History
MHA 2013: Ethnicity, Martin Harris, and Banyan Trees
I was pleased to attend the 2013 MHA Convention in Layton, Utah this week. It was good to catch up with friends. I was only able to attend on Friday, because I had to work on Saturday, but wanted to share my notes from the conference. By Common Consent has some additional reports from Ben […]
Would you let your kids watch “The Bible”?
The History Channel just produced one of the most successful series dealing with the Bible in a few decades. I heard so much good about it that I decided to purchase the entire series on iTunes, having never seen the series at all. I’ve had occasion to watch the first 2 episodes and wanted to […]
Jefferson’s Paradoxical Views on Race
I came across an interesting documentary called Thomas Jefferson: A View from the Mountain on Netflix. I watched it because I could see it was no longer going to be streamed, and I’m glad I did. (I hope it will be available again.) While the LDS Church often gets a bad rap about the ban […]
Top 5 Mormon History topics
If someone were to create a documentary on a Mormon History topic, what would you like to learn most about? Here is a list of 20 topics, what would be your top 5? (If you have something not listed, feel free to add to the list?
Jeffersonian Religion
I just watched a documentary called Jefferson’s Secret Bible. (You can download it for free on iTunes or watch it at the Smithsonian website.) The documentary discusses the restoration and some of the theology behind Thomas Jefferson’s rewriting on the Bible. In his day, Jefferson was called an atheist by his detractors; he wasn’t really […]
Taxes, Spending, and Corn
I was late to church because I was finishing up on filing my taxes. This is the time of year when we get to look and see how much we’re sending to the government, and while many of us enjoy the tax refund, we neglect to see how much we’re sending to the government. Tea […]
Mormon Doctrine: Catholicism
I wanted to continue my series on the book Mormon Doctrine, by Bruce R. McConkie. With the election of Pope Francis this week, I thought that would be an interesting place to go. Elder McConkie didn’t have much good to say about Catholicism. Let’s compare the 2 revisions for Catholicism 1958 version – Catholicism Additions […]
Mormon Doctrine: Blacks
I wanted to start a new series on the book Mormon Doctrine, by Bruce R. McConkie. Some have referred to this book (no longer being published) as “Bruce’s Doctrine.” In Greg Prince’s biography of David O. McKay, Prince cited a study by some general authorities that the book had over 1000 errors. The first edition […]
Brian Hales and Don Bradley Discuss Polygamy
I was pleased to attend a book signing at Pioneer Book in Orem, Utah Saturday night. Brian Hales has put together a new comprehensive set of 3 volumes concerning the theology and history of polygamy in the early church. Initially the book was over 1000 pages, so the editors at Greg Kofford Books asked if […]
Pope Retires; How about Apostles?
Pope Benedict 16th stunned the world last week when he officially stepped down as pope due to “lack of strength of mind and body.” Geoff over at RationalFaiths modified the pope’s statement, writing if as if President Monson made a similar announcement, and then discussed the history of emeritus status in the LDS Church. Geoff […]
Mormon Heretic 