Saints Without Halos: Epilogue

		Epilogue
		[154] In an attempt to explain Mormonism to his English audience, G. K. Chesterton once wrote, "A number of dull, earnest, ignorant, black-coated men with chimney-pot hats, chin beards or mutton-chop whiskers, managed to reproduce in their own souls the richness and the peril of an ancient Oriental experience."
		We appreciate Chesterton's backhanded acknowledgement of Mormonism as a genuine religious movement, but his caricature commits several common errors. First is the mistake, more common in the nineteenth century than in the twentieth, of depicting Mormons as dull and ignorant. While it is true that the advantages of formal education were not available to many early Saints in America and Europe, as well as many modern Saints in today's developing countries, there were and are exceptionally literate and educated men and women who have left us thoughtful diaries and oral interviews reflecting a keen awareness of the world around them and a deep sensitivity to their own experiences.
		Next, apparently because he identifies the Church with its ecclesiastical leadership, Chesterton ignores the importance of women in Mormonism—a common oversight that is becoming increasingly recognized.
		A third common mistake is to treat Mormonism as a thing of the past. Despite the phenomenal growth of the Church worldwide in this century, even Sydney E. Ahlstrom's recent A Religious History of the American People concludes its discussion of Mormonism in the mid-nineteenth century.
		In these brief biographical sketches we have tried to give dimension to the vast range of Mormon experience—from the beginnings to modern times, from the uneducated to the professional teacher, from enthusiastic converts to discouraged colonists, from loyal critics to a headstrong rebel. We have seen women as homemakers, pioneers, and innovative leaders. We would like to have included more women, more experiences [155] beyond the Wasatch Front, and more individuals in the largely untapped second century of Mormonism. But there are limits to what can be accomplished in such a short work.
		In the hundred-and-fifty-year history of Mormonism, developments within the Church have maintained its relevance in the modern world. Some of those developments can be seen in the lives we have described. But there is also a strong sense of continuity with the past—an abiding commitment to the original religious impulses of Mormonism's first generation. Revelation, priesthood authority, and the implementation of religious ideals in day-to-day living remain the hallmarks of Mormonism. It is certainly much more than "an ancient Oriental experience."
		It may be that one of the ultimate values of Mormonism lies in the meaning it gives to the lives of its "ordinary" members— enlarging their vision and enriching their opportunities. We have found that the story of Mormonism is, as the personalities examined in the book demonstrate, the story of extraordinary deeds accomplished by ordinary people.
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