-We cannot return to Eden. We know too much and we
care too little about the complexities of our collective past. But
perhaps we can find our way toward a new genesis, a wiser
relationship toward Creation that is founded on the sacred
principles of love and respect and empathy.”
*
Terry Tempest Williams,
New
Genesis
Mormons have played a
powerful role in defining the Western landscape ever since they
first carved a niche for themselves in the Great Salt Lake Valley
in 1847. But now that Salt Lake City is a sprawling metropolis and
Utah’s landscape has changed, some Mormons have begun to express
concern for the wilderness that has been lost in the process.
They’d like to seek a reconciliation between the Mormon faith and
the land.
These are the voices of New Genesis: A
Mormon Reader on Land and Community, edited by Terry Tempest
Williams, William B. Smart and Gibbs M. Smith. Many of the essays
they’ve selected are unified by their attention to the same
landscapes: the Wasatch Mountains that cradle Salt Lake City, the
red rock deserts of southern Utah, the Colorado River. They also
venture into unexpected terrain: the Alaskan wilderness, the
Australian outback, even New York City. The individual perspectives
are as varied as the landscapes. A woman who grew up in a
fundamentalist Mormon polygamist family says the natural world
helped her find personal freedom when she felt trapped by religious
institutions. A Mormon leader describes how his outdoor experiences
in the Boy Scouts shaped his spiritual as well as his physical
character. A Taos Pueblo woman says “the significance of place”
helps unite her Native American traditions with her Mormon
beliefs.
Few of the essays are didactic. Each is
poignant – not so much because of literary style (although many are
beautifully written) – but because of the writer’s humble honesty
and courage. The collection broadens the possibilities for what it
means to be a Mormon, as well as what it means to be an
environmentalist, and it proposes a common ground between these two
camps. As Clayton M. White, a professor of zoology at Brigham Young
University writes, “the real quest is in trying to understand the
stewardship of all landscapes, internal and external.”
* Jenny Emery
Davidson
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Mormons on the land.
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