Back to all Issues
Download PDF Icon Download ePub Icon

Volume 43, No. 3

Fall 2010

The Fall 2010 issue begins with Blair De Hodges comparing the writings and theology of C. S. Lewis to that of Joseph Smith and the broader Mormon doctrine. This is followed by David H. Bailey and his look at intelligent design, evolution, creationism, and the Mormon church's evolving stance on the matter. This issue also features several reviews, multiple beautiful works of poetry from Shawn P. Bailey, Dixie Partridge, and Simon Peter Eggertsen, concluding with an insightful sermon on the connection between spirituality and geology.

  • Topics
  • China,Intelligent Design,C.S. Lewis

Contents

Articles

“All Find What They Truly Seek”: C.S. Lewis, Latter-day Saints, and the Virtuous Unbeliever



The apologetic works of Clive Staples (“Jack”) Lewis have transcended denominational boundaries to reach an impressively diverse Christian audience. From the beginning of his apologetic career in the mid-1930s, Lewis received letters from Catholics, Evangelicals, Presbyterians, and other Christians thanking him for his inspiring words. Fans from various Christian traditions who felt a certain kinship with Lewis often expressed regret or bewilderment about his allegiance to the Anglican Church.



Read more

Creationism and Intelligent Design: Scientific and Theological Difficulties



Many religious believers today are comfortable with the notion of an evolutionary process over many millions of years as God’s means for achieving the creation. In other words, they believe that, while God governed the creation in some sense, it proceeded largely by natural laws and processes that can be uncovered by diligent research. An open-ended philosophy of this sort is entirely consistent with modern scientific knowledge, and for many (myself included), the “war” between science and religion ends here. 



Read more

Fiction

Eternal Misfit



For some reason I can’t explain, I know Saint Peter won’t call my name.  Coldplay[1] Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and…



Read more

Letters to the Editor

Notes

Road Trip: The Strange Travels of Mark Sanford and Brigham Young



In the backwash from the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, scandals at virtually all levels of government have plagued the American political landscape. Governors have been especially prominent in the media-intensive cavalcade of investigations, confessions, promises of redemption, and resignations. Illinois faces the prospect of having consecutive governors occupying the state penitentiary simultaneously. In New York, peccadillos atop the executive branch have come with such stunning rapidity that as many as six people may end up serving as the Empire State’s governor and lieutenant governor in less than two years. 



Read more

Personal Voices

No Longer as Strangers



When I knelt down to pray with John, we were committing a crime. When we spoke about the Book of Mormon, we were cautious of who might be listening. We were brothers in the truest…



Read more

Light in Darkness: Embracing the Opportunity of Climate Change



Some readers of this article may know me as an environmental activist (my version of public and church service). A few may know me as an outdoor photographer (my day job). But here I’d like to put on another of my hats. Long before I took up cameras and activism, I was a student of the ancient Near East, with a special interest in Israel and the Bible. In this article, I propose to turn exegete once again and examine the biblical notion of Zion as a model for sustainable living in a world threatened on many fronts by the consequences of its own success.



Read more

Preserves



Apples! Bags and boxes of apples! So many of them lined the perimeter of our garage that the car hardly fit. It was mid-October, and I stood there counting the apples picked from our three backyard trees and asked myself how long it would take to deal with all of them. This year I was determined not to let any go to waste.



Read more

Poetry

Ripple Rock



This is where my mind wanders, 
Behind this desk, bathed in soft 
Monitor light. This is where 
I levitate, oscillate, and glide 



Read more

Sisyphus



The escalator broken again 
We climb the adjacent stairs 
In wingtips and houndstooth slacks. 
I peer into the guts of the silent machine. 



Read more

Things Missed



Every now and then I make it a point to go 
without knowing to these places, try to discover 
a view of my own, be surprised, have 
an experience uncluttered by history or the facts.
I try to imagine my way to a bit of truth or the 
answer to some awkward childhood riddle. 



Read more

Response

René Girard and Mormon Scripture: A Response



This short piece responds to Mack C. Stirling’s article, “Violence in the Scriptures: Mormonism and the Cultural Theory of René Girard,” 43, no. 1 (Spring 2010): 59–105. I offer a counter-interpretation of what I take to be (1) the thrust of Girard’s own work on scripture and (2) the implications of that thrust for Girardian interpretation of specifically Mormon scripture. 



Read more

Reviews

Re-Creating the Bible | William C. Bishop, B. G. Christensen, Samantha Larsen Hastings, Sarah Jenkins, Eric W. Jepson, Ryan McIlvain, Danny Nelson, and Arwen Taylor, The Fob Bible



Lately the Bible has been getting a bum rap. Christopher Hitchens calls it “a nightmare”and blames it for much of humanity’s suffering—everything from sexism to genocide. At the same time, literalist approaches to the Bible have produced narrow theology and tendentious, unscientific speculation.



Read more

Sermon

Hidden Treasures



Shortly after my family and I moved to Bloomington, Indiana, three years ago, my six-year-old son invited a neighbor boy over to play. The neighbor asked if they could go geode hunting in the wooded creek behind our house. I did not know what geodes were or what kind of artillery might be required to hunt them, but I sent the boys out with my blessing, hoping they could not get into too much trouble. A little while later, I saw them staggering out of the woods, splattered with mud and clay. They were carrying a heavy rounded rock, which they dumped unceremoniously on the porch. 



Read more