Themis wrote:Simon Belmont wrote:
Which testimony did Dr. Peterson "create?"
He quoted exact words from a published book. Where I come from, that is not creating.
Yes he decided which quotes to use in forming their testimony.
Which is, coincidentally,
exactly what Arrington's children did to summarize their father's beliefs (and with one of the same sources too). This is just hideous. What a desecration of Arrington's legacy. How horrifying.
Susan: Historians commit their lives to understanding and writing about people and events that they are passionate about. Great historians need to have their own distinct motivations for their work. After listening to all of LA’s accomplishments one might ask what motive could drive this particular man to write so much, to enlighten so many, and in addition, to type out a 30,000 page diary like LA did. Why, why, why. Why did he do it?
Carl: Actually we know why, LA tells the story, and we will give the historian the final word. He writes:
“One afternoon in early 1950, sitting in an alcove of University library, I had what might be called a peak experience, one that sealed my devotion to Latter-day Saint history. Going over my extended notes, recalling the letters, diaries, and personal histories of the hundreds of past church leaders and members, a feeling of ecstasy suddenly came over me, an exhilaration that transported me to a higher level of consciousness. The apostle John wrote that to gain salvation a person must receive two baptisms; a baptism of water and a baptism of the spirit. My water baptism and confirmation occurred when I was eight, but now in a university library I was unexpectedly absorbed into the universe of the Holy Spirit. A meaningful moment of insight and connectedness had come to me that helped me to see that my research efforts were compatible with the divine restoration of the church. It was something like, but more intense than, the feelings that welled up in me when I listened to the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony or was moved by Raphael’s painting of the Madonna in the Vatican Museum at the end of World War II. In an electrifying moment, the lines and beliefs of nineteenth-century Mormons had a special meaning, they were inspiring, part of the eternal plan, and it was my pleasure to understand and write about their story. Whatever my talents and abilities, and had never pretended that they were extraordinary, an invisible power had now given me a commission and the experience remained, and continues to remain, with me. Regardless of frustrations and obstacles that came to me in the years that followed, I knew that God expected me to carry out a research program of his peoples’ history and to make available that material to others. Whatever people might say about this mortal errand, I must persevere, and do so in an attitude of faithfulness. My experience was a holy, never-to-be-forgotten encounter, one that inspired me to live up to the promises held out for those who receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” [This selection is also found in Adventuires of a Church Historian, pp. 28-29.]