DiaBLOGue

The Original Length of the Scroll of Hôr

March 16, 2018

Dialogue 43.4 (Winter 2010): 1–42
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a robust methodology that eliminates the guesswork in determining winding locations by visual inspection of crease marks or lacunae features, and to determine whether the missing interior section of the Hôr scroll could have been long enough to accommodate the Book of Abraham. Fortunately, this is a question that can be definitively answered by examining the physical characteristics of the extant portions of the scroll. The haste and greed of Michael Chandler provide the key to unlocking this mystery.

A Sacrament of Stewardship

March 16, 2018

Carrol and Edwin Firmage contributed papers to the fall issue that review Mormon history during the nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries and scriptural precedent, in an attempt to motivate a Mormon audience toward improved ecological fidelity: Edwin Firmage Jr., “Light in Darkness: Embracing the Opportunity of Climate Change” and Carrol Firmage, “Preserves” (43, no. 3 [Fall 2010]: 100–127 and 128–65). 

That the Glory of God Might Be Manifest

March 16, 2018

Roene Reeve was born December 21, 1946, in Hurricane, Utah, to Ora and Leo Reeve. She was welcomed into the family by her two older brothers, Stephen and David. Unknown to the doctor who delivered her, Roene was born with Rh disease. A postnatal blood transfusion prevents the disease from having negative consequences, but the doctor in Roene’s case was unaware of these procedures, and she went undiagnosed. By the time Ora and Leo took her to a specialist in Salt Lake City, it was too late. She was severely handicapped, both mentally and physically. When Roene was older, doctors recommended that she be institutionalized at the Utah State Hospital in American Fork. After only one month, Ora could not stand to be away from Roene and brought her home. 

LDS Youth in an Age of Transition | Bruce A. Chadwick, Brent L. Top, and Richard J. McClendon, Shield of Faith: The Power of Religion in the Lives of LDS Youth and Young Adults, and Christian Smith with Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults

March 16, 2018

One of the most difficult and perilous times in a life is the transition from childhood to adulthood. Moving into the freedoms of adult life while still relying on parents to pay the bills creates tensions within the adolescent even as it brings frustrations for the parents. How does one make the leap from dependent to depend able, from reactionary to responsible? And will religious faith survive, go stagnant, or flourish through these changing roles and identities? 

Pirouettes on Strings | Phyllis Barber, Raw Edges

March 16, 2018

A mobile hangs from the ceiling above Phyllis Barber’s writing desk: tissue-paper ballerinas suspended in midair, light and delicate, twirling in currents of warmth from the nearby fireplace. As she labored to finish Raw Edges,…

Mormonism Goes Mainstream | Mark T. Decker and Michael Austin, eds., Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons on the Page, Stage, and Screen

March 16, 2018

In an article posted in September 2010 on Patheos.com, a website devoted to the discussion of religion and spirituality, Michael Otterson, managing director of Public Affairs for the LDS Church, wrote: “During the past few years, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has navigated a period of intense public attention and scrutiny rarely seen during any other time in its history.” He buttressed this claim with the fact that for over a year “media attention far exceeded even the considerable interest generated during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.” While Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons on the Page, Stage, and Screen looks at artistic productions rather than traditional journalism, its editors Mark T. Decker and Michael Austin agree with Otter son, stating that “Mormons and Mormonism have seen increasing scrutiny during the previous decade” (1). They even cite many of the same causes.