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| Mormonism's Open Canon? |
The problem arises when we quote Brigham Young, Mormonism’s second prophet, the ‘American Moses’ who led the saints to the Salt Lake Valley. You might think such an important leader would have something to add to the Mormon canon. He certainly had plenty to say during his thirty years presidency of the church. Nevertheless, he has but one entry in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 136:
‘The word and the will of the Lord, given through President Brigham Young, at the Winter Quarters of the Camp of Israel...January 1, 1847’
He said plenty, of course, much of it recorded in the 26 volume Journal of Discourses. But what was once recognised as a ‘Standard Work’ of the church, is now simply an historic document, interesting but not not standing on the same level as Mormon scripture. ‘Standard Works’ are the official Mormon scriptures, which include the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
Quote Brigham and you will hear him easily dismissed because nothing he said, apart from section 136, is found in the Standard Works of the church. Since he is a 19th century Mormon prophet, and since prophets are evidence of the restoration of the first century church, two questions arise:
1. Why, in thirty years of comprehensive and apparently authoritative teaching does none of his doctrine appear in the much vaunted open canon of Mormonism? Did God not speak to the prophet during these most formative years of the church?
2. Given his significant absence from the Standard Works, how are Mormons and their critics to judge what of his extensive teaching and doctrine might be regarded as authoritative and binding? Or, did he govern the saints for thirty years with no input from heaven?
These must be considered in light of what Brigham Young himself said of his teaching:
‘If there is an Elder here, or any member of this Church, called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who can bring up the first idea, the first sentence that I have delivered to the people as counsel that is wrong, I really wish they would do it; but they cannot do it, for the simple reason that I have never given counsel that is wrong; this is the reason.’ Journal of Discourses, Vol.16, p.161
This wasn’t the only time he boldly declared his teaching as without fault, and so binding on the saints. Of course, these words are not in the Mormon scriptures so perhaps they are to be dismissed too. However, generations of Mormons hung on to his every word, ordering their lives according to his public pronouncements, and pinning their eternal hope on what Joseph, Brigham, and other early Mormon leaders taught.
Were they wrong and today’s Mormons right? Or was Brigham right, along with the early saints, and today’s Mormons in apostasy? They can’t both be right. There certainly isn’t an open canon, and nobody seems in a hurry to add even one section to it to guide today’s saints.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be in such a hurry to buy into the ‘that was then, this is now’ answer we so often hear from Mormons. Maybe we need to hold Mormonism to a higher standard than that. They certainly seem to want to hold us to a standard they themselves can’t meet.
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