Christopher's Analysis of "Why the Church is as true as the gospel"

Critical Analysis of Why the Church is as True as the Gospel

Through his article, “Why the Church is as True as the Gospel,” Eugene England enlightens his audience upon his views of the divinity of not only the Gospel teachings of the Mormon church, but also the activities, meetings, and the physical aspects of it. England gives many examples of why he feels that the physical properties of the church are “true,”explaining that although the church is run by people, and many many feel it is faulted, it is actually still ordained of God, and perfect. Though many examples are given, and much testimony is borne, the conviction of England to the audience was lost. Through weak appeals to pathos and ethos, usage of wordy and obscure examples, and overall extravagance, many of the potentially valid in England’s thesis are lost and are never comprehended by his educated audience.

To begin his article, England chooses appeal to pathos. He expresses his boredom of church meetings as a child. “I was convinced when I was a boy, that the most boring meeting in the Church, perhaps in the world, was a ‘quarterly stake conference.”’ (219) With an attempt to evoke emotion in his reader, England successfully creates a net, connecting with his primarily LDS audience, and for only moments, grabs their attention. This introduction is a rare and false first impression of England’s authorial style, and is perhaps the only naturally comprehensible passage in his entire work.

In one of his many attempts to connect with his audience, in an ethos-like manner, England speaks of his previous experiences, hoping to enhance the interest of the audience, and make his word more trustworthy. “The Church is as ‘true’ as- that is , as effective for salvation-as- the gospel : the Church is where the fruitful opposition between liberal and conservative values, faith, and doubt, secure authority and frightening freedom, individual integrity, and public responsibility-and thus where there will be misery as well as holiness, bad news as well as good.” (227) Though his thesis is expressed, much of the validity, in the mind of his readers, is lost and becomes astray. This example, being one of extreme length, is just one of the many paragraphs containing many, many words, and such little value. Through his run-on sentences, and lengthy examples, the audience is once again tethered to another “beside the point” rant.

By looking at wordy examples such as, “Life in this universe is full of polarities, and is made full by them. Complain about them, even try sometimes to destroy them, with dogmatism, or even try to destroy them with self-riotousness, or a retreat into the innocence that is only ignorance, a return to the Garden of Eden, where there is deceptive ease and clarity, but there is no salvation.”(220), England makes his audience question not the message of his text, but rather the reason of placement of the examples. Passages such as this one tend to lead the audience astray, pressing their attention with vaster concepts and distractions than they are prepared to read. Though England’s audience is a generally educated one, even the most concentrated and scholarly members of his audience will far too often find themselves lost in England’s examples. Through passages such as this one, England attempts to supplement his topic, but rather, digresses from his principal thesis, dragging his audience behind him.

England’s point is expressed. Though it takes, ten pages, thousands of words, many run-on sentences, and many abstract junctions, his point is made. The problem is that even to an educated audience, the amount of wordage, digressions, and diction lead not to a clear understanding of the text’s meaning, but rather a sense of completion, but not comprehension. “If we cannot accept the Church and the challenge it offers with the openness and courage and humility they require, then I believe our historical studies and our theological enterprises are mainly a waste of time- and possible destructive.” (228) Looking at this sentence in the conclusion of his essay, we are only hinted towards one thing, that England supports the Church, and feels that it is in fact as important as the Gospel. Yet, through how much extravagance must the audience skim through to finally understand England’s point?

Though England makes valid points and does provide his reader with thoughts that may help them understand the meaning of his text, many points are unfortunately lost to obscurity. England uses many examples of previous experiences to appeal to ethos, and allow his audience to trust his experiences, and even initially pay attention to the relatable topics. England uses his skills of rhetoric and diction to convey his true beliefs to his audience. So, why are so many points lost and such validity thrown to the air? Through weak appeals to pathos and ethos, usage of wordy and obscure examples, and overall extravagance, many of the valid points in England’s thesis are lost and are never comprehended by his educated audience.