Race
Sunstone 2012
Sunstone began on Wednesday, but unfortunately, I could only attend Friday. I thought I would give some initial impressions of the sessions so far.
The Non-verbal 1978 Revelation
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been reading the Lengthen Your Stride: Working Draft. Chapter 22 provides more information than is available in Lengthen Your Stride by Edward Kimball. Many have wondered why there has been no written revelation of the 1978 revelation allowed men of all races to hold the priesthood, and […]
Mormon Missions in Islamic Countries
Many of you have read Lengthen Your Stride by Edward Kimball. It’s a great book in an of itself, and it includes a CD with a treasure trove of material. Included on the CD is a much longer version of the book, but few people read the “long version.” Edward Kimball and Deseret Book disagreed […]
Confronting Racism-Part 2
I’ve already posted Part 1 of the Mormon Matters episode 80: How Can we Confront Racism within Mormon Thought and Culture? Here is part 2. I have previously posted excerpts from this panel discussion when I asked if 1978 was the right year, and whether the Church should apologize. The transcript below continues after Part […]
Misunderstanding Racism
With Randy Bott’s comments in the Washington Post a few weeks ago, the subject of the Priesthood Ban has become a hot topic of late. Â Jeff Spector at Wheat and Tares feels that racism is the wrong word to describe the Priesthood Ban. Â He says, “To me, there is a difference between been a racist […]
Shooting down Priesthood Ban Myths
On February 25, Scott Gordon president of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) sent out a newsletter to subscribers noting that February is Black History Month.  Gordon explained why black history matters, and explained 3 myths about the ban.  Just 3 days later, Professor Randy Bott created a stir when he tried to explain […]
The First Black Mormon Leader: Pete
Since today is MLK day, I thought it might be nice to talk about the first Black Mormon leader. In his book on The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations, Mark Staker spends a surprising amount of time discussing the first Black Mormon Convert–a former slave known as Black Pete, and notes that he […]
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.
Events Leading Up to the 1978 Revelation
I’ve really enjoyed reading Newell Bringhurst’s book Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism. The epilogue has some really interesting events in the 1960s and 1970s. There were some people inside the church that were more confrontational in their approach to the priesthood ban. Bringhurst notes on page 185,
Warner McCary: the black prophet
In a previous post, I documented Early Black Mormons, and gave a brief history of some of them. Warner (Aka William) McCary is a little-known black Mormon from the early days of the church. He was ordained an Elder by Apostle Orson Hyde in October 1846 and was known as the “black prophet.” McCary claimed […]
Mormon Heretic 