If you look strictly at our server logs, you might think Times & Seasons is a resource blog for Christmas scripts and demographic statistics. But if you look deeper, 2025 was a year of “The Anxious Debate”—anchored, thankfully, by a massive amount of reading.
We spent the last twelve months wrestling with political dread, debating the nature of Church leadership, and doing our homework.
Here is a look at the conversations (and the reading lists) that defined T&S in 2025.
1. The Mood of the Year: “It’s Bad”
There is no getting around it: Jonathan Green’s post It’s bad was the emotional center of the year.
-
It was our #1 most commented post (70 comments) and #3 most visited.
-
Whether it was post-election fatigue or broader cultural anxiety, this short, visceral post tapped into a collective nerve. It anchored a broader thread of political reckoning that appeared in other discussions like This is bad for the Church and Questions about Bishop Budde’s Remarks (both of which also ranked high on the number of page visits).
2. The Intellectual Anchor
While the comment section occasionally caught fire over politics, the front page was dominated by scholarship.
-
Book Reviews: I reviewed over 30 books this year, and several other bloggers at the site provided book reviews as well. If you want the cheat sheet for Mormon Studies in 2025, just read the Mormon Studies Books in 2025 or my personal Favorite Reads of 2025. We saw the highest engagement on the June review of Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet, proving that despite the fatigue, we are all still endlessly fascinated by the Prophet Joseph.
-
The Pastoral Turn: In a year of loud arguments, Mary Grey’s series on mental health provided a necessary, quiet space. Her writing on how neurodivergence and mental health intersect with ward life (see Mental Illness at Church) was some of the most vital, practical theology we published all year.
-
The Relief Society is Not the Oldest Women’s Organization in the World was a classic T&S “myth-busting” post. It might not change your testimony, but it could change your Sacrament Meeting talk.
- Poetry and Scripture: Kent Larson kept up a consistent flow of Latter-day Saint poetry related to “Come, Follow Me” in his Literary “Come, Follow Me” series this year, providing an excellent resource to supplement study of the Doctrine and Covenants.
3. The “Governance” Debate
While the world looked at national politics, the T&S commentariat looked inward at Church administration, particularly in discussions driven by Stephen Flemming.
-
A Differing View of Church Leadership: A “Caretaker” Model (36 comments) and The Caretaker Behind the Curtain sparked a deep discussion on the philosophy of apostolic leadership.
-
This bled into historical analysis with Churchmen and Administrators: An Attempted “Coup” against President Woodruff.
4. The “High Engagement” Overlap
Usually, high-traffic posts (which get https://www.google.com/search?q=linked by aggregators) and high-comment posts (driven by regulars) are different lists. But this year, three topics managed to capture both audiences. In addition to political discussions, we had the following two:
-
Retention: Stephen C’s A Lot More People are Leaving the Church Now (#2 in traffic) forced us to look at the hard data, while Josh Coates’ Manufacturing Mormon Types from Noise pushed back on the narratives.
-
The Academy: Anti-Latter-day Saint Stigma in Academia and Boundary Maintenance at Universities highlighted the friction that believing scholars feel in secular spaces.
5. The “Silent Majority” Award
Finally, we have to mention the #1 most viewed post of the year: A Sample Christmas Program (over 6,000 views during 2025).
It didn’t make the top comments list. It didn’t start a fight. It just quietly helped a few thousand people get through planning ward programs for December. Sometimes, that is the most important work a blog can do.
A Question for 2026
As we close the books on 2025, we want to turn the mic over to you.
-
Which book reviewed on Times and Seasons this year did you actually end up buying?
-
What is the one topic we ignored in 2025 that we can’t afford to ignore in 2026?
Comments
5 responses to “2025 in Review: The Year of Hard Numbers and Heavy Books”
Thanks for all you do, Chad!
Seconded. This is a great recap. I’ll try to keep the clickbait going in 2026.
My copy of Sears’ A Modern Guide to an Old Testament should be arriving any day now.
I wouldn’t say T&S has ignored it, as it’s been relevant to many broader discussions, but here’s the topic on my mind right now: How can we help young people retain their testimonies as they reach their mid-twenties and the subsequent decade or so? Their brains are fully mature, and they generally see things less in black and white. They’re more comfortable with nuance and ambiguity. But they’re also much less willing to simply dismiss information that challenges their world view. Some develop more complex testimonies, testimonies that their younger selves might call weaker but which are in fact much more resilient. Others let go of one truth claim only to have that lead to letting go of another, and another, until there’s nothing left. Others face an acute faith crisis and lose their testimonies all at once. What makes the difference? What can we who have been through that phase do to help them?
RLD, if you have some thoughts on the topic you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you.
At this point I have fragmentary thoughts that don’t add up to anything like answers to the questions I raised. Hopefully that will change, and I appreciate the invitation.