D. Michael Quinn
D. Michael Quinn | |
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Born | Dennis Michael Quinn March 26, 1944 Mormon scholar Member of the September Six |
Dennis Michael Quinn (March 26, 1944 – April 21, 2021)
Early life
Quinn was born in Pasadena, California and grew up in adjacent Glendale.[6] He wanted to be a medical doctor and in preparation became a nursing aide at his local hospital during his senior year in high school, with a full load of patients.[7] In college, however, he failed his pre-med program and so changed majors to English and philosophy.[7]
Church and military service
Quinn served a
Quinn applied for a graduate program in history in
Excommunication and later life
On September 26, 1993, Quinn was
Quinn afterwards published several major studies of the LDS Church hierarchy, including his three-volume work of The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, and The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power. He also authored the 1996 book Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example, which argues that homosexuality was common among early Mormons and was not seen as a serious sin or transgression.
Despite his excommunication and critical writings, Quinn still considered himself a Latter-day Saint[4] and believed in Mormonism, though he disagreed with certain policies and doctrines.[5][14] The Salt Lake Tribune said he had "the most literal faith" of any member of the September Six and believed in "angelic visits, miracles, divine intervention, gold plates, [and] Christ in America."[1]
In an April 2006 article for the Wall Street Journal, reporter Daniel Golden wrote that Quinn could no longer be hired because almost all the funding for professorships in Mormon studies comes from Mormon donors. For example, Arizona State University administrators vetoed the department of religious studies in its recommendation to hire Quinn. Its faculty believed that officials feared alienating the 3,700 Mormon students and offending Ira A. Fulton, a powerful Mormon donor who, according to Golden, has called Quinn a "nothing person."[5]
In 2007, Quinn was interviewed in the
Quinn died on an unknown date between April 10-21, 2021 in Rancho Cucamonga, California.[1][7]
Writings on Mormonism
Quinn's research topics, both before and after his excommunication, were in-depth revisions of traditional accounts of Mormon history that were grounded in primary source material. The Mormon History Association has recognized his writings as "foundational to the field" of Mormon studies.[15] Three of his most influential books, which also generated intense controversy, are Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, and The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power.
Early Mormonism and the Magic World View
Early Mormonism and the Magic World View is an exhaustive recounting of the role of 19th-century New England
Various historians, both within and without the Mormon faith, consider this book an important contribution in understanding early Mormon history, and supporters feel the work is groundbreaking.[17][18] In a 1990 book review in Church History, Klaus J. Hansen calls Quinn's book a "magisterial study" and a "tour de force" and notes the book's "truly stunning mass of evidence" in favor of its position.[19] John L. Brooke made Quinn's argument the starting point of his study, The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844.[citation needed]
Mormon and non-Mormon scholars[who?] have criticized the book as relying too heavily on environmental parallels without a proven connection to Smith's ideas and behavior; that it accepts at face value the disputed Howe–Hurlbut affidavits about Smith's reputation and behavior in New York and a late 19th-century newspaper account of a money-digging agreement involving Smith and his father.[citation needed] William J. Hamblin states in his review of the book that "the fact that Quinn could not discover a single primary source written by Latter-day Saints that makes any positive statement about magic is hardly dissuasive to a historian of Quinn's inventive capacity".[20] An additional criticism suggests that the concept of magic is flawed and inherently subjective; it implies that Smith's use of seer stones and dowsing rods was superstitious or fraudulent rather than divine. However, some of Quinn's critics acknowledge that the book is "richly documented" and an obligatory starting point for any discussion of Smith's involvement in 19th-century folkloric practices.[21]
The Mormon Hierarchy
The three volumes of The Mormon Hierarchy provide a comprehensive secular organizational history of the LDS Church from its founding to modern times, and its influence on current Mormon culture and doctrine. The work emphasizes conflict, coercion, and violence, especially during the 19th century (see
In a review of The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power for the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, a Mormon research organization, Duane Boyce states that there are scholarly deficiencies in the work and refers to it as a "betrayal of trust."[23]
In 2012, Quinn was reported to be working on a book about LDS Church finances and businesses. He said, "The Mormon Church is very different than any other church....Traditional Christianity and Judaism make a clear distinction between what is spiritual and what is temporal, while Mormon theology specifically denies that there is such a distinction." Regarding management of the church's considerable investments, Quinn said, "Several high-ranking church insiders told him that the church's finances are so compartmentalized that no single person, not even the president, knows the entirety of its holdings."[24]
The resulting book was released in 2017 as the third volume in his Mormon Hierarchy series, Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power.[25][26] In an interview about this book with the Salt Lake Tribune's podcast Mormon Land, Michael Quinn spoke of the financial structure of the LDS Church as "faith promoting" and "stunning." He finished the 50 minute interview by saying, "There is no comparison to the volunteerism of the highest officers of the LDS Church compared to the highest officers of any non-profit you can look at."[27][26]
Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example
Quinn has argued that homosexual relationships, between both men and women, were quietly accepted by the LDS Church and its leadership up until the 1940s.[2] This theme has arisen in Quinn's The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power and is the central topic of Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example. Two Mormon scholars have disputed Quinn's work, calling it a distortion of church history; these writers claim that Quinn completely misrepresented the facts[28][29] and deny any acceptance of homosexuality from previous leaders. They suggest that Quinn has conflated an absence of early church proscriptions of homosexuality with tacit acceptance of same, and state that the current leadership of the church "is entirely consistent with the teachings of past leaders and with the scriptures."[28][29]
Selected works
Quinn has edited a prominent collection of major publications in Mormon history over the last 40 years, The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past. He has written and spoken of the parallels between 19th-century American attacks on Mormon polygamy and 20th- and 21st-century Mormon attacks on same-sex marriage. He has also presented an overview of recent biographies of Joseph Smith, suggesting that these biographies maintain an artificial division between Smith the treasure seeker and Smith the prophet.
Quinn was also a noteworthy biographer of the mid-20th-century Latter-day Saint leader
Bibliography
- Quinn, D. Michael (1983). J. Reuben Clark, The Church Years. Provo, Utah: ISBN 0-8425-2137-2.
- —— (Spring 1985). "LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890–1904". S2CID 259871046. Archived from the originalon December 21, 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
- —— (1987). Early Mormonism and the Magic World View. Salt Lake City, Utah: ISBN 0-941214-46-X.
- —— (1992). The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-011-6. Archived from the originalon October 19, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
- —— (1992). "On Being a Mormon Historian (and Its Aftermath)". In Smith, George D. (ed.). Faithful History: Essays on Writing Mormon History. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. OCLC 23941120.
- —— (1994). The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-056-6. Archived from the originalon October 21, 2006.
- —— (1996). Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example. Urbana and Chicago: ISBN 0-252-06958-7.
- —— (1997). The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-060-4. Archived from the originalon October 29, 2005. Retrieved August 30, 2005.
- —— (1998). Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (Revised and Enlarged ed.). Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-089-2. Archived from the originalon December 18, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
- —— (2002). Elder Statesman: A Biography of J. Reuben Clark. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-155-4. Archived from the originalon October 29, 2005. Retrieved August 30, 2005.
- —— (December 2003). "Apologia Pro Mea Via" (PDF). Sunstone. 28 (5): 25–27.
- —— (2017). The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth & Corporate Power. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 978-1-56085-235-3.
References
- ^ Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Interview of D. Michael Quinn". PBS. April 30, 2007. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
- ^ Haglund, David (November 1, 2012). "The Case of the Mormon Historian". Slate. Graham Holdings. The Slate Group. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Lavina Fielding Anderson. "DNA Mormon: D. Michael Quinn," in Mormon Mavericks: Essays on Dissenters, edited by John Sillitoe and Susan Staker, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002, pp. 329–63.
- ^ a b c Golden, Daniel (April 6, 2006), "Scholar of Mormon History, Expelled From Church, Hits a Wall in Job Search", The Wall Street Journal, p. A1,
Mr. Quinn's personal life contributed to his estrangement from the church. The father of four was divorced in 1985 and came out as a homosexual in 1996 when he published a book about same-sex friendships and romances in 19th-century Mormonism. The church condemns homosexual behavior. Mr. Quinn says he still believes in the 'fundamentals' of Mormonism but doesn't practice the faith.
- ^ Date information sourced from Library of Congress Authorities data, via corresponding WorldCat Identities linked authority file (LAF).
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56085-451-7.
- ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (April 22, 2021). "Historian D. Michael Quinn, who was booted from the LDS Church as part of the 'September Six' but remained a believer, dies at 77". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c "Episode 182: Michael Quinn Discusses Deseret Hemp Company", GospelTangents.com, Gospel Tangents Podcast, August 3, 2018
- ISBN 1568582838. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
- ^ a b "Episode 267: Michael Quinn, History and the Mormon World View", MormonStories.org, Mormon Stories Podcast, August 6, 2011, archived from the original on November 14, 2014
- ^ "Episodes 285-287: D. Michael Quinn – 21st Century Mormon Enigma", MormonStories.org, Mormon Stories Podcast, September 17, 2011, archived from the original on November 14, 2014
- ISBN 1-56085-048-5. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
- ^ Anderson, however, states that the divorce was not until 1986 and argues that Quinn's orientation was not made public prior to his excommunication and so had little to do with the estrangement: Lavina Fielding Anderson. "DNA Mormon: D. Michael Quinn," in Mormon Mavericks: Essays on Dissenters, edited by John Sillitoe and Susan Staker, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002, pp. 329–63.
- ^ Mormon History Association (April 22, 2021). "The Mormon History Association is profoundly saddened to learn of the recent passing of one its most beloved and active members, D. Michael Quinn". Facebook. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ Divining Rods
- ^ Fleming, Steve (May 14, 2011). "Reassessing: D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View". Juvenile Instructor. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ^ Fleming, Steve (April 23, 2021). "D. Michael Quinn, 1944-2021". Juvenile Instructor. Archived from the original on April 27, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- S2CID 161424225– via JSTOR.
- S2CID 191777112, archived from the originalon June 30, 2013, retrieved November 1, 2012
- The Western Historical Quarterly.[full citation needed]
- ^ Quinn, D. Michael. The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), p. 14.
- S2CID 151535262
- ^ Winter, Caroline, "How the Mormons Make Money", Bloomberg Businessweek, 18 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
- ^ "Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power". Signature Books.
- ^ Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
- ^ Mormon Land: D. Michael Quinn on LDS Church finances, retrieved October 27, 2017
- ^ S2CID 164386122, archived from the originalon July 19, 2011, retrieved May 28, 2013
- ^ S2CID 254209913, archived from the originalon July 1, 2013, retrieved May 28, 2013
- ISBN 0-8425-2137-2.
External links
- Recorded 2006 Radio Interview with D. Michael Quinn Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- D. Michael Quinn speaking on the 10th anniversary of his excommunication on YouTube
- The D. Michael Quinn Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.