Last Friday and Saturday, I participated in a panel at the Miller-Eccles group, on the topic of Mormon blogging.
Small-world trolling
So yesterday I was hanging out after church waiting for my Elder’s Quorum President to finish his business so my companion and I could home teach him.
But what’s worse, is this Payne in here
We are pleased to present to you John David Payne as a guest blogger.
Mormonism as a Strand of Western Thought
When we are not in our “Mormons are not weird”-PR mode,
Credible Witnesses
Do historians also need to be credible witnesses in the evidentiary sense? I think they do.
A Funny Thing Happened at the Forum on Mormon Feminism
Yes, really. Actual fun–even laughing. With feminists!
Book of Mormon, Church History, Cornucopia, General Doctrine, Latter-day Saint Thought, Law, Life in the Church
Prophecy vs. History
Not too long ago, I stumbled across the PBS presentation of Jared Diamond’s book Guns, Germs, and Steel (2d ed. 1999). It reminded me of dealing with the book at college and enjoying the ideas presented and the sweeping take of world history that it offered. But while watching the presentation and contemplating the message of the book itself, I was reminded about how much Diamond’s whole analysis depends solely on inference from extremely scant historical evidence.[1]
Woefully Arrayed
Thanks to The Atlantic, I’m in the middle of reading the book From the Hook of Holland to the Horn of Constantinople. When the author was in his late teens in the early 30s, he decided on a whim to walk across Europe and this is his memoir.
JEF Sunday School Lesson #14
Lesson 14: Exodus 15-20, 32-34
Mormon History and the Problem of Mermaids
Mermaids illustrate the problems faced by non-Mormon readers of Mormon histories
Black Comedy
So maybe I missed something, but I’m pretty sure that one genre the Saints haven’t touched is black comedy. I’m not much of a narrative writer, though, so think of the following as sitting on little scraps of paper on a rickety table in my front yard with a hand-lettered cardboard sign next to them reading ‘Free to a Good Home.’
You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Why does Mick Jagger’s observation ever come as a surprise, to any of us?
JEF Sunday School Lesson 13
Lesson 13: Exodus 1-3, 5-6, 11-14 Before looking in detail at the scriptures for this week, consider these parallels between the story of Moses’s life and the story of Israel’s experience:
Cheryl White: A Photo Essay
Cheryl White, an amazing artist who lives in Central Texas, was kind enough to open her home and studio to me (and my three rambunctious boys) for a tour last week. This is what we saw.
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Professor to speak on Mormon Feminism
For Boston-based Naclers: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich will be speaking this Sunday in a panel discussion addressing the question “Where Have All the Mormon Feminists Gone?” Other panelists are Maxine Hanks, Kate Holbrook, and me. The event will be at Quincy House at Harvard University at 7:30 p.m. (The answer? Gone for bloggers, every one. When will they ever learn…?)
Bloomblogging
Mid-march is the season of the burning bush: the crocuses are done, the daffodils are almost on, but for now it’s the forsythia that owns the day.
Book of Mormon, Cornucopia, General Doctrine, Mormon Studies, Scriptures, Social Sciences and Economics
Market Dominant Minorities in the Book of Mormon
Market Dominant Minorities
Two Cheers for the Manuals!
I have a confession. I am an Elders’ Quorum instructor and I like the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church manuals. Really.
The Church as a Highly Ineffectual Stalker
Recently, at Feminist Mormon Housewives, a few relatively heated comments focused on church contact with ex-members.
And Justice for All
I apologize in advance for writing about a topic that is at least closely related to, if not the same as Nate’s. But it is his fault. He made me start thinking about the question of freedom and its relation to justice.
JEF Sunday School Lesson #12
Lesson 12: Genesis 40-45
Blogging most Fowles
Our latest guest brings a Fowles mouth and even more Fowles reputation.
Jacob Laurence
Born 11 days ago, Jacob is happy and healthy as is his (sleep-deprived) mother. A picture of him in the hospital is available here for a few more days.
Ama-ar-gi and Mormonism
“Ama-ar-gi,” a Sumerian word, has the distinction of being the oldest written instance of the concept of freedom or liberty, appearing on a clay tablet from about 2300 B.C. The word itself has something to say about the vexed question of the relationship between Mormonism and liberty or freedom.