BYU-Hawaii English Professor Dr. Randal Allred, Director of the Honors Program, focused his 2008 David O. McKay Lecture today, Fight the Good Fight: War as Metaphor in LDS Discourse, on "the many paradoxes we have in the gospel, and in the language we use to talk about the Gospel," especially the use of militaristic imagery and language.
The university began the David O. McKay Lecture Series in 1962. The nominated faculty member or administrator traditionally spends a year preparing his or her presentation to "expand academic insight and teach moral values on a universal stage." Allred's lecture fell on the fifty-third anniversary of President McKay's breaking ground for the Church College of Hawaii, which became BYU-Hawaii in 1974.
"It is a paradox that we use military metaphors to describe the progress or work of God's Kingdom, or of individual struggles against the powers of evil," Allred said. He explained that a metaphor, a type of trope, ascribes "one or more qualities of an object to another object."
"Metaphors, or tropes, are fundamental to human language," he continued. "Some rhetorical theory suggests that we have come to a point of understanding that all language is metaphorical in nature, since all words are signs, a combination of an idea and the symbol or signifier for that idea."
Allred noted "the scriptures, in many places, use the imagery and language of war," and pointed out the Apostle Paul's references to the whole armor of God and the shield of faith; or Church hymns that read, In the fight for right, let us wield a sword, the mighty sword of truth. "Paul appropriates the trappings of war, but redefines them in the context of the gospel," he said.
He also noted Latter-day Saint leaders use "military tropes and imagery to describe the work of the Church in this dispensation. For example, President Spencer W. Kimball said in 1979: Is it not time that we sent out a great army, not of uniformed men, but an army of missionaries to preach repentance...."
"However, here is our problem: In spite of the war metaphors we use, the prophets of our dispensation have made it clear that war is an abomination in the sight of God, an obscenity and travesty of all that is sacred." For example, Brigham Young said, Of one thing I am sure: God never institutes war; God is not the author of confusion or of war; they are the results of the acts of the children of men. [JD 13:149]
"Can it be possible to be a man of war and yet be righteous and pure?" Allred asked. "War, I am convinced, is a time when we listen to the directions of a prophet. There are no good wars, there are no glorious wars, there are no holy wars; but there may be necessary wars, unavoidable wars."
"So why use it as a metaphor for the gospel?" he asked, suggesting the trope applies to spiritual war. For example, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Grammy Award-winning rendition of The Battle Hymn of the Republic leaves out the overt militarism of verse 3, and "also changes let us die to make men free to let us live to make men free."
"We are reminded not of a march and drums on the battlefield in this last verse, but of a prayer and personal covenant-making with God," Allred continued.
"If we are engaged in war with the powers of darkness, perhaps we will develop the characteristics of a people at war, like the ancient Nephites: Love and concern for each others' welfare, strengthening each other, self-sacrifice, the unity of a Zion people united in heart and mind, moral fortitude, the strength to go on in the midst of extreme adversity."
He also noted that President Hinckley and other Church leaders have taught that "the War in Heaven was the first war, and all others are continuations of that same struggle...as Satan and his hosts carry on guerilla warfare here on this earth."
"In that sense, perhaps we could say that the LDS use of war as a metaphor refers to that true war, the only struggle worth fighting, and that in our appropriation of the imagery and language of earthly wars, we have transformed the metaphor likewise, from an instrument of destruction and oppression into one of peace and liberation."
"I find there is great strength in the encouragement of our hymns, the scriptures, the counsel of our prophets, as we battle the despair, the agonies and pains of mortal life — and we can endure them, with hope and joy and confidence in the atoning sacrifice of Christ."
"I believe that they can help us remember to encourage each other as comrades, to care for one another, to bear one another's burdens as we fight the good fight."
At the conclusion of the lecture, Polynesian Cultural Center President Von Orgill presented Allred with its traditional honorarium check for $1,000; and Dr. Mark James, chairman of the Faculty Advisory Council, announced that the faculty have nominated Dr. Keith Roberts, Vice President of Academics, to deliver the 2009 David O. McKay Lecture.
— Photos by Ian Nitta