Friday, December 20, 2019

Noel B. Reynolds on Sentimentalism vs. Spirit


LDS scholar Noel B. Reynolds wrote the following about the sentimentalism one all too often encounters among Church members and various publications as opposed to true gospel learning:

Sentimentalism vs. Spirit

My first example may be a simple hazard of youth, though I suspect it is a general problem of our times. We are witnessing a widespread inability to distinguish between sentimentalism and true spiritual experience. Unfortunately, some of the literature used in the Church today is too much like the popular sentimental trash which is designed to pull our heartstrings or moisten our eyes, but which does not communicate true spiritual experience.

The tendency of our youth to use sentimental stories in Church talks creates a culture of spiritual misunderstanding in which thinking and learning are discouraged. When I was a bishop years ago in an Orem ward, I felt strongly the need to counsel the youth not to use the compilations of sentimental stories that are available. I feel that our failure to immerse these young people in the scriptures and other high-quality literature makes them vulnerable to the cheap tactics of every moralistic movement which they encounter. Every teacher of youth knows what a challenge it is to make every lesson into a spiritual experience. Because youth respond positively to sentimentalism, there is a danger that we might come to rely on it as a more dependable way of getting their attention and creating an intensified classroom atmosphere. Genuine spiritual experience is not mechanically available to us. Both teacher and students must work together in a thoughtful and humble way for it to occur. This must be a particularly difficult challenge for seminary teachers who meet daily and for long hours with many young people who would prefer to be somewhere else.

But is it possible to imagine that Nephi was brought up on such sentimentalism? On the contrary, as he informs us in the first verse of his record, he was carefully instructed in all the learning of his father. And that learning was of no small effect, for, as he encountered the real problem of real life, he responded in a supremely intelligent and powerful way, quickly learning the Spirit of God and obtaining its guidance in the most difficult tasks.

It may be that some sentimentality is a good and necessary thing, and certainly there is a place for it in our relationships with our loved ones. But it should never be leaned upon as a substitute for spirituality. Reliance on sentimentality will strunt our spiritual growth by robbing us of the spiritual gift of discernment and filling our understanding with false experiences.

Our spiritual immaturity can also be revealed through our choice of books. I was dismayed several years ago as editors of major LDS publishing houses apologetically explained to me that they are primarily interested in books which can either feature a well-known Latter-day Saint author or are written on a very simplistic level and in such a way as to give people a warm, comfortable feeling without any challenging ideas. Anything more demanding of the reader, I was informed, will not sell enough to justify publication. As a Latter-day Saint I was chagrined. But as I took more occasion to observe what is selling well in our bookstores, I could see they had only been candid with me. (Noel B. Reynolds, “Reason and Revelation” in Philip L. Barlow, ed. A Thoughtful Faith: Essays on Belief by Mormon Scholars [Centerville, Utah: Canon Press, 1986], 208-9)