Fall 2007
The Fall 2007 issue begins with a pair of articles against and in support of same-sex marriage by Randolph G. Muhlestein and H. Wayne Schow, respectively. Following this is a look by John Matzo at the influence Presbyterianism had on Joseph Smith as a young boy, and the impact that made of his theology. Next up is "On Balancing Faith in Mormonism and Traditional Biblical Stories: The Noachian Flood Story" by Clayton M. White and Mark D. Thomas, which looks at some of the different ways Mormons view these stories as well as how those within the church reconcile these stories with their faith in the modern world. Following this is a look by David J. Howlett at the RLDS and how he believes they went wrong. Also contained in this issue is a look at the church in Nicaragua, as well as several works of fiction, some beautiful poetry, and an insightful pair of personal voices.
Dialogue 40.3 (Fall 2007): 11–41
These articles were about legal arguments. The case against argued that marriage was already tenuous and allowing same-sex marriage would doom it, suggesting that people would become homosexuals if same-sex marriage were an option.
Dialogue 40.3 (Fall 2007): 50–60
These articles were about legal arguments. The case against argued that marriage was already tenuous and allowing same-sex marriage would doom it, suggesting that people would become homosexuals if same-sex marriage were an option.
Of the Protestant denominations vying for converts in western New York during the early nineteenth century, Methodism is rightly regarded as having made the greatest religious impress on the young Joseph Smith. Oliver Cowdery claimed that Smith had been “awakened” during a sermon by the Methodist minister George Lane.
Describing the religion of the Latter-day Saints, John Taylor said that it “embraces every principle of truth and intelligence pertaining to us as moral, intellectual, mortal and immortal beings, pertaining to this world and the world that is to come. We are open to truth of every kind, no matter whence it comes, where it originates or who believes in it. . . . A man in search of the truth has no particular system to sustain, no particular dogma to defend or theory to uphold.”
Describing the religion of the Latter-day Saints, John Taylor said that it “embraces every principle of truth and intelligence pertaining to us as moral, intellectual, mortal and immortal beings, pertaining to this world and the world that is to come. We are open to truth of every kind, no matter whence it comes, where it originates or who believes in it. . . . A man in search of the truth has no particular system to sustain, no particular dogma to defend or theory to uphold.”
On Resurrection Sunday, April 1930, Bishop J. A. Koehler of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints attended a priesthood prayer meeting at the Stone Church RLDS congregation in Independence, Missouri. After a week of solemn and joyful conference services remembering the past century of the denomination’s history, men from across the world sat seeking the Lord’s further direction before Easter services.
The LDS Church is currently gaining many new members in Asia, Africa, and especially Latin America. Nowadays more than 35 percent of the worldwide membership is concentrated in Latin America, compared to about 45 percent in the United States and Canada. By 2020, the majority of Mormons in the world will be Latin Americans, if the current growth rates continue. Judging from current LDS growth rates, the future Mormon heartland will be the Andes and Central America, instead of the Wasatch Front. Rodney Stark is exaggerating, however, when he labels Mormonism the next world religion, since he ignores a drop-out rate for converts that generally exceeds 50 percent.
Nathan hears the accusation during bishopric meeting. “Helen Sheeney is convinced,” the bishop says. “She pulled my wife aside after homemaking meeting. Once she started in, it took nearly an hour to calm her down.…
The reservoir was drying up, and the former townspeople of Jordan Gap came to the receding shoreline at the end of winter. They camped on the flat and stood in the mud at the edge…
Richard Ward, Dialogue Reconsidered
Yukio Shimomura, A Note to Jiro Numano from a Nisei American
Jiro Numano, Jiro Numano Responds
During the last few years, I have come to feel that, if I were in charge of Church jargon, we would get rid of the words blessings, rewards, punishments, and tests. In place of those words, we would begin using “lessons to be learned.” I have also come to believe that some venue, or arena, or, at least, some safe place should be available where members could voice their concerns—without guilt—about their distresses, their disappointments, and their frustrations at what is going on in their lives.
When Elder Callister and I leaned our bikes against the fence at Hermann-Löns-Straße 9 and walked to the door, I had no idea that what was about to transpire would shape and anchor my soul…
A girl I’ve never met meets me at the door,
whines at my leg until I hold her. Thin arms,
thin mouth, a sour smell I overlook while fetching
crayons, glue sticks, snacks. She lifts her dress,
exposes the top of her baggy white tights, looks at me.
We both sing: “Faith is knowing the sun will rise…”
I sit next to her, tap her hands, whisper no.
Spring again.
The browns, the ochre,
the brittle death of fall and winter
recast in transcendent greens—
vibrant, transparent, resurgent.
A day of long-walked silences,
waterless red gullies and hard-rock
plateaus. We’ve met few on the trails
this summer past my father’s dying.
When dawn comes this early,
a slice of sky visible from my bed
textures waking. Today’s thin layers clabber
white . . .
Spring has come to old Nippon!
Standing on a hill I see
Verdant valleys neatly sown,
Stepped and terraced, and a bee
At the end of the street lies the sky
dressed in the purple magician’s robe
of eventide and the winter storm.
Tonight she sculpts stairs of ice and
In 1945, Fawn McKay Brodie’s biography of Joseph Smith, No Man Knows My History, was published by Knopf. The book received critical acclaim, establishing Brodie’s career as a biographer.
Nevertheless, the biggest natural market for a scholarly bio of the Prophet, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was much more restrained.
The name Rodney Stark is very familiar to LDS readers. His interest in Mor monism began with his long-time friendship with fellow sociologist Armand Mauss, also a familiar name and a member of the Church. Stark…
The American-born Allan West has become widely respected for his pursuit of a traditional form in Japan. Raised in Washington, D.C., Allan served in the Okayama Japan mission during the early 1980s. In 1987, he…
