**I wish I could say that my recent lack of posts at FPR has been due to the fact that I’ve been following the newest reincarnation “Further” (Bobby and Phil, minus Mickey, Billy) around the country in a VW Microbus, but other events have been the culprits. In any case, I am excited to be here with FPR at Patheos and look forward to being more involved again and “not fade away.”** For quite some time now I have been... Read more
We are extremely excited to enter this new phase of Faith-Promoting Rumor’s (FPR) history, joining up with Patheos.com. We thought we could take this occasion to discuss a bit of the history and personalities of FPR as we enter into this relationship. First, we are a blog of mostly, or at least somewhat pseudonymous personalities. Each of us has various reasons for wanting to keep our personal, professional, and ecclesiastical lives separate from our blogging lives. Some is a matter... Read more
The first line of Mary Oliver’s poem “Wild Geese” seems as at odds with Mormonism as anything can be. “You do not have to be good,” she states. What’s that? It sounds an awfully lot like sacrilege. Of course we have to be good. Jesus admonished us to become perfect, and not only do we have the 10 commandments of other Bible-believers, we have a strict health code, a tithing requirement, and obligatory church attendance. A Latter-day Saint’s entire identity... Read more
If you are a graduate student and a reader of Mormon themed blogs, this survey is for you! Read more
We have two opposing notions of the relationship between ethics and God’s command. (more…) Read more
BYU’s Church History and Doctrine department in the Religious Education school has recently posted a job that may go to someone in “World Religions.” This is an important search and I am eager to see the outcome. Whoever is offered this position is in an important position to shape a coming generation’s approach to the study of non-Mormon religions. BYU is to be commended on this tradition of teaching “world religions,” however small a part of the curriculum. The history... Read more
Both LDS theological maximalists and minimalists seem to think that there is something invialby sacred about the atonement. It is the quintessential doctrine, the essence of Christianity, and the sine qua non of Christian faith. Perhaps the Book of Mormon isn’t ancient, and perhaps Moses didn’t write the Torah, and perhaps Jesus didn’t do the miracles–but if Jesus did not suffer, die, and be resurrected to satisfy God’s plan, then the really is nothing of value in these stories. Perhaps... Read more
Title: Making Sense in Religious Studies: A Student’s Guide to Research and Writing Authors: Margot Northey, Bradford A. Anderson, Joel N. Lohr Publisher: Oxford University Press Genre: Religion/Research Year: 2011 Pages: 240 Binding: Paperback ISBN13: 9780195439526 Price: $19.95 Had I never hopped into post-secondary education, this book would give me a good sense of the practical things I was missing out on. The operative word in the title Making Sense in Religious Studies is “in,” rather than “of.” Like the other volumes... Read more
Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies is a collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for undergraduate research in Religious Studies. I’m pretty sure it is the first book which tackles the idea of directed undergrad research specifically in the field of religious studies. Interestingly, they drew on earlier efforts to design useful undergraduate research programs, specifically the “apprenticeship model of education” first defined in the field of chemistry (3). But Religious Studies isn’t a hard science,... Read more
One often hears in testimonies that every time you reread the scriptures, you will see something that you have never seen before. Such a claim likely functions in two different ways. First, restricting oneself to a particular canon can and does produce monotony, so there must be incentives to go over the familiar again. Reading a text, watching a movie, eating a new dish, kissing a person for the first time likely has a certain heightened degree of pleasure because it is... Read more
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