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Peck, Steven L. Duane Jeffery: A Mormon Evolutionist<\/i>. University of Illinois Press, 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n Controversy and strong official disfavor failed to shake Duane Jeffery\u2019s tenacious efforts to fit the theory of evolution into the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Steven L. Peck traces Jeffery\u2019s life from his rural upbringing and training as a geneticist through a career marked by conflict around his dedication to taking science into classrooms at Brigham Young University. As Peck shows, Jeffery met resistance from Church leaders with a patient, years-long campaign to build understanding. He corrected misinformation within Church culture and educational systems and defended science\u2019s place in education and faith. Jeffery\u2019s commitment to honesty, intellectual curiosity, and openness encouraged and smoothed often tense conversations about the union of scientific evidence and religious faith. At the same time, his work gave Brigham Young credibility as a research university while his writing and mentorship inspired later generations to continue the dialogue.<\/p>\n An overdue look at a singular figure, Duane Jeffery<\/i> tells the story of the scientist whose work reshaped how many Church members understand evolution.<\/p>\n Dayley, Glenn. “BYU-Idaho’s Mighty Oaks Prophecy.” Journal of Mormon History<\/i> 52, no. 4 (2026): 133-142.<\/strong><\/p>\n No abstract.<\/p>\n Kirk, Mary Ann. “Clarity and Correction: The Women with the Mormon Battalion.” Journal of Mormon History<\/i> 52, no. 4 (2026): 105-132.<\/strong><\/p>\n No abstract.<\/p>\n Stainton, Geoff. “Diamond Cockling and the First Edition Book of Mormon.” Journal of Mormon History<\/i> 52, no. 4 (2026): 76-104.<\/strong><\/p>\n No abstract.<\/p>\n Christensen, Jessie. “\u00a1 Buen provecho!: Recipes for Mexican Food in The Relief Society Magazine.” Journal of Mormon History<\/i> 52, no. 4 (2026): 1-32.<\/strong><\/p>\n No abstract.<\/p>\n Compton, Todd M. “\u201cHaving Been Convinced of the Truth of Poligamme I Therefore Enter’d into the Order\u201d: Primary Documents Since In Sacred Loneliness.” Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought<\/i> 59, no. 3 (2026): 1-44.<\/strong><\/p>\n No abstract. ChatGPT-generated abstract.<\/p>\n This article surveys significant primary sources concerning Joseph Smith\u2019s plural wives that have emerged or become accessible since the publication of In Sacred Loneliness<\/em> (1997). Drawing on the Bullock\u2013Kimball list of Smith\u2019s wives, Andrew Jenson\u2019s research notes, D. Michael Quinn\u2019s archival transcriptions, and newly available letters, diaries, and autobiographical accounts, it assesses how these materials corroborate, refine, and complicate existing interpretations. The evidence strengthens the identification of several disputed wives, supports additional possible marriages, revises biographical chronologies, and illuminates the women\u2019s later religious commitments and family relationships. Particular attention is given to secrecy, marriages to women already married to other men, and the emotional and economic hardships of plural marriage. The article emphasizes the importance of evaluating contemporary and retrospective testimony together, acknowledging uncertainties in dates, memory, and provenance. Although the new sources do not fundamentally alter the author\u2019s earlier interpretations, they deepen understanding of the women\u2019s experiences and reveal unresolved questions about the practice of early Mormon plural marriage.<\/p>\n Faulconer, James E. “Who is the Real Jacques Derrida?.” The Interpreter. (2026).<\/strong><\/p>\n Jacques Derrida and deconstruction are frequently invoked, by both admirers and critics, as arguing for relativism, denying stable meaning, and dissolving the possibility of truth. This essay argues that such characterizations misunderstand Derrida\u2019s project. Beginning with Nietzsche\u2019s diagnosis of the collapse of the metaphysical foundations of Western thought and tracing its development through Heidegger, the essay explains Derridean deconstruction as an attempt to think truthfully and meaningfully without appealing to a metaphysical antecedent. For Derrida, the limits of language do not imply that truth is arbitrary or merely subjective. Rather, meaning is structured in coming to be through difference and deferral and\u2014more important\u2014by an anticipation of truth and justice always still \u201cto come.\u201d Deconstruction therefore functions less as the destruction of meaning than as an ethical practice of attending to what texts, practices, and systems necessarily overlook or exclude in order to think what those exclusions point to. Read in this way, Derrida\u2019s thought has unexpected affinities with negative theology, religious hope, and ethical responsibility and may offer Latter-day Saint thinkers useful resources for reflecting on scripture, interpretation, and the limits of human knowledge without either requiring them to become Derrideans or preventing them from doing so.<\/p>\n Lefevor, G. Tyler, Sydney A. Sorrell, Emalee Willis, and Jane H. Bell. “\u201cMy love for them can\u2019t be conditional\u201d: how active Latter-day Saint parents foster positive relationships with their LGBTQ+ teens and barriers to doing so.” Children and Youth Services Review<\/i> (2026): 109261.<\/strong><\/p>\n Introduction<\/p>\n Method<\/p>\n Results<\/p>\n Conclusions<\/p>\n This study considers the relation between institutional adaptation and long-term behavioral change. Often, behavioral interventions weaken over time as prior norms reemerge. As a contradictory case, we focus on the practice of tobacco abstention within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although originally taught in 1833, tobacco abstention was not standardized until a 1921 requirement of tobacco abstention for Latter-day Saint temple participation, a powerful symbol of collective attachment. Drawing from this narrative, we offer an analytic framework called symbolic resonance (SR) that accounts for how behaviors embedded within symbolically resonant institutions can promote durable normative change. We then compare this case to broader U.S. tobacco trends to illustrate SR’s diagnostic value. As an empirical demonstration, we compare changes in tobacco-related health outcomes both before and after the 1921 ban by temple participation utilizing the Utah Population Database. We find that tobacco-related health advantages were confined to later cohorts who engaged in temple rituals. These results suggest that institutions may influence behavior durability when expectations are paired with symbols. SR provides analytic leverage for understanding connections between organization, individual behavior, and health beyond the Latter-day Saint case.<\/p>\n Peterson, Lance T., Angela Baerwolf, Sarah C. Peterson, and Katelyn Opperman. “Acceptance Journeys of LDS Families of Their LGB Child: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.” Families in Society<\/i> (2026): 10443894261471608.<\/strong><\/p>\n Family acceptance is strongly associated with improved mental health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) youth. Using podcast interviews with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (CJCLDS), we use interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore how CJCLDS parents came to accept their lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) child. We analyzed 10 episodes and produced four themes characterizing families\u2019 acceptance journeys: Self-education and internal reflection\/growth, creating support and finding community, encouraging spirituality, and sacred advocacy and spiritual work. We expound on these themes demonstrating how parents navigated thorny church culture and doctrinal issues, ultimately leaning into their faith in a loving God. Implications include research on theological affirmation for LGBTQ+ youth as well as clinicians helping parents strive for maintaining connection and flexibility with their LGBTQ+ children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Goodman, Nathan P., and Jordan K. Lofthouse. “Polycentric Solutions to Stigmatization in Salt Lake City’s Queer Communities.” In Rainbow Liberty<\/i>, pp. 119-138. Routledge.<\/strong><\/p>\n Salt Lake City famously houses the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS Church). The LDS Church is dominant throughout Utah. It opposes same-sex romantic and sexual relationships, does not recognize same-sex marriages, and opposes social and medical transition for transgender individuals. Despite this, Salt Lake City is home to many robust formal organizations and informal groups that provide friendship, mutual assistance, and other forms of social support for queer individuals. For example, the Utah Pride Center facilitates youth and family programs, provides education, promotes community health, and organizes the city’s pride festival. Other queer organizations and associations in Salt Lake City include the Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, Equality Utah, Stonewall Sports Salt Lake, and UAF Legacy Health, among others. Queer Utahns have engaged in Tocquevillian self-governance by creating formal and informal groups to address a diversity of needs and challenges. This chapter analyzes how queer individuals have used civil society and markets to address political and social pressures that are sometimes antagonistic to their preferences and interests. The main implication is that polycentric social arrangements can help LGBTQ individuals live healthier, happier, and more connected lives when a dominant culture is not particularly welcoming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Peck, Steven L. Duane Jeffery: A Mormon Evolutionist. University of Illinois Press, 2026. Controversy and strong official disfavor failed to shake Duane Jeffery\u2019s tenacious efforts to fit the theory of evolution into the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Steven L. Peck traces Jeffery\u2019s life from his rural upbringing and training as a geneticist through a career marked by conflict around his dedication to taking science into classrooms at Brigham Young University. As Peck shows, Jeffery met resistance from Church leaders with a patient, years-long campaign to build understanding. He corrected misinformation within Church culture and educational systems and defended science\u2019s place in education and faith. Jeffery\u2019s commitment to honesty, intellectual curiosity, and openness encouraged and smoothed often tense conversations about the union of scientific evidence and religious faith. At the same time, his work gave Brigham Young credibility as a research university while his writing and mentorship inspired later generations to continue the dialogue. An overdue look at a singular figure, Duane Jeffery tells the story of the scientist whose work reshaped how many Church members understand evolution. Dayley, Glenn. “BYU-Idaho’s Mighty Oaks Prophecy.” Journal of Mormon History 52, no. 4 (2026): 133-142. No abstract. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10403,"featured_media":54666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2968],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latter-day-saint-literature-review"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-27-2026-at-03_12_43-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10403"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54646"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54705,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54646\/revisions\/54705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\nAlthough the psychological literature has been clear that parental support is important for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer\/questioning (LGBTQ+) teens, it is less clear about the ways in which<\/em>parents can embody that support and foster strong relationships with their teens, particularly for parents who have strong, conservative religious beliefs. The present study addresses this gap by investigating the ways in which active Latter-day Saint (LDS) parents foster positive relationships with their LGBTQ+ teens.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nWe conducted a thematic analysis of 19 separate interviews with active LDS parents and their LGBTQ+ teens conducted via Zoom in the United States in 2021 (38 total interviews).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nWe found several ways that parents contributed to the development of positive parent-teen relationships, including fostering communication and connection, respecting autonomy, offering unconditional love and support, providing an LGBTQ+ affirming family environment, being an advocate and ally, and demonstrating adaptation, education, and preparation. We also found several ways that parents\u2019 behaviors posed a barrier to fostering strong, supportive relationships, including demonstrating conditional acceptance, denying autonomy, invalidating their teens\u2019 LGBTQ+ identity, demonstrating fumbling support, and past and present prejudice.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nResults highlight several concrete ways that conservatively religious parents\u2014and parents generally\u2014of LGBTQ+ teens can foster strong and supportive parent-teen relationships and highlight ways that active LDS parents manage to foster these relationships despite tension between their religious beliefs and affirming their teens\u2019 LGBTQ+ identities.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSmith, Ken R., Tim A. Bruckner, and Alfred Emery BLDG. “Ceremonies and Cigarettes.” MPIDR Working Paper Series.\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\nNote, I usually don’t post working papers, but Ken Smith is probably the top name in LDS Demography, and the Max Planck Demographic Institute is one of the top names in demography in general (although I’m a little biased since I interviewed for a position there once upon a time), so it’s just a matter of time before they land it somewhere, plus it’s interesting.<\/em><\/div>\n\n