OREM, Utah -- Boyd J. Petersen told the Utah Valley University conference on "outmigration" about how Hugh Nibley -- and other Mormons -- coped with the divided sense of self that minorities often experience in the larger society.

Petersen, author of "Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life," spoke on Nov. 6 about how members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live with contradictory public images.

"They are both revered and reviled, feared and revered," Petersen said. Outmigrants, those Mormons who have left Utah, "have this divided sense of ourselves."

Mormons have their own sense of themselves and their church. They also look closely at what others think about Mormons and Mormonism.

This divided self, or "double consciousness," is common with minorities, Petersen said.

NAACP co-founder and early civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois saw it with African-Americans. Petersen, who is the program coordinator for Mormon Studies at UVU, also sees it with Mormons: "(Like other) minority groups, Mormons have developed ways of looking at themselves through the eyes of others."



A fully isolated minority would not have this problem of a divided view. Some might argue that the Mormons' 19th century isolation in Utah may have been such a time. But, if Mormons ever had an undivided view of themselves, Petersen said that time is past.

"Mormons would like nothing more than to see themselves as fully American and fully Mormon," Petersen said, "but they are constantly forced to see their Mormonness through the lens of ignorance and misconception that their fellow Americans have."

Mormons are exposed to the nightly news, comedians and even cartoons that depict the LDS Church and its faith. "You can't help but see yourself through other people's eyes; as other people are seeing us," Petersen said.

Outmigrants experience this double consciousness in a more intense way. "They must be fully immersed in two worlds at once and more readily feel the tension of this divided sense of self," Petersen said.

One coping mechanism minorities use is to develop a special coded language. It allows them to speak to two different audiences at once. It is a form of doublespeak, and Mormons use it to both give information and to hide information, according to Petersen.

One example Petersen used involved a response Mitt Romney gave during his presidential run when asked about doing baptisms for the dead. Romney said, "I have in my life, but I haven't recently."

Outsiders might deduce a mild renunciation of the practice. Most Mormons, however, know that baptisms for the dead are usually performed by youths.

Hugh Nibley, a well-known Mormon scholar, is a good example of someone who used this coded language in scholarly articles aimed at the world outside LDS circles, according to Petersen. Nibley grew up outside Utah but came to teach at BYU when 35 years old. He wasn't an outmigrant, but his coping mechanism is similar to what outmigrants employ.

Petersen said Nibley consecrated his intellectual life to build up the Mormon Church. But this presented a problem. "How does one defend the church in academic circles where academics often look down on Mormons?" Petersen said.

The answer was coded language.

Nibley published in peer-reviewed academic journals. "These articles were deeply rooted in Mormon thought, but were written in a kind of coded language," Petersen said.
Philosopher Leo Strauss argued in his 1952 book, "Persecution and the Art of Writing," that many philosophers over history have written in esoteric ways -- ways that were only understood by a select few. This coded language protected them from persecution.

Petersen said Nibley wrote in this way. "On one ... level Nibley made an academic argument for the general academic reader. But on another level, there is an esoteric -- usually Mormon -- subtext."

Nibley mastered this method when writing home during World War II. He revealed information to his mother by writing about history, according to Petersen. The history he referred to was hidden esoteric commentary on what he was observing.

In 1961, Nibley wrote "The Passing of the (Primitive) Church: Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme." It was published in the academic journal "Church History" and questioned the assumption that the primitive Christian church survived. The underlying coded meaning was a Mormon's understanding of an apostasy that required a restoration.

Five years later, "Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum: The Forty-day Mission of Christ --  The Forgotten Heritage" appeared in "Vigiliae Christianae." The outward article reviewed apocryphal accounts of Christ's 40-day ministry (see Acts 1:3). The coded temple-related meaning that a Mormon would not miss was that "these sources depict Christ's bestowing secret teachings to a closed group of initiates involving ritual washings, anointings and the reception of a symbolic but real and tangible garment," Petersen said.

Nibley, however, did not keep this minority coded writing up forever. "After 1966, (Nibley) turned away from academic journals altogether, and focused exclusively on his Mormon audience," Petersen said.

His non-Mormon friends saw it as a decline in scholarship. His Mormon colleagues were uncomfortable when Nibley would bring up Mormon topics in secular academic settings.

Nibley had changed. He no longer felt divided, Petersen said. "Hugh was able to integrate his Mormon identity more fully with his American intellectual identity. It allowed him to be more comfortable with his own skin ... more comfortable with himself."

Nibley continued using coded language in some fashion, such as critiquing BYU's dress and grooming rules by talking about ancient rhetoric. But it was no longer a result of the minority divided sense of self.

For some outmigrants, returning to live in Utah brings similar relief, according to Petersen. "It represents a place where Mormons can find a shared, integrated identity where they find themselves understood, where they don't always have to explain themselves, where they don't have to use the coded language all the time," Petersen said. "In the Mormon Corridor all may not be well, but maybe it feels a little better."

E-mail: mdegroote@desnews.com