(Adam and Sara: you will recognize this topic from our lively late-night chat during your recent visit to Tacoma. I would love to have you both offer some of the insights here that you shared when we talked, if you’re so inclined.) —————— I’ve long been interested in achieving a greater understanding of the church’s teaching that “by divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness.” (Proclamation on the Family) Read More

Who knew when I started reading salon.com’s new column ‘Object Lust’ that I would fall victim to this deadly sin? Who could have predicted that the object of my attraction would be a flannel board? Read More

I’m happy to announce the births of our twin girls, Chloe and Clara. Read More

I have a confession: I don’t much care about what the people in my ward think about me. I feel guilty about this. Read More

It is only after long consideration that I am finally writing this post. I was somewhat taken aback, perhaps naively so, by the discussion sparked by the brief statement in my intro post that I work full time and that my children are in daycare. Ensuing comments focused on working mothers, following the prophet, the Proclamation on the Family. My mention of my husband’s long commute to Chicago while we lived in Indiana led to a brief discussion of the joint sacrifices required to support a working spouse and how common such support might be among Mormon men for their… Read More

Leider ist die Zeit des Jonathan Green zum blog mit uns zu einem Ende gekommen. Er war ein wundervoller Gast-blogger, der uns sehr viel unterhielt und unterrichtete. Danke so Jonathan und wir hoffen, dass Sie fortfahren, an Times & Seasons hier teilzunehmen! Read More

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has presidential aspirations. Read More

In times past, Mormon intellectualdom has been much exercised over the issue of objectivity and the writing of history. By and large, I think that these debates have focused on the wrong issues. Stalin’s toes help to illustrate one of the reasons why. Read More

I did not want to go to BYU. Read More

My Pioneer Day wish for the day: let’s not forget the song as the pioneers themselves actually sang it: Read More

A commenter at Approaching Zion suggests that interracial marriage is wrong. The commenter, a critic of feminism, lists as one of the harms of feminism was that it “encourages single men to marry outside their race and culture.” What exactly is the status of church doctrine on interracial marriage, anyway? Read More

For those who haven’t noticed, John Roberts has been nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. The next obvious question is what does his jurisprudence tell us about Mormon theology. Read More

I’m honored by Julie’s invitation to blog on this venerable site, amid such esteemed company. I thought I’d begin my introduction by mentioning my connection to several more regular T&S-ers. Julie Smith and I were housemates for two years at UT-Austin. She witnessed my courtship to my husband and attended my wedding. I’ve been grateful to continue my friendship with her in the meantime. I admire her tremendously on many levels, not least because she is probably the most organized, disciplined scholar I know. Read More

I’m pleased to introduce Kirsten M. Christensen as our newest guest blogger. Kirsten has a PhD in Germanic Studies from UT-Austin and has taught at Mount Holyoke College and Notre Dame and is now at Pacific Lutheran University. She’s married to Ted Warren (who may have the most interesting job of anyone I know) and she has two adorable, smart, precious boys, Grayson and Hal. Read More

Towards the end of my time at BYU, a friend mentioned to me that he knew some Benson scholars (today we would say Hinckley scholars, or more generically, presidential scholars), and that they were all stuck up and full of themselves. I told him, to his surprise, that I too was a Benson scholar, which goes to show that I can deceive even friends into thinking I’m a down-to-earth, non-snooty person. The Presidential Scholarship is the most prestigious academic scholarship granted by BYU to incoming freshmen. When I was a senior in high school, I spent many hours researching, writing,… Read More

Okay, it is time for another post on Mormon legal history. This one is on the state of the field and where we go from here. Read More

When God became American is the novelized biography of Joseph Smith by the French author Marc Chadourne: Quand Dieu se fit Americain. Read More

Two years ago, I came within twenty-four hours of abandoning my academic career before it started. None of the applications I had sent out had gone anywhere, I had completed my degree, and my department had no money to keep me around. We packed up and got ready to drive out of town and out of academia, but we had to stay an extra day because our car was still in the shop. It had only taken so long to fix because the factory had shipped the wrong replacement part. The night before we finally left, the College of Charleston… Read More

Boston area Bloggernackers, save the date: you and your families are invited to a beach party/barbecue at my house Saturday, July 30 from mid-afternoon (2-3ish) until whenever. Dinner around 6. We have room for weekend guests, too, if anybody wants to drive up from NYC or down from Montreal, or as one intrepid bloggernaclite is doing, drive out from Idaho in a U-Haul! E-mail me (Kristine at timesandseasons dot org) for directions. Read More

My children have been taking swimming lessons. Naturally, this provides me with both motive and opportunity for asking self-indulgently angsty existential questions. Read More