The winners from yesterday were
1 – Joseph Smith 23
16 – Truman Madsen 2
12 – James Talmage 19
5 – B. H. Roberts 6
2 – Continuing Revelation 20
15 – “Faith without works is Dead” 6
11 – Restoration of the Priesthood 21
6 – Work for the Dead 3
3 – The Doctrine and Covenants 24
14 – The Spaulding Manuscript 1
7 – The 1st Official Declaration 25
10 – The 1909 Origin of Man Message 2
4 – Temple Building 21
13 – Sunday School 7
9 – The Young Women’s Program 19
8 – Home Teaching 8
Now for today’s games:
2 – Brigham Young vs. 15 – Eugene England
Brigham was the second president of the Chuch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He brought the saints to Utah as the situation in Nauvoo deteriorated. He also broadened the practice of plural marriage and appears to have been quite the theological innovator.
Eugene England founded Dialogue and co-founded AML. He taught literature and writing at BYU for more than 20 years. We was well known for his outspoken stance against social ills that he saw in the society that surrounded him. He believed the future of Mormon literature was to be found in the personal essay, of which “Blessing the Chevrolet” is one of my favorites.
6 – Emma Hale Smith vs. 11 – Hugh Nibley
Emma Smith was: first wife of Joseph, subject of D&C 25, mentioned a few other times in the D&C, struggled with and eventually denied the revelation on plural marriage, first president of Relief Society, stayed in Nauvoo and eventually encouraged Joseph Smith III to participate in the founding of the RLDS (Community of Christ). A Mormon Enigma, read a brief biography here.
Hugh Nibley is a well-known Mormon scholar and social critic. He taught at BYU for over 40 years. Here is a page at FARMS collecting essays and biographies of Brother Nibley. Here is a page about his biography, featuring excerpts therefrom. I am quite the fan of his essay, “Zeal without Knowledge.”
3 – Physical Divine Beings vs. 14 – Dispensationalism
Physical Divine Beings has been a tenet since the First Vision, I suppose.
Dispensationalism appears important for understanding the greater history of the world in the LDS sense.
7 – Temple Covenants vs. 10 – Tithing and Consecration
Temple Covenants may just be the most important thing we do in life.
Tithing and Consecration appear to help us remember who gave us all that we have.
4 – The Pearl of Great Price vs. 13 – The Father and the Son
The Pearl of Great Price appears to be the leftover bits of scripture considered important, but unable to be squeezed into the other canonical books.
The Father and the Son is perhaps the clearest LDS discussion of the nature of Christ’s Divinity.
8 – The 2nd Official Declaration vs. 9 – The Proclamation on the Family
The 2nd Official Declaration extended the priesthood to all worthy males
The Proclamation on the Family established the standard working definition of the fundamental unit of the church and society.
1 – The Welfare Program vs. 16 – The Perpetual Education Fund
The Welfare Program is pure religion.
The Perpetual Education Fund is necessary as no-one can be saved in ignorance.
5 – Personal Food Storage vs. 12 – The Young Men’s Program
Personal Food Storage reminds us to keep the lamps full and the larder loaded.
The Young Men’s Program reminds us to help these bar-leapers become missionaries.
Please Vote and Comment Below.
[Edited to fix the wonky score for the Roberts/Talmage match]
Early predictions:
Brigham Young
Emma Smith
Physical Divine Beings
Temple Covenants
The Pearl of Great Price
The Proclamation
The Welfare Program
The Young Men’s Program
Also, I apologize that it took so long to get up. I have had to jump through 4,000 coding hopes to get it working. I will try to be more timely tomorrow.
How in the world did BH Roberts win?! Most members don’t even know who he is, but everyone’s read Jesus the Christ and the Articles of Faith and heard of The Great Apostasy.
I was wondering the same thing Ben. Last I checked Talmage was well ahead.
I say Nibley upsets Emma, YM upsets food storage (though I question the seeding on that one), OD2 beats Family Proc, and Father/Son separateness takes the PoGP (because not enough members read the PoGP).
I can’t bring myself to vote on that PoGP vrs. the Father/Son. I’m not into either one, but I have actually read the PoGP, so I guess I ought to vote for that one.
Actually Talmage won. I must have gotten the numbers mixed up. I will fix it tomorrow. Trust me, Talmage won.
My hats off to whomever decided on the seedings, as the voting seems to accurately reflect that.
Some hard choices: Emma Smith vs. Nibley; 2OD vs. The Proclamation. Each of these could have an entire post on the relative merits of the two competitors. (I voted for Emma and The Proclamation.)
Really, I am shocked that Emma is taking such a drubbing. Are you really telling me that Nibley is more influential in the church as a whole today, or is this more reflective of the Bloggernacle?
I’m not sayin’ I tol you so…
…but there will be no women in the Sweet Sixteen…which is an accurate reflection of the situation.
Emma get’s snubbed because up until 30 years ago she was a pariah.
But we are talking about today. People in the English speaking church might be more familiar, but I doubt he has much meaning for those areas that ain’t English-speaking. Emma does and will continue to influence how women in those areas understand themselves.
Speakin’ from lengthy experience with the RS-attending part of the church, and also that part of the church outside of Utah, and also that part of the church outside of the US and also that part of the church which is not intulekshuel…
Anecdotal, but nevertheless lengthy anecdotal evidence…
Nobody thinks all that much one way or another about Emma Smith. Never heard her name once outside the US, that I can remember. I have seen foreign-language translations of Nibley, and also translated manuscripts.
How could Nibley not take out Emma? The only thing we ascribe to her was the first hymn book (not our more recent editions)and being the prophet’s wife. Nibley’s ideas have infected (I would guess) nearly every ward’s sunday school lessons since his book was used as the preiesthood manual 40 years ago. (I say infected because most of seems to be wrong, speculative, inaccurately retelling his ideas)