Index to claims made in The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power
This is an index of claims made in this work with links to corresponding responses within the FAIRwiki.
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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20
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- Author's quote: While they acknowledge that Packer previously was "less than diplomatic," "dogmatic, bigoted," "offended people," and got "agitated and lashed out" as a church administrator, his biographer and Apostle Neal A. Maxwell have recently said that Packer "has grown" out of such behavior.
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- The author attributes such claims to the biographer and another apostle; in fact, the biographer notes that "in the minds of some few" this has been the case. Reading the entire chapter conveys nothing like the author's version. One wonders if the author's problems with the Church, which became more prominent after he publically attacked a talk given by Elder Packer, explains his current animus and willingness to distort what others have said.
- From the cited source:
[President Packer's] talks have been listened to and appreciated by members throughout the Church. But in the minds of some few he has been viewed as controversial, dogmatic, bigoted.
- See also: Duane Boyce, "A Betrayal of Trust (Review of: The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 9/2 (1997): 147–163. off-site
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- Lucile C. Tate, Boyd K. Packer: A Watchman on the Tower (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1995), 264.
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20
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- The author claims that Elder Maxwell said Elder Packer might have been "'agitated and lashed out' as a church administrator."
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- Elder Maxwell's praise of Elder Packer is clear. The author omits the indication that any lashing out is against a thing, not a person. He also ignores key attributes of patience, meekness, anxious concern for the right, and willingness to suffer for the truth, since these are not the characteristics which he wishes to ascribe to Elder Packer. Text without context results in error and misrepresentation of Elder Maxwell's intent.
- From the cited source:
Whereas Boyd formerly might have been agitated and lashed out against something that wasn't right, he has grown. With his increased spiritual composure his influence and impact are quiet, steady, and deep. He does not simply point out problems; he reconnoiters them perceptively, then in a prophetic, apostolic way he becomes a clarifier, a mover, and a resolver. In patience and meekness he uses his insights and influence to bring about what needs to be done.
Boyd possesses another attribute that relates to the one just mentioned. He is quite unconcerned with self. He is anxiously engaged in good causes, and if issues require him to stand alone until others catch the vision, he'll pay the price and doesn't worry about the consequences for him. He takes the eternal view that if what you have done is right, the fact that you got bruised a bit in the process doesn't matter much; the bruises will heal and the progress will have been made.
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- Neal A. Maxwell, cited in Lucile C. Tate, Boyd K. Packer: A Watchman on the Tower, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1995),162; citing Neal A. Maxwell interview, 8 December 1989.
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