Bruce C. Hafen

The first time I can recall taking much notice of Elder Neal A. Maxwell was in, I believe, 1981 when he spoke in the Wilkinson Center at the Stake Conference of my BYU student stake. He spoke about the foreknowledge of God, and I remember that upsetting me at the time because my views on the subject were much different then than they are now. I received Even As I Am as a Christmas present in 1982 and started to appreciate him more. In the spring of 1983, he visited Frankfurt, Germany, where show more I was serving as a missionary. I remember standing beside him in a Church gym in Frankfurt eating "quark"--think "yogurt squared"--for lunch at a zone conference and hearing him say that he had never really gotten used to the stuff. He spoke at the Frankfurt Stake Conference, with Immo Luschin, who had just produced a new translation of the Book of Mormon into German, serving as his translator. Brother Luschin looked a little perplexed when trying to tackle the more Maxwellian passages! In the adult session of stake conference, I was in a missionary choir that sat on the stand, and I was able to look into the spellbound faces of the congregation as Elder Maxwell spoke. I cannot remember the details of a story Elder Maxwell told about the life and death of a faithful young LDS mother, but I will never forget the look of heartbreak in the faces of those he was addressing. Since that time, I've counted Elder Maxwell as one of my favorite apostles. One of the things that I should have known, but didn't, before reading this biography is how much of Elder Maxwell's life revolved around meetings and organization and administration. (Better him than me!) I also had not realized just how deeply involved he was in the changes that took place in the Church starting around 1970.

This biography of Elder Maxwell is not afraid to be candid and to show us the man's warts at times. In addition to there being appreciative discussion of his unique speaking and writing style, this book also is willing to be critical when that style hasn't quite clicked. I'm apparently not the only one who would have given some of Elder Maxwell's books B's instead of A's. Elder Hafen reports, for example, that "several of Elder Maxwell's friends wish the books could have been edited more, tightening them up to avoid repetitions, developing concepts as well as phrases."

Here's a sampling of amusing anecdotes from this book:

(a) While an administrator at the U., Brother Maxwell played basketball twice a week with a group called the Coronary Club. When he left the U., and therefore the Club, the other players awarded him a certificate commending him for his "solicitous concern for injured teammates, whether or not the injury was inflicted by him."

(b) "Elder Cecil Samuelson once attended a fireside meeting with Elder Maxwell in Seoul, Korea. Neal was speaking `a hundred miles an hour, as he always does.' A young interpreter was trying very hard to keep up. Neal told a funny story that required several sentences. The translator paused, said about a half dozen words, and the audience roared with laughter. When Elder Samuelson afterward asked the interpreter how he'd handled that, he replied, `I was so far behind and so tired I just said, ``Brothers and sisters, Elder Maxwell just said something very funny. Please laugh.'''"

(c) President Kimball dropped in on the Maxwell home unannounced to extend Brother Maxwell a call to be an Assistant to the Twelve. Neal answered the door in bare feet and rushed to put on some slippers in order to be semi-appropriately attired to receive the call. Elder Maxwell was apparently wearing a hospital gown when called to be an Apostle. President Kimball came to the hospital where Elder Maxwell was recovering from nasal surgery to extend the call. "Neal, still a little groggy, tried gamely to be cheerful as he fought off the effects of the anesthetic. Brother Kimball bent over to kiss him on the cheek and inadvertently bumped his nose, `which was pretty hard not to do, because it was so swathed in bandages.'"

I don't know what non-fans will think of this book, but I found it to be very interesting, and it has greatly improved my understanding of, and appreciation for, Elder Maxwell. show less

"I will cut my desire into short day-by-day lengths, and I will feed those lengths to the hungry fires of courage because I want nothing more than for my sacrifices to be accepted, my gold to be purified, even if my hands are bruised." Beautiful prose, like that, is mixed in with stories from different countries and cultures. In between that he adds the history of marriage. I found his statements about the Middle/Dark ages particularly interesting. Not a how to/workbook but a solid overview show more of the topic and why it should matter to the average person. show less

In summarizing the life of a great man and great writer, Bruce C. Hafen rises to the occassion. This is one of the two or three best biographies of an LDS leader I have read. Brother Hafen seems to find the perfect balance between avoiding hagiography and showing respect and admiration for his subject.

Bruce C. Hafen was a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy until 2010 when he was given Emeritus status. Prior to that, he was a president of BYU-Idaho and dean of the BYU Law School. He also was recently the president of the St. George Temple. Marie K. Hafen, his wife, taught at BYU-Idaho, BYU, and the University of Utah, as well as serving on the Young Women General Board and on the Deseret News board of directors.

This book is an expansion of a talk they gave together at a BYU-Hawaii show more devotional on January 24, 2017, which was an updated version of a talk called “Love Is Not Blind: Some Thoughts for College Students on Faith and Ambiguity” at a BYU devotional on January 9, 1979. Since 1979, the internet has of course come about as a new avenue for people to stumble across things that would destroy their faith, and much of the book focuses on that.

The Hafens suggest a three part model for understanding stages of belief that people might go through. First is what they call “simplicity.” This is when people have an innocent faith and “tend to think in terms of black or white - there is very little gray in [their] perspective. And many youth and young single adults have a childlike optimism and loyalty that make them wonderfully teachable. They typically trust their teachers, believe what they read, and respond eagerly to invitations for Church service. New adult converts often have similar attitudes” (page 8).

The next stage is “complexity,” which might be entered when we “run across information we haven’t heard before about Joseph Smith or Brigham Young. Or maybe we encounter something posted on the Internet that raises religious questions we don’t know how to answer. Such experiences can produce an unsettling sense of uncertainty, and we might understandably yearn for simpler, easier times. We might find ourselves becoming a little skeptical, or we may begin to ask questions that haven’t occurred to us before” (page 9).

Stage three is “the simplicity beyond complexity, a settled and informed perspective that has been tempered and tested by time and experience” (page 11). This is where we must all arrive if we are to be able to grow in faith and get out of the skepticism or unbelief of stage two. Unfortunately, many stay in stage two and even enjoy spreading the skepticism. Stage three is “a knowing and trusting kind of obedience. Instead of asking us to put aside the tools of an educated, critical mind, this attitude invites us to use those tools, coupling them with confidence in the ideal, so we can improve the status quo, not just criticize it. Call it informed faith” (page 15).

The Hafens explain why many today are blindsided with things they didn’t know about the Church or its history when they stumble across them online: “During the recent decades of international growth, the Church has needed to simplify its curriculum, magazines, and other materials so that inexperienced Church members in many cultures can understand them.” This approach limited “the availability of more advanced information” (page 20). Corrections have recently been made, beginning with the publishing of the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, and continuing with the
Gospel Topics Essays and the Joseph Smith Papers project.

Suggestions are given for getting from stage two to stage three. First, is to ask faithful questions and be curious. “However, it’s good to remember that being a doubting Thomas is not the end goal of discipleship. Being realistic is better than not seeing reality, but...a myopic preoccupation with complexity can easily become a rigid pessimism that also blocks the search for truth” (page 22).

The next suggestion is to be cautious about information found online. The Internet gives unfiltered access to everyone’s ideas and treats them all equally. This lets anyone appear as an authority, and it may be difficult to distinguish truth from fiction. Readers of critical websites may not realize that the claims being made have already been discredited.

Another suggestion is to look at the big picture, and focus on the doctrine rather than the details of how it was received. And the fourth suggestion is to be humble. Meekness helps us keep an open mind and keep our faith alive.

After these introductory chapters, there are chapters devoted to further discussion of the Internet, choosing to believe, how to deal with apparent contradictions, balancing our head and our heart, and why God doesn’t just show himself to us when we think that is exactly what would really help.

The Hafens also talk about working their way through questions they had, using the former priesthood restriction as an example, and whether it was a mistake. They say that “this issue matters. Concluding that the priesthood restriction itself was wrong makes it more likely that we would hold back from giving the Lord and His prophets the benefit of the doubt about other important questions” (page 118). After walking us through the process, they come to the conclusion that this is something we have to decide for ourselves. There are often no better answers available, and we eventually have to accept that. As Richard Bushman said, “I know the arguments against the [Book of Mormon’s] historicity, but I can’t help feeling that the words are true and the events happened. I believe it in the face of many questions….Unanswerable as some questions are, we need not lament the questions they bring. The strain of believing in unbelieving times is not a handicap or a burden. It is a stimulus and a prod….And...we are in this together” (page 124).

For anyone who is currently in stage two, or knows someone who is, this book could be very helpful. It is a pretty quick read, but it has a lot of useful insights, and is definitely relevant to our time. I plan to return to its pages again. show less