The Adulterous Woman, Part 3: Textual Criticism and Narrative Theory

Last updated on: December 20, 2006 at 2:49 pm By mogget

For those who are joining our programming in medias res, this series is looking at the story of the Adulterous Woman in the Fourth Gospel from a narrative-critical standpoint. The first installment dealt with the theory of narrator reliability and the second with various narrative techniques. This one has to do with the challenges inherent in a narrative-critical approach to a story of uncertain authenticity. The Text-Critical Situation The story of the Adulterous Woman is now found in Jn 7:53-8:11.... Read more

What’s wrong with idol worship?

Last updated on: December 19, 2006 at 10:20 pm By smallaxe

The lesson in priesthood this past Sunday was on signs of the second coming (based on the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church book on W.W.). It was a fairly uneventful lesson until we started talking about how to interpret the signs and one good elder shared the experience of his brother who lived in Sri Lanka shortly before the Tsunami. He commented, “My brother told me about how ripe the place was for destruction. With all the idol... Read more

The TK Smoothie Rule

Last updated on: December 18, 2006 at 11:37 pm By davidj

73 Comments

In light of Ronan’s helpful rules on cultish behavior and public orthodoxy, my brother and I have developed yet another rule by which to measure our collective worth; especially in light of our place among the religions of the world. Introducing The TK Smoothie Rule. You’re probably thinking, “David J, WTF is a TK Smoothie?!” Let me give you some background: I believe it was Joseph Fielding Smith who, in his typical cavalier doctrinal musings, indicated that the heirs of... Read more

Silent Night w/ Walter Cronkite

Last updated on: December 18, 2006 at 8:46 pm By davidj

My daily reading for all things Libertarian comes from LRC. I noticed today an interesting post referencing the Mo-Tab and a new CD/DVD collection based on the oft-quoted story of soldiers in WWII from opposing sides coming together to celebrate Christmas. (Could someone take the time to verify the historicity of this story? If it’s coming from the church, you can’t blame me for being a little bit skeptical…). I haven’t heard it yet, but mine is on the way. Read more

Pilgrimage Sites: Palmyra, NY

Last updated on: December 18, 2006 at 2:16 am By TT

By now, pretty much everyone recognizes that church has begun to build up its sacred historical sites by dedicating temples, new visitor centers, and redesigning the experience visitors have. This has produced and encouraged increased pilgrimage by faithful members of the church who travel to these sites for special religious experiences. An industry has built up around these pilgrimage sites including hotels, bookstores, and replica relics. For an “aniconic” culture, we certainly have gone 180 degrees. Is the movement to... Read more

The Fruits of the Spirit: Confusion, Honesty and Depression

Last updated on: December 12, 2006 at 6:49 am By Guest Contributor

Someone I know very well is prone to a religious form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, called “scrupulosity.” He worries obsessively over proper religious practice, especially the internal aspects such as prayer and thinking pure thoughts. He feels an unusual amount of anxiety over his thoughts and therefore engages in certain mental rituals to clear them of “sin.” Ironically, these rituals often compound the problem since they add to his anxiety, making it more difficult to control his thoughts instead of... Read more

Believing Blood: Mormonism as a New Race

Last updated on: December 10, 2006 at 4:22 am By TT

Mormons adopted the language of race and ethnicity to describe themselves from the very early days of the church. This post examines the rhetoric of race in Mormonism and compares it with that of early Christianity. It is inspired by Denise Buell’s amazing book, Why This New Race?, which looks at “ethnic reasoning” in early Christianity. In Mormonism, I see a similar dynamic, though different in some key respects, in the process of describing and creating a new people.Up to... Read more

New Look!

Last updated on: December 9, 2006 at 2:46 pm By TT

We were finally upgraded to Blogger Beta! We are still testing out many of the new features. Let us know if you have any suggestions for hacks and where to get them! Read more

To Him Who Loves Us…

Last updated on: December 6, 2006 at 7:03 pm By mogget

Ah, I love Greek. But it was not always so… We spent the first six weeks memorizing all the paradigms. I hated it. I thought any more than two tenses was superfluous. Moods! For goodness sake, who needs moods? Take a pill or something. And the third declension. Geez, what a mess. Words completely failed me when I saw those paradigms. And then I caught on. And since I was passing by the same area this evening, I thought I’d... Read more

Women’s Religious Authority

Last updated on: December 6, 2006 at 4:42 am By TT

I am currently reading a fascinating book on medieval mysticism that argues that the rise of female mysticism is not the result of some innate feminine spirituality, but the result of cultural constraints on women’s authority that required extraordinary spiritual experience as legitimating a female voice. I am curious if a similar dynamic exists within Mormon culture. Is women’s authority limited in LDS culture in such a way that particular forms of spirituality are required to authorize their speech? If... Read more