Category: Cornucopia

In 1987 I published the theory of the Book of Mormon as a Modern Expansion of an Ancient Source. I wrote the article as a bit of apologetics to show that assumptions made by both believers and critics lead to unwarranted conclusions.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever sneezed at church, only to have a church member suggest some sort of herbal remedy. Echinacea, goldenseal, St. John’s Wort, chapparal, clover honey, ginsing . . . you name it, and it’s been offered to me at some point by a church member. Along with suggestions for magnetic treatment,…

Cathy Young has a provocative editorial on the recent judicial confirmation kerfuffle. The quick primer: Democrats have been blocking President Bush’s judicial nominees at an unprecedented rate, and Republican Senators have begun to cry foul on grounds of religious bigotry.

I had severe and prolonged postpartum depression with my first child, moderate PPD with the second, and none at all with the third. While I’m by no means an expert, I wanted to sketch out some things that I thought might be helpful to those experiencing PPD and those who are in a position to…

I spent most of my morning in a very enjoyable Stake Conference. Many of you were probably there, too. After all, it included 61 stakes and one district covering nine Midwestern states.

I suppose it was inevitable. Today, during Stake Conference, I saw a member of our congregation taking notes on a laptop.

Mathew Cowley, Hugh B. Brown, J. Golden Kimball. What these men had in common (other than the fact that I think they were all Democrats) is that they were great preachers. Preaching, however, seems to be a lost art of sorts in the Church. Indeed, there is so little real preaching that I suspect that…

I interact with evangelicals regarding LDS beliefs. Our way of approaching issues of “doctrine” drives them crazy because they feel like they are shooting at a moving target. It seems to me that they are shooting at no target at all. We approach the way of being in relation to God so differently that we…

Church isn’t boring for me very often lately. It’s not because the speakers and teachers have dramatically improved since a few years ago when I was bored more often. Nor is it because I have suffered brain damage that leaves me very easily amused : ) Partly the kids in my primary class keep me…

It seems to me that LDS are good at a lot of things. We are good at creating community. We are pretty good at supporting the family structure. We’re good at producing world-class choirs. However, we’re not so good at creating a place that is safe to discuss and work through doubts about the gospel.

Yes, we’ve discussed it previously, last year. Still, it’s a topic that is sometimes on my mind, as I try to raise three kids with a minimal loss of sanity for everyone involved: To spank, or not to spank; and if to spank, how?

Sister Mendel is a Saint for sure. This fact must be grasped or nothing else I say makes sense. She came from Germany to the United States shortly after WW II with her newly converted husband. She has the remarkable ability to reveal to everyone that they are loved. She is a saint already celestial…

The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 has made its way through Congress and is now heading toward the White House for George Bush’s signature.

There have been many responses to the election of Cardinal Ratzinger to the papacy, becoming Pope Benedict 16. Here are some of them (thanks to Arts and Letters Daily)

Speaking of dreams, I have a recurring nightmare that I’ve been called to a church position whose primary purpose is to produce food for large numbers of people: you know, activities chair, primary teacher, stake Relief Society president. I’m convinced I would fail more spectacularly at this task than any other woman in the ward,…

Our latest guest blogger is Blake Ostler. Blake is a practicing attorney, having graduated from BYU and the U of U with a JD and a Master’s degree in philosophy. Blake, alas, has demonstrated almost no interest in writing about law and Mormonism. He has, however, been a prolific author on the philosophical basis of…

Those who imagine change in the Church are fond of hanging their hat on the principle of continuing revelation, arguing that it allows us a tremendous amount of flexibility to reformulate our doctrines and practices. This is, I think, far too simplistic, a fact that is illustrated by two of the most dramatic shifts in…

An interesting threadjack began this afternoon, and I see no reason not to continue that threadjack in its own post.** Shawn Bailey asked: How did everyone here initially find Times & Seasons or the Bloggernacle in general?

Here’s a fun little mental exercise, which ends up with a curious result that I just noticed. First, let’s classify participants in a group blog as entering the group through either a top-down or bottom-up route. The top-down route begins with offline connections: Person A operates a blog; she offers a co-blogging position to Person…

This week’s New England Journal of Medicine opens with an essay by Elie Wiesel entitled “Without Conscience.” The essay asks how Nazi doctors, who played a horrifically crucial role in the organized cruelty of the Holocaust, came to betray the Hippocratic oath, their consciences, humanity.

My esteemed co-blogger Nate often says that he considers me “older and wiser.” For the next few months, however, that description will only be half-right. That’s because today is Nate’s birthday!! (And so for a few months, we’ll be the same age). Congratulations on the big 3-0, Nate. Hau’oli la hanau. You can now officially…

For all of our insistence that we are Christians too, Mormons think about Jesus differently. I think that the two words that best capture this difference are condescension and exaltation.

President Hinckley’s home teaching message for April is about symbols. It was prompted by that well-worn question: why don’t Mormons use the symbol of the cross?

On another thread, commenter Benyamin Abrams asks: Most prayers are addressed to Heavenly Father and closed in the name of Jesus Christ. The Sacrament prayer has both the opening and closing in the opening. I asked some members of my Ward if there were any other prayers with the same format. It’s an interesting question.…