Grant For The Win.
My only objection to your post is the MTC slam:
"In this blessed complex of buildings, the missionaries sit in their chairs all day long absorbing information to spit back out in the correct order."
You were doing so good at bucking the stereotypical Mormon thought until you got to the MTC bashing.
They've completely re-worked the MTC since we went through. When I worked there, I actually did very little teaching. It was all about training missionaries to focus on people and individual needs. That's the central message of PMG (from page 1! You are surrounded by people...)
So I'd say that we're making progress there at least.
I think a related issue is when LDS people have trouble separating their personal permutation of LDS culture from revealed Truth. (with a big T)
OK - that objection aside, obviously timshel is the central theme in the book. What's interesting to me is whether the characters in the book manage to succeed in their choices.
From my reading, there are only a few moments of triumph in the whole book. And the greatest one is when Adam goes to visit Kate and walks out totally free. But his triumph isn't actually because of any conscious choice. It's more like "Oh, she's not as bangin' as I remembered, OK I can get over her now." How does that relate to timshel? I have a hard time seeing how the characters actually live out the theme. Any thoughts?
No comments:
Post a Comment