Gerhard Spörl, reporter for Der Spiegel, surely did not have an easy task. After his editors at the finest German-language news weekly on the planet took notice of a German Mormon apostle and a Mormon candidate for the U.S. presidency, they gave Spörl the responsibility for interviewing Dieter Uchtdorf, visiting the church offices in Frankfurt, and trying to explain Mormons and their religion to a million German readers (article in English translation here). Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
LDS Newsroom
- Family and Church Leaders Eulogize Frances J. Monson as One Who “Deeply Loved” May 23, 2013
- Church Responds to Boy Scouts Policy Vote May 23, 2013
- Bible Brought to Life on Ancient Jerusalem Set May 22, 2013
- Church Working With Oklahoma Officials to Provide Support in Wake of Tornadoes May 21, 2013
- Funeral Services for Frances J. Monson Announced May 20, 2013
- Frances J. Monson, Wife of President Thomas S. Monson, Passes Away May 17, 2013
- Elder Dallin H. Oaks Honored for Championing Religious Freedom May 16, 2013
- Mormonism in the News: Getting It Right| 15 May 2013 May 15, 2013
- Rendering of Meridian Idaho Mormon Temple Now Public May 15, 2013
- Mormons Around the World: Country Newsroom Websites |14 May 2013 May 14, 2013
Blog Archives
Laie and statistics
If you’re applying to BYU-Hawaii, should Dartmouth be your safety school? 1 person likes this post. Like Unlike Read more »
Living in the limelight
Sometime on or before November 4, 2008, the Romney campaign is going to tank. (Dwelling too long on the possibility that he won’t tank is not good for the cardiac health of both his supporters and his opponents, so we’ll ignore that possibility for now.) After the Romney candidacy is no more, how are we Mormons going to make people notice us? Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
The wisdom of one-room schools
I think Kaimi’s metaphor is apt, maybe in more ways than he intended. Every few weeks, or every few days, there’s another discussion of polygamy, and some country hick who’s new to the big city suggests in breathless wide-eyed wonder that plural marriage was a way to care for widows and other women without families. Thereupon much merriment ensues among those who are wise to the ways of the world. Who could be so naive? But then I read what Richard Bushman told the Pew Forum a few weeks ago: Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
The reader in Mormon literature
What I dislike most about discussing Mormon literature is the all but inevitable moment when someone disparages the low artistic taste and congenital stinginess of Mormon readers. So let me set out the foundation for any discussion of Mormon literature and its readers: Readers owe authors nothing. Not a single copper-plated cent. Not a second of their time. Nothing. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
The recycled image
Does source study make us better readers? I, Hercules, Duke of Ferrara, we now have in our city of Ferrara several nuns miraculously redolent of holiness, and above all the worthy sister Lucy of Narnia Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
The Mormon reader in the national market
Writing for a Mormon audience may be wasting the potential influence of Mormon readers. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Golden plates, prophesying of Christ
Part of medieval Christianity’s reworking of its inheritance from Classical Antiquity included turning the Greek Sibyls from local oracles into foretellers of Christ’s birth. After the christianized Sibyls’ prophecies had spent a thousand years or so on the medieval equivalent of the bestseller list, meddling philologists started asking just how the pre-Christian Sibyls came to know Jerome’s Vulgate so well. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Why I am biased against Mormon students[1][2]
Now updated with footnotes! Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
The Church of Latter-day Global Nomads
“Global nomads” is apparently how marketing demographers refer to people who make a practice of living outside their native country. I imagine it’s supposed to make the expatriate experience sound adventurous, upscale, and fashion-forward, but mostly the phrase strikes me as a bit silly and pretentious. That being said, it’s remarkable how perfectly suited Mormonism is as a church for global nomads. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Essential texts in Mormon Studies by non-Mormon authors
I haven’t a clue. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
The Man Nephi
Is Nephi an eponymous ancestor? Well, clearly, yes. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Kurt Vonnegut
There was a time, during my senior year in high school, when I listened to the Doors and Pink Floyd for the sake of their lyrics, and memorized modern poetry, and read Kurt Vonnegut. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Mitt Romney, commencement speaker
Misinformation about Mormonism is nothing new, so the bloopers in Kenneth Woodward’s editorial about Mitt Romney’s upcoming speech at Regents University in today’s New York Times don’t disturb me much. What annoys me is Woodward’s argument about how Mormons should talk about themselves. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
The Revelation of Reymund
At the moment, I’m looking at prognostications and popular prophetic tracts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and last week I came across the following Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Your Mormon problem
Do all job seekers, academic or otherwise, share Mitt Romney’s “Mormon problem?” Where do you list your religion on your CV? Nowhere. Everywhere. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
To the ABD fathers in Zion
Over the last several years, I’ve gotten to know a good number of Mormon men whose life goal is to land an academic job in order to provide for their family. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Humility in the academic job market (or, why you shouldn’t forget about BYU)
In a job interview, the rhetorical approach you are looking for is “I can solve all your problems for you”: increase enrollments, raise the department’s research profile, advise the student club, pull in outside funding, the whole enchilada. (Can you really do all this? Of course you can! You now have a Ph.D., right?) Now is not the time for false modesty. Humility, however, is an essential part of your job search. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Especially for Mormon graduate students (or, why you should forget about BYU)
One of the most difficult stages of graduate school comes near the end, when the massive effort required to complete a dissertation collides with the existential crisis of finding a job Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Fireside notes
What does an apostle, who himself had spent a long time away from his young family for military service, who has himself experienced grief and loss, say to a congregation of American servicemen and -women and their families in a distant country, many of whom have been to Iraq or have lost friends there or will soon be in Iraq for an unknowable duration, and who have traveled in many cases for hours to hear an apostle speak? What Elder Ballard said last night was: Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Talk like a Pirate Day
September 19 is Talk like a Pirate Day. But every day is Talk like a Pirate Day for me. Arrrr! Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Linguistic answers to theological questions
The southern German and Austrian greeting Grüß Gott! ‘may God greet ‘ is perceived by many local members and American missionaries as a too-frequent or otherwise inappropriate use of a divine title. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Does coffee make you unclean?
In the Pentateuch, we find two ways of doing wrong. There is the more familiar sequence where a person sins by violating divine law and must atone for the guilt, but also the sequence where a person becomes unclean through contact with a tabooed person or object and must be ritually cleansed. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Colligite fragmenta ne pereant
In a manuscript I’m looking at right now, I’m trying to find what verses two or three biblical citations refer to. Before I declare them to be hopeless cases, do any of the three sound familiar to you? Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
The problem with “liberal Mormon”
The problem with “liberal Mormon” is not the liberal Mormons, whoever they might be, but rather the term used to classify them. It seems to me that the term is used as a catch-all for at least five mostly unrelated things. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
The King and Us
Today my wife visited a ward conference in Grafenwöhr, representing the stake YW presidency. As of today, Grafenwöhr is a US servicemen’s ward; until now it’s been a branch. For a meetinghouse, the ward rents a local hall. Before it was used as a church, the building was a bar, and then a strip club. Also, Elvis once performed there, approximately where the young women now have their classroom. Some LDS meetinghouses have longer and nobler histories, but I would guess few have had such close brushes with fame. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Cars, Buses, and Suicide Bombing
Going without a car means giving up some control over the safety of yourself and your family, or the illusion of control. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Cars, Buses, and the Von Trapp Family Singers
Public transportation is a wonderful thing. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Orthoglossy
The people of Zion were of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness. Our goal is to be like them. Are we? It’s hard to be sure, since we can’t easily know what’s in another person’s heart. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Mitt, the Mormons, and the Democrats’ Mountain West Strategy
The Democratic electoral strategy for 2008 and Mitt Romney’s candidacy might just give Mormons more political influence than they will ever have again in a presidential election. The combination of the two will certainly give the McCain campaign a bad case of indigestion. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Conferences and Events
- American Society of Church History Annual Meeting
- American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting
- Communal Studies Association Annual Meeting
- Society for the Scientific Study of Religion/Religious Research Association
- Western History Association Annual Conference
- Utah State Historical Society Annual Meeting
- Center for Studies on New Religions
- Mormon History Association
- European Mormon Studies Association Conference
- Sunstone Symposium