Terryl L. Givens, “Worlds Without End” (Lecture 4 of 4)

Maxwell Institute Scholar Lecture—December 9, 2019
4:38—Lecture begins

“Worlds Without End” is the final lecture in a four-part series by Terryl Givens called “The Choice to Believe.”

Our heavenly parents have the desire and the capacity to save and exalt the entire human family. Vicarious temple work is but one index of the unparalleled generosity of vision Joseph brought to the project of Restoration. Perhaps the most significant originality of Restoration teachings, however, is the thoroughgoing redefinition of salvation itself. Neither a simple reward for righteousness, nor a gift to believers, but an actual condition of godly relationship in which we are tutored, life becomes a genuine school in which, as William Blake wrote, “we learn to bear the beams of love.” Becoming holy beings of infinite empathy, as Enoch foretasted in his ascension, rather than ambitious entities of power and dominion, is the true meaning of the theosis toward which Restoration scriptures invite us.

TERRYL L. GIVENS is a Neal A. Maxwell Senior Research Fellow. He formerly held the Jabez A. Bostwick Chair of English and is Professor of Literature and Religion at the University of Richmond. He is the author of many books about Latter-day Saint history and culture, including “Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought,” “Feeding the Flock: The Foundations of Mormon Practice,” and “By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture That Launched a New World Religion,” each with Oxford University Press. He is also co-author, with Fiona Givens, of “The God Who Weeps,” “The Crucible of Doubt,” and “The Christ Who Heals.”

The series is sponsored by Brigham Young University's Office of the Associate Academic Vice President for Undergraduate Studies and the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, in partnership with:

The Office of the Dean of Students
Office of the International Vice President
Dean of Undergraduate Education
Department of Religious Education
Wheatley Institution
Harold B. Lee Library
Enrollment Services
Center for Teaching and Learning
BYU Continuing Education
David O. McKay School of Education
J. Reuben Clark Law School
College of Physical and Mathematical Science
College of Humanities
College of Life Sciences
College of Engineering
College of Nursing

Lectures in this series include:
09/23—Lecture 1, “The Doors of Faith”
10/21—Lecture 2, “Awful Woundedness”
11/18—Lecture 3, “Great Plan of Happiness”
12/9—Lecture 4, “Worlds Without End”