By Study and also By Faith

671 Pages·2015·5.84 MB·English

By Study
and
By Faith
also

By Study
and
By Faith
also
One Hundred Years of Seminaries and
Institutes of Religion
Published by
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Salt Lake City, Utah
© 2015 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
English approval: 9/15
PD10051058
ISBN-13: 978-1-4651-1878-3
ISBN-10: 1-4651-1878-0
C o n t e n t s
Foreword: Elder Paul V. Johnson............................. vii
Preface: Chad H Webb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi
Acknowledgments ........................................xiii
Prologue: Foundations of Education in the Church, 1830–1911 ..... 1
Chapter One: By Small and Simple Things, 1912–1935 ........... 33
Chapter Two: The Charted Course, 1936–1952 ................. 93
Chapter Three: Follow the Brethren, 1953–1969 ............... 139
Chapter Four: Go Ye into All the World, 1970–1979 ............ 211
Chapter Five: Teach the Scriptures, 1980–1989 ................ 323
Chapter Six: Live the Gospel, Teach Effectively, Administer
Appropriately, 1990–2000.............................. 381
Chapter Seven: We Must Raise Our Sights, 2001–2012........... 481
Epilogue, 2013–2015..................................... 589
Appendix 1: A Chronology of Administrators of the Church
Educational System and Religious Education, 1888–2015 ... 595
Appendix 2: LDS Academies Opening Dates, 1875–1888......... 597
Appendix 3: Seminaries Opening Dates, 1912–1938............. 599
Appendix 4: Institutes of Religion Opening Dates, 1926–1946..... 603
Appendix 5: Worldwide LDS Religious Education Beginnings ..... 605
Appendix 6: Seminary and Institute Enrollment by Year,
1912–2013.......................................... 611
Appendix 7: Administrator Biographies....................... 615
Index ................................................. 639
v

F o re w o rd
N
ot many days after the announcement was made of my
appointment as administrator for Seminaries and Institutes of
Religion, President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles invited me to his office. He wanted to get to know me and
help me understand some of the history of the system. After a few
words of greeting he asked, “Do you know how to teach?” At that
particular moment I wasn’t sure I knew how to do anything, but he
impressed on me the centrality to our work of what happens with
students, a teacher, and the scriptures. He then spent nearly an
hour reviewing some history of seminaries and institutes, including
important milestones, challenges faced in the past, and people who
worked and sacrificed greatly so that the gospel could be taught to
youth and young adults around the world. I was paying close atten-
tion, and I sensed that President Packer wanted to transmit to me
important historical information and that knowing what had gone
on before would be crucial in making decisions about the future.
President Packer has a unique connection with the history of
seminaries and institutes. He was a seminary student in Brigham
City, Utah, which was the second released-time seminary established
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By Study and Also by Faith
in the Church. He was taught by, and later taught with, Abel S. Rich,
one of the first released-time teachers ever hired. Because of those
early connections, his years as a CES teacher and administrator, and
his many years on the Church Board of Education, President Packer
has uniquely strong links to the past and was the perfect person
to help me see that we needed to preserve this important history.
During the course of the conversation, President Packer advised
me that some issues that had been faced in the past would surface
again, and as I was leaving his office that day he gave me an assign-
ment. He asked me to visit Franklin D. Day, a leader in CES who
had been retired for a number of years. He told me that Frank could
give me some helpful background and could help me see where
land mines were buried. I had a delightful and enlightening visit
with Frank, and I did my best to learn from what he had to share.
Stanley A. Peterson held the office of administrator for the 24
years before my appointment. In the final weeks of his service, he
spent many hours sharing with me important stories and issues
from the past. These hours of learning more history were invalu-
able to me, and I will be forever grateful for his personal tutoring.
After Stan retired I realized that his was the first in an imminent
wave of retirements of a whole generation of senior leaders and
teachers, including the zone administrators (now called assistant
administrators) with whom I worked. These individuals carried
with them a storehouse of background and history, information
that is so important to understand in order to accomplish the great
work of the seminaries and institutes.
With the coming retirements it occurred to me that we were
in danger of losing a great deal of knowledge of our history. Some
other organizations cut their connections to their roots and begin
to drift. This organization could not afford this. Our history doesn’t
limit us, but like a plant’s roots it anchors and nourishes us and
is crucial for growth. Our history helps us grasp our identity and
protects us. We had to find a way to capture the innovations that
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Foreword
come with new faces and fresh ideas and allow those to be shaped
and grounded by our purpose and history. Only with this balance
could we make the progress needed.
The concern about losing many details of our history weighed
on my mind. We discussed the issue as administrators and decided
that one way to preserve the history was to write a book. Eventually
I talked with President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency,
who at that time was in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and
was serving as Commissioner of the Church Educational System.
I proposed that we have an updated history written that would
be available to employees. He was amenable to the proposal, and
since President Packer was the person with the longest connections
with Seminaries and Institutes of Religion, the idea was presented
to him. President Packer was supportive and even agreed to be
interviewed to help us with the project.
As you study this volume you will sense the dedication, love,
and faith exhibited by those who went before. The accounts that
are core to our history are touching and instructive. Some may also
seem familiar, as many themes and challenges echo across time.
Although an experience happened in another time and place, the
underlying dynamics may be something you too have experienced.
Despite this volume’s relatively large size, it cannot be compre-
hensive. There are too many people, too many powerful accounts,
and too many miracles and blessings to squeeze into one volume.
The real history of seminaries and institutes is found in the lives of
students and teachers who have been blessed, protected, and guided
as they learned and applied the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have seen
this in my own life. My parents both graduated from seminary and
found each other at an institute activity when they were in college.
My own life was blessed by my experience in seminary, including
being in the same class with an outstanding young woman, Jill,
whom I later married. I also was blessed by the religion classes in
college, and all of our nine children have been blessed by their
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