The study of churches and religious movements is especially prone to the issues of bias and selective presentation due to researcher position and organizational politics. Like many other religions, Mormonism as an object of study has not escaped this problem.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has experienced stable growth in Taiwan since the first four missionaries arrived in 1956. Even in recent years, when the growth of the Church has slowed considerably in many countries including those in East Asia, LDS growth in Taiwan remains robust. Thus, something distinctive characterizes Mormonism in Taiwan compared to Mormonism in neighboring countries. Some scholars have used diminishing growth rates in the past decade or two to argue that Mormonism remains marginal in many countries.
Gordon B. Hinckley remained a vital leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until the very end of his illustrious and prophetic life. President Hinckley’s de facto guidance of the LDS church…
Sharon Alderman has been weaving cloth by hand since 1969, specializing in apparel fabrics, upholstery, and color studies. Her work has won many awards, and she lectures, gives keynote addresses, acts as a juror, and…
Dialogue—and, indeed, the world of Mormon literature and history—have lost a loyal friend and critic in William Mulder, who died quietly in his sleep in March 12, 2008, in his ninety-third year. The influence of “Dr. Bill,” as his former students affectionately call him, continued long after his retirement as a professor of English at the University of Utah. When my fellow classmate Fred Buchanan phoned me with the news of his death, saying, “The light has gone out. Our mentor has left us,” I thought, “No, the light will not go out until we stop hearing his voice in our heads.” Whenever I write anything, I hear his wise voice, speaking of the introduction to my M.A. thesis as “wooden and flatfooted” and advising me to put it aside until “You have something to introduce.” (I took his advice; and my introduction to Virginia Sorensen’s work, written after I finished the work, was much better.)
I was in Beijing during the first week of June 1989, ostensibly to explore legal and policy options relating to the “one-child” policy with China’s State Family Planning Commission. As it turned out, they wanted…
At sixteen, I’m listening
to the sounds of a fractured frame house:
my older sister sobbing
over hard news
about a religious leader she has long admired,
on the wall behind the choir chairs,
and the ladies
brushing the warm chapel air
with round cardboard fans were there,
Years later, at a high school reunion,
a girl gave a tribute to a classmate who had died.
Not knowing another way to end
her remarks, she did so
“in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”