Scriptures as Seer Stones
To me, the most interesting thing about the seer stone that Joseph used when translating the BoM is not that he used it but that it is really just a rock. From what I understand, if you or I were… Read...
View ArticleMaking Money off the Mormons: Sacrament Butt-pads
When I was a senior in college, I worked at Seagull Book and Tape, an LDS book and trinket store across the street from the LA Temple. (The pay was lousy, but working with books was fun. So it turned…...
View ArticleO’Dea’s The Mormons Part I: Strain and Conflict in the Church
Thomas F. O’Dea’s The Mormons (1957) is a classic text in Mormon studies. So much that the Mormon Social Science Association is currently putting together an edited volume of essays that...
View ArticleO’Dea’s The Mormons Part II: The Edited Volume Retrospective
The Mormon Social Science Association, under the direction of editors John Hoffman, Cardell Jacobsen, and Tim Heaton of BYU’s Department of Sociology, is currently putting together a volume of essays...
View ArticleCould the Restoration have Happened Elsewhere and Elsewhen?
The common answer heard today in the Church is no. A variety of reasons are usually given: the religious freedom in the U.S. allowed it, it was prophesied in the BoM, the position of the U.S. in the...
View ArticleHow Wrong is it to Compare Yourself with Others?
A growing body of research (mine own included) in various social sciences finds that people report higher happiness levels when they do better than the people around them. How well you do matters, but...
View ArticleNatural Succession or the Prophetic Death Card?
Does God control who is Church President by ending life (using the “death card”)? Or does he control who is President by controlling the order in which Apostles are called? Of course, both can be...
View ArticleShould My Wife Control My Hair?
My wife hates my hair. There’s no better way to put it. She wants me to grow it out and look like Mr. Darcy (the BBC Colin Firth Darcy), but she’d settle for just a regular hair cut. She wants…...
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