A Mormon biblical scholar whose writings questioned church teachings has been excommunicated for apostasy.
The scholar, David P. Wright, an assistant professor of Judaic and Near Eastern studies at Brandeis University, is the sixth Mormon intellectual to be excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since September. Some Mormon scholars contend that the actions are part of a larger effort to punish intellectuals seen as publicly challenging the church. Last month, the church also excommunicated a Virginia man who had questioned Mormon teachings in a series of letters published in daily newspapers.
Of the six intellectuals, only Mr. Wright currently holds an academic appointment. He went to Brandeis after he was dismissed from Brigham Young University in 1989, for reasons similar to those that led to his excommunication.
The five others who were excommunicated live in Utah. They are Lavina Fielding Anderson, an independent editor and feminist thinker; Avraham Gileadi, an independent scholar of Isaiah who briefly held an adjunct post at BYU; Maxine Hanks, a feminist writer; D. Michael Quinn, an independent historian who left BYU after clashing with officials there over his scholarly views; and Paul Toscano, a lawyer and writer.
Mr. Wright, whose Mormon roots go back to the founding of the church, said he was deeply upset about being excommunicated. “If I’m guilty of anything, I’m guilty of trying to find a way to believe and to assess Mormon tradition positively,” he said.
In his scholarly writings, he has argued that the Book of Mormon, the church’s major scriptural work, was not ancient but was written by Joseph Smith, the church’s founder. He has also expressed the view that prophets’ declarations were not infallible.
Mr. Wright was excommunicated after a four-hour disciplinary proceeding last month. He gave a statement, then was questioned by a 12-member council of church leaders. He said the 12 were lay leaders unfamiliar with Mormon historical scholarship.
The church does not discuss such cases publicly. But in a letter outlining the excommunication decision, Ned Wheeler, president of the Nashua, N.H., stake, a regional unit of the church, told Mr. Wright that when Mormon prophets speak, “they will be directed by inspiration and when they speak as such all debate should stop.” The letter continued: “This is why we must compare our earthly learning to the standard of the gospel and not the other way around.”
Mr. Wright can still attend church, but he cannot take part in church ceremonies or pay tithes. To rejoin the church, he would have to renounce his scholarly views, Mr. Wright said, adding: “You can’t unknow what you know.”
Ms. Anderson said that, in her case, church officials had become concerned after she published an article in an independent Mormon journal about the tense relationship between the church, intellectuals, and feminists. Her voice still breaks when she discusses her excommunication. “We Mormon feminists see ourselves not as rejecting our Mormon heritage, but reclaiming it,” she said.
In recent years, a group of BYU faculty members has organized to protest church actions against certain colleagues. Several scholars have left the university after recent academic-freedom clashes. “Now I have colleagues who are worried on two fronts -- the academic front and ecclesiastical front,” said Sam Rushforth, a botany professor.
That view, say BYU officials and other professors, is held by a small minority of faculty members. A university spokesman noted that an outside poll found that the proportion of BYU faculty satisfied with their autonomy and independence was higher than the national average. W. Steve Albrecht, a professor of accounting, said most of his colleagues did not think church-imposed restrictions on the faculty were unfair. He was among 32 academics who made that point in an open letter published in various newspapers last fall.
“You have to balance individual freedom with institutional freedom,” he said in an interview.
