a deseret news article

[_karl61]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7053 ... rship.html

"He described a progression from the “Camelot Age,” when LDS Church history was under the direction of Leonard Arrington, and sometimes had a sanitized cast to today’s “Age of Full Disclosure.” Today there is the belief that Joseph Smith can “stand up for himself” and that history thrives when historians are free to pursue truth — including the warts as well as glories."

From the things I have read it seems that Leonard Arrington did away with the "Camelot Age" and they got rid of him because of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_J._Arrington

[Guest]

The brethren quickly learned Arrington was a big Mistake on their part. They did not want honest disclosure of history but a sanitized and 'approved' version.
No honest researcher does that.
The reason they got rid of Arrington and Co was simple: the guys were honest and believed in publishing the truth. This would allow readers to learn and decide for themselves - something l-dsinc cannot live with. All the years of carefully crafting their 'story' and truth makes it fall apart like a cheap thief caught with merchandise stuffed into his pants.

[_karl61]

"Scholarship, writing, sculpting, painting and performance are plausible and practical pursuits in a growing church that now has the capacity to sustain such artists and scholars. It is thrilling that dedicated scholars and artists can find a market for their efforts. And such synergistic vitality has the capacity to greatly empower and expand scholarly and artistic expression"

One can paint Mormons in Missouri burning down buildings or the MMM in vivid detail, write about it, sculpt it and fear no retribution. I 'd like for that to exist as it's actually a pretty picture.

[_Lucretia MacEvil]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705376021/Richard-Bushman-on-Mormon-scholarship.html

"He described a progression from the “Camelot Age,” when LDS Church history was under the direction of Leonard Arrington, and sometimes had a sanitized cast to today’s “Age of Full Disclosure.” Today there is the belief that Joseph Smith can “stand up for himself” and that history thrives when historians are free to pursue truth — including the warts as well as glories."

From the things I have read it seems that Leonard Arrington did away with the "Camelot Age" and they got rid of him because of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_J._Arrington

Yeah, there is something ass-backwards about that article. I may just be a cynical old woman, but what I hear it saying is something like this: Rest assured, members, what you hear in church is the unvarnished truth and all the truth you need. No need to go outside the manuals. Joseph Smith can stand up for himself, and we'll tell you all about him, warts and all. Trust in your leaders and your apologists and your correlation comittee.

[_karl61]

What's crazy is that this is tweaking of something that is current.

[_badseed]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705376021/Richard-Bushman-on-Mormon-scholarship.html

"He described a progression from the “Camelot Age,” when LDS Church history was under the direction of Leonard Arrington, and sometimes had a sanitized cast to today’s “Age of Full Disclosure.” Today there is the belief that Joseph Smith can “stand up for himself” and that history thrives when historians are free to pursue truth — including the warts as well as glories."

From the things I have read it seems that Leonard Arrington did away with the "Camelot Age" and they got rid of him because of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_J._Arrington

Yeah, there is something ass-backwards about that article. I may just be a cynical old woman, but what I hear it saying is something like this: Rest assured, members, what you hear in church is the unvarnished truth and all the truth you need. No need to go outside the manuals. Joseph Smith can stand up for himself, and we'll tell you all about him, warts and all. Trust in your leaders and your apologists and your correlation comittee.

I always thought the 'Camelot Age' label came from historians who liked that Arrington opened up the archives and the dialogue — and not necessarily by Church leaders. It would be hard to see why they would see that time as Camelot and in my opinion Arrington's release is pretty good evidence of that.

That's why I find the quote attributed to Bushman a little hard to buy. Either the author got it wrong or Bushman has crazier views than I would have thought.