I’m sitting in my organizational management class right now. That (combined with having just finally finished Lengthen Your Stride, which opened my eyes to the challenge of managing a global organization) has got me thinking about why the church is structured the way it is. Many attributes of the church that we like to complain... Read More »
If Glenn Beck followed his own instructions, he’d be an ex-Mormon
Well known LDS political pundit Glenn Beck recently told his radio listeners that they should leave churches with the words “social justice” or “economic justice” on their websites: I... Read More »
Easter Conference
I love General Conference. And not just because I get to have Couch Church. I love everything about it. We generally spend a couple of weeks in our family... Read More »
OT Lesson 11 Study Notes: Genesis 34 and 37-39
Genesis 34 What was the sin of Dinah’s brothers? Was it that they took vengeance? Reread the Abrahamic covenant to... Read More »
Gospel Principles Lesson #5
Chapter Five: The Creation Read More »
OT Lesson 10 Study Notes: Genesis 24-29
I will concentrate my questions on Genesis 25:19-34 and 27:1-45, and I will add Genesis 33:1-20 to the reading... Read More »
Sleep, Success, and Seminary
Sleep: it’s more important than you think, especially for teenagers. Here’s from George Will’s latest column, “How to ruin... Read More »
Nibley vindicatus; or Göbekli Tepe: a personal view
I fell in love almost simultaneously, as a junior in high school, with historical linguistics and Hugh Nibley. Read More »
Polygamy, Natural Law, and Imperialism
I have been researching Reynolds v. United States (1879), the Supreme Court’s first polygamy case, on and off for... Read More »
Forsake Your Sins
On the sweetness of Mormon life. Read More »
Answering Nate
"Once upon a time, numberless spirits inhabited the vast chaos of space and unorganized matter. They exercised their minuscule... Read More »
MR: “You’ll Never Walk Alone: The Mormon Church, Proposition 8, and British Soccer”
A new issue of The Mormon Review is available, with David K. Jones’s review of You’ll Never Walk Alone... Read More »
Genesis and Genre
When we read Genesis, what exactly are we reading? The distinctions and categories we modern readers bring to books... Read More »
OT Lesson 9 Study Notes: Abraham 1; Genesis 15-17, 21-22
I repeat the reminder: these are notes for study rather than notes for a lesson. Of course study notes... Read More »
My God
I love my God. He loves me. Sometimes I suffer, and sometimes there is nothing He can do about... Read More »
Suckers and Monsters
We human beings don’t handle technological progress very gracefully. Those of us who have spent years doing things “the... Read More »
Heresy and Adding Upon
Many Mormons find that many Christian discussions are compatible with Mormon belief. We cheerfully borrow from C.S. Lewis,... Read More »
A Mormon Image: Sweaters for the Penguins
The sweaters that these penguins are wearing are designed to save their lives after oil spills off of the... Read More »
Lineage: A Troubling Concept
Here’s a quote from Lesson 7, “The Abrahamic Covenant,” that caught my attention in Sunday School: The great majority of... Read More »
A Mormon Image: Weighing Eternity
An oft-quoted passage from our Bible Dictionary states that “only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.”... Read More »
Higher Education and Mormon Culture
While discussing the development of Mormon culture at the recent Brazilian Mormon Studies Conference in São Paulo, Brazil, one... Read More »
Friendship is Unnatural
I love the interactive nature of blogging. I had planned to close this series with a post neatly tying... Read More »
OT Lesson 8 Study Notes: Genesis 13-14, 18-19
Chapter 13 Verses 1-2: Are there elements in Abram’s journey to Canaan that typify Israel’s later exodus from Egypt? If... Read More »
How to make Mormon literature great
Glenn Beck, the soapbox orator of cable television, has done more, save Sheri Dew only, for the greatness of... Read More »





