Tag Archive

The New Era 2.0

By Julie M. Smith

The Church has a new website for youth, launched today. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Elder Porter of the Seventy, in Newsweek

By Adam Greenwood

Elder Porter of the Seventy has a column in Newsweek responding to a recent Newsweek opinion piece claiming that opposition to gay marriage was unbiblical. There are several unusual features about the column 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Christmas Devotional 2008

By Adam Greenwood

President Uchtdorf said that the angels came to the shepherds, the poor, not to the rich. At one point in my life that would have bugged me. Today I realized that the rich should want it that way. If you’re wealthy and still looking for something, you don’t want to be... Read More »

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin Has Passed Away

By Marc Bohn

Elder Wirthlin died at 11:30 p.m. last night in his home. He was the oldest living apostle at 91. We invite you to share your memories and thoughts about Elder Wirthlin as we mourn his passing. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Each in his Own Language

By Kent Larsen

BYU’s Religious Studies Center recently announced that it had begun publishing books in Spanish, Portuguese, and German, an encouraging development, given how little is being produced outside of English. In his blog post about the news, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel writes: Today, it is estimated that there are nearly 7,000 spoken languages in the world, of... Read More »

12 Questions for the LDS Newsroom, Part Two

By Dave Banack

This is Part Two of responses provided by representatives of the LDS Newsroom to a set of questions submitted by T&S permabloggers. See Part One for the first six questions and responses. 10 people like this post.Like  Read More »

A Marvelous Work and a Cacophony

By Kent Larsen

Last week’s sacrament meeting was unique. While on the surface it was just the annual Primary Sacrament Meeting program, the room was packed and the overflow took up most of the cultural hall. But the best part was the congregational hymns, a joyful cacophany that mangled the hymns, making them hard to understand, but... Read More »

12 Questions for the LDS Newsroom, Part One

By Dave Banack

Representatives from LDS Public Affairs who manage and direct the Newsroom site at LDS.org agreed to respond to a dozen questions submitted by the T&S permabloggers. We are pleased to post the first six questions and answers below, with the second set of six to follow shortly. We appreciate the time and... Read More »

Calendar Guy indicates he’ll sue BYU for degree he earned

By Matt Evans

BYU recently chose to rescind the diploma of Chad Hardy, the missionary calendar guy, because he was excommunicated from the church between the time he earned his degree and the graduation ceremony. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

BYU in the Memory of the AAUP

By Nate Oman

Among the other academic spam that I get are regular emails from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), which is always eager to remind me of their fights for academic freedom, higher salaries for professors, and various trendy and hip progressive causes. Today, the AAUP sent out an email commemorating the ten... Read More »

What is an Association Worth?

By Kent Larsen

This past week I received a card in the mail from the BYU Alumni Association, asking for my help in “editing” my biographical information in an “Alumni Directory” in preparation. While I’ve certainly given the Alumni Association biographical information in the past, for some reason this time I started asking myself “is this worth... Read More »

Hot Mormon Gossip

By Marc Bohn

Has the Church really made an unsolicited offer to buy Facebook (see here which spun off to here)? 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

What is Our Marvelous Work Today?

By Ben Huff

The development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has always been marvelous, but our sense of just what it is doing has changed quite dramatically from one decade to another. When Joseph Smith first went to (what in hindsight we call) the Sacred Grove, 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Girls’ Rules

By Craig H.

My older sister was a great athlete in the old days (before Title IX), and just retired as the athletic director at a high school. Talking with her the other day gave me the idea for this post, so blame her if you don’t like it (isn’t that just like a little brother?). I thought... Read More »

President Uchtdorf to First Presidency

By Frank McIntyre

That is all. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

LDS Historical Sites

By Dave Banack

A couple of months ago I heard a presentation on the general topic of historical sites that the Church owns and manages. I came with a pocketful of snarky questions but left with some appreciation for how tough the task is and (on the whole) how well the sites are set up and... Read More »

Natural Succession or the Prophetic Death Card?

By Michael McBride

Does God control who is Church President by ending life (using the “death card”)? Or does he control who is President by controlling the order in which Apostles are called? Of course, both can be true (or neither depending on your theological persuasion), but let’s examine these questions systematically. 0 people like... Read More »

Could the Restoration have Happened Elsewhere and Elsewhen?

By Michael McBride

The common answer heard today in the Church is no. A variety of reasons are usually given: 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

O’Dea’s The Mormons Part II: The Edited Volume Retrospective

By Michael McBride

The Mormon Social Science Association, under the direction of editors John Hoffman, Cardell Jacobsen, and Tim Heaton of BYU’s Department of Sociology, is currently putting together a volume of essays that retrospectively assess O’Dea’s 1957 classic The Mormons. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

The Grand Ol’ Utah War

By Adam Greenwood

When I was young teenager I read a lot of military science fiction, including Jerry Pournelle’s popular There Will Be War anthologies. Good times, those. Saving up money from my (largely unprofitable) paper route, then the long, slow bike rides to the used book store. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Correlation Gone Mad!

By Frank McIntyre

BCC is hosting an all-star panel of academics on questions relating to correlation. Talking about correlation reminds me of a time from our history when doctrinal correlation efforts were incredibly restrictive. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

I am now officially not young

By John David Payne

It happened not long ago. I started getting emails from something called the Cambridge Stake MSA. As is my habit with all mass mailings, I deleted the first few without reading them, but after a while I noticed them and realized that I didn’t know what MSA stood for. Turns out... Read More »

The Principle of Non-Distraction

By Rusty Clifton

A short while ago a recently reactivated member of our ward sang a solo for the musical number in Sacrament Meeting. You must understand that the man is a professional vocalist who has sung with Michael Jackson among others. The song he sang was absolutely gorgeous… but it wasn’t something you often (or ever)... Read More »

On being a bookkeeper in Zion

By Nate Oman

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. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism

By Greg Prince

David O. McKay presented a dramatic contrast to his predecessors: an athletic, movie-star-handsome, clean-shaven figure who often wore a white double-breasted suit; contrasted to the dark-suited, bearded polygamists (or, in the case of George Albert Smith, son of a polygamist) who preceded him as Church President ever since Joseph Smith. In an age... Read More »

Did We Raise the Bar too Far?

By Blake

The number of missionaries is down about 15,000 from its peak. The number of convert baptisms is down about 20% per missionary. Retention rates are also down. There are numbers of young men who would be willing to serve missions who are not allowed to because of sins that would not have barred them... Read More »

The Church Has Already Written a Modern English Version of the Book of Mormon

By Nate Oman

The first installment of Phillip Barlow’s excellent 12 Questions raises the interesting question of whether the Church will ever produce a modern language edition of the Book of Mormon in English. The answer is that it already has. 0 people like this post.Like  Read More »

Benefiting from the Keys

By Frank McIntyre

Way back in the dawn of time, we had a rather lengthy discussion about the appropriate role of criticising Church leaders. Apparently this topic is still interesting enough to prompt comments, so I thought I’d put my two cents in. Actually, I thought I’d try to put in Elder Eyring’s two cents. 0... Read More »

The English Nature of the Mormon Constitution

By Nate Oman

The Church has a certain amount of constitutional law, by which I mean norms and rules that govern and control its institutional structure. What is the nature of this constitutional law? I would submit that the Church ends up being more English than American. Priesthood quorums illustrate why this is so. ... Read More »

Called to Criticism

By Nate Oman

A couple of weeks ago, the mail man braught me my long awaited copy of the first volume of B.H. Roberts’s Seventies’ Course in Theology. As you can imagine, it has been a heady time around the Oman household. In reading it, I came across what I am sure would be Aaron... Read More »

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