VOLUME 11 NUMBER 1 2015
ON MORMON CHRISTIANITY: AN INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN H. WEBB Paul Louis Metzger∗
Stephen H. Webb is the author of Mormon Christianity: What Other Christians Can Learn from the Latter-Day Saints (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013) and, with Alonzo Gaskill, Associate Professor of Church History at Brigham Young University, Catholic and Mormon: A Conversation (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015). Dr. Webb writes on a wide range of issues, from the Latter-day Saints to Karl Barth, Bob Dylan, and John Updike. Formerly a professor of theology and philosophy for twenty-five years at Wabash College, Indiana, he is currently teaching part-time at Christian Theological Seminary, a Disciples of Christ Seminary in Indianapolis, and working on a novel in addition to blogging regularly for First Things. PLM: Professor Webb, you were raised in the Stone-Campbell religious tradition (Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ), later becoming a Roman Catholic. In your book, Mormon Christianity, you share about your upbringing and the sojourn to Catholicism. Please share briefly about that journey. SHW: The branch of Restorationism that raised me is commonly called the Independent Christian Churches. That tradition had much interaction with the early Latter-day Saints. We had the fundamentalist non-instrumental Church of Christ to our right and the very mainline Disciples of Christ to our left, so we thought we were just right, neither too cold or too hot. We were pretty low church, but we took communion every week, something we share in common with Mormons. When I went to college, the Disciples of Christ were more supportive of the kinds of questions I was asking, so I migrated to that church. We spent five years trying to help start a Disciples church in our community, but after it failed to make it (that might have been due to my preaching—I wasn’t the regular preacher but a regular substitute, and we went through two preachers), we became Lutheran. I don’t think of myself as leaving Lutheranism as much as becoming a complete Lutheran by becoming DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11630/1550-4891.11.01.69 ∗ Paul Louis Metzger is Professor of Christian Theology and Theology of Culture and Director of The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins at Multnomah University; pmetzger@multnomah.edu. 69
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 1 A JOURNAL FOR THE THEOLOGY OF CULTURE
Catholic. It was the Lutherans who taught me how to worship and instilled in me an appreciation for ritual. After about five years of being Lutheran, I felt called to Rome, and my family became Catholic in 2007. PLM: What led you as a Roman Catholic to become interested in Mormon metaphysics? With this question in mind, please specify for our readers the basic tenets of Mormon metaphysics. SHW: I think my background of growing up in an Evangelical church that was out of step with the common secular American culture, then becoming a mainline with an emphasis on ecumenical dialogue and church unity, and finally joining a high church dedicated to a full, aesthetic display of the faith has given me a unique vantage point to engage Mormonism. Mormons are very Evangelical, which corresponds to my youth, very interested in issues of church unity and in doing things to improve society, which corresponds to my Disciples period, and very dedicated to art and rituals in their Temples, which corresponds to my Roman Catholicism. I knew a fair bit about Mormonism because I taught it as part of various courses during my undergraduate teaching years, but it really wasn’t until I became Catholic that Mormonism became more real to me. Mormonism is so rich, so theologically ambitious, so full of stories and history and ritual, that it is hard, I think, for Protestants to take it all in, but from a Catholic perspective, it looks . . . well, it looks pretty Catholic. By metaphysics I mean a set of principles about the nature of ultimate reality and how that ultimate reality shapes everyday notions, concepts, and ideas. Mormons believe that ultimate reality, in the sense of the divine, supernatural, or spiritual world, is not absolutely different from our natural world. More specifically, Mormons teach that the spiritual is another form of the material. There is a continuum between the two. I find that fascinating, and I am persuaded that Mormon metaphysics is right and has a lot to teach the rest of the Christian world. PLM: Please share with the readers a very brief synopsis of the book. Please position it in contradistinction to the conversation involving Evangelical leaders like Richard Mouw and Mormon leaders like Robert Millet. SHW: My book is about what other Christians can learn from the Saints. I focus on the Mormon view of matter, but I also look at the Mormon conception of history and authority, as well as the Mormon understanding of Jesus. I have met enough Mormons and studied enough Mormon theology to know beyond a doubt that Mormons are Christians. Most Mormons I know are better Christians than most non-Mormon Christians I know. Many books about the Mormons get hung up on the question of whether Mormons are Christian. That’s just not a question for me, which allows me to go into much 70
INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN H. WEBB - Metzger
deeper territory and reflect on what Mormons have to offer the rest of us. Mormonism is a unique branch of the Christian tree. There’s much fruit there to be enjoyed and pondered. PLM: In view of the preceding, how would you respond to the view that theology is autobiography? Along these lines, please share with the readers how your personal relational journey with Mormons has shaped your views. SHW: All good theology is biography. There’s a lot of bad theology out there, by which I mean theology that is just argumentative, conducted without the guidance of the Holy Spirit and devotion to Jesus Christ. Theology should reflect a spiritual journey and be informed by spiritual goals. My study of Mormonism has changed me. I am a better Christian for it, not just theologically but personally, spiritually. Mormons are my brothers and sisters in the faith, and I always learn from them and profit from studying their way of following Jesus. I have been very blessed to be a fellow traveler of the Mormon theological adventure. PLM: Looking to the future, how do you sense the conversation between traditional forms of Christianity and Mormonism will develop in years to come? SHW: I am really excited about my new book, written with my good friend and BYU professor Alonzo Gaskill. He is a great writer and clear thinker and a very generous thinker, very engaging and very smart. The book is not an argument or polemic. It is a shared journey into each other’s churches and into a deeper understanding of what Catholics and Mormons hold in common. It is the first book ever written by theologians comparing, in dialogue form, Mormonism and Catholicism. It is also very readable. I think we shed new light on ancient truths, but we keep the conversation very practical and relevant and real. I hope you get a chance to read it. If you do, let’s do another interview!
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