Dialogue 20.4 (Winter 1987): 138–154
England shares his reasons for why Joseph Smith introduced polygamy and then removed it as one of the commandments. England argues that polygamy was a faith testing experience which lead them to in his words “worthy to build God’s kingdom.”
Listen to the Dialogue Podcast #2 featuring John G. Turner discussing his new book Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet? Then check out this roundtable conclusion at Juvenile Instructor (with all the contributions listed at the end) wherein Turner responds:
Four-and-a-half years ago, during my initial research trip to Utah, I ventured down to Provo and had lunch with Spencer Fluhman and several of his students. Among them were David Grua and Chris Jones (and Stan Thayne, I think). The Juvenile Instructor was a newborn blog at the time. So it’s a bit surreal for me to have read the topical reviews of Pioneer Prophet over the past six weeks at this blog.
I love the field of Mormon history for many reasons. The rich sources. The voluminous scholarship. Most of all, I love the fact that so many people care about the Mormon past. This has some downsides. It makes the field contentious and testy.
As a followup to Michelle Inouye’s Winter 2012 Letter to the Editor about the International Mormon Studies Book Project, here is a Patheos post with more information on how to donate. “As Mormonism continues to…
Shawn Vestal. Daredevils. New York: Penguin Press, 2016. 308 pp.
Reviewed by Julie J. Nichols
It’s a hard truth: you have to be damn smart to be a writer of good fiction. If you’re dumb, forget it. You have to hear words in your head—and who doesn’t? But you also have to know how to put them together in a sentence that’s not only grammatical but original in its context, truer than any other sentence could possibly be. Then you have to do that with paragraphs and chapters in the service of a whole whose shape knocks readers right out of unconsciousness, makes them alive, blasts their eyes open so they see the world new.
1. Introduction You can tell you are from Utah if you are Jaxton, your mother is Sariah, and your grandparents are Alma and LaRue. Jokes such as this one, which center on the creative names…
Dialogue author and former Associate Editor Richard H. Cracroft passed away last week and in honor of his life, we bring back his classic review of President Spencer W. Kimball’s The Miracle of Forgiveness wherein he says “Throughout, however, Elder Kimball’s message is clear: he, like the Lord, will not tolerate the sin, but he will love the sinner. This gentle but authoritative tone becomes a pattern in his correspondence (from which he quotes frequently), a pattern of practical advice coupled with spirituality. President Kimball clearly feels comfortable in blending the short and the long range to achieve happiness in human relationships.” Click in his full observations.
And for more on his remarkable life, see the following links:
Title: Rube Goldberg Machines: Essays in Mormon Theolog
I watched Groundhog Day the other night. I’ve owned the DVD for years but never tore the plastic wrapping until Adam Miller put a bug in my ear via one of his theological essays. (It was just as good as I remembered it!) Miller, the theological film critic. I laughed when Phil, Bill Murray’s character, punched Ned Ryerson in the face at a busy intersection and I teared up as he fruitlessly pummeled the chest of a dying homeless man in a freezing alleyway. “Come on, pops, come on pops, don’t die on me.” Watching Phil struggle through incomprehension, laugh at absurdity, and find joy in relationships, reminded me a lot of reading Miller’s book. I’d already read great reviews of it, I couldn’t wait to get a copy. But I hit many more brick walls than I anticipated. This deceptively thin volume will take much more of your time than you might think. It felt at times like the alarm clock kept hitting 6:00 AM, February 2, and I was in for another round of difficulty. Not that all the essays were the same, but that they were each difficult in their own way. It’s way above my level to feel confident in doing this, but my review is an attempt to help readers like me have a better chance at making it through the book.
Three Mormon themed podcasts caught our ear this week, two of which featured Board Member Joanna Brooks. First the Sistas in Zion get reactions from with black members and others on the new Race and the Priesthood gospel topic page. Cathy Stokes, Marvin Perkins, Joanna Brooks all join them as guests.
With the recent official statement on Race and the Priesthood promoting discussions on “the difficult issue of prophets and apostles who are subject to the influences of culture and largely unexamined assumptions of their day that color their understandings of and impact their statements about sometimes very important matters,” Dan Wotherspoon over at the Mormon Matters podcast asks Joanna Brooks and Ronda Callister to open up their hearts in discussing their personal journey in finding “Peace with Human Prophets.”
Utah Valley University Professor Will Begin Five-Year Term Effective January 1, 2016
SALT LAKE CITY, January 28, 2015 – The Board of Directors of Dialogue Foundation, publisher of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, has selected Dr. Boyd Jay Petersen to serve as the journal’s next editor. Petersen will succeed Kristine Haglund when her term as editor ends December 31, 2015.
Petersen has taught courses in English and religious and Mormon studies at Utah Valley University since 1995, receiving a Faculty Excellence Award in 2006. As Program Coordinator for Mormon Studies, he has organized conferences on Mormonism and Islam, Mormonism and the Internet, Mormonism and Buddhism, and Mormonism and the environment, among other topics. He has also been a lecturer in the honors program at Brigham Young University. He has published articles and essays in Dialogue, Journal of Mormon History, Irreantum, BYU Studies, FARMS Review and Sunstone. The Mormon History Association awarded him the Best Biography Award for Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life; his most recent book is Dead Wood and Rushing Water: Essays on Mormon Faith, Politics, and Family. He is currently the book review editor for the Journal of Mormon History.
Commenting on his selection, Petersen said: “Dialogue has demonstrated that spirit and intellect are not two separate parts of the human soul that must be shielded from each other. Rather, deep conversation between the two is the only way for each to be fully expressed. Intelligence broadens faith and faith broadens intelligence. My goal is to continue the strong tradition of editorship that has allowed Dialogue to play that role for many thousands of readers, while serving as a venue for Mormonism to engage with the world’s great ideas and debates.”
Prominent French intellectual René Girard recently passed away. His influence was felt in the pages of Dialogue due to Mack C. Stirling’s work on “Violence in the Scriptures: Mormonism and the Cultural Theory of René Girard” that also resulted in a marvelous dialogue with Joseph Spencer responding: “René Girard and Mormon Scripture: A Response.” Stirling also had the opportunity to interview Girard back in 2009: “Scandals, Scapegoats, and the Cross: An Interview with René Girard.” Here’s a taste: Girard: “If God had created man as happy and peaceful as cows in a nice meadow, there would be no point to the creation. In a way, suffering is part of education, but that is all we can say. We see it at only the human level. If you want to educate yourself, you have to suffer. It is more difficult than playing cards all day long. This explanation is imperfect and incomplete and doesn’t help much. Christianity is a religion which demands faith, and faith makes sense precisely because we don’t have all the pieces for understanding. Otherwise, it is not faith.