Right in the middle of the purge I was informed by an employee of the Maxwell Institute that I had never published a single thing, with one exception, that had any scholarly merit whatsoever. Everything I have written, this person explained to me, merely had the appearance of scholarship--footnotes and that sort of thing--but none of the real substance. (The only thing I had published that had any merit, I was told, was a criticism I once published of W. Cleon Skousen's rubbish about a conspiracy of London and New York bankers who he claimed were running the world. And the only merit my complain had was that I had argued that Skousen’s bizarre conspiracy theory was divisive within the community of Saints.) Not even one of the nearly fifty essay I published through with FARMS/Maxwell Institute had any merit whatsoever, nor had the more than sixty signed and unsigned brief book reviews made any contribution to LDS scholarship. This fellow claimed to be speaking for the current regime at the Maxwell Institute.
I actually thought that I might get a bit of credit for calling attention to N. T. Wright’s remarkable New Testament scholarship, or to the important role that the ways of remembrance play in the covenant language and prophetic messages in the Book of Mormon. All that was brushed aside because of my supposed wrong tone and style. I actually had some quibbles about the tone in which I was being mashed, but I said essentially nothing and just sat there for two hours and took a savage thumping from someone I had wrongly supposed was a friend and colleague.
Anyone who cares to have a look can see the list of essays I published with FARMS/Maxwell Institute, though the brief book reviews are all shielded from access for no good reason, except perhaps indifference to their value. I am, as one might expect, a bit annoyed by all of this. But I have no illusions about my place in Mormon studies, since I am realize that I am merely a minor wholly voluntary figure in a larger army of LDS academics doing ancient research AND Mormon studies, but not those patterned after secular religious studies.
Professor Peterson is the one who has taken the most abuse from within the Maxwell Institute, but others have taken their share as well.
"[S]at there for two hours and took a savage thumping"? Why does this sound fishy to me? DCP and Hamblin have said something similar, but what's striking to me about these claims is that they never identify the person who doled out the "thumping" (though I seem to recall them hinting that it was Morgan Davis at some point). Why wouldn't they name the guilty party? They were more than happy to target Blair Hodges by name.... So why is this person left anonymous? All of which is to say, I sort of suspect that they are making this up.
"[I]f, while hoping that everybody else will be honest and so forth, I can personally prosper through unethical and immoral acts without being detected and without risk, why should I not?." --Daniel Peterson, 6/4/14
Doctor Scratch wrote:"[S]at there for two hours and took a savage thumping"? Why does this sound fishy to me? DCP and Hamblin have said something similar, but what's striking to me about these claims is that they never identify the person who doled out the "thumping" (though I seem to recall them hinting that it was Morgan Davis at some point). Why wouldn't they name the guilty party? They were more than happy to target Blair Hodges by name.... So why is this person left anonymous? All of which is to say, I sort of suspect that they are making this up.
Doctor, you are wise in not accepting this tale at face value. To hear them tell it, there were lots of long interrogations going on in the Institute around the time of the OMID ouster. In previous versions of this narrative, it was the Mopologists who were interrogating someone in the Institute over the issue of the Dehlin piece. In that version, the Mopologists were clearly in the driver's seat. There were also the conversations between Bradford and Peterson in which no indication of a problem was shared. Now that they have adopted the rhetoric of victimhood, we are hearing tales of others in the Institute giving the apologists a long "talking to." The aim always seems to be to make their opponents seem completely unreasonable in order to attract sympathy.
The discussion of "scholarly merit" is interesting and an issue that demands further unpacking. The definition of meritorious scholarship at BYU has changed a little over time. Maybe in the past, when BYU was more strictly pedagogical in its orientation, little reviews of LDS writings did get one "continuing status" (there is no tenure at BYU). Now days, however, those people who are serious about their scholarship look at such work as not up to snuff.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
Seems to me that the Maxwell discussion might well have focused on whether religious or academic dialogue should take the stance of open arms and minds or whether it should be poised with dual-wielding hatchets (aided by poisoned darts from a hidden blow gun).
You know, someday—probably after most of these guys have kicked the bucket—someone is going to write a comprehensive history of FARMS, and its going to be a-MA-zing!
CaliforniaKid wrote:You know, someday—probably after most of these guys have kicked the bucket—someone is going to write a comprehensive history of FARMS, and its going to be a-MA-zing!
The market for comic books is shrinking, I'm not so sure they will sell many copies.
A friendship that requires agreement in all things, is not worthy of the term friendship.
CaliforniaKid wrote:You know, someday—probably after most of these guys have kicked the bucket—someone is going to write a comprehensive history of FARMS, and its going to be a-MA-zing!
The market for comic books is shrinking, I'm not so sure they will sell many copies.
If Marvel did take it on, would they give Dr. Peterson a cape and tights? Would Dr. Midgley need to be tricked into saying his name backward before returning to Provo?
moksha wrote:If Marvel did take it on, would they give Dr. Peterson a cape and tights? Would Dr. Midgley need to be tricked into saying his name backward before returning to Provo?
Oh crap, Moksha, now I have this image of Dan Petersen in pink tights and a tu-tu. That's gonna take some serious drinking to get that out of my mind...
A friendship that requires agreement in all things, is not worthy of the term friendship.
moksha wrote:If Marvel did take it on, would they give Dr. Peterson a cape and tights? Would Dr. Midgley need to be tricked into saying his name backward before returning to Provo?
Oh crap, Moksha, now I have this image of Dan Petersen in pink tights and a tu-tu. That's gonna take some serious drinking to get that out of my mind...