Author Archive

Dave Banack

http://www.mormoninquiry.com/

David Banack is an attorney who lives and works in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He has a JD from the Chapman University School of Law, a Master’s in economics from UC Davis, and a BA in political science from BYU. He joined the LDS Church at age 15 as the first Mormon in his family, and subsequently served a mission to France and Switzerland. He is happily married with three talented kids.

Sleep, Success, and Seminary

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Sleep: it’s more important than you think, especially for teenagers. Here’s from George Will’s latest column, “How to ruin a child“: Only 5 percent of high school seniors get eight hours of sleep a night. Children get an hour less than they did 30 years ago, which subtracts IQ points and adds body weight. 5... Read More »

Posted in Parenting | 83 Comments »

Genesis and Genre

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

When we read Genesis, what exactly are we reading? The distinctions and categories we modern readers bring to books and narratives (fiction or nonfiction; science or folk tale; history or literature; poetry or prose; author’s original text or quoted source) may not serve us well when we read the Old Testament, a collection of... Read More »

Posted in Scriptures | 49 Comments »

Lineage: A Troubling Concept

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Here’s a quote from Lesson 7, “The Abrahamic Covenant,” that caught my attention in Sunday School: The great majority of those who become members of the Church are literal descendants of Abraham through Ephraim, son of Joseph. Those who are not literal descendants of Abraham and Israel must become such, and when they are baptized... Read More »

Posted in Cornucopia | 72 Comments »

Mormons and Prosperity

Monday, February 8th, 2010
Mormons and Prosperity

The Prosperity Gospel (which the linked Wikipedia article defines as “the notion that God provides material prosperity for those he favors”) is often associated with Evangelical megapreachers. But we all know there is a Mormon variation of the Prosperity Gospel lurking behind the ubiquitous references to blessings and how to earn them... Read More »

Posted in Book Reviews | 51 Comments »

Underwhelming Thoughts on Correlation

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

I confess that I am not a regular reader of the Church News, but I did happen to run across this recent piece, “Using proper sources.” I will note a couple of quibbles I have with the piece (which, as an unsigned post in the “Viewpoints” section, I take to be essentially a staff... Read More »

Posted in Lesson Aids | 83 Comments »

Good Thoughts on Teaching Sunday School

Thursday, January 7th, 2010
Good Thoughts on Teaching Sunday School

My second-favorite group blog recently posted a series on what’s wrong with Sunday School, showing once again that we bloggers are, if nothing else, talented complainers. So let’s talk teaching and collect a few simple suggestions for improvement. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Posted in Cornucopia | 38 Comments »

Calling All Introverts

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

There’s hope! At least that’s the message of a couple of posts I read through lately (here and here) presenting an interview with Adam McHugh, the author of Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture. By “Church” he means Evangelicals, not the LDS Church, but the discussion is still relevant... Read More »

Posted in Mormon Life | 26 Comments »

Do We Need A Fifth Mission?

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
Do We Need A Fifth Mission?

The news is out that LDS leaders are adding a fourth mission for the Church: caring for the poor and needy. According to an official LDS spokesman cited in the Salt Lake Tribune article, the new mission (or purpose or emphasis) will be included in the new edition of the Handbook of Instructions to... Read More »

Posted in Mormon Life | 98 Comments »

December: Preparing for the Annual Sunday School Curriculum Reboot

Monday, December 7th, 2009
December: Preparing for the Annual Sunday School Curriculum Reboot

In the Church, December means different things to different people. If you’re three, you will soon be exiled from that zone of energetic irreverence known as Nursery to your first real class, Sunbeams. If you’re a bishop, holiday cheer is tempered by the month-long grind of tithing settlement. But one change we all look... Read More »

Posted in december | 18 Comments »

Your View of Mormons in the Media

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

I recently had a short discussion with a journalism student about how Mormons and Mormonism get covered in the mainstream media and whether new online media, including blogs, do any better. I’ll summarize my responses below, but I invite readers to offer their own responses in the comments. 1. How do Mormons feel about increased... Read More »

Posted in Mormon Life | 13 Comments »

What Happened in Nauvoo, Part 3: Polygamy

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Any history of Nauvoo needs to give an account of the secret practice of polygamy between 1841 and 1846. In Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise, Glen Leonard does this in about twenty pages as part of Chapter 13, “Foes Within: The Church... Read More »

Posted in Church History | 19 Comments »

Hope and Children

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Faith and charity get plenty of attention, but hope not so much. Pessimism, it seems, has become one of the guiding principles of modernity, reflected in the media, popular culture, and even academia. So I was surprised to find a philospher making the suggestion that children anchor our hope for progress and our conviction... Read More »

Posted in General Doctrine | 7 Comments »

What Happened in Nauvoo, Part 2: Flourishing

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

This second installment discussing Glen Leonard’s Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise looks at the middle years in Nauvoo through about 1842, covered in the second section of the book (pages 123 to 269). 1 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Posted in Church History | 3 Comments »

Sunday Afternoon in a Nutshell

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

President Uchtdorf conducted the Sunday afternoon session, featuring talks by Elder Holland, Elder Cook, Elder Neilson, Elder Renlund, Elder Ringwood, Elder Sitati, and Elder Christofferson, followed by closing remarks from President Monson. Direct quotations (based on my notes) are given in quotes; phrases without quotes are my summary of the remarks given. 0... Read More »

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Posted in General Conference | 92 Comments »

Saturday Afternoon in a Nutshell

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

President Eyring conducted the Saturday afternoon session, featuring talks by Elder Oaks, Elder Hales, Elder Zeballos, Elder Callister, Elder Watson, Elder Anderson, and President Packer. Direct quotations (based on my notes) are given in quotes; phrases without quotes are my summary of the remarks given. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Posted in General Conference | 7 Comments »

Saturday Morning in a Nutshell

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

President Eyring conducted the Saturday morning session, which featured brief remarks from President Monson and talks from Elder Scott, Sister Matsumori, Elder Clayton, Brother Osguthorpe, Elder Bednar, and President Uchtdorf. Direct quotations (based on my notes) are given in quotes; phrases without quotes are my summary of the remarks. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Posted in General Conference | 16 Comments »

What Happened in Nauvoo, Part 1: Founding

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

A lot happened in Nauvoo that doesn’t get covered in Sunday School or the one-volume treatments of LDS history. But Glen Leonard’s Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise tells the story in detail from start to finish. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Posted in Church History | 12 Comments »

He Is Not in the Desert

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; … do not believe it” (NIV Matt. 24:26). 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Posted in Nature and Environment | 46 Comments »

Populism and the Early Church

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

I finally got my hands on a copy of The Democratization of American Christianity, Nathan O. Hatch’s look at how the egalitarian democratic spirit that pervaded post-Revolutionary America influenced five early American religious movements: the Christians (such as the Disciples of Christ), the Methodists, the Baptists, black churches, and Mormonism. 0 people like this... Read More »

Posted in Comparative religion | 13 Comments »

Two Kinds of Faith

Monday, August 24th, 2009

I recently read Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate, Terry Eagleton’s critique of the contributions to that debate by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens (who he conflates via the memorable moniker “Ditchkins”). It’s less than I’d hoped for, but Chapter Three, “Faith and Reason,” raises issues and questions about that most... Read More »

Posted in General Doctrine | 13 Comments »

Life on the Fringe

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

I’ve seen several links but no discussion of the Slate piece on the hypothetical future role of Mormons, “The Catholic Church helped preserve Roman civilization. Can Mormonism do the same for America?” It’s part of an eight-part series on the theme How is America going to end? by a Slate senior editor. 0 people... Read More »

Posted in Mormon Life | 24 Comments »

New Primary Lesson Needed

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Suggested lesson topic: What to do when you are seven years old and do not want to go to church. Yes, I finally watched the video of the seven-year-old kid who drove away in the family car to avoid going to church (see posts at Get Religion or the SL Trib for details and... Read More »

Posted in Cornucopia | 29 Comments »

Two New Permabloggers

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

We are pleased to welcome two new permabloggers to our ranks: Alison Moore Smith and Rory Swensen. Both have recently guest blogged here, so I won’t repeat bio information from earlier welcome posts (see here and here for a refresher). We look forward to their continuing contributions here at T&S. 0 people like this... Read More »

Posted in Admin | 10 Comments »

Modernism and the Mormon Intellectual

Friday, July 31st, 2009

The Enlightenment and its legacy of reason applied to human affairs has been tough on religion. One would think this would apply with even more force to the LDS Church, given how recent are the founding miracles of Mormonism and how prominently they are featured in discussions of our history and practice. But most... Read More »

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Posted in Cornucopia | 48 Comments »

Anonymity as Virtue or Vice

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Online anonymity is a topic that comes up regularly. Does if facilitate public discussion of controversial issues or just allow anonymous commenters to spread rumor and innuendo with no accountability? Does real-name posting or commenting improve quality via reputation effects or lead to self-censoring? These are valid questions for all online forums, not just... Read More »

Posted in Bloggernacle+ | 32 Comments »

AWOL: The Threefold Mission of the Church

Friday, July 10th, 2009

I was cleaning up my blogroll yesterday and came across this post at Intelligent Life that prominently displays the threefold mission of the Church: preach the gospel, redeem the dead, perfect the Saints. It occurs to me I rarely hear this once-prevalent formulation in current LDS discourse. Where did it go? 0 people... Read More »

Posted in General Doctrine | 38 Comments »

God and Robots

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

They’re coming. Even if you don’t own a robot vacuum cleaner or lawnmower, you’ve been dealing with robots for many years now without realizing it: ATMs, kiosks that vend DVDs, the scan-it-yourself devices at the grocery store that greet you with a friendly “Welcome, valued customer!” and conclude with a brisk “Your receipt is... Read More »

Posted in Cornucopia | 44 Comments »

Reflections on the Mormon Trail

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

On a recent corner-to-corner drive across the state of Wyoming, I parallelled the Mormon Trail for about 200 miles: from where the trail intersects I-25 (about 80 miles north of Cheyenne), through Casper (site of the first Mormon Ferry), along Wyoming 220 past Independence Rock, Devil’s Gate, and Martin’s Cove, then up US 287... Read More »

Posted in Cornucopia | 2 Comments »

Upbeat Reflections on BYU

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

I recently spent a day on the BYU campus as part of an informal reunion with several old dorm-floor roommates and family members. It was a nice visit, and made me recognize something that often gets forgotten in online discussions about BYU: It is a great place for LDS kids to go to college. ... Read More »

Posted in Mormon Life | 119 Comments »

Mormonism, Fundamentalism, and Absolute Truth

Sunday, June 7th, 2009

I recently read Terry Eagleton’s After Theory (Basic Books, 2003), in which Eagleton manages (in a very entertaining way) to be critical of just about everything, including fundamentalism and “Utah” (a term he seems to be using as a proxy for Mormonism). He makes an interesting argument about fundamentalism, suggesting that it is rooted... Read More »

Posted in Mormon Thought | 28 Comments »

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