Brigham Young University Controversy

File — Box: 9, Folder: 17

Identifier: III

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Horace H. Cummings, report of investigations of the theological teaching at Brigham Young University, 21 January 1911,7 pp., says: "Some of the matters which impressed me most unfavorably may be enumerated as follows: . .. The Bible is treated as a collection of myths, folk-lore, dramas, literary productions, history and some inspiration. Its miracles are mostly fables or accounts of natural events recorded by a simple people who injected the miraculous element into them, as most ignorant people do when things, strange to them, occur. A few concrete examples will illustrate this view: (a) The flood was only a local inundation of unusual extent, (b) The confusion of tongues came about by the scattering of the families descended from Noah when they became too numerous for the valley they originally occupied. After a generation or two, having no written language, their speech changed, each tribe's in a different way. There is nothing sudden or miraculous in the change, (c) The winds blew the waters of the Red Sea back until the Israelites waded across, but subsided in time to let the waters drown Pharaoh, while a land slide stopped the River Jordan long enough for them to cross it. (d) Christ's temptation is only an allegory of what takes place in each of our souls. There is no personal devil to tempt us. (e) John the Revelator was not translated. He died in the year 96.... Visions and revelations are mental suggestions. The objective reality of the presence of the Father and the Son, in Joseph Smith's First Vision, is questioned."
Richard Sherlock, "When the Students Marched: The B.Y.U. Crisis of 1911,"18 pp.

Dates

1820-1984

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.