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Dreams of Brigham Young University

October 21, 2009 in Education by Greg | No comments

Today, Carrie told me of a talk given by Merrill J. Bateman about the history of Brigham Young University.1 Just as Henry B. Eyring spoke about the future of BYU in A Consecrated Place, Elder Bateman spoke of those who were given dreams of its future destiny.

Recently I shared with the faculty and staff some key events from BYU’s history. During the preparation of the material, some insights were gleaned with regard to the special nature of this institution. Today I wish to share a few of them with you.

Lessons from BYU’s History

Karl G Maeser The first lesson one learns in reviewing BYU’s history concerns the extraordinary faith of the early Saints who forged this institution. They founded Brigham Young Academy in a desert with a fragile economic base. However, they understood the importance of education, especially for their children, and were willing to sacrifice every temporal asset they had in order to keep the school alive. This was true of the faculty and staff and also of the citizens throughout the valley. It was not uncommon for Karl G. Maeser and his staff to receive less than one-half pay during the 1880s. Abraham O. Smoot, a highly successful businessman, stake president, mayor of Provo, and chairman of the board of Brigham Young Academy, gave his buildings, his land, and mortgaged his home in order to save the institution. He died penniless, having given everything to the school.

The faith of BYU’s founders was never stronger than during times of crisis. I was particularly impressed with Karl G. Maeser’s conviction as he responded to Reed Smoot, a student, during the 1884 fire that destroyed the academy’s only building. As it became apparent that they could not save the Lewis building, the student said to Maeser, “Oh, Brother Maeser, the Academy is burned!” Maeser responded, “No such thing, it’s only the building.”2 Six years earlier, shortly after the death of Brigham Young, Maeser had a dream in which President Young showed him the design of a new building. At the time Brother Maeser did not understand the purpose of the dream. Six years later, as he looked at the charred ruins of Lewis Hall, he could see in his mind’s eye the building that would take its place.3

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  1. Bateman, Merrill J. “Gathered in the Tops of the Mountains”. 7 Sep 1999. BYU Speeches. 21 Oct 2009. See BYU Broadcasting for a PDF of the talk.↩
  2. Ernest L. Wilkinson and W. Cleon Skousen, Brigham Young University: A School of Destiny (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1976), 74–75.↩
  3. See ibid., 118–19.↩

Ann Madsen – Leading Our Children to the Temple

August 17, 2009 in Temple by Greg | 1 comment

Dr. Ann Madsen, a senior lecturer in Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, gave a talk entitled “Come Ye, and Let Us Walk in the Light of the Lord – Leading Our Children to the Temple” at the 2004 BYU Family Expo Conference. The following is a synopsis of her talk:

Ann Madsen I asked our grown married children, “Why do you love the temple? How did we prepare you to do that?” Their answers could be summed up, “You would come home from the temple all aglow, and we could feel it.”

Orson Pratt gives us a wonderful vision of the light we bring home from the temple: “In the latter days there will be a people so pure in Mount Zion . . . that God will manifest himself, not only in their Temple . . . but when they retire to their [homes], behold each [home] will be lighted up by the glory of God, a pillar of flaming fire by night.”1

I heard Elder Russell M. Nelson say recently, “Children understand that they have a Heavenly Father. They need to be taught that the temple is the way to return to Him.”

In 1893, at the time of the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, Elder Franklin D. Richards said: “The Temple is full of Divine telegrams. The blessings of heaven are treasured up there, and these temples are the great repositories of eternal life, glory, honor and immortality, waiting for the children of God to come up and bring their offerings of broken hearts and contrite spirits, and draw upon those treasures.”2

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  1. Journal of Discourses. 16:36.↩
  2. Richards, Franklin D. Collected Discourses. 1893. Vol. 3.↩

Boyd K. Packer on Humanism and Education

July 26, 2009 in Education by Greg | 5 comments

I have wanted to post these two quotes by Boyd K. Packer on humanism and education for quite some time. In 1994, President Packer said:

Humanism_Symbol Like a ship without a rudder, without a compass, we drift from the family values which have anchored us in the past. Now we are caught in a current so strong that unless we correct our course, civilization as we know it will surely be wrecked to pieces. Moral values are being neglected and prayer expelled from public schools on the pretext that moral teaching belongs to religion. At the same time, atheism, the secular religion, is admitted to class, and our youngsters are proselyted to a conduct without morality.1

The second quote comes from a talk Pres. Packer gave at BYU in 1996:

In many places it is literally not safe physically for youngsters to go to school. And in many schools and its becoming almost generally true it is spiritually unsafe to attend public schools. Look back over the history of education to the turn of the century and the beginning of the educational philosophies. Pragmatism and humanism were the early ones, and they branched out into a number of other philosophies which have led us now into a circumstance where our schools are producing the problems that we face.”2

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  1. Packer, Boyd K. “The Father and the Family”. May 1994. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 25 July 2009.↩
  2. Packer, Boyd K. Charge to the David O. McKay School of Education. December 1996.↩

Four Levels of Scriptural Interpretation

July 8, 2009 in Temple by Greg | No comments

This week Donna Nielsen at Connections is reviewing the four levels of scriptural interpretation. According to the Jews, these include:

A. Plain P’shat
B. Story Drash
C. Messianic Hint Remez
D. Hidden Sod

Her most recent series of posts focuses on the “hidden” or sod level of interpretation:

Joyful Mystery “Mystery” is the word used in the New Testament to describe the sod level.

LDS Bible Dictionary
Mystery. Denotes in the N.T. a spiritual truth that was once hidden but now is revealed, and that, without special revelation, would have remained unknown.

The teachings of the temple fall under this category. The Lord reserves unto Himself the prerogative and privilege of teaching these truths to His children. He alone knows the hearts of those who seek Him, and comprehends how to instruct them without any possible misunderstanding at their level of preparedness. Only He can teach sacred truths and tailor them to each individuals learning style, background, experiences, and unique capacities.

When the Savior was on earth teaching his disciples, he would explain the hidden depths of his teachings. However, they were not given permission to divulge these insights to others or to set themselves up for a light to get the praise of men.1

I thought this a beautiful insight into the sacredness of the temple and the very personal ways in which the Lord teaches his children. Donna’s series of posts remind me of those teachings found in What is an Endowment?

Sources:

  1. Nielsen, Donna B. “Four Levels of Interpretation – Part 3”. 8 July 2009. Connections. 8 July 2009.↩

The Divine Law of Teaching

October 20, 2008 in Education by Greg | No comments

I came across these quotes on education and the divine law of teaching over at Favorite LDS Education Quotes. When we first created this blog, we intended to blog about the role and state of education in society, but just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. But here are two quotes to open this new category.

MitzvotThe divine law impressed upon parents the duty of teaching their children its precepts and principles, but little is known about the methods of teaching that were employed. Up to six years of age a child was taught at home, chiefly by the mother (cf. 2 Timothy 1: 5). The schools that all boys from six years old had to attend were generally held in the synagogues. Until a boy was ten no textbook was used but scripture. The aim was to encourage study by sense of duty rather than by reward or fear. Reading, writing, and grammar were taught, and in order that teaching might be thorough, no class even in the elementary school might exceed 25 pupils. The “religious question” could not exist in Jewish education any more than in Church schools today, for the whole purpose of education was religious. Nothing was regarded as worth learning except as it illustrated scripture. At home probably Bible stories were taught as with us, but the regular course at school began with the first seven chapters of Leviticus, so that a boy might know what outward acts were required of him; then the rest of the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the remainder of the Old Testament.

At the age of 12 a Jewish boy was taken to Jerusalem at one of the feasts and tested by the doctors of the law in the temple as to his knowledge of the duties and privileges to which by circumcision he had been admitted. In passing this test he was regarded as freely and intelligently “taking upon himself the yoke of the law,” or “of the kingdom of God,” and henceforth he was bound to fulfill al the precepts of the ceremonial law. Thus Jesus was at the temple at age 12 (Luke 2: 41-52).

The use of object lessons and monuments as aids to teaching are frequently specified (Exodus 13: 14-18; Joshua 4: 1-9). Repeated references in Psalms and Proverbs have an educational flair, as in Proverbs 4; Proverbs 31: 1 (cf. 2 Timothy 3: 15). All of the ceremonies and rituals both of the law of Moses and in the gospel of Jesus Christ are designed for an educational function through their symbolism.1

The second quote comes from Webster’s 1828 Dictionary. According to the Cornerstone Baptist Temple where an online copy of this dictionary is located, it states:

It is reported that Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary contains the greatest number of Biblical definitions given in any reference volume. Webster considered “education useless without the Bible”.  Noah Webster believed that the Bible and Christianity played important roles in the lives of a free people and its government.  “In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed….  No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people….”2

The entry under education reads as follows:

EDUCA’TION, n. [L. educatio.] The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary is often cited by scholars of the Book of Mormon since the Book of Mormon was published in 1830.

Sources:

  1. “Education“. LDS Bible Dictionary.↩
  2. “Webster’s 1828 Dictionary”. Cornerstone Baptist Temple. 20 October 2008.↩