When the recent “and I’m a Mormon” ad campaign got some national media attention it reminded me of  a phenomenal promotional campaign the Church produced in the mid-eighties. 1985 was a fantastic year in the music world. At the top of the charts Wham!’s “Careless Whisper” beat out Phil Collins’s confusingly awesome “Sussudio” and a-ha’s “Take On Me” (best music video ever). The Church PR folks must have realized that radical synthesized music was where it was at; “Axel F” was... Read more

October 9th will mark John Lennon’s 70th Birthday. This post is about my favorite John Lennon song. This video is of Green Day’s cover of the John Lennon song “Working Class Hero.” I think this song serves as a good reminder of the social outlook that goes along with the socialist political and economic program. It is this outlook that I so very much relate to. It is probably the reason that I am comfortable with the socialist label. While... Read more

So I have become intrigued by aspects of the figure of Enoch in the Book of Moses: the wild man and seer who is slow of speech by human standards yet utters a divine language that allows him to command nature. First I happened to notice some books on the literary stereotype of the wild man, such as Wild Men In the Looking Glass: The Mythic Origins of European Otherness by Roger Bartra. This set to me wondering whether there... Read more

Author’s note: I would like to dedicate this post to Stephen George, a great teacher and Steinbeck scholar at BYU-Idaho. I co-taught an Ethics course with Stephen at BYU-I. It was the first class I taught in Rexburg. It was his last. His cancer had returned after going into remission. He passed away in November 2006. I love The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. When I taught American Heritage at BYU and BYU-Idaho, I enjoyed showing the movie version... Read more

A really big sinner, in my book.  Now, I don’t know really much at all about the personal life of D. Smith, nor do I really care.  But I do know a bit about his public scholarship and other writings, which reveal a grave sin, a seriously grave methodological sin.  As an anthropologist, Smith has converted the object of his study into, an Object, incapable of any real form of subjectivity. (more…) Read more

One fascinating tidbit that came out of between-sessions chatting at General Conference this weekend is that in Brazil there has been a marked improvement in convert retention since the chapels have added air conditioning and heating. While feasting upon the word has always had a physical as well as metaphysical component, I can’t help but wonder what other moves might help retention. My vote would be to make the chapels more beautiful: almost no one is so struck by the... Read more

Thanks to Scott B. for the sub-title. I, of course, stole the whole idea of blogging during conference from BCC.  It is all about emulating Christ-like examples. Read more

Two more to go. Please play nice. Disagreement is allowed. Rude is not. I really enjoyed the Priesthood session. I am looking forward to the rest of Conference. Read more

Please keep it friendly. Here is my introduction from this morning’s session: I personally think that the best way to watch General Conference is with good friends, good food, and good commentary.  Since we are low on good food and I do not have any friends (conference-watching, at least) in the area, I thought that maybe I could go for some good commentary at FPR with some of my ‘nacle friends. I realize that other blogs are going to be... Read more