LDS Church Gift to USU Continues the Legacy of Leonard J. Arrington

A professorial chair at Utah State University that continues the scholarly tradition of LDS historian and former USU professor Leonard J. Arrington was recently endowed with a $1 million gift from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Arrington, the first official historian appointed by the LDS Church and considered the founder of the field of Mormon studies, was remembered and honored at a celebration Sept. 27 in Salt Lake City. Elder Steven E. Snow, a USU alumnus and LDS general authority, presented a gift supporting the Leonard J. Arrington Professorship of Mormon History and Culture to USU President Stan L. Albrecht and Humanities Dean Joseph Ward.

The endowed chair has been held since its establishment in 2007 by Philip Barlow, a professor of religious studies at USU and a historian in the Arrington tradition with such publications as the forthcoming Mormonism, co-authored with renowned scholar Jan Shipps (Columbia University Press).

USU is also the recipient of a $500,000 pledge from an anonymous donor. This matching gift focuses on the Arrington Chair, as well as the Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture. The annual public lecture is organized and sponsored by USU’s Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries. The gift matches dollar for dollar all future donations.

University officials believe a total endowment of $3 million is required to support the Arrington Chair in perpetuity.

The Arrington Chair is one of two endowed chairs in the religious studies program in the Department of History. The Arrington Chair has the distinction of being the nation’s first such endowed professorship in a secular university focusing on a scholarly approach to the study of Mormonism, said Barlow.

Once mentored by Arrington, Barlow said the renowned historian “changed the very nature of studying Mormonism and, thus, of how informed people are able to approach this fascinating, complex and important movement.”

That attitude of mentorship was what set Arrington apart, said Marlin K. Jensen, a former LDS Church historian and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Arrington, he said, “mentored a generation of Mormon studies scholars who learned from his model how to foster both faith and intellect.”

Jensen said Arrington, who died in 1999, is considered the “founding father” of the scholarly exploration of the Mormon cosmos. He helped establish the Mormon History Association, the Western History Association and the Journal of Mormon History. Such efforts as Arrington’s and continued in the USU chair, added Jensen, are “essential to many to foster an informed and sturdy faith.”

Those who take a scholarly approach to Mormonism cite it as “America’s most successful and impacting religion that’s native to America,” said Barlow, who earned his master’s from Harvard in Christian history and a doctorate from Harvard Divinity School.

And because its origin and early traditions differ significantly from other Christian faiths, he said, it’s much like “an extraordinary lab” for studying a new religious tradition, like that of early Christianity as it emerged from Judaism.

“It’s like taking a time machine back to the 2nd century, allowing you to look around and see what’s happening as Christianity forms. For instance, how does canon come to be the canon?”

Making it even more attractive to scholars, said Barlow, is that “among religions, Mormonism is the world-champion record keeper.”

Jonathan Bullen, chair of the Arrington Council, an informal board made up of people who knew or worked with Arrington and who are trying to raise money to complete the endowment named after him, said Arrington represents much more than academic innovation. He sees in the historian an individual who combined a generous heart, fierce intellectualism, integrity and a respect for all religious beliefs.

“He was a champion of people of all faiths,” said Bullen. “We need a champion today. I think the field is ripe for young, bright minds to study in religious and Mormon studies programs to help lead us to a much better civic dialogue where we can find bridges and ways to cooperate, rather than be fearful of one another.”

Utah State provides a unique setting for the study of the church’s history and culture, Jensen said. The university’s Special Collections and Archives, a division of USU’s University Libraries, houses the papers of Arrington and other significant Mormon scholars. Over the years, he added, USU has demonstrated “a lasting commitment to religious studies generally and Mormon studies specifically.”

The LDS church’s gift to help secure the Arrington professorship reflects its increasing commitment to historical transparency and its belief that “Mormonism has a depth and breadth of substance that can hold up under academic scrutiny,” as it stated in a 2007 commentary. The establishment of the USU professorship has, in turn, set precedent for the sustained study of Mormonism at other institutions of higher learning, including the Claremont Graduate School, the University of Virginia and other developing programs.

It’s significant, said Barlow, that the Arrington Chair is in Utah, which he describes as “the epicenter of Mormon society, which impacts the state’s cultural life in countless ways.” For Utahns, he adds, “If you don’t understand Mormonism beneath the surface, you don’t understand where you are.”

Barlow welcomes the increasing transparency he sees in the LDS Church’s acceptance of rigorous academic efforts to explore Mormon history — particularly those in secular settings like a university.

As a historian, he understands that “we locally are a little amnesiac, like many people are.” But, he adds, “History matters. If our memory of childhood or high school or the Vietnam War was wiped out, we’d see the world differently and respond to it accordingly.”

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Writer and contact: Janelle Hyatt, 435-797-0289, Janelle.Hyatt@usu.edu