Ryan Davis’s new book, Dispatches from Mormon Zion, is a collection of ten essays, all connected by two central tenets: that Mormonism is magnified and made richer by considering it outside of the narrow confines…
From its early beginnings in the nineteenth century to its influence on contemporary landscapes, Mormonism has played a significant role in shaping American history. By examining the historical trajectory of Mormonism alongside key events in American history, American Zion: A New History of Mormonism offers valuable insights into the intersections of religion, politics, and society. This perspective helps readers contextualize current debates and challenges facing both Mormon communities and American society as a whole.
A nighttime hour came when I drove out and found a haven in the late year weather.
The rest of the world boozed and fought and laughed but mostly slept, and the year kept its schedule dreaming, and I stopped on a quiet hill
They said that shape held meaning,
the men in starched shirts: some symbol of eternity
or devotion. The spiral. I don’t mind
those messages, but they don’t fit a religion so linear
The call to go back. After days preaching, raising his voice to a people
become for themselves. A people who mocked his warnings (fools
mock), saw him as filthy and loathsome. Mistaking cankering riches
for rightness, whiteness for delightsome; heritage for righteousness;
ignoring
to be moved out of, finished.
Grief is like lichen on the north side of trees
in forests of your childhood, subtle
with color, some very drab.
On June 30, 1860, Samuel Wilberforce, a fiery Anglican bishop, addressed the British Science Association at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on the subject of Darwin’s recent publication, On the Origin of Species…
In 1984, sociologist of religion Rodney Stark predicted there could be 267 million Mormons in the world by 2080, after extrapolating the 1982–1983 Latter-day Saints (LDS) growth rates into the far future. “His optimistic projections have so warmed the hearts of the faithful that they are often quoted over the pulpit, even in general conference now and then,” Armand Mauss dryly noted.
They told us she’d be dead by morning. Just like that, “dead by morning,” as if they were speaking about mail delivery or some such. To them, she wasn’t yet emergent. She was just another…