Office of Alumni/ae and Church Relations

Fuller Home | News and Events Home | Alumni/ae Home | Back to E-News

Mormons and Evangelicals:
A Dialogue Whose Time Has Come

by President Richard J. Mouw

At the beginning of April, Fuller will host a conference that will bring together Mormon and evangelical scholars to discuss the topic, “Thinking Theologically About America: Evangelical and Mormon Perspectives in Dialogue.” I will codirect the conference with Professor Robert Millet of Brigham Young University (BYU).

I believe this is an important opportunity to begin a dialogue whose time has come. To put it mildly, our two communities have not always gotten along very well. I think it is fair to say that, within the religious world, evangelicals have been Mormonism’s most antagonistic critics. We have certainly reserved some of our harshest rhetoric for attacks on Mormon beliefs, and Mormons have been quite effective at responding in kind.

In the past few years, though, there have been some efforts to engage in a more civil dialogue. Denver Seminary’s Craig Blomberg and BYU’s Stephen Robinson led the way when they coauthored How Wide the Divide: A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation (InterVarsity Press, 1997). Since then, a small group of evangelical scholars has been meeting with Mormon counterparts for sustained discussion of our respective theological positions on key topics. These meetings have been held alternately at Fuller and BYU. We have tackled tough questions, and our exchanges have often been quite heated – but through it all we have begun to build some trust. Robert Millet and I have arranged most of these dialogues, and this conference is a result of our growing friendship.

In choosing a topic, we thought it wise to focus on issues that allow us to engage in comparative historical analysis rather than directly address a subject that lends itself to confrontation. We decided to look at a the different ways in which our two traditions have employed theological categories to understand the North American context. I was immensely grateful when the Louisville Institute, which supports special programs in the history of American Christianity, agreed to provide funding for the conference.

I hope this conference enables the Fuller community and its evangelical guests to sample the fruits of some impressive scholarship produced by Mormon thinkers in recent years. The depth of Mormon scholarship has been a well-kept secret in the evangelical world. In 1988 two young evangelical scholars, Carl Mosser and Paul Owen, published an important paper in the Trinity Journal with the revealing title, “Mormon Scholarship, Apologetics, and Evangelical Neglect: Losing the Battle and Not Knowing It?” They argued that the typical ways in which evangelicals have countered Mormon claims are inadequate in light of the scholarly literature being produced by Mormon academics. More recently, Mosser and Owen, together with several other evangelical scholars, have produced a volume of essays, The New Mormon Challenge (Zondervan, 2002), in which they respond to Mormon thinkers on a variety of topics.

One of the most recent scholarly books from the Mormon community is Terryl L. Givens’ By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion (Oxford University Press, 2002) – in my opinion a brilliant piece of work. Givens’ subtitle nicely identifies the agenda for the forthcoming conference. Mormonism is very much a North American religion. Some have observed that it is the only homegrown North American belief system to emerge as a significant presence in the global religious context.

North American evangelicalism is homegrown in a different sense. We have been shaped – theologically and spiritually – by influences from the European continent and Britain, but we have put out own unique stamp on what we have received. In no area have we done this more than in our understanding of the role of the U.S. in God’s providential economy. In this regard, we have important things in common with Mormonism. We have employed many of the same theological categories (while giving them somewhat different theological content), and we have struggled with similar dilemmas and temptations in our attempts to live out our faith commitments in the U.S. At the grassroots level, many evangelicals and Mormons have worked side by side in promoting common goals regarding public morality.

It is a good thing, then, that we talk about these differences and similarities at a place like Fuller. While we disagree on many fundamental issues, we also have lessons to learn together – not the least of which is how to work at civil dialogue with one another.

There is also an institutional reason why dialogue is good for us at this point. From time to time we receive applications from LDS students, especially for admission to our psychology programs. As a matter of policy, we have not accepted these students. We have been asked by folks at BYU to review that policy, which I have done. My decision is to continue to enforce the policy prohibiting Mormons from enrolling in our programs. I am confident that this is the right approach. But rather than simply turning our backs on Mormons, I believe it is important to demonstrate our willingness to be in conversation with them.

On the Thursday evening of the conference, we will feature a dialogue between Robert Millet and Greg Johnson, an Evangelical Free pastor from Utah. They will focus on key theological differences between evangelical Christianity and Mormonism. Millet and Johnson have conducted this dialogue on a number of evangelical campuses, and I have heard positive reports from people who have attended.

We will not be advertising this conference widely, since we would like to keep the focus on theological concerns of special interest to a seminary community. We are, however, inviting staff and students from local university-related Latter-Day Saints institutes. This is a fine opportunity for us to meet and interact with our Mormon counterparts. I hope that many from the Fuller community will take advantage of this important event.

This article originally appeared in the SEMI, the student publication of Fuller Theological Seminary.