Alternate Voices: Return of Elder Oaks

Discussion of "alternate voices," a term derived from Elder Oaks' 1989 talk, has been revived recently in the bloggernacle by the reproduction of this essay by Armand Mauss.

Elder Oaks had a little more to say on the topic, so I thought I would post it. Here is the meat of it:

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Over the years, persons of scholarly inclination have published journals and organized lectures and symposia to study the history of the Church, reason about the principles of the gospel, and share insights in the application of gospel principles to contemporary problems. I have sometimes been asked, "What is wrong with such efforts?" In my personal opinion, so long as they are private and personal and do not imply Church sponsorship or approval, there is nothing wrong with such efforts, provided those who participate understand and observe the limits of study and reason in such an undertaking. Unfortunately many do not.

The problem I have observed in such activities is that for some participants, these efforts are not a prelude to or supplementary of faith and revelation, but are (or come to be) substitutes for them. That is not the Lord's Way. (The Lord's Way, p. 57)

On a personal note, I first read the original talk while on my mission. I was only vaguely aware of such publications as Sunstone and Dialogue at that time, but I thought I knew exactly what Elder Oaks was talking about. Earlier in my mission I had seen a video of an epidsode of the John Ankerberg Show featuring Ed Decker, Sandra Tanner, and (if I remember right) Walter Martin. Ed Decker went through the endowment--quickly but in detail. The counter-balance was a recorded interview with some stake president that was inserted at various points in the program.

I think Elder Oaks' talk takes on a whole different flavor in this light. I guess my point is that even if the LDS "intellectual community" was his primary target, he also hit some other targets dead on.