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Mormon Stories Podcast

281: Eugene England’s Life and Legacy Pt. 1

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.55.7K Ratings

🗓️ 14 September 2011

⏱️ 92 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Eugene England (1933–2001) was one of the founders and great leaders in Mormon Studies and independent Mormon discussions. He and four others founded Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, for which he served as its first editor. He was instrumental in the creation of the Association for Mormon Letters, and he is considered the champion of the “personal essay” as a powerful form for Mormon expression. England was a peace activist, whose reflections on having been present in the Vatican during the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II (one of the bullets nicked his hand and left a small burn on his temple as it whizzed past) led him to found “Food for Poland,” a large-scale effort involving students from many college campuses to provide support for the Solidarity movement when it struggling under Polish government crack downs. He was an innovative and highly influential teacher. He revamped “study abroad” programs at both BYU and Utah Valley State College, leading to unparalleled learning experiences for students who traveled with his groups to London. He supported and was an active voice for academic freedom at BYU, championed the rise of Mormon Studies at UVSC, and was an articulate voice and active supporter for nearly every good cause in independent Mormon circles for nearly four decades. More than any of these or many other accomplishments we didn’t name, however, Eugene England was a person of faith and incredible spiritual depth who, along with Leonard Arrington and Lowell Bennion, stands as an example of a committed, faithful life of intellectual and spiritual integrity, maturity, and grace even as he was often misunderstood and under-appreciated. He is important to get to know, and that is the process that this podcast hopes to help start.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Mormon Stories Podcast is a production of the Open Stories Foundation.

0:12.0

All donations to Mormon Stories are fully tax deductible and go directly towards keeping

0:16.4

the podcast alive and towards building a community of support for Mormons like you.

0:21.3

To support the podcast or to join the community, please become a monthly subscriber today

0:26.6

at MormonStories.org.

0:31.8

Hello Mormon Stories listeners, this is Dan Weatherspoon.

0:34.9

I'm very pleased to host another episode of this wonderful podcast and to cover especially

0:41.3

this week a person who I admire to no end.

0:46.6

Our subject for this podcast is Eugene England, who died just barely ten years ago.

0:52.9

He was one of Mormonism's biggest and most influential people, especially in the independent

0:58.5

sector.

0:59.5

He was the founder of Dialogue, the Association for Mormon Letters.

1:04.6

He started a million different things.

1:07.4

He was a peacemaker heading up an organization called Food for Poland that brought Latter-day

1:12.9

Saints into social activism and in support of the Solidarity movement in Poland.

1:19.4

He just models that wonderful, engaged person who was driven by his faith, his deep trust

1:27.3

in God and the goodness of people and just started projects and influence thousands and you'll

1:34.0

get a feel for him in this podcast and I'm so excited for those of you who haven't met

1:38.2

him up close and personal to at least get this chance from hearing from our various guests

1:43.9

about Eugene England.

1:45.8

Let me go ahead and state up front that I knew Eugene England.

1:50.0

I interacted him especially closely for a year or two prior to my becoming the editor

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