Preface, Dale B. Robertson
Robertson briefly traces Chase's tenure at BYU Hawaii from 1973 to his death in 1999, and Spikenard's efforts to have him assemble some of his essays focusing on Laie and Hawaii — some of which were presented at Mormon Pacific Historical Society conferences and published in the Proceedings as well as Voyages of Faith.

Introduction: Lance Davis Chase, Faithful Intellectual, Paul R. Spickard
Spickard describes Chase as a man of both intense intellect and religious faith. He outlines Chases development through his undergraduate days and early teaching career. Though he earned a Ph.D. in English literature from Marquette, Chase focused most of his writing on historical themes that show "intense religious commitment to God and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Spickard also gives a description of Chase's key essays which appear in this volume.

It Was All in the Ohana (Family): The Beginnings of Mormon Missionary Work on Kauai, 1850-54
Chase points out that, unlike the other islands where Utah missionaries preached, native Hawaiian missionaries helped establish the gospel on Kauai and Niihau in the earliest years of the mission, singling out the efforts of Elders Kauwahi, Kaele and several others.

The Hawaiian Mission Crisis of 1874: Character as Destiny
Also published in Voyages of Faith, this essay describes the early growth of the Church, the establishment of the Laie Plantation and the "Kahana incident", with its central character, Mission President Frederick A.H.F.Mitchell. Chase traces Mitchell's first mission experience in Hawaii, and then 15 years later, the "incident" he fomented by ordering Hawaiian Saints at Laie to tear out and destroy their cash crop of 'awa (Piper Methysticum, which has a numbing effect) because he believed it was prohibited by the Word of Wisdom. When a dissenting group refused, Mitchell began disfellowshipping procedures, and the group soon purchased property and moved to Kahana. Church authorities soon after released Mitchell from his duties.

Pathological Forms of Spiritual Excitement in the Mormon Past
Chase attempts to "construct a more comprehensive explanation for the motives of the participants on both sides" of spiritually hostile and violent incidents such as occurred in Missouri and during the Mountain Meadows massacre. He cites the failure to develop communication and a sense of community among the Mormons and the Missourians. He also quotes Reinhold Niebuhr to describe the Missourians' "inherent repugnance" for people who considered themselves saints as "individuals who are completely innocent in their own esteem." Chase postulates that "violent braggadocio" in Mormon parlance contributed to the disaster at Mountain Meadows; and he concludes that the lethal violence on both sides might have been avoided "had there been more breadth and felicity of imagination."

The Spencer-Pike Affair 1859-89: Method in Madness
In 1859 Army Sgt. Ralph Pike fractured the skull of Utah cowboy Howard Spencer who survived, and five months later in Salt Lake City, killed Pike and escaped. Twenty-nine years later, Pike — then a respected resident of Orderville and a member of the Kanab Stake presidency, was arrested for cohabitation [polygamy] but stood trial for Pike's murder. The jury of three members and nine nonmembers declared him not guilty by reason of insanity. Chase provides substantial details to the story and encourages readers to follow Elder Oaks' advice, that modern "injured parties should forego retribution or revenge and look to the laws and civil authorities to punish adversaries."

Samuel Edwin Woolley: An Appreciation
Woolley served as a missionary in Hawaii from 1880-84, worked with the Iosepa colony for five-plus years, then served as Hawaiian Mission president from 1895-1919 and Laie Plantation manager from 1895-1921, most of those years far from his wife and children. Chase gives substantial detail of Woolley's views and unauthorized practice of polygamy — even after the Manifesto, and also describes some of his financial dealings. Despite these problems, Chase refocuses readers on Woolley's long years of service by reminding them that President Grant included mention of him in his dedicatory prayer of the Hawaii Temple.

Humbug in Hawaii: The 1885 Discovery of the Spaulding Manuscript
Chase documents the discovery of the Spaulding manuscript — a "historical romance" novella which some enemies claimed was Joseph Smith's inspiration for the Book of Mormon — in Honolulu in 1884 by Oberlin College President James H. Fairchild. The following year Joseph F. Smith, who was serving a mission in Hawaii, inspected the manuscript and, later, personally copied it.

The Meek Did Not Inherit the Earth: The 1927-28 Laie Beachfront Sale and Suit
In 1927 the Church sold the majority of Laie's beachfront property to Pacific Trust Co., Ltd., for $275,000, which spurred five members on Oahu to unsuccessfully sue the Church, claiming it was "illegally disposing of land that actually belonged to the Mormon community." Chase explains that Zions Securities Corp., which was founded in 1922, sold two miles of beachfront "to pay, or at least reduce, the [Laie] plantation's considerable debts." He also charts the family connections of George Kekauoha, the principal plaintiff in the suit, and describes the lengthy depositions offered in defense by Church officials. Though some people feel Kekauoha's actions were those of an "ark steadier," Chase suggests he might also have been prescient about the future value and importance of the property.

The Purported Hawaii Temple Attack on 7 December 1941: Essentials of the Story
Chase investigates whether a Japanese pilot attempted three times — and failed — to bomb and strafe the Hawaii Temple during the overall attack on Pearl Harbor and other Oahu military installations on December 7, 1941. He describes how the single Hawaii eyewitness didn't start telling his story until the 1960s, and that several variations of the widespread story now exist. He also brings in the account of two missionaries tracting out the veteran pilot years later in Japan, who in one version reportedly joined the Church and corroborated the account, and how that aspect of the story has also evolved over the years. Chase accepts the "sincerity and conviction" of the witness and the missionary, and also offers several alternative explanations as to why the faith-promoting "legend" started. (A shorter, earlier version of Chase's paper is included in Voyages of Faith.)

The Voice of the Waves of the Sea
In this poignant essay Chase looks at the effects of the April 1, 1946, tsunami or tidal wave — "the worst natural disaster in Hawaiian history" — on the north shore of Oahu. The tsunami killed a Kahuku Elementary child, an old woman in Punaluu, and three small children in Kahana; and wreaked extensive damage on Kahuku Air Strip. At Kahana, for example, the waters rose 17 feet. Following the disaster, the U.S. Army temporarily moved everyone from Laie to Kualoa to its training site in Punaluu Valley until they could safely return to their homes.

The Idea of a Mormon University
Delivering the annual David O. McKay Lecture at BYU Hawaii on February 11, 1988, Chase describes the "ideal Mormon university" as one that provides the bedrock guide that "Jesus is the Christ and Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration" as well as educates students intellectually and emotionally — a complex task. "Our central purpose for existing is to provide an academic and spiritual education," he writes, adding that studies should help students and faculty form cogent opinions, re-enthrone books, "build faith and maintain a reverent respect for the life of the mind as well as the heart."

Hawaiian Sovereignty and the Balkanization of Paradise: 'When We Have Turned to Loving, Will They Have Turned to Hating?'
Chase, who had lived in Hawaii over 20 years when he delivered this paper during the 1994 MPHS conference, recalls his family's culture shock during their first years in the islands and gradual feelings of inclusion in the community and encounters with the aloha spirit. About 1990, however, Chase wonders if "increasingly strident" calls for some form of Hawaiian sovereignty and other actions against LDS interests in Laie will lead to new levels of confrontation. He concludes, "Each of us must decide what aspects of his or her culture are compatible with the culture of the Restoration"; determine which aspects of our culture "fit within Christ's culture"; and remove those aspects "to which the gospel culture is clearly inimical."

On Being Held Hostage: Cultural Activists and Environmental Entrepreneurs in Laie, Hawaii
In this essay delivered at the 1996 MPHS conference, Chase describes Laie as a "hostage community and a community of hostages," because its unique LDS history occasionally bumps up against modern economic and civic concerns. For example, Chase cites the lack of municipal support to the tax payers, but points out that Hawaii Reserves, Inc. — the recently-formed successor to Zions Securities — had begun working on a master plan for the community [subsequently adopted]. Chase also outlines the legal problems and solutions the community experienced in the 1990s due to improper wastewater disposal.

When I Have Fears: The Perils of a Fin de Siècle Mormon Historian
Chase argues in this 1997 paper that the "historian's drive to examine the human dilemma, even when it may involve areas abrasive to those operating under a strict religious sensibility, can proceed from a sacred, religious impulse." He laments, for example, that three LDS historians had been excommunicated on the mainland, and relates this to an experience where the parents of one of his students wrote the First Presidency, correctly accusing him of of teaching "that our Church leaders can and have made mistakes." He poses the question: "How does one balance the sometimes conflicting demands of faith and history?"; and cites difficulties several authors had before publishing their treatises on the Mountain Meadows massacre. He also cites that his conclusions about whether a Japanese pilot tried to bomb the Hawaii Temple on December 7, 1941, happened "has absolutely nothing to do with my faith." He concludes that the tension between the demands of the historian's profession and religious faith is "inevitable but valuable and even creative."

[Top] [MPHS Home Page]