A Mormon Image
Science
Writings in the Stone
Some years ago I sat in a Gospel Doctrine class taught by a physician. I mention his profession because I think it matters, as he took the opportunity to deviate from the lesson and condemn in the strongest terms the theory of evolution. He labeled it a satanic concept, one that we must avoid,... Read More »
The Downstream Principle of Language
I’m posting this at Times and Seasons as follow-up to a three-part series I wrote here a couple years back (see here, here and here). I’ve cross-posted it over at A Motley Vision’s companion blog Wilderness Interface Zone. September 17th marked the two-year anniversary of the closing of Crossfire Canyon (real name: Recapture Canyon)... Read More »
He Is Not in the Desert
“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 »
Grace in the Morning
This morning I went running with my dog. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
January 1 of the year 40
Happy Moonlanding Day! When I was a youth, I read a science fiction book in which dates in the future were figured from the day that Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, apparently because the date had such significance in the history of man. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Things to be thankful for
If the gravitational constant were just a little bit different than what it is, you would not be here. Nor, for that matter, would anything else. So we’ve got that going for us. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Four sources of the Apocalypse
With the past two months, I have read — for various reasons — four different novels laying out apocalyptic events within the United States. Here are the novels, in the order I read (or re-read) them, and with the reasons why I read them: – Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1977): a... Read More »
A Motley Vision of the Wilderness
Long-time Mormon culture blog A Motley Vision has added a companion blog focused on Mormon nature writing and Mormon thinking about the natural world. T&S stand-out Patricia Karamesines is the presiding muse. Check it out. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Genesis and Geology: A Dialogue
Genesis and Geology Read More »
Spooky action at a distance
I am a total NPR dork. I would LOVE to have Carl Kasell’s voice on my answering machine; when I was in middle school, I felt betrayed when I learned that Lake Woebegone wasn’t a real place; and I admit that I joined Ira Flatow’s Science Friday Facebook group (”for those who love Science... Read More »
Nature and Cities
I often find walking in nature a spiritual experience, for want of a better term. Growing up, I think that I found my testimony in part by tramping through the Wasatch Mountains and watching thunder storms roll across the Great Salt Lake. Today, I am likely to have real moments of reverence... Read More »
Lunar Lander Challenge Today and Tomorrow
One competitor’s vehicle exploded on camera already. The next attempt is at 2:30 Mountain Time. You can watch a live webcast here. The challenge t is being held in Las Cruces, NM, but is not open to the public. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Paper or Plastic?
We begin with a quiz. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Mormons, Politics, and Morality
Some of the thoughts of a commenter on my last post, got me thinking about Mormons, politics, and morality. My observation is that the issues that set off moral alarm bells for most Mormons are those that deal with issues relating to what I would consider “freedom to sin†or “prohibitions of obvious... Read More »
Changing Conceptions of Zion
The Mormon conception of Zion has changed dramatically over the past century. Today’s members of the church are likely to define “Zion” as wherever the members of the church are: LDS homes, congregations, and stakes. While the conception of Zion in the 19th century may have included these elements, these Saints... Read More »
The Martian Rose
God willing I will be giving a presentation on making the desert blossom as the rose and Mars settlement, tomorrow, August 14th, at 4:30 PM at the Mars Society conference. I would love to hear from any of you who might be attending. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Falcon 1 Launches Live Tonight
Falcon 1 is going to try for orbit this evening. The launch will be broadcast live. This is groundbreaking first. If it succeeds, the Falcon 1 would be the first rocket from the new space industry to make orbit. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Meet Your Inner Fish
I recently read Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion Year History of the Human Body (Pantheon Books, 2008) by Neil Shubin, a paleotologist and professor of anatomy at the University of Chicago. By coincidence, Jared at LDS Science Review had posted the same book in his “Currently Reading” list. Here... Read More »
Why Joseph Went to the Woods
Joseph Smith went to the woods because he wished to know the truth of his existence. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
A Walk into the Moon
I hope some of you grabbed your moon glasses and stepped outside to have a look at how that full moon lights up the world. Thirty thousand miles closer than usual and thirty percent brighter, tonight this lesser light has a chance to really shine. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Women Who Know
… grow tomatoes in their home garden, and lots of them. Men who know grow them, too. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Crossfire Canyon: A study in conflict, part three
See Part Two posted 9/27. On September 22nd, I rose early and hiked into Crossfire. Afterward, I stopped at the local market and ran into a women I’d seen at the BLM’s open house, one of the most vocal SPEAR members present that night. We greeted each other and she demanded to... Read More »
Crossfire Canyon: A study in conflict, part two
See Part One here. On September 18th, the BLM held an open house explaining the closure to local residents. The BLM’s acting field manager opened the presentation, telling everyone that the purpose of the closure was to stop traffic through cultural sites. It wasn’t intended to be permanent, he said. 0... Read More »
Crossfire Canyon: A study in conflict, part one
Crossfire Canyon is not the canyon’s real name. Following the trend in nature writing, I have refrained from providing any obvious identifying names or details. Otherwise, this three-part series describes actual events and conversations. Mormons in Utah, especially in southern Utah, often find their concepts of stewardship put to the test when predominantly... Read More »
Guilting the Lily
In the Preface to New Genesis: A Mormon Reader on Land and Community, the editors cite an unidentified 1991 report that places each of the thirty largest Christian denominations in one of five categories based on their environmental stances. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Story Time!
The day before the cliff swallows return to traditional nesting sites in canyons near where I live in southern Utah, the sky hangs quiet, with only a few ravens, hawks, and eagles spiraling through. The next day, whoosh! Swallows arrive reeling in their folklorico like revelers at an unseen party spilling onto... Read More »
Field Notes #4
It is the destiny of mint to be crushed. –Waverley Lewis Root June 12, 2007 Rained most of the night. Morning’s cool and sweet. Good day to venture into a canyon. Because the storm has left behind puffy white seeds that could blossom suddenly into rain, I replace my extra water bottle with a rain poncho.... Read More »
Field Notes #2
We might use language in our attempts to set boundaries, but language contains in microcosmic acts the macrocosmic thrust toward new form. November 4, 2006 The trail into the canyon is rougher at November’s threshold; run-off from recent storms took the same trail to the canyon’s main water course that I must take. 0 people like... Read More »
Quothing the Raven
Some weeks ago a friend (an archaeologist and therefore a man of science) and I were discussing a nature writer who was coming to town to promote his latest book. I asked my friend if he liked this writer’s work. He said he did. I said that I did, too, and... Read More »
Field Notes #1
Remember the silence around Pueblo Alto in Chaco, so heavy you felt blanketed by its snows, and the desert landscape spread out below, unmoving for miles? That was silence. Not even a breeze singing on the stones. June 8, 2006 Hiked in the rain this morning. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
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Conferences and Events
- - SVU Education Conference (Jun 4, 2010)
- - BYU Women's Conference (Apr 29, 2010)
- - Utah State History Annual Conference (Sep 9, 2010)
- - Marilyn Arnold: "Nibley on the Book of Mormon" (Mar 25, 2010)
- - John W. Welch: "The Lasting Legacies of Hugh W. Nibley" (Mar 11, 2010)
- - Helen Whitney's "The Mormons": Reflections and Analysis on Religion and Film (Feb 12, 2010)
- - Grant Hardy: "Reading the Book of Mormon" (Feb 19, 2010)
- - Eric Huntsman: "Nibley and Classical Scholarship" (Mar 18, 2010)
- - Daniel Walker Howe: "The Transformation of America, 1815-1848" (Jan 30, 2010)
- - Daniel Peterson: "Nibley as Apologist" (Feb 4, 2010)
- - Church History Symposium (Feb 26, 2010)
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