At Oxford, Elder Holland lays out Latter-day Saint theology before religious scholars, students
They stood between old stone walls on creaking wooden floors before a full room of 50 theology faculty and students, the public and local Latter-day Saints.
The room once housed the first library at Oxford (England), the oldest university in the English-speaking world.
The beginnings of University Church date back more than 1,000 years. Methodist founder John Wesley preached here. Three Protestant leaders were burned at the stake here after a "theological conversation" at the 1,000-year-old University Church of St. Mary the Virgin in 1555.
On this November day in 2018, Rev. Dr. Andrew Teal, chaplain and lecturer at Pembroke College and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a 90-minute conversation which ended with the two having a warm embrace.
Rev. Teal said: "We are both determined to be aware that our history should not collapse into categories in which we label each other as distant."
Elder Holland agreed: "We've let some differences, significant differences, get in the way of a larger, warmer, wonderful conversation."
He praised Rev. Teal, who told the Deseret News that he has watched many of his new friend's talks online, for his preparation, saying he already knew more about Latter-day Saint theology than many of the faith's members.
I find him a wholesome, faithful and inspiring man," Rev. Teal told the Deseret News, "indeed, 'great' but lacking all pomposity of grandeur."
"We need each other’s eyes to see ourselves," he said.
"Might it be possible to listen carefully, attentively and respectfully, to ask questions with integrity and intellectual honesty of one another, without defensiveness or tribalism?"
