Review
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Title: Mormonism and the Emotions: An Analysis of LDS Scriptural Texts
Author: Mauro Properzi
Publisher: Farleigh Dickinson University Press
Genre: Social Sciences/Religion interdisciplinary scholarship
Year of Publication: 2015
Number of Pages: 269
Binding: hardcover
ISBN13: 978-1-61147-772-6
Price: $85.00
Reviewed by Julie J. Nichols for the Association for Mormon Letters
Disclaimer: I am not a social scientist. Psychological jargon is not familiar territory to me, although I understand perfectly well—as probably will most readers of AML reviews—this passage from Properzi’s conclusion:
“…[Emotions] occupy a central position within the Mormon worldview of eternal existence. Indeed, emotions are instruments that shape humanity’s eternal trajectory of dynamic progress in spiritual capacity and personal strength; specifically, they function as both repository and expression of such central human characteristics of spiritual development as *knowledge, character, and sanctification.* In other words, emotions can be conduits to the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, which is the enabler of salvific knowledge and character development, particularly because the Spirit often employs emotional means to carry light, strength, and divine grace in its capacities of *testifier, comforter, and reminder*….Ultimately, the Spirit brings the empathic and loving power of the atonement of Christ to both spirit and body, and to mind and heart” (232).
These sentences are not beyond our comprehension at all. In fact, to most readers of AML reviews, they make perfect sense: the Spirit works through emotions, and most Latter-day Saints acknowledge both Spirit and emotion as principal pathways of communication with God and Christ.
At the same time, these heavily-jargon-laden sentences can add to our ability to reason exactly how Spirit and emotion work together within us. The two threefold lists of terms—“knowledge, character, and sanctification,” and “testifier, comforter, and reminder” can supplement our lay discussion of both Spirit and emotion. Meanwhile, of course, they appeal directly to the expertise of the social scientist, especially the psychologist. Latter-day Saints interested in how better to think about the relationship between Spirit and emotion, as well as social scientists interested in the intersection of religion (specifically Mormonism) with scientific theories about emotion will find great value in this book. But it is not for the faint of heart, not for the casual reader looking for easy entertainment or elementary explanation.
It looks to be the first in the Farleigh Dickinson University Press Series in Mormon Studies. As such, we could wish it had been somewhat more carefully edited; I found between one and five typos on nearly every page spread, from repetition of words to wrongly-inserted punctuation marks to such lamentable constructions as “[the academic study of emotions] has no foreseeable end in sight.” “Foreseeable” means “in sight.” A careful editor should spare us by deleting either “foreseeable” or “in sight.” These kinds of issues are rampant.
That said, however, many aspects of this book make it commendable for both the interested lay reader and the scholar of social science and/or religion. Properzi, now a full-time faculty member in the Department of Church History at BYU, is meticulous in setting out the scope of his study, rigorous in defining his methodology. His introduction, which painstakingly defines “Mormon theology,” could serve as required reading for anyone entering a conversation on that topic:
“[Any] LDS theology that aims to speak to Mormons…ought to include a general positive orientation toward the faith, alignment to established doctrine, and absence of magisterial ecclesiastical claims. Its content will be recognizably Mormon, but it will emerge in engagement with rather than isolation from other religious or scientific conclusions. It will potentially challenge existing Mormon perceptions, but it will always do so with an accompanying justification of a superior alignment with existing LDS doctrine….It will be creative, even speculative, but it will be conscious of any points of separation from its established doctrinal roots…necessarily provisional…being widely accessible to those who stand outside the tradition as well as faithful to the theological identity from which it emerges” (10).
Though I am hardly a theologian, I found Properzi’s discussion of what theology is (which precedes this passage) and how a Mormon theology will situate itself clear, illuminating, and even motivating: people of integrity ought to do Mormon theology just this way!
His methodological overview is similarly effective. His purpose is to construct what he calls, in quotation marks, a “theological psychology,” by, in effect, writing an exegesis of various scriptures to discover what they say about six specific emotions: the predictive emotions, hope and fear; the assessing emotions, joy and sorrow; and the relating emotions, love and hate. To lay the foundation for such an exegesis he says he will first survey “philosophical and scientific perspectives on the emotions” (13), narrowing his discussion to three specific aspects of emotions: their “cognitive necessity” (ie the relationship between cognition and emotional response); the responsibility of humans to be aware of and control their emotions; and the role of emotions in the development of the human being.
Next, Properzi says he will analyze “theological principles that are key to Mormon ontology” (ibid), specifically to its “cosmology, metaphysics, and broad theological foundations of existence” (14). He will devote a chapter to “Mormonism’s objective of eternal progression through an analysis of revelation, repentance, and family relations as primary instruments that lead to it” (ibid).
After this initial theoretical underpinning, Properzi proposes to zero in on his three chosen pairs of opposite emotions as they appear in the LDS scriptural canon, showing what the scriptures themselves teach regarding each of these emotions’ cognitive necessity, personal responsibility, and developmental instrumentality.
A summary of his analysis of the assessing emotion of joy may serve to illustrate his approach.
He begins by explaining the properties of the emotion itself: “joy and sorrow emerge from personal judgements about the pleasantness or painfulness of a particular experience or reality….[The] surer the judgments of present circumstances in relation to personal values and goals, the more the perceived assessments will trigger…joy or sorrow” (157-158). Such a preliminary discussion of exactly what the emotion is prefaces each analysis.
In regard to joy’s “cognitive necessity,” Properzi cites such scriptures as Alma 26:35, 2 Nephi 25: 26, Helaman 8: 17, and others to show that “Mormon canonical evidence suggests that the cognitive actualization of hoped-for events can trigger intense emotions of joy…the LDS canon echoes the biblical emphasis on ‘glad tidings of great joy’ when it describes the emotional intensity inherent to the acquisition of salvific knowledge” (160). In other words, reason is profoundly linked to joy.
In terms of “personal responsibility,” Properzi points out that “agency…is at the root of many LDS canonical texts on the acquisition of joy or happiness” (162), citing Alma the Younger in Alma 41:10 and other, similar verses. Predictably, he concludes that “the Mormon canon affirms that humans have the responsibility to think, desire, and embody truth [so that] ‘the joy of the Saints’ will then follow the process of directing one’s cognitive focus to the right object” (163) .
And in terms of “developmental instrumentality,” “’the joy of the Saints’…functions both as a source of comfort or confidence and as an instrument that can lead individuals to spiritual conversion” (164).
There follows a section on the relationship between joy and the Spirit. In fact, Properzi returns at the end of each exegetical chapter to the relationship between the emotion under discussion and the Spirit. In these sections he reiterates how cognition, personal responsibility, and developmental instrumentality all contribute to Latter-day Saints’ perception of the Spirit as they experience the emotion, always referring to specific scriptures. Thus he suggests that when we read those scriptures with a focus on the emotions they portray, we learn much about the role of that emotion in our spiritual lives.
Properzi notes the limitations of his work and suggests areas for further research (“for example, the identification and description of Mormonism’s *emotives* through careful examinations of LDS material and non-material cultures, oral traditions, folklore, and ecclesial as well as domestic ritual practices not only would be valuable in its own right but it would also be a promising expansion of the present study” (236)). Plentiful citations include many familiar LDS authors, such as Terryl Givens, Brian Birch, Louis Midgley, and Linda King Newell, as well as many non-LDS experts who will probably be known to scholars of social science and religion.
*Mormonism and the Emotions* is specific and narrowly focused, with a limited academic audience. But within that purview it is thorough and well-supported. Students and scholars of LDS theology and of the emotions in human life will find much to mull over, with pleasure, interest, and even, perhaps, joy.