In this episode of Latter-day Saint Thinkers, we cover one of Christian’s favorite figures in Mormon thought: the inimitable Eugene “Gene” England. From his early years growing up in Downey, Idaho to his retirement from BYU, England lived his life in an organically liberal Mormon way. “Liberal” with a little “l” being the key, here. Gene fiercely believed in and was willing to accept opinions that were different than his own and lived his life devoted to the ways that Mormonism provided folks the tools to drink deeply from all sources of information in a way that enriched and strengthened faith. To this end, as a graduate student at Stanford, he founded Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, which sought to bring diverse voices into dialogue with one another in the hopes of creating a robust conversation about Mormonism for both intellectuals and lay people alike. However, England found himself ensconced in the bourgeoning culture war that had been brewing between Mormon intellectuals and the institutional Church for some time. At BYU he found himself labeled as both too liberal and not liberal enough. All while he simultaneously received apostolic beatdowns for progressive theological views on God and writing a biography of Brigham Young. In short, Gene found himself at a crossroads in the history of Mormon thought. He was born too late to be among the “golden years” of Mormon thought and theology in the early 1900s but born too soon to be among scholars of Mormonism that apply a critical lens to their faith and still be accepted that we see nowadays. We owe much of our intellectual freedom to Gene, and we are all the better for it.
Christian cries in the episode too, so that means it must be a good one!
Here are links to the resources we drew from to create this episode:
Stretching the Heavens: The Life of Eugene England and the Crisis of Modern Mormonism by Terryl Givens:
https://www.amazon.com/Stretching-Heavens-Eugene-England-Mormonism/dp/146966433X
Eugene England: A Mormon Liberal (Introductions to Mormon Thought) by Kathleen Haglund:
https://www.amazon.com/Eugene-England-Kristine-L-Haglund/dp/0252043936
The Eugene England Foundation: