New book puts divine face on the LDS people

David L. Rowe is the dean of Spiritual Life at the Salt Lake Theological Seminary. We've been friends for many years. Like the guy in the Kris Kristofferson song, Dave is a poet, a preacher and a pilgrim. He holds fast to his own brand of Christianity with one hand while reaching out to help floundering souls with the other.

Now he's written a book about all that: "I Love Mormons." (Baker Books).

And it's unlike any book I've ever read.

C.S. Lewis claimed there are two types of readers: those who read to confirm their biases and those who read to challenge their biases. But I think there's a third type — readers who read to learn what's inside the hearts of other people. And although many LDS readers may quibble with some of the things David Rowe has to say, they will agree an honest man is doing the talking.

Just as the Apostle Paul would begin his epistles with self-effacing comments about his failings, Dave Rowe opens his book with his own shortcomings.

He writes that early on he was blind to the "sinewy, pulsating, dust-and-dreams, soulful reality of the Mormon people," that the beam in his own eye grew from "telephone pole to sequoia proportions." He says once he put down his dukes and started to listen, however, he realized that Mormonism was not a cult, it was a culture — a way of life with a work ethic, family values, a healthy lifestyle and a penchant for sharing.

He says he began seeing LDS people as people. They were "heart people," he said, people who related to each other through stories, songs, tender feelings and personal experiences. And once he found the LDS wavelength, Rowe says, he was able to tune in and listen. Speaking of his fellow Christians, Dave writes:

"We are more at home with words and linear arguments than with images and experiences — more at home with propositional truth than with poetic truth. We'd rather argue from Romans or John than present the gospel as a dance or in a drama or in the form of our personal story." He says Evangelicals need to learn to speak "Mormonese," to learn to talk about "a recent answer to prayer or a stunning act of God we've experienced or a gospel-like image from a film (rather than) reciting a Bible verse or sharing a great doctrinal 'insight' we got in last Sunday's sermon."

Although the book is for "traditional Christians," it was enlightening for me to learn how others see me and — in some cases — actually learn a few truths about myself. There are some things Dave Rowe miscalculates. He tends to see changes in the wording of LDS manuals and books as changes in doctrine when, in fact, points of doctrine may simply have been "veiled" so they don't distract from the more vital aspects of the church. And the author seems to see the LDS culture as more "homogenized" than many of us enamored with "poetic truth" may see it.

Yet as a whole, "I Love Mormons" is a watershed book. It not only puts a human face on LDS people but a divine face. No other Protestant text I know can compare. Make no mistake, it is a book to help Evangelicals enlighten Mormons, but the book sheds a soft light. And nobody will read it without becoming converted — converted to the notion that in matters of faith, generosity is always the best policy.

Call the seminary at 581-1900 with questions.

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E-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com