Salt Lake Tribune religion reporter Peggy Fletcher Stack writes that “[s]ome Mormons — and plenty of others — were appalled to witness their church build a $1.5 billion mall in downtown Salt Lake City and hear their prophet proclaim, “Let’s go shopping.” Isn’t religion, they argued, supposed to be about feeding the hungry and clothing the poor? How is selling Tiffany jewelry, Nordstrom cocktail dresses and luxury condos any part of a Christian faith?” That’s the introduction to her report on historian Michael Quinn’s book “The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power.” Quinn, by the way, says that the LDS church sees its mission as serving both the spiritual and physical needs of its people.
The Friends of Merrill-Cazier Library Spring Lecture will feature D. Michael Quinn discussing his book “The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power.” The lecture is Thursday, March 1, at 7 p.m., in Merrill-Cazier Library Room 101.
A California-native, Quinn served in U.S. military Intelligence for three years, then joined the research writing staff of Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington before attending Yale University for his Ph.D. After 12 years of professorship at BYU, he became an independent scholar. His last academic position was in Yale's Department of History.
His works include “Elder Statesman: A Biography of J. Reuben Clark,” “Early Mormonism and the Magic World View,” “Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth Century Americans: A Mormon Example,” and “The Mormon Hierarchy” series. His books have received awards from the American Historical Association, the John Whitmer Historical Association and the Mormon History Association.
