We’re happy to announce our latest guest blogger, Eric James Stone. Read More

If you follow the links in William Morris’s post, you’ll note that the deadline is fast approaching for paper submissions for the AML conference. So if you’re sitting on that brilliant analysis of feminist themes in The Work and the Glory, now’s a good time to dust it off and send it in to AML. Read More

Look. I know you. I know you are sick of reading thick tomes of Mormon history and detailed 19th century mission journals and the latest on Book of Mormon apologetics. I know that you want something a little more literary, a little more narrative-y, a little more … fun. But still, you know, high-minded and serious and all that. Read More

Will Baude discusses something called the 50 book challenge, with the idea being to read 50 books this year and blog about them. Not a bad idea. Read More

Don’t laugh. Especially not on Sunday. The Doctrine and Covenants makes this pretty clear: And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day . . . And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance Read More

My parents died a few years ago, both in their nineties, after a fulfilling life and with the memories of having survived two world wars and sixty years of marriage on the Old Continent. Read More

Thanks to a cool feature on the scriptures.byu.edu website, it’s easy to rank the scriptures by the frequency they’ve been cited in General Conferences since 1942. I guessed number one, but was surprised by several of the top ten. Before checking the answers, make a few guesses: What are the most prominent scriptures in Mormondom? Read More

As many of you know, I served a mission in Romania (Feb. ’92 – Jan. ’94). Yes, I worked with orphans. But I can’t write about that. Not yet. This one comes first… Read More

April 16, 1963 MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise and untimely.” Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I… Read More

Now for a fun project — let’s rewrite the hymn book! In particular, let’s discuss a few hymns which (in a perfect world) might be headed for the chopping block. Read More

I just finished a blog several pages long. It began a couple of weeks ago when a Belgian friend, Rudi, called to wish me a happy new year and to talk about making arrangements for his visit to BYU in April. Read More

Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist Maureen Dowd’s op-ed piece, “Men Just Want Mommy” published in yesterday’s New York Times is getting a lot of attention. I’ve had a half a dozen friends email it to me with notes attached at the bottom that vary from outrage to despair. Read More

We’ve moved the site from the /wp directory to the root directory. (This move may help restore our burnished Google-rank).* The site is now fully running at the root directory. (Yeah, there was a brief period where it, uh, wasn’t. Sorry about that). There’s also a .htaccess rewrite in place to route people to the new digs, and I’m not anticipating any further hitches. If there are, please let us know. Read More

I’ve been reviewing the essays in the groundbreaking (and, unfortunately, still one-of-a-kind) anthology Arts and Inspiration: Mormon Perspectives in preparation for a series that I plan on running on A Motley Vision this spring. One of the impressive things about the work is the high level of professional achievement attained by the contributors. That combined with a passage in “Art: A Possibility for Love” by Johann Wondra got me thinking about Mormons and the professions. Read More

Over the past few days, I’ve been discussing the atonement with a Catholic friend. We’ve been comparing the different ideas our two faiths have (he’s fascinated, for instance, by the primacy that Mormons give to Gethsemane). One issue that has arisen, and that I don’t have a good answer for, is this — why does Jesus ask for the cup to be removed? Read More

I’m the Webelos and 11-year-old Scouts leader in our ward; we meet at the church every Wednesday, which is the day of the week pretty much everything youth-related happens. Given that many people drive quite a distance to make it to various meetings and activities, it’s not unusual for a few families to show up en masse and stay through the evening, with the younger kids tearing apart the nursery or playing games while the adults carry out their responsibilities. This is common enough that it’s become a kind of “play-date” for many children in our ward, our own girls… Read More

You may have noticed that we’re tinkering with some template ideas. In particular, drop-down menus look fun and promising. However, they can’t be everywhere. (Or can they?). Read More

As of this writing, the average visitor to Times & Seasons spends 7 minutes and 28 seconds on the site. In blogtime, that is simply unparalleled. Read More

Today is the first day of registration for Especially For Youth, and I am waiting in the queue: #276 of 325 people waiting in line. Read More

We’re doing some slight tinkering. Any feedback is appreciated. (Also, if we break something, please let us know, along with any relevant details — “I can no longer load the page in Netscape” or whatever.) Thanks! Read More

This past weekend I flew down to New Orleans to participate in a panel at the Southern Political Science Association on “The Theory and Practice of Mormon Politics.” The panel was originally proposed and organized by our own Nate Oman and frequent T&S commenter Jeremiah John, a graduate student at Notre Dame; unfortunately, Nate wasn’t able to join us, so in the end the panel consisted of papers from me, Jeremy, and Roger Barrus from Hampden-Sydney College, with comments from former T&S guest-blogger Damon Linker. Ralph Hancock, a BYU professor of political science, chaired the panel. What follows is some… Read More

Enough theory. It’s time to get to actual examples of Mormon kitsch. The following represent my picks — some because I actually like them (don’t tell anybody), some because they’re just weird, and some because they’re hecka funny. Read More

I strongly, strongly disapprove of the teachings of the prophets and it is all John A. Widstoe’s fault. Now just for the record, I think that John A. Widstoe is a very cool guy. Indeed, when people ask me about my goatee, I always respond that I am simply trying to look like Widstoe. (Which as it happens, is true.) But he really set a bad precedent, in my opinion, for how we present the words of the prophets. Read More

I’ll preface this by noting that it is axiomatic that I am nowhere near as cool as Greg Call. I’m not as cool as William Morris, either, and I’m not really as cool as Kristine, even if she does like Abba. I like to think that I’m as cool as D. Fletcher, but I’m probably wrong there too. The fact is, I’m probably not cooler than anyone — Nate Oman and Steve Evans aside, of course. But enough is enough. Read More