Villa Mae
May 3, 2018When I saw Villa Mae Ferguson for the first time, standing gaunt and forlorn in the wind, my impulse was to keep on driving. I recognized her from Louise’s description: tall, plain, grayheaded. But she…
DiaBLOGue
A Time of Transition
May 3, 2018Our home is in the Alexandria (Va.) Ward and we live within eight blocks of the chapel. The school district was recently redistricted to dip into the “close to downtown” areas and therefore includes many…
A Personal Commitment to Civil Equality
May 3, 2018We call upon all men, everywhere, both within and outside the Church, to commit themselves to the establishment of full civil equality for all of God’s children. Anything less than this defeats our high ideal…
Reflections at Hopkins House
May 3, 2018“What’s your name?”
“Are you coming back?”
“I love you.”
These are the words of a Hopkins House child. Being young, very young, living in a poverty-ridden neighborhood . . .
Mormons in the Urban Community
May 3, 2018Unless you consult particulars, you cannot see. William Blake The average L.D.S. Church member finds many societal forces buffered or muted for him by the Church. Among other factors, our focus on the eternal nature of…
Mormons in the Secular City: An Introduction
May 3, 2018Mormons, whether they know it or not, whether they like it or not, have entered the Secular City. This term, coined by Harvey Cox, expresses (in “secular”) a “this worldness”—meaning that the work of the world must be done by man himself, and (in “city”) all historical and Utopian dreams for the model community. Dialogue magazine stands at that intersection between the religious and the secular worlds.
Joseph Smith’s Presidential Platform: The Political Legacy of Joseph Smith
May 3, 2018There is a game popular among Mormons which any number can play; it is easy to learn and it requires very little equipment: it is called, “Quoting the Prophet.” To play the game all one…
Joseph Smith’s Presidential Platform: Joseph Smith and the Presidency, 1844
May 3, 2018At a meeting in the mayor’s office in Nauvoo, Illinois, on January 29, 1844, it was moved and voted unanimously that “we will have an independent electoral ticket, and that Joseph Smith be a candidate…
“If Thou Wilt Be Perfect”
May 3, 2018One of the most obvious forms of Mormon adjustment to contemporary American society is our increasing acceptance of its economic doctrines and attitudes concerning the proper accumulation and uses of material wealth. Indeed, to many…
Among the Mormons: A Survey of Current Literature
May 3, 2018Are Mormons Christians? The official name of the Church includes the words “Jesus Christ” within it, and we consider Him our Savior. Our scriptures include the Bible, and, as Anthony Hoekema suggests, “Many people have the impression that the Mormon teachings are not basically different from those of historic Christianity.” Yet Dr. Hoekema has decided that “The Christ of Mormonism is not the Christ of Scripture.” The good doctor came to this conclusion by asking—and himself answering—the following ten questions: …