From “The Unwritten Order of Things,” to “The Holy Temple” to “Keeping Confidences,” President Boyd K. Packer has established himself as simultaneously a revealer and keeper of secrets: an expounder of revealed truth who broaches topics not often discussed, but at the same time is emphatic about leaving certain things unspoken in the name of protecting the sacred. Using Douglas Davies’s notion of sacred secrecy, I analyze four categories of “secrets” in the teachings of President Packer—the unwritten, the unsuitable, the confidential, and the sacred—and show how these categories serve to draw boundaries and reinforce apostolic charisma.

HUGO OLAIZ, D. MICHAEL QUINN