Elder Gonzales quoted "The Carpenter of Nazareth" by George Blair. The poem is a blogger special for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and nonmembers alike. The transcripts for the talks have not been released, but I would guess that he found this poem from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's 2006 talk, "Broken Things to Mend." Why would I assume that? Because there are no hits for this poem online that come before April 2006, when Elder Holland gave his talk. He cites his source for "The Carpenter of Nazareth" as a 1955 Sunday School manual. I cannot find a poet George Blair on wiki, the internet, or the Mormon Literature database. The only reason the name George Blair lives on is because the lightning rod of Church Culture, Elder Holland, recalled his poem from a Sunday School manual that was circulated when he was 15.
This is an excellent example of how important tradition is in this church, and how it can overtake the text itself. "The Carpenter of Nazareth" is a pretty poem, and it has a tender message of inclusion and grace. However, this poem was chosen because Elder Gonzalez "stole like an artist" from Elder Holland's talk while he was researching for his own talk. This obscure poem from 65 years ago will continue to increase its presence in Christian literature because of one man's memory and his incredible influence.
I didn't even notice this allusion! You make some interesting points about Elder Holland's influence on others. I do think, though, that many scholars are guilty of the same thing. How often do we check out someone else's bibliography to find material that relates to our own work?
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting dilemma, because Elder Holland made the research possible to resurrect this poem. Now, everyone can draw from Elder Holland from the source and not worry about its obscurity. So, do general authorities have a responsibility to know exactly where there citations come from?
DeleteI went into general conference hoping to catch some literary allusions as well, though I am very glad that this poem was mentioned. It shows that Latter-day Saint literature and poetry has value in its own right, and what better place to take advantage of this (and keep this poetry alive) than at general conference? This talk also made me think of the value of the hymnbook in preserving beautiful poems in song form that may have faded into obscurity otherwise.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is so cool. I definitely didn't catch that. I think that it is interesting that even in referencing something outside our culture, he was only referencing it because of looking through literature in our culture.
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