Despite our very considerable differences (which is putting them mildly), I was saddened to learn just now of the death of M. Gerald Bradford, the former director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship who initiated and presided over its dramatic change of direction in 2012 and led it thereafter until 2015. Jerry had been in very poor health and evidently suffered a fall down the stairs at home.
Yes, here is the in memoriam post at the Maxwell Institute. I just learned of this a few minutes ago.
With heavy hearts, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship announces the death of former executive director M. Gerald Bradford. He passed away during the morning of Wednesday, April 22, from causes unrelated to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
Dr. Bradford served as executive director of the Institute from 2008 until the appointment of J. Spencer Fluhman in 2016.
“I am a grateful beneficiary of Gerald Bradford‘s experience and kindness,” Dr. Fluhman said. “Since I succeeded him as executive director, he has been a steady and warm supporter and friend. I’m grateful for his years of dedicated service to the Neal A. Maxwell Institute and to Brigham Young University. All of us at the Institute are saddened by this loss.”
Dr. Bradford received his doctorate in religious studies from the University of California-Santa Barbara 1977. He earned a master’s degree in religious studies, also from UCSB, and in business administration and finance from San Francisco State University. He joined the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) in 1995 as director of research. After FARMS became an official part of Brigham Young University under the Institute for Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, Dr. Bradford served as the Maxwell Institute’s associate executive director for several years before being named its executive director.
We are grateful for Dr. Bradford’s leadership and for the faith in Jesus Christ he manifested in the performance of his duties. We extend our deepest sympathies to Dr. Bradford’s wife, JaNeal, and to the rest of his family, loved ones, friends, and colleagues.
I am sad I never met the guy. I should have made more of an effort to do so. It always seemed like something on the list that I would eventually get to. Not only am I missing the chance to meet the guy who made such a difference at the Maxwell Institute, but I am also robbed of his account of the events. In saying this, I understand that it is an account, not the definitive account, but I had so many questions that he would have been able to answer. This is a bit of history, important to me and others, that I feel denied.
One barrier for me making that effort was the continuing dark trajectory of the LDS Church. Within a few years the infamous November Policy was in place. Like many others before me, I steadily lost interest as the LDS Church kept jumping sharks, so to speak. Now when silly or offensive things happen, I just shake my head and think, "There they go again!" So, I am in a much different place than where I was in 2012, or in the years before, when the problems at BYU were so vexing to me. Still, I view what happened in 2012 as the right thing to happen, on the whole, although I do regret that people were hurt and alienated from each other.
I'm very sorry to hear about this. From what I saw, Bradford was a man of massive integrity and charity.
I'm also sorry to say that DCP's post comes off as disingenuous. When Bill Hamblin died, I devoted an entire post to it, with Hamblin's name in the title. DCP, on the other hand, buries his "condolences" in a post where he devotes one short, dismissive paragraph to Bradford, and then spends couple hundred more words devoted to John Polkinghorne. Damning with faint praise, perhaps? And this coming from a guy who claims that he doesn't carry grudges. Quite shameful.
I'm very sorry to hear about this. From what I saw, Bradford was a man of massive integrity and charity.
I'm also sorry to say that DCP's post comes off as disingenuous. When Bill Hamblin died, I devoted an entire post to it, with Hamblin's name in the title. DCP, on the other hand, buries his "condolences" in a post where he devotes one short, dismissive paragraph to Bradford, and then spends couple hundred more words devoted to John Polkinghorne. Damning with faint praise, perhaps? And this coming from a guy who claims that he doesn't carry grudges. Quite shameful.
He used the comment on Bradford as click-bait for his Polkinghorne post.
Apologists never forget...........those who hurt them in their own minds........ forgiveness is for others, apologists are to hold judgment and grudges........ it's yet another reason I could not stomach being involved with them. I am SO glad to be at ease and begin to enjoy things in life I had put off in order to....... um........ "do the work of the Lord." I have more deep and dear friends of many more stripes than I ever could have had being a "workman for the Lord," having allowed the narrow apologetic agenda/discourse to define "work." Freedom is more delightful than I could have imagined.