Today is my first son’s birthday. Last year on this day, I posted some recollections of our time with him. After reading Russell’s moving post about Tessa, I decided to bring my post out of the archives. You can find it here. My prayers go out to Tessa’s parents. Read More

Last week my newest niece, Tessa Alene Fox, was buried. I never saw her alive. Neither did anyone else in my family, nor did her parents, though they got to know her, at least little bit, during the nine months she grew inside my sister-in-law’s body. One afternoon, only days before Tessa’s due date, she stopped moving; by the following morning, their doctor confirmed their fears: Tessa was dead. My sister-in-law was induced, and gave birth to her child’s lifeless body without complications later that day. The umbilical cord was wrapped around Tessa’s neck not once, not twice, but four… Read More

Yesterday, my father, who is a currator at the Church Museum in Salt Lake City, asked me to respond to an email that he had recieved from a young man that he had met through his work who was investigating the Church. The young man had heard his LDS girl friend declare that Mormons believe that one should always obey the law, but the young man had heard something about Mormon resistence to polygamy in the 19th century and thought that Mormons had taught that Mormon law always trumped Gentile law. What follows is the email that I wrote to… Read More

I am planning on attending the MHA Conference in Killington, VT, May 26-29. For details, see here. I see that T&S blogger Kristine is presenting; is anyone else from the Bloggernacle going to be there? Read More

In keeping with my general practice of coming very late to cultural phenomena, I finally read Tuesdays With Morrie last weekend. Read More

Overheard in passing — “No, no, we’re an archipelago. Not like those monolithic group blogs. We’re not Wal-mart or Target; we’re a mere loose association of web sites. It’s not like we have a group web page or anything . . .” . . . Welcome to the dark side, boys. Read More

Does my religion (Mormonism) affect my politics? Of course it does. Read More

My family moved to Illinois in 1965 when I was seven years old. Every year for vacation we drove back to visit relatives in Utah, and every year on the way we spent a couple of days in Nauvoo and Carthage. I continue to live in Illinois, so I’ve been there at least a couple of dozen times now. Read More

Do you ever find yourself wondering, “whizzay is a Proclamizzles anyway?” Did you ever want to read lines like “England took tha position that tha marriage relatizzles in tha Celestial Kingdom wizzle be monogizzle not polygizzles”? Or want to hear Nate Oman wax eloquent “In Memory of tha Metaphysizzle Elda”? You’re in luck. Read More

There’s a new meme in the bloggernacle, and it’s self-awareness. The folks over at Various Stages are discussing the concept of self-consciousness (with some input from itinerant philosophers). Meanwhile, Ebenezer is wondering (in between some scandalous confessions about kissing) exactly how and why we construct our own bloggernacle identities. Finally, Geoff has a heartfelt post asserting a claim with which I wholeheartedly agree: God reads the bloggernacle. It’s an interesting confluence of posts: Are we self-aware? Should we be self-aware as we blog? Is God watching us? Should he be? Should we be “ourselves” on our blogs? Or is that… Read More

If you want to review a book, send me the title and your street address. There’s a category called Book Reviews for your posts. When you post the review, I’ll send the link to the publisher. Please don’t sit on the book forever. I’ll keep a running list of everything requested. God on the Quad (Adam) (St. Martin’s Press) DONE Black and Mormon (Julie) (U of Illinois) DONE The Latter-day Saint Experience in America (Julie) (Greenwood) DONE David O. McKay: Beloved Prophet (Julie) (Covenant) DONE David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (Julie) (U of Utah) A Different… Read More

About 18 years ago, Eugene England published his essay, “On Fidelity, Polygamy, and Celestial Marriage,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 20/4 (Winter 1987): 138-54, which has since been reprinted in a couple of different venues. A copy is available at the University of Utah Dialogue archive, here. This article was an exercise in speculative theology, in which England took the position that the marriage relationship in the Celestial Kingdom will be monogamous, not polygynous. Read More

Noted LDS filmmaker Richard Dutcher recently addressed the Southern California-based Miller-Eccles Study Group. Read More

Sundays are a nice break during the session. Though I like being stopped by constituents to discuss issues in the store or at a restaurant, I used to bristle that every other conversation at church is on some issue the legislature is facing. I thought there should be one place I could just relax. Read More

As a Nibley memorial, BYU Studies has created a page with links to free down loads of Nibley’s BYU Studies articles. Sunstone has a similar page set up. Also, BYU has set up a kind of electronic guestbook for Nibley. They are inviting people to send in their messages of appreciation to hughnibley-at-byu.edu. My understanding is that the messages sent to this address will be compiled and sent to the family.* Read More

Yes, we’re talking about the Proclamation again. Please set aside, for a moment, gender issues. Please set aside as well the interesting interpretational questions (what is a Proclamation, anyway? what kind of normative force does it carry?) except as necessary to focus on what is, to me, the single most startling and loaded phrase in the entire document. I’m talking about this sentence: Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Read More

What would a guest blogging stint be without a little friendly ark steadying? To wit: I propose that the Church do away with its policy that requires a one-year wait between a civil marriage ceremony outside the temple and a temple sealing. Read More

We’re happy to announce another guest blogger, Kevin Barney. Kevin practices public finance law in Chicago. He served a mission in Colorado (’77-’79), received his undergraduate degree in classics from BYU (’82), his JD from the University of Illinois (’85) and an LLM from DePaul University (’90). He has published a couple of dozen articles, mostly on topics relating to LDS scripture, in such venues as the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Dialogue, The Ensign, FARMS Review and BYU Studies, and he is working on a book entitled Footnotes to the New Testament for Latter-day Saints, scheduled to be… Read More

Politicians lie because they can. Read More

We are pleased to announce that Steve Urquhart, the majority whip for the Utah House of Representatives, will blog with us for the next two weeks, including the final days of the 2005 legislative session. Steve grew up in Houston and graduated from Williams College and BYU Law School. After working at Morrison & Foerster for two years, he moved to St. George, Utah, where he practices law with two other attorneys. He served a mission in Curitiba, Brazil, and now serves as stake auditor and Sunday School teacher. Steve and his wife Sara Stanley have four children. Read More

I don’t think that I am alone among Mormons in having had very strong reactions to Elder Bruce R. McConkie. My sense is that his theological influence is on the wane, although I understand he continues to be very popular amongst some CES types. A while back, I blogged on my own process of making peace with Elder McConkie. (continue to original post…) Read More

My children like to cheer for the Yankees. The two major cheers of choice are “Let’s Go Yankees” and “Red Sox Stink.” And recently, my son Sullivan has asked how to say those phrases in other languages. I’ve been able to help him out with Spanish — “Vamanos Yankees” and “Calcetines Rojas Huelen” (translating “Sox” as “socks”). However, he routinely asks me how to say these phrases in other languages — Russian, Chinese, French, German, and so on . . . pretty much every language he’s ever heard of, and he’s heard of a lot. I can’t really help him… Read More

There’s snow on the Gates in Central Park. A number of photobloggers have captured images of this; see, for example, photos here, or here. The images bring to mind a stanza from a seldom-sung hymn: Pale through the gloom the newly fallen snow Wraps in a shroud the silent earth below As tho ’twere mercy’s hand had spread the pall, A symbol of forgiveness unto all. The Lord uses snow as a symbol of repentance: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” The snow… Read More

NOTE: I wrote most of this yesterday, but thought perhaps it was too sentimental. This morning it seems horribly appropriate, as I’m praying (and crying) for Geoff’s little boy. Kaimi’s post puts me in mind of a favorite poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins (“golly,” you say, “it doesn’t take much to get her going, does it?”): The Lantern out of Doors Sometimes a lantern moves along the night. That interests our eyes. And who goes there? I think; where from and bound, I wonder, where, With, all down darkness wide, his wading light? Read More

Geoff Johnston’s son is in the hospital after a serious accident. He’s hoping that bloggernackers can add his son to their prayers. I’m happy to oblige, myself, as well as pass this on to our readers. Read More

That is, truth-teller. Far greater than his scholarship, in my opinion, was his unwavering determination to speak plainly about what he understood to be the plain teachings–the social, economic, political and cultural teachings–of the prophets. By so doing he changed lives, and even, I think, saved souls. Of course, the actual “value” of his interpretations can be disputed; certainly it is the case that his somewhat flaky, scripturally inspired socialism/environmentalism/pacifism/agrarianism/what-have-you-ism never amounted to a solid foundation upon which one could erect laws, establish policies, distribute goods, enforce treaties, and basically get things done. It was, in other words, strictly speaking,… Read More