Perhaps second only to regular features as a reliable blog standby are lists. I know, I know, such posts usually generate endless quibbling about meaningless personal preferences. But I want to propose what I think will be a worthwhile exercise. I want to know, what are the five essential texts in Mormon studies? Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
LDS Newsroom
- Mormon Leaders Discuss Helping Hands Efforts With Connecticut Governor May 18, 2012
- Church Honored in Spain for Blood Drive Promotion May 18, 2012
- British Singing Sensation Katherine Jenkins to Perform at Pioneer Day Concert May 17, 2012
- Like Jabari Parker, Thousands of Mormon Youth Attend Seminary May 17, 2012
- Manaus Brazil Temple Opens To the Public May 16, 2012
- Connecticut and Indiana Mormon Temple Renderings Released May 16, 2012
- Ground Broken for Provo, Utah’s Second Temple May 12, 2012
- Pacific Mormon Helping Hands Come to the Aid of Their Neighbors May 11, 2012
- Released for Mother's Day: Bible Video Depicts Mary, Mother of Jesus May 11, 2012
- Mormon Story: Journalist Describes It Well May 10, 2012
Posts Tagged ‘ Mormonism ’
A Mormon Image: C.C.A. Christiansen
Since blogs seem to thrive on regular features, I have decided to start one here at T&S. Because my father is an art historian and a curator at the Museum of Church History and Art, I have always been interested in the images and art that Mormonism has produced. Thus, I will begin regularlly posting samples of it to this blog, along with a little bit of commentary. I begin with C.C.A. Christiansen Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
The Problem with Wasatch Front Mormons
Bear with me. This post is not about what you think it is about. My beef is not with Republican Mormons, social Mormons, Utah Mormons, Jello salad, or any of the other sins that Wasatch Front Mormonism is generally accused of. Rather, I am interested in power. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
A Mormon Studies Family
Both of my parents (now divorced) have been deeply involved in Mormon studies for my entire life. Thus, I grew up in a Mormon studies family. My father is a senior curator at the Museum of Church History and Art and was hired by the Church Historical Department a few months before I was born. My mother was one of the early editors of Sunstone Magazine and worked as an editor and then board member of Signature Books while I was growing up. The result is that I think of most of the big names in Mormon studies –... Read more »
Mormon Images
There is a strange schizophrenia about popular images of Mormons. On one hand, we get stereotyped as shinny, well-scrubbed, conservative, paragons of middle American virtues circa 1955. On the other hand, we get stereotyped as dangerous, homicidal, polygamist fanatics. As Gordon points out in his post the latter stereotype popped up recently in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, but that is hardly the only place one sees it. Remember that the religious bomber in the movie Contact was from Prowan, Utah. At the same time, Mormons pop up in Tom Clancy novels as shining examples of American decency. As... Read more »
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
I just saw what was perhaps the most offensive portrayal of the Church that I have ever seen on network television. In an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent that originally ran on November 16, a young man (almost 18) is cast as a Manson-like figure. He assembles of group of three young women disaffected by the depraved behavior of their high school peers. The young man preaches a different gospel, one informed by Siddhartha (Hesse’s novel). When the young girls kill three male classmates and then some parents at his command, Detective Goren is on the case.... Read more »
Biblical Inerrancy
Gordon Smith writes, in comments to Nate’s post on the Historian’s letter: “While the Historian is right about the official Church position — that the Biblical text is not inerrant — you would never guess that this was the Church’s position if you were an anthropologist visiting wards and seminaries. In my experience, many members of the Church have embraced the erroneous views of so-called Christians on this matter.” Mormonism differs from fundamentalist Christianity by embracing error. It recognizes transmission error and biased editing in the Bible. It recognizes that the Book of Mormon contains errors (“the mistakes of... Read more »
A Whole Lot More on Natural Law
In a mad attempt to throw together Kaimi’s post on the “Christian Right” and Nate’s post on natural law, while also tossing in a bit about Catholic and Protestant theology… A few years ago I dug a little into a group called the World Congress of Families. It, like United Families International, has its roots in a loose network of politically conservative churches that saw the United Nations as beholden to an anti-traditionalist agenda. This is hardly a new complaint; it dates back to the 1960s and 70s, where you can find old John Birch Society stuff warning against... Read more »
Noel Reynolds, Natural Law, and the Personalized Good
One of my favorite former professors, Noel Reynolds, dropped by and left some very interesting comments on natural law. He begins by faulting the Thomistic natural law tradition for beginning its analysis with Aristotelianism rather than the scriptures, noting that in the scriptures it is either God’s command or our covenant with him that provides moral direction, not nature. Noel goes on to ask: And yet, the plan of salvation does presume the necessity of some disposition within us to seek after good or evil. And our salvation depends on the choice we will make. Or is that already... Read more »
My (Mormon) Hang-up with (Opposition to) Gay Marriage
Hello all. My thanks for Nate for inviting me (if only for a while) to participate in this blog, and thanks for the introduction Kaimi. Speaking of such, I notice that Times and Seasons started off without any general explanations or identifying comments. Is that a policy, or just because it was assumed that most everyone who might read this blog would know who all the participants are? Either way, I feel foolish jumping into a conversation without doing a little of the usual sacrament-meeting-”let me tell you a little bit about myself”-routine. So anyway…my name’s Russell Arben Fox;... Read more »
We’re Disturbing
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Mormonism and Nature.
Christians have applied the unique resources of their faith to understanding the environmental question, with varying degrees of sophistication. Ad campaigns have asked whether Jesus would drive an SUV (see here and, comically, here), while scholars have drawn on the resources of scripture and of doctrine. It is well. Christianity ought to infect the culture, even the banal culture. I applaud, at the least, the intent of these efforts. What about us? We’re not just another brand of Protestant. We have some unique ideas to bring to bear, I trust. To what sources does a Latter-day Saint turn to... Read more »
Sacred and Profane
In the spirit of getting some content on this site, I offer the following from the archives of A Good Oman: A thought on First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake v. Salt Lake City Corporation, 308 F.3d 1114 (2002), the Salt Lake City Main Street case: In his wonderful book The Sacred and the Profane, Eliade discusses the idea of sacred space. According to Eliade one of the things that religion does is orient the believer in the cosmos. It does this by interrupting the normal flow of space with sacred places — shrines, temples, etc. — that mark... Read more »
Wilfried Decoo
I am a native of Belgium – the Flemish side. Born in 1946, I grew up in Antwerp. I obtained my B.A. from the Antwerp Jesuit University, my M.A. from Ghent University – both degrees in Romance languages. As a teacher of French and history I worked a few years in Central Africa for the Belgian Cooperation. Next I went to BYU where I finished a PhD in comparative literature. From 1974 on I spent most of my academic career at the University of Antwerp, as professor of applied linguistics and language education. In 1999 the department of French... Read more »
Adam Greenwood
We are the Greenwoods–Adam Hartley and Sara Elizabeth. We live with our daughter Emma Caroline in Peralta, New Mexico. Our oldest daughter, Elizabeth “Betsey” Pearl, died of brain cancer in March of 2005 and is buried in Eagar, Arizona. We weren’t comfortable with usual biography that mentions education and profession, because it seems to us that the modern world goes wrong in making them keys to a person’s identity. We decided that we would much rather be known by our family (much of our family is old-line pioneer, but this doesn’t signify. The important thing about family is that... Read more »
Conferences and Events
- Duck Beach Mini-Conference
- Seminar on B.H. Roberts’ "Seventy’s Course in Theology"
- Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) Conference
- BYU Education Week
- BYU Idaho Education Week
- Sperry Symposium
- Utah State Historical Society Conference
- John Whitmer Historical Association Annual Meeting
- Association for Mormon Letters Annual Meeting
- LDS Semi-Annual General Conference
Calls for Papers
- Brazilian Mormon Studies Conference
- Colloque international sur le mormonisme (International Conference on Mormonism)
- LDS Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists
- Mormon Media Studies Symposium
- Sunstone Kirtland
- Sunstone West
- Sunstone Symposium: MORMONS AND MORMONISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE
- BYU Religious Education Student Symposium
- RESTORATION STUDIES SYMPOSIUM
- Claremont Mormon Studies Student Association