The ‘cool issue’ of LDS apostle Dieter Uchtdorf

With the latest deaths of Russell Nelson and Jeffrey Holland, apostle Dieter Uchtdorf moved two steps nearer to the highest rung on the management ladder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The 85-year-old Uchtdorf is now the appearing president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and stands second in line — behind 92-year-old Henry Eyring — to take the reins of the worldwide religion. While definitely not wishing loss of life on any church leaders, many Latter-day Saints nonetheless sit up for the prospect of Uchtdorf sooner or later rising to the presidency.

What is it about this German apostle that makes him so in style? Is it his backstory as a two-time refugee or the truth that he rose from outdoors the same old church management monitor? Is it his high-flying profession as an airline pilot? Is it his sermons, full of hovering rhetoric and down-to-earth knowledge? Is it his GQ seems and perennial tan, his countless power, or his willingness to deal with sticky, related questions — just like the fallibility of top church leaders, the need for self-reflection quite than judgment, or shadows of the Cold War on the horizon?

In a latest episode of The Salt Lake Tribune’s “Mormon Land” podcast, Patrick Mason, chair of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University and Kristine Haglund, a author and former editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, discover the a lot admired apostle and why he appears to face out among the many religion’s high leaders.

Here are calmly edited excerpts from the dialogue:

What was your first impression of the German apostle?

Mason • My first [impression of] him got here from General Conference talks, the place he mentions being an airline pilot. That definitely stood out to me, and likewise his general demeanor and charisma on the pulpit. I marked him as anyone of just a bit bit completely different stripe than a few of his colleagues. … There is a form of cool issue of being an airline pilot that I don’t have as a professor, proper? … When youngsters stroll on a airplane for the primary time they usually give them these toy little wings and be capable to gaze within the cockpit. There’s some form of fashionable magic occurring there.

Haglund • I really bear in mind an early discuss of his the place he talks about blowing the bellows for the organ at the chapel in Zwickau, East Germany, when he was a little bit boy. That stood out to me, each as a result of I like the organ and since he additionally talked a couple of stained-glass window, which can be one thing that I discover and like.

Have you heard the time period “Silver Fox” utilized to him?

Haglund • Yes, he’s a nice-looking man. It needs to be stated. We may as effectively get it out of the way in which. I believe he can be good trying simply as a nonetheless picture, however much more, it’s his demeanor and heat. He’s extraordinarily charismatic in that tough to determine and outline method.

It’s additionally as a result of he has hair, proper?

Haglund • [Laughs.] He mentions David O. McKay because the prophet of his youth, and somebody whom he admired. McKay additionally was one who had hair. So perhaps that’s it.

What is it that you just personally like about Dieter Uchtdorf?

Haglund • There’s a method that Latter-day Saints can revel of their devotion and struggling for his or her religion. He by no means does. He makes it sound like being a Latter-day Saint is enjoyable and joyful. He’s so delighted by small issues. He’s all the time stating issues like that stained-glass window, a tiny forget-me-not flower or scrumptious Diet Coke. It does appear to be he takes delight on this planet and that’s all the time interesting.

Mason • He tasks that there are many methods to be non secular and plenty of methods of conveying your religiosity. You can do it by means of a form of stern white-knuckling-your-way-to-heaven sort of method. Or you are able to do it by means of the enjoyment of residing the gospel. He really form of exudes that — a joyfulness in relationship with God and relationship with different individuals. He appears form of joyful to be alongside for the experience.

What do you suppose different members see in him?

Mason • He’s a reasonably good storyteller. He has evocative imagery. Stories from his personal previous, or parables, use different kinds of metaphors that turn into memorable. He has spoken lots about grace and the love of Jesus Christ. With that, he’s been a part of a wave of Twenty first-century Mormonism. If you grew up within the church and also you’re our age, he doesn’t sound like a few of these apostles, the place it’s all about obedience and commandments. It’s not that he neglects these issues, however there’s a higher emphasis on the grace and love of God that I believe is heat and alluring. He’s actually well-suited for Twenty first-century sensibilities and a Twenty first-century church.

Haglund • His sermons typically have an arresting visible picture that sticks. In one among his talks about delivering laundry on his bicycle, he says, “I wanted to have a nice, sleek, shiny, sporty red bicycle,” however then says, “instead, I had a heavy, ugly, black, sturdy workhorse of a bicycle.” There’s one additional adjective in there that basically provides you time and a cue to see this factor. They’re memorable as a result of you may see that one image that triggers the reminiscence.

Do you suppose his attraction to American members differs from worldwide members?

Haglund • I’m inclined to say that it’s the identical. … He’s not frightened about not having pioneer ancestors. I believe that units up permission for different individuals to totally embrace the faith and declare it as their very own.

Mason • In a e book that I printed years in the past, a scholar from Europe, who was additionally a church chief, talks about when Elder Uchtdorf was known as into the Quorum of the Twelve [Apostles]. In dialog with some German members, they stated, “We love Elder Uchtdorf. We’re very happy for him. But, they said with a twinkle in their eye, “he is an American after all.” He had spent a lot time within the high echelons of company tradition at Lufthansa and as a normal authority earlier than he was known as into the quorum that he’s clearly cosmopolitan. He might slot in in Europe. He suits in in Utah. He might slot in most likely anyplace. Maybe that truly is a form of European sensibility quite than an American one. I believe he’s form of each.

What form of church president do you suppose he would make?

Haglund • He could possibly be transformative. He’s wholesome, however he’s not younger, and so it’s a little bit bit laborious to foretell, however I do suppose that the form of typically hopeful, optimistic sense of what it means to be a Latter-day Saint on this planet can be completely different from a few of his sterner [predecessors] with [their] robust emphasis on obedience and even regimentation of the covenant path. I additionally suppose that his humorousness is absolutely great, and he may train Latter-day Saints to take themselves a tiny bit much less significantly, which might be salutary.

Mason • Were he to turn into president, it might be one other step, or half step, towards The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really being a worldwide faith. So that may be vital. I believe he can be a beloved president [like] McKay. Not certain how transformative he can be. There’d be so many elements when it comes to his age and well being and issues like that. President Nelson confirmed that if anyone comes into the presidency and has a thoughts to do it and has a to-do listing and is prepared to flex the muscle of the presidency, it may be a transformative place, even in a really quick time frame. Would a Dieter Uchtdorf wish to be a muscular president in that method? Would he lean into form of remodeling a number of the inner workings of the church, or would he be extra content material with conveying a extra public picture of heat and hope and charm? Does he have people who find themselves lined up able to do what he says, or would he meet some degree of resistance throughout the large paperwork? That’s all simply pure hypothesis.

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