and motives misunderstood by others less interested in the dynamics of dialogue and mutual respect.There is a final bibliographical appendix that lists England’s major written contributions, organized by topics such as pacifism, gender, and Mormon literature. It’s a good overview for anyone interested in a deeper look into England’s thinking and impact on Mormon Studies. A final observation is important. While Givens viewed England as naïve, a term he used repeatedly in his biography of England, Haglund viewed that apparent naivety rather as the paradox of England being caught between his desire for constructive dialogue over differences, and the need to remain faithful to the church and its hierarchical leadership invested in historical authority. Overall, Haglund’s brief Eugene England: A Mormon Liberal effectively frames England’s place in the greater trends of Mormon thought and theology in the latter half of the 20th century, providing us a model for dialogue that continues to be needed in the 21st.