Sacred Tribes Journal - On The Mormons

[noel00]

http://www.sacredtribesjournal.org/stj/

[Minos]

What is your topic? A link without commentary will be treated as an ad.

[selek1]

I think the following comment from the first article on Evangelicals/Mormons is interesting:

Efforts in Mormon-Evangelical dialogue have ranged from the polemic to the polite. Part of the problem for Latter-day Saints

encountering Evangelicals has been the tendency to see Evangelicalism as one homogenous group in a similar way to which Mormonism

understands itself.

3 Thus, the experience of Latter-day Saints with evangelicals can be seen to be confusing. There is one particularly problematic aspect of evangelicalism Evangelicalism which uses emotive rhetoric in describing Mormonism as a cult, and devil-inspired. Shipps suggests that rather than being labeled Evangelical, these groups of people should be termed “neoevangelical” because “To the dismay of the mainstream Protestant

denominations like mine who have always regarded themselves as evangelical, the neo-evangelicals have practically succeeded in

taking possession of the evangelical designation.”

4 She suggests that these neo-evangelicals are fundamentalists who “attempt to dechristianize those who do not agree with their position.”

5 There are then other aspects of Evangelicalism that are more polite in their description of, and relationships with Mormonism. This tension

is reflected in the description of an event involving, both Latter-day Saints and Evangelicals:

Ironically, this mirrors my own thoughts regarding the variety of evangelicals we see on the boards. At the one end, we have dedicated and serious Christians of faith such as Mudcat. And at the neoevangelical end of the spectrum, we have individuals and groups such as Aaron Shafavalolikov (or however it's spelled) and Rob Bowman.

Which, then, is the "real" evangelical?

I've only just begun the article, but I suspect there will be additional advice on how the Latter-day Saints can work to improve their relations with their evangelical neighbors.

What do you believe, as a faithful LDS, believe we can do to improve the dialogue?

Given our amicable and effective exchanges with folks such as Muddie, do we really need to improve?

I'm not talking about conversion or ecumenism per se, but in the simple meeting of the minds and an accurate understanding of the beliefs of the other?

By the by, the reader which pops up at the link is a bit awkward and cumbersome. I recommend that interested parties download the PDF (there's a "down" button on the reader that will load the PDF).