Scripture
Q&A with Terryl and Fiona Givens
What a week! I had the pleasure of attending sessions with both Ron Paul and Terryl Givens. Now I have to choose whether to write about Ron Paul, or Terryl Givens. Tough choice. Given that political discussions often devolve into ideological (and often irrational) arguments, I’m just not in the mood for Ron Paul this […]
The Purpose of Fasting
Our ward doesn’t start until 11. In our family, we’ve encouraged our children to fast once they are baptized. My oldest son is ten, and my daughter is eight. One morning, after the deacons came to our house to collect fast offerings, I caught my son crouching in the kitchen trying to hide a yogurt […]
Abraham: Breaking the Cycle of Child Abuse
The Biblical story of Abraham is an interesting story for me on several levels. In the past, I’ve talked about different academic perspectives of him, my personal discomfort with how he mistreated his wife Hagar, and I have also compared the Book of Abraham to Islamic texts. Tresa Edmunds has her own blog, and is […]
FAIR 2012 Review
In past years, it seems that the Sunstone Symposium and FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research) have overlapped, so it was difficult to attend both. Â However, this year they were not the same week. Â I was able to attend my first FAIR conference, though my time was limited to just 2 speakers. Â Since this […]
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 […]
The Bushman Interviews
As a recap, here is a recap of all of my posts transcribing the Richard Bushman interview.
Examining Book of Mormon Witnesses
This post is a continuation from the previous post where Richard Bushman discussed skeptical theories on the composition of the Book of Mormon. Â Now John Dehlin (JD) turns to ask about the reliability of the Book of Mormon witnesses. Â The audio can be found on Part 4 of the Bushman interview at Mormon Stories. JD, […]
Skeptical Theories on Composition of the Book of Mormon
Continuing with Richard Bushman’s interview at Mormon Stories, in Part 4 John Dehlin (JD) asks Richard Bushman about various skeptical theories on how the Book of Mormon was composed, and Bushman addresses them. What do you think of Bushman’s answers? JD, “There are theories that go around that Joseph Smith was the author of the […]
Better Depictions of the Translation Process of the Book of Mormon
I’ve finally finished the transcription of Part 3 of the Mormon Stories interview between John Dehlin and Richard Bushman (There’s a part 4 and part 5 still to go!)  In this discussion, John Dehlin questions Richard Bushman about whether the translation story should be depicted differently, and Bushman agrees that traditional paintings and tellings of the story should […]
Emma, Martin Harris, and the Translation Process
Once again, I’ve continued Part 3 of the Mormon Stories interview between John Dehlin and Richard Bushman.  They discuss the actual translation process, as well as Martin Harris and Emma Smith’s role in translating the Book of Mormon.  There are some interesting dynamics as Bushman discusses Joseph’s strained relationship with Emma’s parents due to Joseph and Emma’s […]
Mormon Heretic 