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Top 10 LDS 'Intellectuals' | Deseret News


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Ten white men. Neato!

Ten dead white dudes.

I was surprised to see Joseph Smith Jr. on the list. He did like learning and speculating, but I never have seen him referred to as an intellectual.

Kinda complicates the "ignorant farmboy" angle, 'twould seem.

Pretty slim pickings. Joseph Smith Jr. at #3? Is this the new apologetic, that he was a great intellectual? Once you subtract the doctrine, which one assumes comes from God for the average LDS, what is left that can be called intellectual?

KEP?


*snicker*

Ten white men. Neato!

It is true that antiwhite racism now exceeds, by far, antiblack racism in this country. Same with sexism against males vs. sexism against females.

It's an interesting list. I'm not sure what purpose such ranking lists serve, other than to reveal the assumptions of the list maker.

There is also the problem of what defines an "intellectual," a discussion I don't really have the time for at the moment.

For what it's worth, here's my take on the list as published:

Orson Pratt, B.H. Roberts, Hugh Nibley, Sterling McMurrin and Lowell Bennion each, albeit in very different ways, made significant contributions and attempts to create what could be called a Mormon intellectual climate.

While the work of both John A. Widtsoe and E. E. Ericksen was not as much guided by the "vision" I have arguably ascribed to the above individuals, they both produced work that is still of historical interest.

Obviously there are some glaring omissions from the list, but rectifying that would mean not only taking on the question of what constitutes an intellectual, but what also constitutes a Mormon.

Anyway you slice it, however, the inclusion of Joseph Smith, Jr. is bizarre. I have enormous respect for his astoundingly ambitious and creative efforts. Pointing out that he is not a good fit for the label "intellectual" is not at all a slur on his accomplishments.

"so-called" intellectuals is the official l-dsinc term.

said John Taylor in an address quoted in the Journal of Discourses. “He was ignorant of letters as the world has it, but the most profoundly learned and intelligent man that I ever met in my life, and I have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles, been on different continents and mingled among all classes and creeds of people, yet I have never met a man so intelligent as he was.”

Worth noting is that John Taylor did not make the top ten list. How would this man be qualified to validate Smith's credentials as an "intellectual"?

How would he know?