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Modern Mormonism Could Have Been Intellectually and Liberally Minded
Back before Utah became perhaps the most Republican- and conservative-leaning state in the Union that it is today, Mormons were outsiders, aliens, non-American. They lived within a largely theocratic order in the Intermountain West, almost always at odds with Americans and the federal government that continually tried to crush its peculiar and “threatening” lifestyle.
In American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism, 1867–1940 (2016), Thomas W. Simpson traces the transformation of Mormon identity as staunchly anti-American, communitarian, separatist, and theocratic, to the mostly conservative, ultra-patriotic, and shockingly culturally successful community it is today. Simpson’s exploration of the Mormon exodus to elite American universities is a refreshing and important contribution to Mormon studies. A unique and even-measured cultural history. He covers some of the more forgotten years of Mormon history. And by that, I mean we just see less research regarding this pivotal time in Latter-day Saint history.
At the peak of Mormon-Gentile conflict — including the Utah War and confiscation of most church property, with many leaders imprisoned — elite American universities became “unique, quasi-sacred cultural space[s] of freedom and dignity.” These studies “abroad” included places like Johns…
