Randy L. Bott

Last updated
Randy L. Bott
Born1945 (age 75–76)
Utah, U.S.
EducationB.S. Psychology
M.S. Education
Ed.D. Educational leadership
Alma mater Utah State University
Brigham Young University
OccupationReligion professor at BYU
Known for2008 RateMyProfessors.com #1 National Professor
Race-related controversy
Spouse(s)Vickie (Pehrson) Bott
Children6

Randy L. Bott (born 1945) is a former American professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, United States. He taught classes on missionary preparation and the Doctrine and Covenants, and wrote doctrinal and motivational literature about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Bott retired from BYU in June 2012 not long after a nation-wide controversy over an explanation regarding LDS Church doctrine that he made to the media. [1]

Contents

Biography

Education and personal life

After earning a B.S. in psychology from Utah State University, Bott earned his M.S. degree in education from the same university and an Ed.D. from BYU in 1988. [2] Bott also speaks Samoan. [3]

Bott has served in various capacities of the LDS Church, including bishop, high councilor, stake presidency counselor, and as a mission president in Fresno, California. Bott married Vickie Pehrson in September 1969. [4] They had three boys and three girls, and became the grandparents of 14 children. [3]

Professional life

Bott said in 2008 that he spent four to six hours every day answering phone calls and e-mails from his students, which "enables him to have a more personal touch with the students he teaches". [5] At the beginning of his classes, he invites students to ask questions about missionary life, LDS Church doctrine, and personal comportment.[ citation needed ] Bott's tests, which he calls "celebrations", are open-note, open-book.[ citation needed ] In 2008, Bott taught 3,149 students at BYU, or over 10 percent of the university's student body. [6]

In 2008 Bott was the highest-rated professor in the United States on the website Ratemyprofessors.com. [7] [8]

It was announced in March 2012 that Bott would be leaving his teaching post at BYU to serve as a senior missionary with his wife. [1]

Washington Post article

In February 2012 Bott was quoted in a Washington Post article about the LDS Church's stand on race. [9] In the article Bott cited scriptures, former church teachings and practices, speculating on possible reasons for a ban on ordaining people of black African descent to the LDS priesthood. Whether Bott's reasons for denying ordination to black men prior to 1978 were ever official LDS doctrine or merely folk belief, as some LDS maintain, is disputed. [10] Bott said that one possible reason for the ban was the belief that black people descended from Cain through Egyptus, who married Ham, Noah's son. Bott pointed to a passage in Mormon scripture that suggested to him that Cain's descendants were marked with dark skin and were prohibited from holding the priesthood. Before the priesthood ban was lifted in 1978, some Latter-day Saint leaders had made similar statements. However, the 1978 revelation which lifted the ban said nothing about the reasons for the ban. [9]

On February 29, 2012, the LDS Church issued a press release in response to the Post article, saying that the reasons for the ban are not precisely known, and condemning racism in any form. [11] [12] [13] Then, in December 2013, the LDS Church posted a page on "Race and the Priesthood" on its official website that described the ban on blacks receiving the priesthood as a product of an "American racial culture," not "divine disfavor." The statement formally disavowed the past teachings that sought to create doctrinal justifications for the ban:

Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form. [14]

However, it has been pointed out that this stance did not publicly exist when Professor Bott was asked about the basis for the previous LDS ban, and therefore he was simply quoting the common teachings on the subject. Therefore this incident has been credited in some circles for pressuring the church into publicly airing its disapproval of past racist teachings. [15]

Works

Bott has authored and co-authored books on missionary preparation, LDS Church doctrine, application of doctrine to life, and the writings of Joseph Smith. [3]

Non-fiction – religious and general interest
Collaborations/inclusions
Academic
Fiction

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References

  1. 1 2 "BYU religion prof Bott retiring in June", Daily Herald (Utah) , 22 March 2012, retrieved 22 August 2013
  2. ↑ BYU Alumni Directory (Restricted access), BYU, retrieved 1 June 2008
  3. 1 2 3 "Randy L. Bott", Religious Education: Faculty Directory, BYU, retrieved 22 August 2013
  4. ↑ Masters, Lauren (13 February 2003), "Happily ever after: Professor love stories", The Daily Universe , retrieved 22 August 2013
  5. ↑ "Beehives and Buffalo Chips", Daily Herald, 13 December 2008, retrieved 22 August 2013
  6. ↑ Walsh, Tad (11 December 2008), "BYU professor sits atop national rankings", Deseret News , retrieved 22 August 2013
  7. ↑ Peterson, Janice (9 December 2008), "BYU professor rated 2008's best on Web site", Daily Herald, retrieved 22 August 2013
  8. ↑ "Top 10". Ratemyprofessors.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
  9. 1 2 Horowitz, Jason (28 February 2012), "The Genesis of a church's stand on race", The Washington Post, retrieved 22 August 2013
  10. ↑ "Interview: Jeffrey Holland", The Mormons , PBS, 2007, retrieved 22 August 2013
  11. ↑ "Official Statement – Race and the Church: All Are Alike Unto God", Newsroom (mormonnewsroom.org), LDS Church, retrieved 22 August 2013
  12. ↑ Bennion, Kate (February 29, 2012), "Washington Post article on black priesthood ban spurs concern, outrage: Professor didn't follow university media policy when speaking with newspaper", The Daily Universe, retrieved 22 August 2013
  13. ↑ Walker, Joseph (29 February 2012), "LDS Church condemns past racism 'inside and outside the church'", Deseret News, retrieved 22 August 2013
  14. ↑ "Gospel Topics – Race and the Priesthood", churchofjesuschrist.org, LDS Church, retrieved 2 January 2014
  15. ↑ Rick B (9 November 2020). "Race, Priesthood, and Randy Bott" . Retrieved 7 November 2021– via Wheat & Tares.
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