Title: Stretching the Heavens: The Life of Eugene England and the Crisis of Modern Mormonism
Author: Terryl Givens
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Genre: Religious Non-Fiction
Year Published: 2021
Number of Pages: 330
Binding: Hardback
Price: $34.95
Reviewed by Theric Jepson
Givens said at a lecture I attended that presses love the word crisis in the title. It wasn’t his original choice.
Anyway, I’ve heard that Bob Rees isn’t thrilled with this biography and its assertions of England‘s naivete. And I have to say I agree.
In Frankenstein, Victor relays the monster’s story to Walton in the monster’s own words. Victor is convinced this telling justifies himself and condemns the creature. But, in fact, what Victor cannot see is that the creature’s words make him sympathetic and cast Victor in a bad light.
Givens’s assertions of naivete create a similar effect. It’s difficult to read the evidence he lays out through the same interpretation Givens himself relies on. I don’t see Gene as naive as all. What I see is a man who, even though he has been bitten a hundred times, still gives his dog another chance. Because he believes entirely in the good of the dog. And not because the dog has earned that belief. But because he chooses to live in a world where dogs are good and where this dog may yet become good. And the dog can never become good without further opportunities to choose whether or not to bite.
The first portion of this biography is a thrill-a-minute and I kept sharing details with Lady Steed about his childhood or education or marriage or mission or early career. As it goes on, the thrills slow down and the slow-moving tragedies increase. Which is exciting, I suppose, but also depressing.
Gene was the sort of prophet who comes out of the desert, rather than rises through the ranks. The tragedy was that he didn’t see himself as a prophet and he did see himself as part of the ranks. Which made him doubly dangerous.
I hope many, many more books are written about this era, its characters, and Eugene England specifically. And I hope they recognize his heroism before the denouement. That he was, in fact, a hero–all the way through.