Mormonism’s notions of the divine realm are distinctive from traditional Christian views in primarily two ways. The first is that God has a material body. The second is that in addition to the traditional depiction of the divine realm consisting of the three persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, there exists also a Mother, a divine female figure. This teaching of the Heavenly Mother remains among the most controversial in Mormonism both in and out of the faith.... Read more
About a month back I went to a bar for the first time in my life. When I reflected on the experience in my column at Go Girl Magazine, I explained that it wasn’t unlike a night out with friends back at BYU: sure, the friends at the bar were drinking alcohol while I drank a coke, but there was enough sugar in my soda (and likely in their more colorful and swirly drinks) that I might as well have... Read more
Whichever way one is voting, I think that we can all be thankful together that this election is about to be over. Polls suggest that, by however thin a margin, in another week Mitt Romney will need to begin considering whether he intends to go for the full William Jennings Bryan. Another interim period will begin in which we may ask what effect the election had for Mormonism, before we start asking, again, what effect the next one might have. ... Read more
Tonight we will hear two presidential candidates talk about United States foreign policy. Though it won’t be phrased quite so baldly, much of their conversation will be about when our nation should send its sons and daughters to kill and be killed – or more likely in our era, when we should send unmanned drones to kill other people’s sons and daughters. All of this will be framed by way of preserving national security and promoting peace. (Indeed, one of... Read more
The news has been full, this election cycle, of Mitt Romney’s evangelical problem. The conservative evangelical Protestants who form the core of the Republican Party continue to be wary of Romney’s Mormon faith, and that wariness could translate to a lack of enthusiasm that drives down Republican voter turnout on election day—which could sink Romney’s bid for the presidency. This evangelical problem is particularly of note in swing states in the South, a red state region that has long been... Read more
John Turner, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at George Mason University, has had a very busy schedule this fall, as he’s been travelling throughout the country on a sort of scholarly junket to promote his new book, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet. He’s done interviews with KSL Radio, National Review Online, and Mormon Stories, visited Utah State University, Brigham Young University, and Baylor University, and will be heading down to southern California this week to speak at Claremont Graduate University and... Read more
When all is said and done, the proceedings of this past weekend’s LDS General Conference will have been translated into roughly eighty-three languages. These include not only popular European-derived languages that spring to mind for many Americans (Spanish, Portuguese, German, French), but other regional languages such Cantonese and Mandarin, Hindi, Farsi, Tagolog, and Hmong. It also includes national languages and remarkable number of ethnic languages as well, such as Twi (parts of Ghana), Kuna (Panama and Columbia), and Dine bizaad... Read more
While it may seem like small news that the LDS Church's rules for women's missionary service are changing, it is exactly the opposite. Read more
In Tampa a few weeks ago twenty thousand Republicans bowed their heads and listened solemnly to the Mormon Ken Hutchins offer a prayer. They applauded a string of Mormons who stood to bear witness to Mitt Romney’s service in his Mormon congregation. Historically speaking, this was remarkable. A century and a half ago, after all, this same party’s convention denounced Mormonism for being as barbaric as slavery. (more…) Read more
[Yesterday, I had the privilege of virtually attending the blogging event held in honor of the Joseph Smith Papers most recent contribution: Histories, Volume 2.] On the day the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in 1830, Joseph Smith claimed a revelation that “there shall be a record kept among you.” The Joseph Smith Papers Project, which has been going strong for over a decade and has now published its sixth of a projected twenty to twenty-five... Read more
Peculiar People
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