For your post-turkey degustation, I present this list I handed out in Gospel Doctrine recently, with a 5-minute plug for three books in particular (starred below). I wanted to include more commentary on each book, but as is I had to stretch my margins to fit everything onto one front-back piece of paper. I also trucked in all the paper versions of the books I own on this list, and set up a table near the exit so people could... Read more

Before leaving on my mission I spent several evenings teaming up with the missionaries in our ward to see how they taught and to gain a general feel for mission life. I still recall teaching one investigator a lesson on the role of Jesus Christ, part of which included a discussion on the resurrection–how it was a free gift and that we would gain a perfect body, etc. (more…) Read more

Around here, we love us some Old Testament. And so, as D&C winds down and some of us start hearing the music build in anticipation, I bring you the first part of a series to run for the next 14 months or so, Old Testament For The Win™, or OTFTW. Among other things, I’m going to provide an annotated list of recommended Old Testament books and resources; discuss individual books on that list; explain how to use some Hebrew resources... Read more

Many contemporary Christians subscribe to a certain normative fable of a “historic orthodox Christianity.” This view of Christian history relies on a master narrative of a “pure” Christianity which is distinct from heresy. In this view, Christianity is differentiated from heresy in double terms, that it is both “historic” and that is “orthodox.” (more…) Read more

I spoke in Sacrament meeting a few weeks ago. My assigned topic was anything to do with Institute. I spent a few weeks mind-mapping, and delivered the following. Then recently, Ardis linked to President Uchtdorf’s talk, which showed me I was thinking along the same lines he was. Here’s my full outline, which I edited a good bit for time on the fly. (WordPress doesn’t import nested outlines very well, so I’ve had to futz with the formatting. After the... Read more

It might seem a little mundane to say that a single analogy can be used in contrasting ways to serve the interests of discursive power grabs, but the constant resurfacing of Elder Oaks’ BYUI talk makes me jump, Johnny-Come-Lately, into the fray. The implicit claim in the many vociferous critiques of Elder Oaks’ talk that the Left has a monopoly on Civil Rights analogies strikes me as deeply ironic. As I recall, last year several public media outlets hosted guests... Read more

It is no secret that in the past I have not pulled many punches when it comes to the assessment of Margaret Barker and her attempts to reconstruct lost Old Testament beliefs (that dovetail nicely with particular LDS concepts) from much later texts. Equally culpable, in my view, were (mostly untrained) LDS thinkers who jumped on the Barker bandwagon, culminating in a university-wide forum at BYU and other talks to faculty and students in 2003. I wondered on other blogs... Read more

Author’s note: I originally posted this at Approaching Justice. The talk by Elder Oaks has gotten me thinking about the implications of public reason on the SSM debate and the use of public reason (directly and indirectly) in Elder Oak’s talk. I do not have the time right now to adequately address that speech. So, this is an introduction to the idea of public reason with a look at both John Rawls and Abraham Lincoln. It is often noted that... Read more

I overheard part of an interesting discussion this past Sunday when a member of our ward was discussing traveling to China. Knowing that “tea” would be served at practically every meal, this member wondered what kinds of teas were against the Word of Wisdom. I don’t recall the entirety of the answer, but I do remember one of the people involved in the discussion explaining that “tea” in Chinese could refer to anything from water to black tea. (more…) Read more