As promised, I’m going to piecewise review Hugh Nibley’s book. The Apostles and Bishops in Early Christianity and where appropriate make connections with Mormon priesthood development. This will act as a fairness control and will probably have the effect of softening some of Nibley’s criticisms. I’ll start with the Editors’ preface, and if any book needed such this one does, because it remains an unpolished literary work. Something that is bound to be frustrating is that the editors were unable to track down some of Nibley’s sources, especially some that buttress his arguments at crucial junctures. This is on top of of some of Nibley’s typical freelancing with footnotes, something he has come under fire for even among Mormon scholars. In fairness to Hugh, he never intended this manuscript to be for publication, rather it contains lecture notes for a 1954 class originally containing 155 pages, but expanded to 239 in the FARMS compilation. Read the rest of this entry »

I have putting off a review of the 15th volume in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley since reading it before starting the Mormons and Catholics blog for a number of reasons. The first is that I wanted to set the tone for this site by not diving directly into a books or criticisms that would put Catholics on the defensive. After reading some discussions on ZLMB, Catholic Answers, and FAIR I have come to realize there are good Catholic responses to challenges made in regards to apostolic succession. When I read some Catholic debates with Protestants over issues of authority, I generally find more affinity with the Catholic arguments. I would hope that Catholics could come to likewise appreciate the Mormon arguments presented in Mormon/Protestant debates. Protestant ones rely on, as I see it, promoting a “priesthood of all believers” at the expense of having a lineage traceable to the apostles and essentially refusing to recognize Mormon or Catholic priesthoods as legitimate primarily based on criticisms derived from scriptural interpretations. So perhaps in exploring ideas that Nibley introduces might reveal more common ground between Mormons and Catholics and hence not be so divisive.

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To day I would like to report on this biography of a man who has my vote to qualify as a “Doctor of the Church” if a Mormon equivalent of the Catholic designation were to exist. A Consecrated Life was written by son-in-law Boyd Peterson (see a FARMS review of ACL here) and is a delightful saga covering 95 years of Mormon history through the eyes of an absent-minded professor. In my opinion, Peterson has written the best biography of a 20th century Mormon figure, although Sherie Dew’s and Gregory Prince’s coverage of Presidents Hinckley and McKay, respectively, deserve honorable mention. Dr. Hugh Nibley was the foremost Mormon intellectual, yet paradoxically always stressed the superiority of revelation over reasoning. I was saddened by his departure from this life last year as was Dr. Louis Midgley in his glowing tribute A Mighty Kauri Has Fallen.

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A few weeks ago there were a couple of discussions [1,2] on FAIR’s message  boards. I wish to capture a few quotations by Catholic David Waltz that present his opinion that  Mormons can be considered Christians, albeit heretical, from a Catholic perspective. As a hat tip to previous discussion, Brad Haas has argued from another Catholic perspective (perhaps the majority opinion), that Mormonism fails to meet traditional expectations of Christianity while witholding judgment on individual Mormons and other self-professed Christians. M&C has looked into the relevancy of the recent decision to not accept Mormon baptisms in a couple of entries [3,4].

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[ed. note: This question came into M&C in the middle of October and I'm moving it here. The questioner's, AKA Wacky Hermit, text is in italics and John in MN's answer is interspersed in regular font.]

Hi, I’m a Mormon and I have some questions for Catholics about rosaries. By way of background I was baptized Catholic but my parents joined the LDS church when I was just a few years old, so I was essentially raised Mormon but I have many Catholic relatives.

My grandfather (Catholic) passed away and a memorial mass is to be held for him. Knowing how dearly my grandmother (also Catholic) loves her religion, I made for her a special rosary out of semiprecious stone beads and with a center piece of her and my grandfather’s favorite saint, and I want her to have it in time for my grandfather’s mass. Is this an appropriate gift? Also, can I give rosaries I made to my other Catholic relatives who also hold their religion dear?

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