By December 11, 2007
In 1925, French anthropologist Marcel Mauss termed the cross-cultural transmission of values, habits, and goods from one community to another after the two communities encountered each other, “contact and exchange.” He argued that the “ritual exchange” of these “gifts” served as a way to define the social order of society. [1]
By December 10, 2007
In her novel A Little Lower than the Angels, Virginia Sorensen writes of a fictional family living in Nauvoo, Illinois.
By December 8, 2007
Although Mitt Romney avoided a detailed discussion of Mormonism in his “Faith in America” speech, he did include a brief reference to Brigham Young and the trek west. Romney situated Mormon history within a narrative of religious intolerance in American history:
Today?s generations of Americans have always known religious liberty. Perhaps we forget the long and arduous path our nation?s forbearers took to achieve it. They came here from England to seek freedom of religion. But
By December 7, 2007
I was in Special Collections the other day, going thru the diaries of Mark H. Forscutt, a Latter-day Saint who left the Brighamites and became a Latter Day Saint when the Josephite movement started up. I came across an entry in which he describes an interesting encounter with one Mr. Moore, whom he describes as a “Brownite.” I’m not sure who Brown is (any who can enlighten us on that, please do), but I found the passage quite intriguing, and so I quote:
By December 6, 2007
Admin. Note: Comments have been closed on this thread, as the nature of the comments degenerated into irrelevant (or, at best, tangentially relevant) discussion. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and comments.
By December 5, 2007
According to Tribune reporter Brooke Adams, Warren Jeffs has resigned as “President of the Corporation of the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Inc.” All this really says is that Jeffs no longer is running the business side of things, which seems like a practical move considering his incarcerated position. I don’t know enough about FLDS theology to know what implications this has for Jeffs’ position as Prophet. Does anyone know how these positions relate to each other in the LDS church?
By December 5, 2007
A couple of notes of interest for the ever-growing Spanish-speaking population within the LDS Church …
By December 5, 2007
In part 2 of a recent 3 part Mormonstories podcast, Dr. Ted Lyon Jr. reported an interesting remark by a prominent ex-university president about his keeping of a journal. He is reported to have said,
“He saw that I was writing in my diary while I was waiting for him. And he said, “Oh, Ted, you keep a diary.” I said, “Yea.” He said, “I don’t, I wish I…I know I should, but I don’t. And I said, “Why don’t ya?” And he said, “Because I saw what happened to Ernest Wilkinson.” He said, “Wilkinson kept diaries in such detail of all of his doings with the Brethren,
By December 4, 2007
The blogosphere is abuzz with the news that Romney has finally announced that he will be giving his long-awaited, much-anticipated “Mormon Speech” this Thursday at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. Thus, the question is no longer “Will Romney give the speech?” or “When will he give the speech?” but “What will he say?” and further, is it actually going to be a “Mormon” speech? The speech, titled “Faith in America,” leaves Romney open to spe
By December 4, 2007
The summer and fall of 1838 were times of increasing tensions both within and without the Church. Internal dissent originating in the Kirtland banking crisis of late 1837 bled into 1838, and Missourian opposition to the increasing Mormon population in northern Missouri was rising to a boiling point. During the ensuing months, these tensions led to the outbreak of violence between Mormons and non-Mormons, a conflict in which neither side was guiltless, and one that resulted in the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from Missouri in winter 1838-1839. Any discussion of Mormon vigilantism during this period must be framed within the context of what historian William G. Hartley [following Juanita Brooks] has called war hysteria.[1]
In June 1838 Mormon vigilantes formed an extralegal organization that came to be known as the Danites, apparently with the full knowledge and support of Church leaders Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. Scholars have suggested that the
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Recent Comments
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “Large civilizations leave behind evidence of their existence. For instance, I just read that scholars estimate the kingdom of Judah to have been around 110,000…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “I have always understood the key to issues with Nephite archeology to be language. Besides the fact that there is vastly more to Mesoamerican…”
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