The Mormon Archipelago

Nephi’s Vision as Tragedy @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  After viewing the vision of the Tree of Life, as Nephi calls it, the angel shows him a...

Mormons and Politics at Columbia @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  On the fifteenth floor in a Columbia University building overlooking a majestic New York...

Blog Addiction @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Addiction has become a central concept for the ills of society. Oddly, addiction has also...

Beyond Borders: A Moral Approach to Immigration @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  Yuriy and Van lived in a much nicer neighborhood than we were used to. Most of the...

Foxes and Hedgehogs in Mormon Historiography @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  Isaiah Berlin, one of the most influential historians of the twentieth century, once...

Apologetics Into Doctrine: Romney’s Impact @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  It appears that Andrew Sullivan published something on Mormons yesterday.  How do I know...

Constantine’s Sword @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  Sitting near York Minster in England is the statue of Constantine shown below.  Notice...

A Conference on How We Think About the Great Apostasy, Coming in March @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  Please join us for a conference titled “Exploring Mormon Conceptions of Apostasy” to...

Minds Matter @ New Cool Thang
  -  (This is part 2/9 of the series, “Paradigms Lost”) “And now the serpent was more...

Is Mormonism a “western” religion? @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  Over at the Religion in the American West blog, Laurie Maffly-Kipp has offered her...

“I Want to Do It.” Reflections on a Little Girl and the Priesthood @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  Wednesday Aug. 24 was the first day of school here in Casper. That means that on Tuesday...

Nephi, Scrooge, and Knowing the Future @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  There I was, sitting in my usual seat in Sunday school, watching the instructor...

The Creation of American Ignorance @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  Over on BCC, Steve P has posted a nice summary of an article in New Scientist which...

Teaching Mormonism at Georgetown-Introduction @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  Greetings, Juvenile Instructor readers! Matt B (one of your permabloggers) asked if I...

God and Science @ Digital Faith
  -   Here's a second and final post on Collins and Giberson's The Language of Science and...

Christianity 101, Book of Mormon Style 3 @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  So in this last week we, that is me and the 17-18 year old gentlemen I teach, were...

Mr. Speaker! FPR live thread of the 2012 State of the Union @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  Welcome! I am watching the SOTU address with my kids and thought that I might see if the...

100 Years of Seminary. And BTW Gay Marriage @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  In 1971, Elder Boyd K. Packer gave a talk in which he stated: The gospel might be likened...

Mormonism and “Historical/Traditional” Christianity @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  My dissertation committee felt I sort of gave them a bait and switch at my prospectus...

Book Review: Allison P. Coudert, Religion, Magic, and Science in Early Modern Europe and America @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  Coudert, Allison P.  Religion, Magic , and Science in Early Modern Europe and America. ...

The Wisdom of Creation @ New Cool Thang
  -  (This is part 1/9 of the series, “Paradigms Lost”.) “And worlds without...

Religious History Classes Come With Instructions @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  This is Part 3 in my series on course & syllabus design (“Oz Behind the...

Notes on the Pew Survey. @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  Between October 25 and November 16 of last year, researchers for the Pew Forum...

History News Roundup: Pew Survey, Elder Jensen, and others @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  This post is merely designed to be a catch-all for recent Mormon history-related news....

Straight Answers to Gospel Questions: Evolution @ Digital Faith
  -   Time to fire up the blog for a few posts on the latest entry in my Now Reading box, The...

How I intend to teach George Albert’s Smith’s mental illness. @ New Cool Thang
  -  If it’s in italics, George said it. If it’s in bold, it’s from the...

Celebrating the Commercialism of Christmas @ New Cool Thang
  -  There is nothing more predictable and cliche than the yearly denouncement of consumerism...

Keeping Christmas @ Nine Moons
  -  At the end of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol we find this description of the changed...

Guest Post From Jeff G: Why I Was Wrong @ New Cool Thang
  -  Editor Note: This guest post was submitted by one of our oldest friends here at New Cool...

I Don’t Want To Go To Heaven If I Can’t Get In @ Nine Moons
  -  The title of this post comes from a recently released single, called “Heaven”...

Genesis 1: Theories of Creation @ Digital Faith
  -   In the middle part of The Lost World of Genesis One, Walton details his theory of the...

Genesis 1 Is Functional Creation @ Digital Faith
  -   In propositions 2 through 6 of The Lost World of Genesis One author John Walton supports...

The Problem of Evil and Evolutionary Biology @ New Cool Thang
  -  I have discussed the problem of evil in the past[1], and what I feel is the Church’s...

5 Things I Never Did In Brooklyn @ Nine Moons
  -  Being that we are moving tomorrow from Brooklyn, our home of almost 9 years, to New...

Genesis 1 Is Ancient Cosmology @ Digital Faith
  -   That's the first of 18 propositions discussed in John Walton's The Lost World of Genesis...

Did Joseph actually say that? @ New Cool Thang
  -  Recently, I have come across 2 or 3 sites which attribute the following statement to...

AZ Mormons – Calling my Bluff @ Nine Moons
  -  I’m wondering what the recent election in AZ says about the political power of the...

What would comfort you? @ New Cool Thang
  -  All of us have burdens we carry. Most of us have burdens we carry which we wish our faith...

N. T. Wright on Paul @ Digital Faith
  -   In this last of my series of posts on Paul I will do a short review of N. T. Wright's...

Do Mormons Get a Seat at the Table? @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I just started reading the recently published Tri-Faith America: How Catholics and Jews...

Failing Falling @ New Cool Thang
  -  “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s...

What does Jesus think about giving alms to the poor? @ New Cool Thang
  -  I recently finished The Bible Now by Richard Elliott Friedman and Shawna Dolansky....

Favorite Conference Talks: President Monson and Answered Prayers @ Nine Moons
  -  As I thought about the conference talk I particularly wanted to write about this week I...

Paul at General Conference @ Digital Faith
  -   My recent posts on Paul haven't proven too popular, but I'm still pursuing the topic. I...

Would Captain Moroni Get Released From His Calling Too? @ Nine Moons
  -  Once again, I’ve been getting worked up over a discussion over at MM. This one is...

LDS Men Aren't Incredible @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Wheat & Tares ran a fun post earlier this week titled LDS Men Are Incredible ... although...

A Revolutionary Paul @ Digital Faith
  -   Continuing with this series of posts on Paul, here's what N. T. Wright (in What Saint...

Creationism and LDS Seminary @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   It's late September and LDS high school students really should be back at school ... and...

Reading Paul's Letters @ Digital Faith
  -   My last post was titled "A Mormon View of Paul." This post is more about the view of...

Hope of Israel Islam @ Nine Moons
  -  Today, in sacrament meeting, for the congregational hymn, we sung Hope of Israel (hymn...

Highlights From Hardy @ Digital Faith
  -   Times & Seasons has posted a 12 Questions interview with Grant Hardy. He gives serious...

Go Forth @ Nine Moons
  -   The title of this post comes from a marketing campaign by Levi’s which features...

Bible, Church, and Mystic @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  On a recent trip, I took along as reading material Christianity: A Very Short...

Equal Justice @ Nine Moons
  -  The title of this post is a hat tip to bbell over at MM who blogged about this subject...

An Unsettling Book: Grant Hardy's Understanding the Book of Mormon @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  This is the fourth in a series of reviews of Grant Hardy's Understanding the Book of...

Who decides who’s a Mormon? @ Nine Moons
  -  This topic has come up several times in the last year because I know a lot of people...

Like a Trampled Flag on a City Street @ a bird's eye view
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Who Wrote the Gospels? @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  It always helps to know who wrote what you are reading, and Bible books are no exception....

A Woman's Religion? @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  That's the title of Chapter 7 in Christianity: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2004) by...

Putting Bible Problems on the Shelf @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Here's a quote from The Rise and Fall of the Bible (2011), by Timothy Beal, a religion...

Priesthood Principles @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  This post was part of a series on Handbook 2 at Times and Seasons. Our series continues...

Doctrine and Practice @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I enjoyed Alison's post from a couple of weeks ago, Does Gender Matter?, but I'm a little...

Pluralism and Persecution in the UK @ a bird's eye view
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Cafeteria Correlation @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Karl Giberson's Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution (HarperOne,...

What Historicity Means to Christians @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  We all know what "historicity" means to Mormons and the issues that term points to, but...

Where Does It End? The Real Danger in Warren Smith’s Perspective @ a bird's eye view
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The Language of God @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I recently breezed through a short book by Herman Wouk (author of the Pulitzer...

Divided by God @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  That's the title of a 2005 book by Noah Feldman, Divided by God: America's Church-State...

Ex-Mormon Orson Pratt, Jr. @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I'm sure you have heard of Orson Pratt, 19th century LDS apostle, but I'm guessing you...

FPR Mulls Mormon Acronyms @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Faith-Promoting Rumor is generally a fairly quiet group blog populated by pseudonymous...

Rethinking the Proclamation @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  What exactly is the Proclamation, or, to use its full title, The Family: A Proclamation...

Church Discipline in the Internet Age @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Sometimes technology changes everything. First came writing, then television, now the...

Making Mormons in the 21st Century @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Jan Shipps always has something interesting to say about Mormonism. An essay you might...

More on the Mormon Gender Gap @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Once upon a time, I wrote a post titled "The Puzzling Mormon Gender Gap." It is still...

Debating Mormonism @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  A few weeks ago I judged several rounds of a debating tournament held at the local high...

Reading Scripture in the 21st Century @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I recently read Thinking Through Our Faith: Theology for Twenty-first-Century Christians...

Regime Change in the LDS Church @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I recently finished America's Three Regimes: A New Political History (OUP, 2007) by...

Tsunami @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I am sure that many of you have been following the stunning events in Japan: earthquake,...

Challenges of Church History @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Just finished A Brief History of History: Great Historians and the Epic Quest to Explain...

Almost Mormon @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I recently finished Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the...

Cruise Control and Doctrinal Ditches @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  On Friday night, I was heading up the Snake River Canyon toward Jackson Hole, with snow...

Christmas Testimony @ a bird's eye view
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Seattle Area, Winter 2011, Adult Religion Class: Doctrine and Covenants @ Splendid Sun
  -  Well, it looks like I will be teaching a once-a-week class on the Doctrine and Covenants...

Church and Family @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  After a flurry of posts related to the new edition of the CHI (now titled Handbook 1 and...

Downgrading Doctrine @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Here is a second post (see No. 1) drawn from Stephen Prothero's God Is Not One...

Our Remembrance Sunday @ a bird's eye view
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Mormonism in God Is Not One @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I've been reading Stephen Prothero's new book, God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions...

A Mormon Sermon for Reformation Sunday @ a bird's eye view
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How to Read the Bible @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Last month I did a series of posts on religion and science; the theme for November is...

An “Important Strengthening” of Religious Freedom: Temple Recommends in the European Court of Human Rights @ a bird's eye view
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A Writer on Science and Religion @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  In this final installment of this month's series of posts on religion and science, I will...

Science and Religion: Enemies or Partners? @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  For the next installment in this set of posts, let's consider the relation between...

Correlation is Killing Sunday School @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Once upon a time, there was Sunday School, an independent auxiliary whose officers were...

Jonah, Overboard @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  If you haven't heard the story in Sunday School yet, you will shortly (Jonah 1)....

An LDS View on Science and Religion @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Continuing the conversation begun in my earlier post (God and Science), let's look at the...

God and Science @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  The conflict between science and religion is generally overstated. But it is certainly...

An Appeal to Mitt Romney for Republican Leadership on the Mosque Issue @ a bird's eye view
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Myth and Ritual @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Like some of you, I've been reading a book or two on the Old Testament, this year's...

Perceptions of Mormonism @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  The Deseret News posted an article ("Mormons need to work to increase favor") summarizing...

Ripples in History @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I recently finished Victor Davis Hanson's Ripples of Battle (Doubleday, 2003), with the...

A (Secular) Turkish Delight @ a bird's eye view
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What Did We Lose? @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  In 70 AD, the Romans capped their extended campaign to crush a Jewish revolt by...

Houston, We Have a Problem @ a bird's eye view
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The End of the World @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I took a stroll through the End of the World last week. Brought the wife and kids and a...

Inoculation Works @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I finally picked up and read a copy of Simon Southerton's Losing a Lost Tribe: Native...

Review: Losing My Religion @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I admit that when approaching William Lobdell's Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith...

Beliefs and Causes @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Beliefs are complicated and sometimes strangely resistant to facts. I don't mean...

Sleep, Success, and Seminary @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Sleep: it's more important than you think, especially for teenagers. Here's from George...

Genesis and Genre @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  When we read Genesis, what exactly are we reading? The distinctions and categories we...

Lineage: A Troubling Concept @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Here's a quote from Lesson 7, "The Abrahamic Covenant," that caught my attention in...

Big Orange is Back @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  For reasons known only to that composite persona known as "BT Editors," The Bloggernacle...

Mormonism’s Last Colonizer @ Splendid Sun
  -  This week, Utah State University Press released a biography of William H. Smart. Smart...

“knowledge, and power, by revelation” @ Splendid Sun
  -  A month ago I came home from teaching seminary and I was met by my wife. She told me to...

A Textual History of the KFD, Part II @ Splendid Sun
  -  This post is a direct continuation of Part I and follows without introduction. The...

A Textual History of the KFD, Part I: Sources to the “History of Joseph Smith” @ Splendid Sun
  -  Part II of the series is available here. EDITORIAL NOTE: This post contains links to...

The end of an era @ Splendid Sun
  -  I am a chemist by training, but Mormon history has always been open to dilettants (for...

Research update on Mormon healing @ Splendid Sun
  -  As some know, Kris and I have worked together for the past couple of years doing research...

Two latest in Signature’s Significant Diary Series @ Splendid Sun
  -  John P. Hatch, ed., Danish Apostle: The Diaries of Anthon H. Lund (Salt Lake City,...

A Lady’s Life among the Mormons @ Splendid Sun
  -  One of the most invaluable publication series in Mormon Studies is Utah State University...

Elder Ballard’s Advice–Start a Blog @ Splendid Sun
  -  I haven’t written for a while, and now I feel remiss. Today was graduation day at...