Mormons, Christians, Jews

Reading recently through a very broad (and wonderfully aware) summary of the past five centuries of Old Testament theology, I was struck by how vital the question of supersessionism is for Christian and Jewish interpreters of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament. I suppose the reason this struck me at all is because Mormonism pays no attention to it, really (though was it Signature Books who published a whole volume dedicated to the interrelations between Mormons and Jews?). And that led me to ask why it is that we pay no attention to this question. I suppose I see several possible reasons. I’d like to summarize them briefly, and then to ask some questions about what role this “ought” to play in Mormon thought–but more especially in the LDS classroom.

(Supersessionism: The belief that Christianity supersedes Judaism in one way or another. And note the political ramifications of this question, especially in the 20th century….)

Possibility #1 – Mormons pay no attention to supersessionism because they are (now, at any rate) generally politically oriented by conservative thought, which does not discuss supersessionism (especially in fundamentalist Christian circles, where supersessionism could be said to reign supreme–and Mormons are often lumped in with fundamentalists in a lot of ways).

Possibility #2 – Mormons do pay attention to supersessionism, but the larger Mormon writing establishment does not because it is relatively unsophisticated (Deseret Book does not pay attention to supersessionism?).

Possibility #3 – Mormons do not pay attention to supersessionism because the LDS scriptures uniquely diffuse the very question.

Possibility #4 – Mormons do not pay attention to what is usually called supersessionism because Mormons are more concerned with the question of whether/how Mormonism is a supersession of Christianity than they are with the question of whether/how Christianity superseded Judaism.

Of these three, let me state that I am most fascinated by the third, mostly because I’m about the least politically interested person you will ever meet, nor am I interested in what might be called “Mormon politics.” At the same time, I recognize that Mormonism is a complex, ultimately composite beast, and that means that we have inherited many supersessionist assumptions (which simply appear in our writings and teachings–teachings in the classroom sense, not institutional sense–unacknowledged), even as there are many members of the Church who are probably very aware of these issues.

At any rate, I’d like to raise a couple of questions in response to this ambiguity:

First, what is the relationship between Mormonism and supersessionism? And this question is really two: on the one hand, where does Mormonism now stand with regard to supersessionism?; and on the other hand, where do our scriptures and the teachings of the Brethren place us with regard to the same?

Second, what role does supersessionism play in our classrooms (perhaps in both its manifestations), and how would things change if we were to overcome that?

Third–and this is the real difficult question, I think: Is Mormonism a “Quest for Refuge,” a flight from pluralism; or is it possible for Mormonism to dwell quite peaceably in a pluralist society?

(Reading back through this post, I’m realizing how much of a preliminary brainstorm it is. I apologize for that. Feel free to harangue me for its contents, but please recognize that I’m simply more lazy than offensive/ignorant/unthoughtful/supersessionist.)