Imagine, if you will, that a stalwart member of the Church approached you with some concerns about the theological underpinnings of the Word of Wisdom. What might you do? Castigate him as a rebellious secularizer? Remind her that questioning was the fast road to apostasy?
Category: Features
Sunday School lessons – Book Reviews – Interviews
Book Review: City Saints
The interaction of the LDS church and its members with New York City is a fascinating topic. Someday, that story will doubtless be the focus of one or more great works of Mormon regional history which will have truly broad appeal to members. And those works will in turn acknowledge City Saints: Mormons in the New York Metropolis (edited by Scott Tiffany) as an important step in the examination of church members in New York City. However, City Saints itself, while interesting, informative, and quite readable, suffers from conceptual flaws that undermine its impact and ultimately result in a whole that is less than the sum of its more impressive parts.
Sunday School Lesson 12
Lesson 12: D&C 29:1-8; D&C 33:3-7; D&C 37; D&C 38:24-41; D&C 52:2-5, D&C 52:42-43; D&C 57:1-3; D&C 110:11; Articles of Faith 1:10
Book Review: The Latter-day Saint Experience in America
Perhaps you can forgive me for taking one look at the supersized price tag on Terryl L. Givens’ new book The Latter-day Saint Experience in America and assuming that the intended audience was luckless university students operating at the behest of their profligate professors.
12 Answers from Philip Barlow: Part 1
It is nice to be introduced to Times&Seasons.
Book Review: Black and Mormon
Any etiquette book will tell you: there are certain topics you just don’t bring up in polite society. Any Mormon will tell you: we have a few topics of our own to add to that list. And one of them is the issue of blacks and the priesthood.
Sunday School Lesson 11
Lesson 11: Doctrine and Covenants 4, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 31, 33, 75 Since most of the other sections for this lesson repeat what we find in section 4, I will focus my questions on it.
12 Questions with Senator Robert F. Bennett
Our next installment of the 12 Questions series will be with Robert F. Bennett, the junior Senator from Utah. Senator Bennett, a Republican, was elected to the Senate in 1992. As Assitant Majority Whip, he is a member of the Republican leadership. Prior to his election, he was a business man, PR executive, lobbyist, and Congressional staffer. His own father, Wallace F. Bennett, served as Senator from Utah in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. He served his mission in Scotland, is a former bishop, and currently attends the Arlington Ward of the McLean, Virginia Stake. Senator Bennett has agreed to discuss Mormonism and politics. Please post your questions.
Sunday School Lesson 10
Lesson 10: D&C 25 Verse 1: Christ is speaking here, rather than the Father. Why is it important for us to become his son or daughter rather than to be his brother or sister? He tells us that we become sons and daughters by receiving his gospel. How do we that? (Compare Mosiah 5:7.)
Sunday School Lesson 9
Lesson 9: D&C 20:1–36, D&C 20:68–69, D&C 20:75–79; D&C 21; D&C 27; D&C 115:1–4
Sunday School Lesson 8
Lesson 8: D&C 13; D&C 20:38–67; D&C 27:12–13; D&C 84:6–30; D&C 107:1–20; D&C 110:11–16; Joseph Smith History 1:66- 73 This lesson is on the restoration of the priesthood. I will spend two weeks on this lesson, the first devoted to the Aaronic priesthood and its restoration, the second devoted to the Melchizedek priesthood. I’m including study questions for both lessons here for those who do not wish to divide the lesson into two.
Sunday School Lesson 7
Lesson 7: Various scriptures on the First Principles and Ordinances Before I offer some study questions, let me say why I object to this year’s way of organizing our Sunday School lessons.
12 Questions for Philip Barlow
We are pleased to announce Philip Barlow as our next participant in the Twelve Questions series. My initial encounter with Professor Barlow’s work was almost seven years ago as a first year Bible student at Yale Divinity School.
12 Questions for Terryl Givens
Professor Terryl Givens–who has another book out within the last month, The Latter-day Saint Experience in America (Greenwood Press)–has been kind enough to answer twelve questions for us.
Sunday School Lesson 6
Lesson 6: D&C 6, 8, 9, and 11 You will find study questions for D&C 6, 8, and 9 in the materials for lesson 5.
Sunday School Lesson 5
Lesson 5: D&C 6, D&C 8, D&C 9, Joseph Smith History 1:8–17 Those who are preparing lessons to teach should notice that the scriptural material for this lesson and for lesson 6 are almost identical.
An Interview with Neil LaBute
Writer, director and playwright Neil LaBute has been producing provocative and critically-acclaimed theater, film and fiction for more than a decade in the US and abroad.
Sunday School Lesson 4
Lesson 4: Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65; Doctrine and Covenants 3; 5; 10; 17; 20:5–15; and 84:54–62
Invitation: 12 Questions for Terryl Givens
Many of you have probably at least heard of Terryl Givens’s book, By the Hand of Mormon.
III: 12 Questions for Travis Anderson
This is the last installment of Travis Anderson’s answers to our 12 questions.
II: 12 Questions for Travis Anderson
The second four questions and answers from Professor Anderson:
Sunday School Lesson 3
Lesson 3: Joseph Smith History 1:1-26
Sunday School Lesson 2
I am gradually making headway. I hope to finish lesson 3 Sunday and send it out early next week. My apologies for not being further ahead. Lesson 2: Verses from Doctrine and Covenants 18, 19, 58, 76, 88, and 93 – “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World”
I: 12 Questions for Travis Anderson
Russell Fox’s post on International Cinema at BYU and the responses to it inspired us to ask Travis Anderson, IC’s director, to do 12 Questions for us. Here is the first installment, answers to four questiosn.
Sunday School Lesson 1
Lesson 1: Doctrine and Covenants 1
Sunday School Lesson 48
Lesson 48: Mormon 7-8, 10
Sunday School Lesson 47
Lesson 47: Moroni 1-6
12 Questions for Travis Anderson
Everyone was excited to talk about International Cinema at BYU.
Sunday School Lesson 46
Lesson 46: Ether 7-15 These notes will concentrate on Ether 12.
Sunday School Lesson 45
Lesson 45: Ether 1-6 Chapter 1 Though things are complicated by the fact that Mosiah (which one?) withheld the Book of Ether from his people (Ether 4:1), it is plausible to think of the book as being like a Book of Mormon for the people of the Book of Mormon.