In a Far Land
April 6, 2018So many women on their knees
that if I knew how to tell them
they could find hope here,
or that there the men
DiaBLOGue
A Western with Gray Hats | Frank C. Robertson, A Ram in the Thicket: The Story of a Roaming Homesteader Family on the Mormon Frontier
April 6, 2018My introduction to Frank C. Robertson was at the age of eleven when someone gave me a copy of one of his juvenile westerns called The Young Nighthawk. Years later I discovered that Robertson had…
Mormon Static | Roger D. Launius and Linda Tatcher, eds., Differing Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History
April 6, 2018In their introductory essay editors Roger Launius and Linda Thatcher provide an informative overview of the nature of religious dissent, particularly in the history of Mormon ism. They note that Joseph Smith, Jr., was himself…
The Seduction of H. Lyman Winger
April 6, 2018There were times, especially lately, when he wondered if he were doing any real good—any human good—other than keeping the Mt. Taylor 2nd Ward safely afloat and on course. Maybe it was the weather. Monsoon…
They Eat Dogs in China
April 6, 2018 Or so my father said—
the clock on the mantle silenced,
that family Bible
in his hands a weight in the pans
Blessing the Dog
April 6, 2018He waited, but the dog didn’t come. He went back into the house. His wife was strapping on her brassiere, skin spilling over where the strap was tight. “Seen the dog?” he said. “Haen’t my…
Mr. Couch and Elder Roberts
April 6, 2018The controversial Book of Mormon studies Elder B. H. Roberts under took in the early 1920s have been thoroughly treated in Studies of the Book of Mormon, edited by Brigham D. Madsen.[1] Roberts’s work addressed,…
The Structure of the Book of Mormon: A Theory of Evolutionary Development
April 6, 2018Dialogue 29.2 (Summer 1998):129–154
WHEN JOSEPH SMITH BEGAN TO DICTATE the Book of Mormon, he did not understand the structure the book would ultimately take. He did not know that the first part of the manuscript would be lost, resulting in a major structural change in the first quarter of the book.
Dialogue
April 6, 2018Thirty thirteen-year-olds stormed into my room. They chattered and waved their arms, oblivious, as usual, to my between-class presence and observance of their passion. “Man, he’s such a jerk,” Jared hissed to his huddled friends…
Youth, Sex, and Coercion: The Neglect of Sexual Abuse Factors in LDS Data and Policy on Premarital Sex
April 5, 2018LDS church standards require that sexual relations be confined to marriage. While the world in general seems to have grown more tolerant of premarital sex, church standards have remained stringent. Sermons, articles, and auxiliary lessons…