LDS succession - just like clockwork

If you have any interest in religions founded within the last two hundred or so years, I can't recommend Harold Bloom's 'The American Religion' strongly enough. Its primary focus is the Mormon church, but also covers a host of others, most prominently Southern Baptists.

The book was published in 1992, when the president of the Mormon church was Ezra Taft Benson. If you want an idea of the longevity of Mormon leaders, Benson is a good case in point. He was a former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture... under Eisenhower. Seriously. He was born in 1899. In 1953, Ike appointed him as his Ag Secretary. It wasn't until 1985 that he was sustained as the President of the Mormon church. He was president until his death in 1994.

As it turns out, that very longevity enables some very accurate predictions to be made about the future leadership of the LDS church. From 'The American Religion':

"Benson is now ninety-three; next in line is Howard W. Hunter, eighty-three, and then Gordon B. Hinckley, eighty. Behind them is the powerful Thomas S. Monson, only sixty-two. When President Monson becomes the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator [Bart's note: this is an official title in the Mormon church, and applies to the members of the First Presidency (the President and his two councilors) along with the Quorum of the Twelve, the next highest ranking group from whose ranks Presidents are inevitably chosen], there may be less reliance upon the Book of Mormon as the royal road into the Mormon religion."

Guess how the succession of Presidents of the Mormon church ended up happening? It was exactly in the order that Bloom laid out. Thomas S. Monson became the president of the LDS church on February 3, 2008. Just like clockwork.

Incidentally, Bloom's main point in this section was that, despite the general irrelevance of the Book of Mormon to the everyday running and teachings of the Mormon church, Benson had embraced it and used it as the focus of missionary activities. Belief that the Book of Mormon is the word of God is #8 in their articles of faith. Bloom speculated that Monson would, during his term as president, reduce his church's emphasis on the Book of Mormon. Whether that will happen, and whether he would replace that focus with an emphasis on the church's other standard works (such as the 'Pearl of Great Price') or simply on their everyday teachings, I'm not sure.

Incidentally, here's an amusing example from Violent Acres of how Mormons don't pick their successors. Hat tip to Mrs. Bart for forwarding this to me.

Thanks for visiting Mormania!