By StanDecember 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
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By David G.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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By Ben PDecember 3, 2007
While in Liberty Jail, Joseph had a lot of time to meditate upon his latest year’s experiences. The Church had been forced from Ohio, some of his closest friends had turned on him, and now his followers were being expelled from the state of Missouri. After spending four months in prison, he reflects on many of these topics in a letter dictated to the rest of the church. Full of emotion, struggle, and comfort, this letter has become famous among LDS circles, and parts of it were extracted to form three revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants. However, while going over it again recently, a portion which was not canonized caught my attention
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By ChristopherDecember 3, 2007
In the last few weeks, I have been reminded of my disdain for modern Mormon architecture. Watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional at the LDS Conference Center earlier this evening was the latest of these reminders. In contrast to 19th-century Mormon meeting halls (like this one I attended Stake Conference at last month) that were hand-crafted, relatively ornate, and aesthetically appealing, today’s cookie-cutter chapels (and an increasing number of temples) seem to have efficiency as their chief aim.
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By StanDecember 3, 2007
I was up at Church Archives recently and while waiting for the items I had requested to be pulled, I began browsing the shelves and noticed a volume of Darwin’s Descent of Man. I pulled it down off the shelf. It looked like an older copy, with marbleized paper for flyleaves. The title page revealed that it was an 1897 edition, printed by D. Appleton and Company. I opened it up to the first blank page and found stamped in purple ink: “Joseph F. Smith Jr.” Hopeful that I might find some good marginalia, I began flipping through. I was not disappointed. There was commentary on several pages–and it was characteristically Joseph Fielding Smith. “Argument of a fool!” he wrote in the margin of one page. “Booh!” on another. “Wrong again!” he wrote next to Darwin’s assertion that
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By David G.November 30, 2007
This month’s Ensign contains a fascinating little article describing Joseph Smith’s seven journals. The authors, two friends of mine, are editors on the Joseph Smith Papers Project. Mark Ashurst-McGee (MA, USU; PhD. candidate, ASU) is editing journals from the 1830s. Alex Smith (MA, BYU) is editing Smith’s journals from 1841-April 1843. Mark is also editing the journals from April 1843 to June 1844. They’re both excellent scholars and likely know more about these journals, in terms of content, physical description, and provenance, than anyone alive. Alex has worked directly with the Nauvoo journal, The Book of the Law of the Lord, which previous scholars such as Scott Faulring and Michael Marquardt have not had access to.
The 6 page article gives summaries of the seven journals and also includes images of the artifacts. We also get
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By StanNovember 25, 2007
Sitting in front of the fireplace at my in-law’s this evening, I began chatting with my wife’s 93-year-old grandmother about her life growing up in San Juan County, Utah. She began by telling me again about the hole-in-the-rockers, the original Mormon settlers of the Bluff, Blanding, and Monticello region in southeastern Utah who had hacked their way through the desert in one of the most incredible colonization missions in Western history.
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By ChristopherNovember 25, 2007
This previous week, while I was home in Texas for the Thanksgiving holiday, my wife and I attended the wedding of an old friend from high school. This friend, who grew up a member of the Wesleyan Church, was married at Perkins Chapel (located on Southern Methodist University’s campus at the Perkins School of Theology). The ceremony was beautiful, and it was fun to see old friends and catch up with each of them. Much to my wife’s chagrin, though, I couldn’t set aside the aspiring religious scholar in me, and was fascinated with the chapel’s architecture and layout, the wedding liturgy, and everything else.
The following are a few of my observations.
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Recent Comments
Steve Fleming on BH Roberts on Plato: “Interesting, Jack. But just to reiterate, I think JS saw the SUPPRESSION of Platonic ideas as creating the loss of truth and not the addition.…”
Jack on BH Roberts on Plato: “Thanks for your insights--you've really got me thinking. I can't get away from the notion that the formation of the Great and Abominable church was an…”
Steve Fleming on BH Roberts on Plato: “In the intro to DC 76 in JS's 1838 history, JS said, "From sundry revelations which had been received, it was apparent that many important…”
Jack on BH Roberts on Plato: “"I’ve argued that God’s corporality isn’t that clear in the NT, so it seems to me that asserting that claims of God’s immateriality happened AFTER…”
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. …”