Well, That Was Awkward Timing...

Last Thursday, Edward Wyatt (NYT) profiled Martha Beck, who claims to have "recovered memories of ritual sexual abuse more than 20 years earlier by her father, Dr. Hugh Nibley, professor emeritus of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University and arguably the leading living authority on Mormon teaching."

That same day, Dr. Nibley dropped dead, although a family spokesman told the press that his health had been declining for quite some time, and the rest of the immediate Nibley family has long been on record as doubting Beck's story at just about every level.

The recovery of those alleged memories--and if you've ever read any Elizabeth Loftus, you know there's a lot to be said against the entire "repressed memory" phenomenon, particularly as it relates to allegations of abuse--is the central focus of Beck's new book, Leaving the Saints, which comes out next month. Wyatt does a good job of outlining the potential problems with Beck's version of events--again, especially considering the whole "repressed memories" angle--and while it seems clear that the criticism Beck's facing from Mormons is excessively aggressive, it's somewhat hard to fully accept her statement to the reporter that "she did not intend Leaving the Saints to be an indictment of Mormonism" when she adds a subtitle like "How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith."