We are really excited to welcome our newest guest blogger Peripateia.  Like many of our other bloggers, Peripateia is a PhD student in Religion, a returned missionary, and is also pretty dang cool.  We look forward to the posts! Read more

One of the most common answers LDS’s give to the “purpose of life” question is that this life is a “training”,  or a time in which we are “proven” and “tested”. Central to this notion of the purpose of life is the concept of “free agency”. We must be “free to choose” between “good and evil” in order to gain experience for ourselves and grow in this exam, called “life”. (more…) Read more

This morning at approximately 10:37 AM during the regional Stake Conference broadcast, the fire alarm sounded in the Longfellow Park LDS Chapel in Cambridge, MA.  At first, most thought it was a false alarm, but as people poured onto the street, it was evident that the fire was already serious.  Copious amounts of smoke were pouring from under the eaves and the fire seemed to be mostly in the attic.  It quickly escalated and firemen are still working to put... Read more

I’m pretty sure my understanding of the Fall is woefully incomplete. I’ve been still trying to square statements that pop up with frequency in the Bloggernacle and even in General Conference talks that say things like, “Mormons believe that Eve was courageous and wise” in her decision to partake of the forbidden fruit, when the scriptural texts suggest we don’t believe that. I thought it might be useful to explore just what the Book of Mormon says about Eve and... Read more

This started off as a comment on TT’s thread, the Cultural Critic as Apologist; but as it grew in length I figured I should probably start a new post altogether. In TT’s thread he raises the issue of creating space for the cultural critic. This critic is “faithful” in the sense that s/he desires to remain within the community of saints and make it a better place where “the ideals of Zion can be realized”. In this post I want... Read more

There are many Nibley-o-philes who harbor an obsession with his extraordinary intellect. He knew lots of languages and was an incredibly creative thinker. He was on the cutting edge for many in his time by paying attention to otherwise obscure texts. All this is quite admirable, but it’s time to move on from this particular fetish. (more…) Read more

Those who “criticize” the church fall into a variety of camps. There are outsiders who criticize because the church’s teachings or practices conflict with their view of “truth” or “righteousness.” There are former or disaffected members who seek to explain their decision to leave. There are even faithful critical insiders who belong to or use their connections to church leadership and administration to silently work behind the scenes to improve things and are likely the force behind any change in... Read more