Lowell L. Bennion

A Mormon Educator

George B. Handley

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780252087516, 9780252045394
• eBook ISBN: 9780252054990
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Biografie in ambito educativo

The intellectual and ethical achievements of the Latter-day Saint theologian

Known in his lifetime for a tireless dedication to humanitarian causes, Lowell L. Bennion was also one of the most important theologians and ethicists to emerge in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the twentieth century.

George B. Handley's intellectual biography delves into Bennion's thought and extraordinary intellectual life. Rejecting the idea that individual LDS practice might be at odds with lived experience, Bennion insisted the gospel favored the growth of individuals acting and living in the present. He also focused on the need for ongoing secular learning alongside religious practice and advocated for an idea of social morality that encouraged Latter-day Saints to seek out meaningful transformations of character and put their ethical commitments into practice. Handley examines Bennion's work against the background of a changing institution that once welcomed his common-sense articulation of LDS ideas and values but became discomfited by how his thought cast doubt on the Church's beliefs about race and other issues.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword to the Introductions to Mormon Thought Series
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter One The Life of a Mormon Educator
• Chapter Two The Abundant Life
• Chapter Three A Rational Faith
• Chapter Four Social Morality
• Bibliographic Essay
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index
• Back Cover