I don’t think that it is an accident that monotheism first come out of the desert. It is, I think, an issue of scale. Read More

Despite appearances to the contrary, we here at Times and Seasons do not spend all our time debating the finer points of church doctrine, history, culture and theology. A lot of the time, we talk about our kids. And since raising kids–and in particular, finding good books to read to them and with them–is something a lot of our readers can relate to, we thought we’d open the blog up to some discussion and recommendations of that topic. First up, a guest post from my wife, Melissa Madsen Fox, who besides being a great consumer and critic of youth fiction,… Read More

Based on our theology, Mormons should lead the world in early childhood education. Why? Here’s one basic line of argument. Read More

So my sister Rachel, having graduated the MTC, has just had her first real transfer. Read More

This is the text of a talk I gave in Sacrament Meeting around this time last year. Warning: it’s LONG, and it quite predictably incorporates the John Donne quote I force upon everyone every Thanksgiving. Read More

Contrary to what some people think, the bloggernacle isn’t a long-running magazine like Sunstone or Dialogue, with a steady cast of characters and articles. It’s more like a student ward; blink and you’ll miss it. Enjoy the interactions now, because tomorrow half of the participants will be gone, and today’s particular mix of participants will never again be recreated. The moving finger writes awfully fast on the internet. Read More

WordPress 1.5 appears to be running. We’ll probably have to make little tweaks in the next few days, but I don’t anticipate any major changes. Read More

I’m going to be doing a few things on the back end. I’ll try not to crash the site. At least, not for too long of a time. (And no, RJ, we’re not upgrading to slashcode. Sorry. I know, you’re going to give this post a -1). Read More

Via frequent T&S commenter, former guest-blogger, and all-around well-connected guy Jonathan Green, comes this, a priceless document of what happens when Mormonism collides with modern American Halloween festivities. The man in the costume is Brother Bill Atkinson, and the costume itself…well, see for yourself. And enjoy. Read More

This post is sure to be the final stake for Bannergate. I’m going to compare it to securities law. Read More

I recently read an article by Robert Winston, a British writer and television presenter, exploring the implications of evolution for religion and asking whether our earliest ancestors gained some competitive advantage from their shared religious feelings. Winston’s stuff was just okay, I thought; it was something else that caught my attention. Read More

I think that I have discovered Hugh Nibley’s secret identity. Read More

Some google searches that bring people to Times and Seasons, along with the google rank of the site. “Times and Seasons”: #1 on the list of google results. (i.e., if you go to google and type in “Times and Seasons” we’re the first result that comes back.) LDS blog: #1 (But only #3 for “Mormon blog“!) Read More

During my second year of law school I met Samuel Alito, who President Bush has nominated to the Supreme Court. Read More

For months now, I’ve been contemplating a series of posts on the possibility of a Mormon aesthetic. I’ve been rereading Kant and Rousseau and Augustine, arguing with Michael Hicks in my head, and contemplating my illustrious career as the great one who definitively articulated the theoretical framework of a Mormon (musical) aesthetic. Last night, sitting in the dark at Stake Conference, I abandoned the notion of writing that piece. Completely. And joyfully. Read More

My wife was out of town, so I decided to pick up some chicks. I took the kids with me, of course. Read More

You will be happy to hear that the Oman marriage has weathered a massive marital crisis. It was tough for a while, but we are doing well now. As you might expect, the dispute centered on compost. Read More

Adam asked [in a comment lost, alas, when we changed software] if suing the church might place one in the category of “groups that oppose the church.” He raises a question which, I think, does not have a yes-or-no answer. (more. . .) Read More

Why are we Mormons so damn intrigued by J. Golden Kimball? Read More

Imagine that you and a couple of friends started a group blog — called it Heaven’s Banner — in which you all pretended to be fictional people having really bizarre conversations (OK, so perhaps this wouldn’t take too much pretending). You and your friends work to create a semblance of warped verisimilitude, and then watch the show. Here is an interesting question: Are you liars? Read More

From time to time Mormons face various forms of legal and political harassment. Sometimes this happens in the United States, but as events in Venezuela dramatically illustrate the legal challenges that the Church faces abroad are generally much more extreme than those that it faces in the U.S. One result is that there is a real mismatch between the Church’s challenges and its resources. Read More