Drawing on some existing discussion, Jeff Lindsay suggests that the “swords” of the Book of Mormon may have actually been spiked wooden war clubs. This idea seems problematic for several reasons: Read More

So I often hear from my “intellectual” Mormon friends how they feel this crushing weight of isolation and judgemental pressure from their fellow Saints. I don’t really get it. Read More

Since Lavell Edwards retired, BYU’s football program has entered the arms race that is major college football. Read More

My post begins with a pointed question: Are higher education and the scriptural ideal of Zion at odds? The question had never occurred to me until a few years ago while living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Read More

By adding Wilfried as a permablogger a few weeks ago, we not only gained an interesting colleague, but extended Times & Seasons beyond the borders of the United States. Over the past 24 hours, I have been tracking traffic at Times & Seasons to get a glimpse at our readership around the world. Here is what I found. Read More

Married, but only one of the partners is Mormon. In the “mission field” such part-Mormon couples are numerous, probably more than in area’s where Mormons have lived for generations. Sociologists study this phenomenon among various affiliations. “Religious intermarriage”, “religious homogamy / heterogamy”, “interchurch / interfaith marriages” are some of the key words of this academic field of study. Read More

I want to ask a question within the genre of scriptural exegesis. When our church leaders commend us to seek education, they often quote Read More

In our house, we have a box full of picture books that comes out on the first Sunday in Advent, and I’m always on the lookout for new Christmas books. Read More

In her brilliant book Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition (Uillinois, 1985), Jan Shipps suggests that the Word of Wisdom replaced polygamy as “boundary maintenance� between the church and the world. Read More

It’s shockingly easy to make confessions on the internet, and I can’t resist making one of my own: Read More

For the next two weeks, Times and Seasons will be delighted to play host to the rigorous questions and thoughtful musings of one Carl Glen Henshaw, an old friend and a bona fide science geek. Read More

I was just reading a new blog for Mormon teens called “The Greenies,” and LJ used “Old Nick” as an alternative appellation for Satan. Read More

I have decided to forgo the Christmas tree ritual this year. For the first time in my life I won’t have a sweet scented evergreen in my front room during the holidays. Read More

The utterly fascinating comments about rock concerts confirm one of my theories about BYU and Provo. I want to pass it by T&S readers for critique, criticism, comment. My theory is Read More

Nobel Laureate David Baltimore, currently President of Caltech, abhors the balanced life. He thinks it is destroying America. Read More

Has anyone ever attended a rock concert at BYU? You may have noticed that they dried up in the mid-1980s, and I am trying to figure out why. In the 1970s artists such as Elton John, America, Read More

The not-surprising Evangelical backlash against Rev. Muow’s we-have-sinned-against-the-Mormons comments in the tabranacle has produced one of the least plausible interpretations of Mormon action that I have read in some time. Read More

Aaargh–’tis the season for those yuletide roundups of the activities of everyone’s perfect families and overachieving children. A couple of years ago, I decided to fight back with this parody, which I mailed on April Fools’ Day: Read More

I told Gordon that I’ve been doing some writing about the relationship between Provo and BYU, and if you don’t mind I’d like to enlist the assistance of T&S in helping me solve a few riddles. For those who have never lived in Provo, please pardon the indulgence. Read More

The demographics of Church growth suggest that our days as a lilly-white, Moutain-West denomination are limited, if they are not in fact already finished. Read More

I was just reading over Logan’s (re)post at BCC, and I recalled a familiar line about faith and doubt, from Tennyson’s In Memoriam. Read More

CBS and NBC have refused to air an ad from the United Church of Christ on grounds that it is “too controversial.” The message of the advertisement is one that I hope we would embrace, but I am not so sanguine about that. Read More

I want to start a discussion using one of Rosalynde’s comments as a launching point. In a comment on my first post, Rosalynde reminded us that we in the church often talk about the Protestant Reformers as though they helped lay the groundwork for the Restoration. Read More

What’s going on in some other blogs: Lisa at Feminist Mormon Housewives wants to know how we can reconcile the Plan of Salvation with a world that allows thousands of children to be sold into sex slavery. Read More

Here are my suggestions for everyone on your Christmas list: Read More