Mormon Culture
Was Jesus Born in December?
In his 1915 classic entitled Jesus the Christ, Elder James E. Talmage maintained that Jesus Christ was born on April 6 in the year 1 BC.1 Talmage was apparently the first LDS writer to propose this particular date. Nearly a century has passed since his book appeared, and in that time it has become practically […]
Eating Crow over Jimmer and Tim Tebow
Back in April, Rick Reilly of ESPN.com discussed Jimmer Fredette. Â Reilly said “If his last college game is what he’s bringing to the NBA, then I’d say, in five years, he’s got a really good chance to be your Provo area Isuzu dealer.” Â In another article, he said, “I’ll donate $5,000 if he starts a […]
Daniel Peterson Talks Candidly About Correlation
Dan Wotherspoon put together a 4 hour interview with BYU Professor Daniel Peterson on a variety of topics. It is available on the Mormon Stories Website or at iTunes. I really enjoyed the interview, and decided to create a transcript for part 3 where Peterson talked about his (futile) experience trying to improve the church […]
Dimensions of Faith: Conflating Cain with Bigfoot
Dimensions of Faith:A Mormon Studies reader is a collection of essays on varying topics in Mormon studies. Â I previously discussed Wilford Woodruff’s vision of the Founding Fathers. Â One of the most entertaining essays was titled “A Mormon Bigfoot” by Matthew Bowman. Â In the essay, Bowman discusses how Cain seems to have morphed into Bigfoot.
Mormons Defending the Cross
There are 13 memorials similar to this one dedicated to Utah Highway Patrol Troopers killed in the line of duty. The Atheist Association Inc of New Jersey, sued to have the crosses removed because they claimed the crosses violated the separation of church and state. A federal court ruled for the Atheists. Last week, the […]
Pre-Halloween Mormon Massacre
How do you write a Mormon-themed Halloween post? Â Thanks to SamBee at StayLDS, I was reminded that Oct 27 marks the 173rd “anniversary” of the Extermination Order. Â Even more gruesome is the fact that today, Oct 30, is the 173rd anniversary of the Haun’s Mill Massacre–a true horror-story fit for any Halloween tale.
Woodruff's Vision of the Founding Fathers
Stephen Taysom put together a collection of essays in a new book titled Dimensions of Faith: A Mormon Studies Reader. Topics include biographies, theory, experience, memory, and media/literature with authors such as Newell Bringhurst, Larry Foster, and Jonathan Stapley (to name a few.) Many of us are familiar with Wilford Woodruff’s vision of the Founding […]
Ten Years after 9/11
The past few days have brought a series of news stories remembering the terrible tragedy that happened 10 years ago. I was curious to see if there would be any differences in our church services. On the one hand, Music and the Spoken Word invited NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw to narrate a special tribute to […]
Bloom calls Smith "most eminent intellectual in Mormon history"
In 1969 Leonard Arrington asked 50 prominent Mormons to identify the “five most eminent intellectuals in Mormon history.” The list was published in Dialogue. Twenty-four years later, Dialogue decided to run the survey again. It was re-published a few month ago in the Deseret News, and it has been a favorite bloggernacle topic for the […]
Mormon Heretic 