Social scientists have frequently remarked on the proliferation of religious denominations, sects and cults in the United States. Since its early history, Mormonism has spawned a large number of sects directly or indirectly. At least…
The Mormons of the nineteenth century saw themselves as a new Israel very much like the old. They appropriated ancient Israel’s sentiments and traditions, and its special status as God’s covenant people. For a Christian…
In early March, 1937, Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, of the Council of the Twelve, sent a strongly worded letter to church Commissioner of Education Franklin West. The subject of Elder Smith’s criticism was a pair…
On January 17, 1977, Gary Mark Gilmore’s execution by a Utah firing squad ended an almost ten-year moratorium on capital punishment in the United States. The death penalty, at least in Utah, had again become…
The birth of modern science in the seventeenth century fostered an intellectual climate which favored the growth of Natural Theology. Conditions were such during this period that scientific and religious views complemented and supported mutual intellectual…
Confirmed scholars are a tenacious lot, and when a combination of learned men pool their genius great things occur. Such is this magnum opus. The product of over a quarter century of labored research, this…
This book includes seven essays, divided into two groups. The first three essays, collected under the heading, “Death and Dying,” deal with a variety of practices, attitudes and beliefs on the significance of death and…
On first impression, Spencer Palmer’s new book may not appear promising. One wonders silently how even a man of Palmer’s talents could make a coherent whole from twenty-three such diverse chapters. Not only is there…
Most writing about the Church’s sacred architecture of the nineteenth century (mainly theses and dissertations) has been restricted to the study of a single temple and tends to be historical rather than critical. Laurel Andrew’s…
Latter-day Saints are fond of quoting a scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants that reads, “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom”—an injunction repeated with minor variation at least four times. All…