Category: Features
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A Review: Seeing: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
The seventh and final book out of the Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series that I read is the one by Mason Kamana Allred on Seeing. This one and Philip Barlow’s entry on Time seemed like the most strange or esoteric topics in the series, but like Barlow’s book, Allred’s offers interesting insight and…
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CFM 2/24-3/2: Poetry for “The Worth of Souls Is Great”
We often hear the phrase “the worth of souls,” but I’m not sure that we focus much on the values behind the idea of ‘worth.’ Much of our modern culture is concerned with how we value each individual — and especially with how the culture values us. Are we getting a fair shake? Are we…
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Who Translated the Book of Mormon?
What if the Book of Mormon was translated from an ancient language into modern English, but it wasn’t God or Joseph Smith who did the translation? If so, did Moroni translate the Book of Mormon? That’s the very theory that Roger Terry has suggested, based on Royal Skousen’s research into the Book of Mormon. He…
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A Review: Divine Law: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
The sixth out of the seven books in the Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series that I read is the one by Justin Collings on Divine Law. I admit that this one left me pleasantly surprised. I was expecting some sort of lawyerly analysis of how the commandments in the Doctrine and Covenants create…
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CFM 2/17-2/23: Poetry for “Upon You My Fellow Servants”
I sometimes think that when we consider the visit of John the Baptist to Joseph and Oliver (the main event discussed in this lesson), we focus on the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood, but leave out the restoration of the ordinance of baptism. Yes, the ordinance can’t be performed without the priesthood, but then I…
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Portuguese Panic for the Book of Mormon
A key moment in the Church’s establishment in different locations and cultures—including among countries like Brazil, where the Church officially has over one million members—is the translation of the Book of Mormon. Especially in earlier years, the effort was performed by missionaries with rudimentary knowledge of the language working with locals to create the translation,…
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A Review: Time: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
Family. Isn’t it about … time? Yes, and so is the Gospel in general, according to Philip L. Barlow.
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CFM 2/10-2/16: Poetry for “That You May Come Off Conqueror”
While the sections in this lesson address what to do after the loss of the 116 pages and what Hyrum Smith should do, elements of these sections and the lesson have a triumphalist element, pointing out that the Lord’s plans will not be thwarted because of opposition. However, this should not be read as some…
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A Review: Divine Aid: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
The fourth out of the seven books in the Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series that I read is the one by Amy Easton on Divine Aid. As the title implies, the book posits that a repeated theme in the Doctrine and Covenants is divine aid, offered in a variety of ways. As with…
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CFM 2/3-2/9: Poetry for “This Is the Spirit of Revelation”
The restoration of the gospel can be seen as having two different aspects: the personal and the communitarian. While the First Vision is seen as indicating which Church to join, it is also a personal interaction between a 14-year-old boy and his God. Subsequent events in the restoration can also be seen in the same…
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The Impact of Julian of Norwich
The woman known as Julian of Norwich was a mystic and a visionary who offered a theology that was focused on God’s love. She is a somewhat obscure figure, but one who is worth learning about. To that end, Fiona Givens discussed Julian of Norwich in a recent post at the Latter-day Saint history blog From…
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A Review: Revelation: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
Continuing my reviews of the Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series by Maxwell Institute, we come to the one on Revelation by Janiece Johnson. Of all the books in the series that I’ve read so far, this one is the one that leans the most heavily into the devotional and practical side of the…
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CFM 1/27-2/2: Poetry for “My Work Shall Go Forth”
How do ideas spread? If the truth has been lost, what is the best way for it to become known again? It is one thing to give Joseph Smith the First Vision and quite another for that vision to spread among large numbers of God’s children—and I suspect that how the spread of new religious…
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The Adventures of Jacob Hamblin
With American Primeval, Netflix has once again put Mormonism in its sights as the subject in a drama, this time including the Mountain Meadows Massacre (the latest in a long line of portrayals of that event). While that event casts a long shadow over nineteenth century Mormonism’s experience in the western United States, there are…
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A Review: Agency: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
As I mentioned recently, I’ve been excited about the Maxwell Institute’s “Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants” series. So far, I’ve read four books out of seven, and the entry by Terryl L. Givens on Agency has been my favorite. It’s a beautiful blend of theological and devotional reflection that leans heavier into the comparative…
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CFM 1/20-1/26: Poetry for “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn to Their Fathers”
The phrase “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn to Their Fathers” has a different meaning for LDS Church members than it does in any other group that relies on Old Testament scripture. We conflate this phrase with a wide variety of theological topics, including family history, temple sealing and even, as in the current…
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A Review: Redeeming the Dead: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
The BYU Maxwell Institute has followed up their previous series of Brief Theological Introductions to the Book of Mormon with a similar series focused on Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants. I’ve been excited about them since I heard about them a couple years ago at a Global Mormon Studies conference, so I was very…
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CFM 1/13-1/19: Poetry for “I Saw a Pillar of Light”
The First Vision is clearly one of the major images or symbols of the restoration. We reference the image of a pillar of light regularly in our literature, although I sometimes think that we don’t use the image as broadly as we might—the pipe-like image of delivering revelation, the brightness in the midst of darkness,…
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Wrestling with the Restoration: a Review
I highly recommend Wrestling with the Restoration: Why This Church Matters, by Steven C. Harper, for any member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is, at its heart, apologetics done well. In other words, it is a response to critics of the Church on a series of historic and praxis concerns.…
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CFM 1/6-1/12: Poetry for “Harken, O Ye People”
Considered the preface to the D&C, the first section, subject of the second Come Follow Me lesson, argues for the importance of revelation in the restoration, and for recognizing that the Lord reveals his word through “the weak and simple.” Just like with the restoration itself, the call for our attention to revelation is a…
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CFM 12/30-1/5: Poetry for “The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”
Culture is important. Cultural items not only enhance what we say and teach, making the ideas more memorable and meaningful, they also add additional information, and engage our brains on a level that enhances our learning. As a student of literature as well as the gospel, I’ve long been convinced that our modern culture has…
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Matthew Bowman on Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith was one of the movers and shapers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the twentieth century. Although lacking in professional training in theology or history, his impact in those areas can still be felt today in the Church. In a recent interview at the Latter-day Saint history blog…
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Weekly Observance of the Sacrament
The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is one the most common ritual and use of set ritual prayers in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Weekly observance is a high frequency compared to many Christian denominations’ observance of similar rites and begs to question of why we observe it so frequently. David F.…
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Book review — “The Book of Mormon for the Least of These: Helaman-Moroni”
“The lessons we learn from scripture depend on the questions we ask… The Book of Mormon…warrants the most challenging questions we can throw at it. This book attempts to ask those difficult questions.” So opens this third and final volume of The Book of Mormon for the Least of These, focusing on the books of…
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A Review: Come Up Hither to Zion: William Marks and the Mormon Concept of Gathering
Come Up Hither to Zion: William Marks and the Mormon Concept of Gathering by Cheryl L. Bruno and John S. Dinger is an enlightening biography that brings attention to a significant yet often overlooked figure in the early Latter Day Saint movement.
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The Paris Art Mission
I love that Latter-day Saint temples tend to be well-decorated with artwork, including the temple murals. I still find it a bit painful that the murals were not preserved as part of the Salt Lake City Temple renovation, but still find the history of the original murals in the Salt Lake City Temple to be…
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Slavery vs Unfree Labor in Utah
Slavery is one of the darkest subjects in the history of the United States. It was an issue that impacted so many lives (in ways that echo through to the present day) and arguments over it tore the nation apart. Utah Territory was no different in that they were caught in intense debates over the…
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Saints, Volume 4: A Review
The fourth and final volume of Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days was published today. This newest book, Sounded in Every Ear, tells the story of the Latter-day Saints from 1955 to 2020, bringing the history up nearly to the present day. It discusses an era in which…
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Moroni and Temple Sites
Moroni is an important figure in Latter-day Saint lore. For example, I’ve written previously about how some authors have taken any mention of angels and the Book of Mormon in the same story as a reference to Moroni, whether that conclusion is warranted or not. But another area in which Moroni plays a role is…
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Symbols in the Wilford Woodruff Journals
Early last year, I wrote about symbols I had observed in Wilford Woodruff’s journals. It turns out that I wasn’t the only person who had that on the mind – Joshua Matson had done some earlier and more intensive research on the same topic that he shared in a presentation at the Building Latter-day Faith…