Spring is here with a vengeance, and I don’t think there can be any real argument but that the land south of the Mason-Dixon Line does spring better than any other region of the country.
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.
RSR and the William & Mary Book Store
Much to the consternation of my wife (who handles our money), I am a rather frequent visitor to William & Mary’s book store. It has been a while since I glanced through their religion section (of late I have been buying poetry or history), but the other day I did glance through the “Mormon” section to see what they have.
Temples and God’s Discount Function
I think that one of the reasons that God commanded Brigham Young to build the Salt Lake Temple was to signal his discount function.
The 16th Century Origins of a Mormon Idea
The Mormon court system emerged from the much older tradition of ecclesiastical discipline among the English Protestants who settled North America.
Mormonism and the Memo to the Dean
Earlier this week I engaged in what I am told is an annual academic ritual, and wrote a memo to the Dean explaining what I have done this year in terms of teaching, scholarship, and service. Since I have been engaged in a number of projects related to Mormon studies, the question arises should I include these in the memo? Does Mormonism “count†academically speaking?
The Poetry of Red Rocks
I am currently doing some research on Mormon legal history, and earlier today found myself reading through an old issue of Western Humanties Review from 1951.
Intelligences and Zion: An Essay in Mormon Political Philosophy (part IV, concluded)
To read the previous sections of this essay, go here (Part I), here (Part II), and here (Part III).
Intelligences and Zion: An Essay in Mormon Political Philosophy (part III)
To read the first section of this essay, go here (Part I) and here (Part II).
Intelligences and Zion: An Essay in Mormon Poltical Philosophy (part II)
To read the first section of this essay, go here.
Intelligences and Zion: An Essay in Mormon Political Philosophy (part I)
The following is an essay that I wrote several years ago and never published. I have divided the essay into four posts that will run over the next couple of days. Academics regularlly present unpublished papers at workshops where they get feedback and criticism. I want to experiment with a blog-based version of the same thing in which folks offer thoughts and criticism of the essay as they read it. Enjoy!
What is Church Doctrine? One Possible Theory…
Church Doctrine is a ubiquitous idea among Mormons, but in some ways it is quite mysterious.
Brigham Young and the Spectacle of Litigation
On February 24, 1856, Brigham Young delivered a blistering attack on lawyers and law courts.
Scripture and Interpretation: Some Thoughts Inspired by “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”
A couple of weeks ago we had stake conference, and among other things the visiting authority talked about “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” Among many good and true things, he said that we ought to treat the Proclamation as scripture and that the only reason it was not added to the Doctrine & Covenants is because President Hinckley didn’t want us to all have to go out and buy new scriptures. I don’t want to read too much into what was clearly an off the cuff remark, but this struck me as a rather facile attempt to explain the status of the Proclamation. It did get me thinking, however, about the status of such texts.
The Power of Prayer
I am something of a realist and a cynic. I assume that I basically have little or no power over the universe, and that there is almost nothing I can do to change that. You know the story of the guy walking along the beach and throwing back star fish. Someone points out that there are more star fish than he can possibly save, and he replies, “Perhaps, but I made a difference to that one,” throwing another star fish back into the ocean. I have to confess that my sympathies tend to be with the questioner.
Thoughts on Trying to Teach the Priests How to Read the Scriptures
I am the secretary in my ward’s young men’s presidency and occasionally teach lessons to our priest’s quorum. I recently taught a series of lessons on how to study the scriptures better.
Further Complications in Excommunicating the President of the Church
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post on the procedure for excommunicating the President of the Church. In doing a bit of research on the history of the church court system, I came across some interesting complications in the story.
The Institute for Mormon Studies
The various threads about the position at CGU has gotten me thinking about what Mormon scholarship needs, and I think that it is probably not a chaired position in Mormon studies, welcome as such a thing might be (especially if it allows a prolific scholar to churn out a lot of high quality work on Mormon studies). Rather, I think that Mormons ought to look to the libertarian wing of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy for models.
The Bushman Diaries
On the Road With Joseph Smith: An Author’s Diary by Richard Bushman is a very difficult book to get a hold of, which is unfortunate.
A Really Long Post about Mitt Romney, Damon Linker, and Pope Pius V
In 1570, Pope Pius V issued his bull Regnans in Exelcis, a pontifical act that seems to be creating problems for Mitt Romney and the Mormons.
Are Mormons American? Can They Be?
Thanks to Mitt Romney’s candidacy, I suspect that the Mormons-as-bizarre-ridiculous-and-perhaps-dangerous theme will be increasingly with us in the months to come. There are two reasons for this: one parochial and one fundamental.
The Cursing of Mormon Lawyers
Cursing, it would seem, forms something of a theme in Mormon legal history. Not only was it a way of dealing with unsolved crimes, but it also seems to have been used as a way of controlling frivolous litigation.
The Judicial Use of Mormon Cursing
I have posted before on the now largely forgotten Mormon tradition of cursing. As you would expect, I have found that Mormon cursing also has a legal angle.
Space and Time in Mormon Thought
One of Einstein’s great discovery was that time and space were intimately related concepts. It is an insight that one ought to keep in mind when thinking about Mormonism.
Secret Laws, Theocracy, and Cows
In 1847, the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and set up a frankly theocratic government. The highest legal authority was the High Council, which had the right to promulgate laws, as well as to try and punish criminal offenses (usually with fines or public whippings). Just as one would expect from a fanatical theocratic despotism, the High Council spent most of its time legislating about cows. Initially this was done by passing a law whereby all stray livestock was impounded and the owner of the strays was required to pay a fixed fine. The rule was enforced by either the High Council itself or else by a bishop’s court. The initial rule, however, gave bishops very little flexibility in deciding cases, and the High Council ultimately decided that the fixed fine should be dropped in favor of a rule giving the bishops that right to decide each case “as justice requires.†The main effect of this seems to have been to reduce the fines paid for straying cattle. This is the point in the story where it gets interesting.
A Summer with Terryl Givens and Richard Bushman
FYI
The Church’s Tax-Exempt Status, 1860s style
The Church today jealously guards its tax exempt status, and I suspect that there is a group of lawyers whose sole job it is to sit around worrying about the ways in which the IRS might assess taxes against the Church. It turns out that the feds have tried to tax Church properties and income in the past.
The Ninth Amendment Argument for Monogamy
The ninth amendment to the constitution is one of those wonderfully vague constitutional provisions that delights arm-chair theorists and annoys judges who might actually have to figure out what it means. It reads: The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. It turns out that this provision was an unlikely character in some of the earliest legal battles over polygamy.
Maggie’s Argument Against Atheism
Oddly enough, I have never really struggled with belief in God.
As Goes Russell, So Goes…
It looks as though the nation may be starting to look more like Russell, frightening as that is for some of us.
The Theology of the Horse
How big of a deal is technology theologically speaking?