Top 10 LDS ‘Intellectuals’

Jack H Adamson
Henry Eyring

Other then Nibley, Michael Ash quotes little to none of these men's work. Interesting view the J. Smith was an intellectual giant, I thought he was an ignorant farm boy.

How about Karl Mazer

I would add, in addition to those already mentioned:

Bruce McConkie

Joseph Fielding Smith

Dallin Oaks

Boyd Packer

Gordon Hinckley

Ezra Taft Benson

Joseph Smith may have started an ignorant farm boy. We all come into this worldly experience ignorant. As a result of gazing into heaven for quite a bit longer that five minutes, his grasp of everything from theology to physics became profound. Joseph Smith was truly a "Renaissance man, also called Universal Man, Italian Uomo Universale, an ideal that developed in Renaissance Italy from the notion expressed by one of its most accomplished representatives, Leon Battista Alberti (140472), that 'a man can do all things if he will.'" (quote from Encyclopedia Britannica)

Joseph Smith was a Universal Man in his person, but a Prophet by his calling. We can only imagine what he might have been if he had been schooled by academia instead of by angels. Thankfully, that was not his calling, but rather he gave his life serving his Lord and his fellow man.

ed in az:

I completely second the thought that Henry Eyring should be on that list. The guy came super close to winning a Nobel Prize for his work in Chemistry and is just absolutely brilliant. I believe Elder Oaks referred to him as the greatest Mormon scientist. And the thing I like about Henry Eyring the most is that whereas other "intellectuals" seem to complicate the gospel, he simplified it.

I've said it on the message boards before, but I'm willing to bet that most people who leave the LDS church for "intellectual" reasons, haven't read and or understood the basic principles contained within Henry Eyring's books "The Faith of a Scientist" or "Reflections of a Scientist".

Neal A Maxwell, Hugh B. Brown and Bruce R. McConckie. All had great intellect.

Why the use of quotation marks around the word "intellectual?"

Isn't that the equivalent of calling these men "allegedly smart?"

Glad to see McMurrin and Bennion on the list.

I'm not sure how this list was compiled, other than "Let's find Mormons who once taught at a school."

Joseph Smith was an incredible figure in modern American theology; calling him an "intellectual" is a stretch. An intellectual is one who obtains a living from his intellect, and not simply an educator. Talmage, Widtsoe, and Nibley are all fantastic examples. Parley P. Pratt? How did he beat out Oliver Cowdery?

Richard L. Bushman is an inexcusable omission- he has done more for the positive portrayal of Mormon academics than perhaps any person living. Truman Madsen seems like a more reasonable candidate than Orson Pratt, as well. Among current GA's, I could go for Elders Holland or Oaks.

Plus, I find it ironic that an article on Latter-day Saint intellectuals has so many typographical errors. The "Univeristy of California"? " "Reading, writing and the restored gospel *become* Roberts passions."

Who writes these things, anyways?

Taylor: Ezra Taft?

Lowell Bennion is the only one that belongs on the list.