I deeply respect the Jewish approach to the study of the scriptures. It is said that simply stating an opinion about Torah without any background or training in how to critically think about the text is Torah discussion but is not necessarily Torah study. To encourage critical thinking, rabbis from at least the third century C.E. established a simple four-level system known as PaRDeS. Each consonant in this acronym stands for a Hebrew word, and put together they mystically form... Read more
(update) Author’s note: This post is first in a series about my experiences and reflections on teaching seminary on a volunteer basis over the past year. No statement therein necessarily represents the positions of the Seminaries & Institutes Program or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most universities are already out, but high school students are still wrapping up their year (poor kids). Our seminary class is no different; we’ve basically got Jonah and Malachi ahead of us... Read more
Author’s note I originally posted this here at FPR back on March 18, 2008. Am I accountable for the crazy things that people say at my church? Luckily, I tend to disagree, and disagree strongly with most political statements made at church. Was Mitt Romney responsible for racist practices that existed with the Church during his younger days? I do not think so. What about Ezra Taft Benson’s delusional politics? While I believe that he was an apostle and prophet,... Read more
Author’s Note: My readings for the following essay started me thinking for the first time theoretically about mothering and care-giving. It also made me reflect a lot on the sacrifices made and love shown by my wife and my mother. I share this for Mother’s Day. In Love’s Labor: Essays on Women, Equality, and Dependency, Eva Feder Kittay develops a theory of dependency which addresses the needs of dependents and those involved in dependency work. Central to this book is... Read more
Ralph, you’ve gotten into a bad spot with fellow LDS intellectuals from a lot of different fronts. My concern with your recent editorializing is that while you claim to appeal to “reason” and to contradict the “fundamental assumptions” of “liberal Mormons,” I don’t see anything substantive in your arguments that amounts to anything more than 1) appeal to prophetic and “majority” authority and 2) vague assertions about what a fictionalized anthropologist might say about the value of normative sex roles. ... Read more
A Freemason’s Critique of Sam Brown by Guest Poster Joe Steve Swick III Joe Swick is a longtime student of the history and dogmas of Mormonism and Freemasonry. He received his Endowment in 1982 and was raised a Master Mason in 1995. He is twice Past Master of his local lodge, and twice Past High Priest of his Royal Arch Chapter, receiving the Masonic Order of High Priesthood in 2004. I recently attended a lecture by Samuel M. Brown on... Read more
In a rather strange opening miracle, the author of the Gospel of John depicts Jesus as working a familiar Dionysian miracle of turning water into wine. Mormons have undone this entirely, turning wine into water. The modern sacrament prayers go so far as to change the wording of the revealed prayers, substituting “water” for “wine.” This wasn’t always so. In the early days of the Church, LDS followers drank wine from a common cup. The founding church order given in... Read more
I haven’t posted for a while, so I was checking through some of my drafts this evening. This was fully written, but I can’t remember why I didn’t post it at the time I wrote it. It is a bit past the prime time on this issue, but might still be relevant. The reemergence of the controversy about baptism for the dead, spearheaded by the issue of posthumously baptizing Holocaust victims is frustrating for Mormons. Not only do Mormons... Read more
Published this AM, by Ross Douthout. Amazing what Kindle can do, no? So the “problem,” so far, is the loss the great orthodox Christian center. And this means heretics, among whom Douthout places us. He writes: Heretics are often stereotyped as wild mystics, but they’re just as likely to be problem solvers and logic choppers, well-intentioned seekers after a more reasonable version of Christianity than orthodoxy supplies. They tend to see themselves, not irrationally, as rescuers rather than enemies of... Read more
Faith-Promoting Rumor
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In