*** For some reason, I got to thinking along the following lines while I was on the flight this afternoon from Salt Lake City to JFK: Much is said about the allegedly patriarchal and misogynistic culture imposed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints upon its members and upon those who have the misfortune of living in areas that are strongly under its baneful influence. I get it, of course. An all-male priesthood... Read more
*** I’ve just finished recording a podcast with Richard T. Steadman (“Richie T”) of The Cultural Hall. I’m not sure when it will go public. Maybe next Tuesday or so. (I assume that it will go public!) *** Here are some new items for you on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Old Testament Lesson 22 “Be Strong and of a Good Courage”: Joshua 1–8; 23–24 The Interpreter Radio... Read more
*** Yesterday afternoon, I participated in recording a “Follow Him” podcast on 1 Samuel 8-18 with Hank Smith and John Bytheway. I had a great time (which may perhaps explain the fact that I went on for far too long); they’re extremely interesting chapters, recounting a great but tragic story. The podcast will, I’m told, go public in a week or two. That’s actually earlier than I had expected. *** A couple of new items... Read more
*** We’re gradually approaching the dog days of summer. With that in mind, it’s probably as good an occasion as any to inflame some of my more obsessive critics again, and to give them an opportunity to slander me and to distort what I say. So I think that I’ll take up the notion of “Great Replacement” theory. If you haven’t heard much about it, here’s an article that will help to orient you: “The roots... Read more
*** The literarily-inclined Orson F. Whitney served as a member of the Council of the Twelve from 1906 until his death in 1931. I share a quotation from his memoirs that may already be familiar to most of my readers. But it’s a wonderful passage, and perhaps some out there don’t know it. It refers to an experience from his first mission, in the Eastern States, in roughly the year 1876. He had apparently been a... Read more
*** With his kind permission, I republish here the summary of Episode 4 of Under the Banner of Heaven that the inimitable Jim Bennett posted on his Facebook page: Come, Brother. Come, sister. Abide with me as we range Under the Banner of Heaven Episode Four, Church and State. Beards vigorously encouraged. Our show opens with the cops bursting into someone’s house that’s been ransacked. We don’t know who’s house it is, and we don’t know why... Read more
*** Just up! Undaunted Witnesses Episode 4: Joseph Smith: Man, Prophet—or Both? As an uneducated farm boy claiming to see God the Father, Jesus Christ, and various angels, Joseph Smith also claimed to translate an ancient record and receive modern revelation. Experiencing sorrow and failure as well as joy and success in his abbreviated life, he was eventually killed by a mob for his beliefs. Can someone be both very human and also a mouthpiece for... Read more
*** Two new articles appeared today at noon in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: ““Can You Suppose That the Lord Will Spare You?”: Moroni’s Charged Rhetoric in Alma 60:30–32,” by Matthew L. Bowen Abstract: Under the duress of a lengthy war, and prompted by recent Lamanite military successes, as well as incensed at the government’s failure to resupply Helaman’s armies with provisions and to send men to reinforce the city Nephihah, Moroni sent a second... Read more
*** It’s an appropriate time, I think, for a status report on the Interpreter Foundation’s Witnesses movie project. The first part of the project was production of the film Witnesses, which was released in theaters in June of 2021. We are excited that it is now available everywhere on streaming platforms: Deseret Video+: https://deseretbook.com/video Living Scriptures: https://stream.living scriptures.com/movies/witnesses Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/witnesses/id1619571357?ls=1 Google: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=S_IussZpGG0.P Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.d1dbb090-26e6-491d-bf67-f9acb10d95d2?autoplay=1&ref_=atv_cf_strg_wb The second portion of the project was the development of a two-part, 2.5-hour... Read more
*** The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being held up right now more or less as a foreign object of horror and ridicule in the Hulu/FX miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven. Not for the first time — think of such cultural monuments as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet and Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage and the 1911 Danish silent film A Victim of the Mormons — and certainly... Read more
