
Scott Abbott
Scott Abbott {[email protected]} is a professor of integrated studies and humanities at Utah Valley University. His most recent books include Wild Rides and Wildflowers: Philosophy and Botany with Bikes, co-authored with Sam Rushforth (Torrey House Press, 2014) and two books with Žarko Radaković: Repetitions and Vampires & A Reasonable Dictionary (Punctum Books, 2013 and 2014; both originally published in Belgrade in Serbo-Croatian). His book Immortal for Quite Some Time is forthcoming with the The University of Utah Pres
House of the Temple, House of the Lord: A View from Philadelphia
Articles/Essays – Volume 20, No. 3
The lord whose oracle is at Delphi neither speaks nor conceals, but gives signs (Heraclitus). Three steps. A terrace. Five steps. A terrace. Seven steps. A terrace. Nine steps. A final broad terrace. Stone sphinxes (one…
Read moreMormonism, Magic and Masonry: The Damning Similarities | William J. Schnoebelen and James R. Spencer, Mormonism’s Temple of Doom
Articles/Essays – Volume 22, No. 2
The lurid title notwithstanding, this little book is not a sequel to Indiana Jones, but rather an expose of damning parallels between Mormonism, magic, and Masonry. The authors (most of the story is Schnoebelen’s, with…
Read moreHermeneutic Adventures in Home Teaching: Mary and Richard Rorty
Articles/Essays – Volume 43, No. 2
When philosopher Alastair MacIntyre came striding into my Vanderbilt University office brandishing the New York Times in October of 1985, I knew something was up. “Congratulations,” he said, “your church has just entered its Renaissance period.” I was used to seeing him walk into Furman Hall on Ash Wednesdays with a gray streak on his forehead, and we had talked about Mormonism, but I had no clue what he was talking about. He showed me the front page of the paper. It was the Mark Hofmann bombings—murders to cover up Hofmann’s forgeries. “It only took you 150 years,” Alastair noted. “It took us a millennium and a half.”
Read moreImmortal for Quite Some Time (an excerpt)
Articles/Essays – Volume 44, No. 1
I’m Lila, a heat-drugged woman announces, edging her weight out of an overstuffed room into the hall. How can I help you? I explain we are his family. She says she is sorry. He seemed like such a nice man.
Read moreImmortal for Quite Some Time, Part 2
Articles/Essays – Volume 44, No. 3
(after the autopsy, after the funeral, after AIDS)
I’ve started to read John’s missionary letters from Italy. Nearly one a week for two years. From what Mom told me when I asked about them, I expected requests for money, reports of trouble, and depressed silences. John communicated all of that, of course; but his letters are profoundly uplifting as well (or is it fraternal nostalgia I’m feeling?).
Read moreReview: Mormons Are a Different Country Mette Ivie Harrison. The Bishop’s Wife
Articles/Essays – Volume 48, No. 1