The LDS Council for Mormon Studies, which has been involved with the creation of a chair in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University, has issued the following press release:
Author: Nate Oman
I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah (autobiographical blogging here), and attended Brigham Young University from 1993 to 1999. Between 1994 and 1996, I served in the Korea Pusan Mission. While at BYU, I mainly studied political science and philosophy. (I was lucky enough to take several classes from T&S's Jim Faulconer.) I also took just enough economics to get myself in trouble. After graduation, I married the fabulous and incredible Heather Bennett (now Oman) and worked on Capitol Hill for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) while Heather finished graduate school at George Washington University. Beginning in 2000, I attended Harvard Law School, escaping with my JD in June, 2003. After practicing law for awhile, I became a law professor at William & Mary Law School. Somewhere along the line, Heather and I managed to have a son and a daughter.
A Mormon Image: Sweaters for the Penguins
This image was too good not to revive the Mormon Images feature of blessed memory.
The Last Door
We’ve all heard the stories about intrepid missionaries who faced rejection door after door only to be let in at the final house that they contacted.
On Earning the Right to Complain
“If you don’t pay your tithing and serve in the Church, you give up your right to bitch,”
In Defense of the Word “Gentile”
I like referring to non-Mormons as “Gentiles.”
From the Archives: Mormon Cursing
While reading Wilford Woodruff’s diaries recently, I discovered that I have been living in a cursed part of the country. What am I to make of this, and the more general phenomena of Mormon cursing?
Why My Mission was Hard
I’ve heard lots of people discuss how their missions caused a spiritual crisis for them. So did mine.
Mordred had a point…
Among Mormon History nerds, “Camelot” refers to the period of time in the 1970s and early 1980s when Leonard Arrington served as Church Historian. It is traditional to look back on it as a Golden Age that was tragically lost.
A Reinterpretation of Faith-Promoting History
Mormons have an ingrained habit of interpreting their history in the rosiest of all possible terms, even when — as a historical matter — a less rosy interpretation makes more sense.
S.P.Q.M.
In the past, I have suggested that the Mormon constitution is English, but of late I have wondered whether it might be Roman.
A Proconsular Apostle in Chile
Peggy Fletcher Stack’s recent Salt Lake Tribune article on the Church in Chile is definitely worth a read.
A Preacher of Righteousness
Elijah Abel is one of the more important figures in the history of Mormonism.
From the Archives: The Real Issue
In light of the recent publicity surrouding the Buckley Jeppson case, I thought that some readers might be interested in this post from a couple of years ago. It goes, I think, to the question of the significance of the Canadian-sanctioned marriage of Jeppson and his partner. I am not offering this post as a theological gotcha to homosexual-rights activists. I am well-aware of the pain and difficulty caused by the current stance of the Church toward homosexuality. I would like to see a better resolution than the one that we currently have. However, it seems to me that any such alternative has to begin by taking the doctrines of the Restoration seriously.
Mormonism as a Strand of Western Thought
When we are not in our “Mormons are not weird”-PR mode,
Mormon History and the Problem of Mermaids
Mermaids illustrate the problems faced by non-Mormon readers of Mormon histories
Two Cheers for the Manuals!
I have a confession. I am an Elders’ Quorum instructor and I like the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church manuals. Really.
Ama-ar-gi and Mormonism
“Ama-ar-gi,” a Sumerian word, has the distinction of being the oldest written instance of the concept of freedom or liberty, appearing on a clay tablet from about 2300 B.C. The word itself has something to say about the vexed question of the relationship between Mormonism and liberty or freedom.
Eddie Murphy on Richard Bushman
There is a classic Saturday Night Live skit (from back when it was funny) that perfectly captures one of my nagging anxieties about being Mormon.
George Q. Cannon’s Equal Rights Amendment
I have been doing a bit of research on the drafting of the Utah State Constitution, reading the proceedings of the constitutional convention held in 1894. The delegates seem to have spent most of their time discussing furniture, stationary, and who got to be appointed official stenographer for the convention. Every so often, however, they would pause to actually consider possible constitutional issues.
From the Archives: What is the Purpose of the BYU Dress and Grooming Code?
BYU is often ridiculed for its dress and grooming code. The basic argument is that it is silly.
“But that’s just socially constructed…”
One of the fun things about education is that you get all sorts of fun new toys, ideas that magically seem to cut through all sorts of Gordian knots and whose mere invocation has occult intellectual powers that liberate one from previous difficulties.
A Modest Bit of Navel Gazing…
I try (or at least I think that I try) to avoid posting on the bloggernacle as bloggernancle.
Polygamy and Bastardy
Polygamy created a bastardy problem for nineteenth-century Mormons.
Utah(ish) Non-Mormons
Non-Utah Mormons like to complain about the supposed failing of Utah Mormons. Forgotten in this inevitable and highly stylized discussion, however, are the odd tics of Utah non-Mormons. I recently had a deja vu experience that reminded me of this strange breed.
Enlisting the Snarky Amongst Us
Several years ago I ran a marathon. As anyone who has run a marathon can tell you, training for it is a lot of work. I tend to be a pretty undisciplined person, so when I started training for the marathon, I decided that I needed some sort of commitment device to keep me on schedule. My solution was to tell all of my friends and family that I was training for a marathon, indeed that I would be running a marathon in the fall. That way I got my sense of shame to discipline me. If I slacked off and didn’t train, then I would be awfully embarrassed when I didn’t run the marathon in the fall. It worked. Fear of shame kept me on schedule, and I finished the Richmond Marathon. (With an absolutely abysmal time, I might add.) This post is a similar exercise. Blogging at Times & Seasons and reading and (sporadically) commenting elsewhere in the Bloggernacle has been taking up way too much of my time of late. I am behind at work. I am behind on other projects. I need to get caught up and spend more time with my family. So I am going to be taking a hiatus from the Bloggernacle for a bit. I am sure that I will end up coming back, but for at least the next month and a half, I will not be posting here. This isn’t…
A Modest Grand Narrative About the History of Hometeaching
I think that it is fairly well established that Mormonism has deep roots in the religious history of Puritan New England. Of course, how one parses out the relationship between Mormonism and Puritanism is complicated, but I don’t think that there is much argument as to the fact of a relationship.
On the Uses of the Doctrine of Apostasy
The doctrine of apostasy has come on hard times.
On being a bookkeeper in Zion
As a young missionary, the Lord saw fit to inflict on me one the greatest trials that can afflict a Latter-day Saint: He forced me to become educated about Church financial controls and auditing procedures.
Why Jesus Will Not Save You: A Short Spiritual Autobiography
When I look at my life and pick out its most significant spiritual events, one that stands out is a night when, unbidden and unexpected, God told me that he was angry because I was reading the New Testament.
Ritual is the Last Thing to Go
Christmastime is upon us, and before too long hoards of folks who darken a church door only once or twice a year will be flooding into the churches. I have to say I can hardly blame them.