Comments on: “Dialogue from the Book of Mormon” by Susa Young Gates

By: Eric Boysen

Eric Boysen — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:39:41 +0000

Oo, if I only had time!

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:06:45 +0000

Alas, it hath been sanitized by a 19th century dignified lady for her 19th century fastidious girls.

We should have a contest to rewrite this dialogue as it might have been prepared by a farmer for a gang of Scouts.

By: Eric Boysen

Eric Boysen — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:59:33 +0000

Where doth the queen debate whether her husband doth stink?

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:38:49 +0000

You didn’t come across that way, Anne! You did remind me that I was looking at this dialogue from 2009, not from 1891, and I appreciated that. You made me consider this more nearly the way it was seen by those performing/watching it.

By: Anne (UK)

Anne (UK) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:11:18 +0000

Apologies, I didn’t mean to come across as harsh or critical

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:50:27 +0000

You may be right, Anne. And even if the young performers had grown up in the church, as may have been the case, if the doxology was sung a lot more frequently then than it seems to have been sung in my experience, it could have carried that same familiar, comforting sense of worship.

Despite my immersion in history, it still takes a constant effort to see the world from the perspective of the past, and not automatically interpret everything by my own direct experience, as I did with my comment on the doxology.

By: Anne (UK)

Anne (UK) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 11:21:42 +0000

I find the doxology a comforting link to the Church of England teachings and hymns of my childhood. It’s likely many of the immigrant members in 1891 did, too? The link between Protestantism and Mormonism would have seemed much more fluid to them I think, as it still does to me.

By: Hunter

Hunter — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:57:19 +0000

Re: “much less Lamanite.”

Yeah, from “the Great Spirit” to “Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost” in mere minutes!

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:41:39 +0000

IIRC, the singing of the Doxology is what Susa mentioned in her report as being the most artistic and touching bit of the whole production. As I read the script, though, that seemed to me the most anachronistic touch — it’s anchored too solidly in my mind with Protestantism even to seem Mormon, much less Lamanite.

By: Hunter

Hunter — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:37:39 +0000

Also, I found it very interesting that there’s a direction for “singing the doxology” at the end. Funny how some Protestant terms die hard! (And yes, I know we still have “the doxology” in our hymnody. It’s just that no one in Mormondom calls it “the doxology” anymore, or sings it much, for that matter.)