Early Mormon History
Mormon Women Blessing the Sick
As a follow up to my previous article discussing female priesthood holders in Ancient Christianity, I thought it would be interesting to discuss a now discontinued practice of Mormon women anointing and blessing the sick. Did you know that Mormon women used to wash, anoint with oil, and lay hands on the sick until 1946? […]
The Passing of Richard Van Wagoner
This is a sad day for Mormon History buffs. I have just learned that Richard Van Wagoner passed away on Saturday. He has written several book on Mormon History. I blogged about his Sidney Rigdon book, and he recently completed The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young. Here is a list of some of his books. […]
Fundamentalist Mormonism: More Diverse Than you Thought
Anne Wilde wrote the chapter on Fundamentalist Mormonism in Hamer/Bringhurst’s book Scattering of the Saints. I’ve always viewed Fundamentalist Mormons like an embarrassing relative, and I haven’t really wanted to learn much about them. However, Anne’s chapter was incredibly interesting, and I learned that Fundamentalist Mormonism is much more diverse than I realized.
History of the Bickertonites
The Church of Jesus Christ (based in Monongahela, Pennsylvania) traces its roots to Joseph Smith. I previously discussed its most famous former member, rock star Alice Cooper. I thought I could give a bit more history of this church and discuss basic beliefs. Larry Watson wrote a chapter in John Hamer and Newell Bringhurst’s book […]
An Introduction to Shismatic Groups within Mormonism
John Hamer and Newell Bringhurst compiled many essays highlighting major Mormon schismatic groups that trace their founding to Joseph Smith in their book titled Scattering of the Saints. The book is a great read. It goes into quite a bit of detail of the major groups, but if you want a more comprehensive listing of […]
Hanging Out With Apostles at Sunstone
caption id=”attachment_1147″ align=”alignright” width=”150″ caption=”Apostle Paul Savage of the Church of Christ with Elijah Message”][/caption] Sunstone has been going on since Wednesday here in Salt Lake City. It ends tomorrow, and I thought I would give a few words about the conference. I have been blogging at Mormon Matters for about a year and a […]
The Mormon Myth about Alice Cooper
caption id=”attachment_1130″ align=”alignleft” width=”150″ caption=”Alice Cooper at the Scream Awards in 2007″][/caption] If you’re Mormon, you’ve probably heard the myth that Alice Cooper was a Mormon. Most of you have probably dismissed the myth as complete hogwash. Well, it turns out there is an element of truth to the myth. For example, his father’s middle […]
The Moral Panic Causes Trouble in Zion
The Haun’s Mill Massacre. The Mountain Meadows Massacre. The Rwandan Genocide. Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia and Serbia. How do such terrible atrocities happen? Kenny Ballantine is in the process of producing a documentary called Trouble in Zion. The documentary discusses the events leading up to the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. It highlights the […]
Religious Archaeology and Evidence
I don’t ever think I’ve done 2 posts in one day before, but I want to address this other issue that we have been discussing in the Strangite post. I’d like to discuss both Biblical and Book of Mormon archaeology. Most people believe the Bible is on solid archaeological footing, but that isn’t actually true. […]
The Strangites: Another Mormon Group
As I mentioned previously, I really enjoyed the Strangite session of the Mormon History Association meetings a few weeks ago. Vickie Speek, John Hamer, and Mike Karpowicz gave some fascinating presentations on this little known group. Following the session, they answered additional questions, and I thought it would be interesting to provide a transcript of […]
Mormon Heretic 