Reed C. Durham

Reed Connell Durham Jr. (born 1930) is a historian of the Latter Day Saint movement and former director of the Institute of Religion in Salt Lake City, Utah for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Durham is remembered for a controversial speech given in 1974 about Freemasonry and the Latter Day Saint movement.

Biography Durham was born in Long Beach, California. He was one of the four children of Reed C. Durham Sr. and Violet E. Cottrell. His father was a professor at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, and served as bishop in the LDS Church three times. As a young man, Reed Jr. served as an LDS missionary for two years.

Education Having earlier attended school in California, Durham's higher education was in Utah. He received his M.S. from the Department of Speech at Utah State Agricultural College in 1957 (the year it became Utah State University), followed by his Ph.D. in history from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1965, writing his dissertation on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Historian Donald Q. Cannon considered Durham's dissertation part of the "major scholarly contribution to the study of Mormon history" that occurred during the 1960s.

Church Educational System Durham began teaching for the Church Educational System (CES) in 1955 while attending school in Logan. After receiving his master's degree, he stayed in Logan and in 1958 became associate director of the LDS Church's Institute of Religion adjacent to Utah State University. By 1966 he was associate director of the Institute adjacent to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where he would serve for years as Institute Director and coordinator of Seminaries and Institutes throughout the Salt Lake Valley.

Durham has taught religion at BYU and in 1972 he was awarded the Division Faculty Teaching Award by the BYU Division of Continuing Education.

In addition to his church employment, Durham served in various ecclesiastical positions. For a time he taught Sunday school in his local ward (congregation) and he also was a member of the Sunday School General Board, planning and overseeing the church-wide Sunday School program. In 1970 Durham was one of several prominent LDS historians forming a committee that consulted the creation of the LDS Church Historical Department. Durham was an early supporter of Sunstone magazine, which was founded in 1974 by a former student.

In the Mormon History Association (MHA) Durham served as its eighth president, from 1973 to 1974, and second executive secretary, from 1969 to 1971. While he was president, the MHA launched the Journal of Mormon History, whose inaugural issue received criticism from some CES personnel for an article by Jan Shipps about Joseph Smith.

Later life After his year of research ended, Durham was offered the choice of returning as the Director of the Salt Lake Institute or a promotion to area director of LDS educational programs. He turned both down so he could focus on research and full-time Institute teaching, which he did for years. In 1994 and 1995 he taught at BYU's travel study program in Nauvoo, Illinois, and he was a service missionary at Brigham Young University–Hawaii from 1996 to 1999. In 2009 he taught a class on the Book of Mormon to single adults in Providence, near Logan. Durham discussed Masonic parallels with the LDS priesthood, the Masonic Enoch Legend, the occultic Jupiter Medallion attributed to Joseph Smith, and Masonic elements in Mormon temple design and ceremony. About the temple ceremony, Durham famously stated:There is absolutely no question in my mind that the Mormon ceremony which came to be known as the Endowment, introduced by Joseph Smith to Mormon Masons initially, just a little over one month after he became a Mason, had an immediate inspiration from Masonry. This is not to suggest that no other source of inspiration could have been involved, but the similarities between the two ceremonies are so apparent and overwhelming that some dependent relationship cannot be denied.

Durham said he was attempting to raise questions and he appealed to the historical community to clarify Joseph Smith's relationship to folk magic and Masonry, rather than burying their heads "in the traditional sand".

Reaction Jan Shipps said the speech ignited an explosion, leaving attendees in a "tension-filled aftershock". It was the only time she saw Leonard J. Arrington angry, who had worked for years to open the church archives and now feared they would be closed.

The speech seemed to support critics who wanted to discredit Mormonism. Durham's leaders were upset Durham denied that his church membership was ever threatened and he was even offered a promotion with CES, where he continued his career. He stated that he had been misunderstood by not incorporating his faith into the speech. He reasserted his belief in Joseph Smith, the temple ceremonies and divine revelation. LDS writer Matthew B. Brown asserted that Durham's letter admitted to limited research and insufficient skill and knowledge.

Legacy Durham's speech became famous It is still cited by critics of the Mormon temple rites, though his colleague Gilbert W. Scharffs believes Durham's statements have been exaggerated. While Durham didn't publish his paper, though Durham's notes and citations were absent.

Looking back during the 1980s, Durham privately wished he had presented some material differently, noting that the evidence for the Jupiter Talisman was actually quite weak.

The speech is seen as one factors in the LDS Church's waning tolerance toward open and revisionist history during the 1970s and 1980s. built upon the speech to argue that early Mormonism was heavily influenced by folk magic. Jan Shipps believed the speech was part of Mark Hofmann's inspiration in creating the Salamander Letter,

Historical approach Durham was known for his unorthodox approach and research into LDS history and controversy. Scott Kenney, one of Durham's Institute students who would later found Sunstone magazine, was inspired to study theology and teach Institute because of Durham's classroom explorations of controversial issues in a historical context, which highlighted the humanistic elements of the church.

Despite his position as a local religious teacher for the church in his area, Durham was on good terms with Jerald and Sandra Tanner, In a 1972 speech he explained how he is motivated by the Tanner's criticisms: I can't help but think that when they raise these issues it does something to us to have to defend... When I see something that counters what I've been taught or what I know or what I understand or what I feel, the way to counter research...unpleasant to me is not by sticking my head in the sand like an ostrich, but by more research. I may have to revamp, and knowledge sometimes is a dangerous thing. But I will revamp, and I will understand better my heritage. ...what I'm trying to say is that they have become, in a sense, catalysts to sharpen our own historical understanding. We've had to get on the stick and do some study, and do some homework that sometimes we haven't done.

His colleague Gilbert W. Scharffs said, "I have seldom found a man with a firmer conviction of Jesus Christ and the LDS Church. There are few in the LDS Church who have a deeper knowledge of LDS history and doctrine than Reed C. Durham, Jr." and Durham was commissioned to write the volume on the crossing of the Great Plains. However, these contracts were all canceled in 1981 and Durham's volume was never published, though he did write an article on the subject for the Encyclopedia of Mormonism and two journal articles on the Mormon pioneer sojourn in Iowa.

Papers

. . . . . Unpublished manuscript in the BYU Harold B. Lee Library. . Presidential Address. (Unauthorized publication by Mervin B. Hogan as "An Underground Presidential Address". ) . Privately circulated letter. .

Articles

Also printed in Pioneer (1996)

Also published in: BYU Studies 21:4 (Fall 1981)

Also printed in BYU Studies 21:4 (Fall 1981)