Seeking

In The Life of John Taylor, “Seeking” names the truth-seeking disposition Kyle reads against its opposite — defensiveness — as the central tension running through the apologetic-vs-truth tradition in Mormon historiography. It is captured in the line Kyle pairs with the concept: “Bring all the truth you have and let us see if we can add to it.” The frame treats genuine seeking (open, additive, unafraid of new truth) as the healthy pole, with Apologetics (defending a fixed position) as its shadow. The same disposition shows up in Taylor’s own biography as the “seeker arc” — his path from Methodist preacher into Mormonism via Conversion — and in his retort to the philosopher Krolokoski that the Mormons “have not been seeking the influence of the world, nor the power of government, but they have obtained both.”

Where this appears

• The Life of John Taylor — the truth-seeking-vs-defensiveness tension framing Kyle’s read of the B.H. Roberts biography; Taylor’s “seeker” path into Mormonism.