The Mormon Archipelago

JI March Madness Bracket 2014 @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  It’s that time of the year, when the snow begins to melt (hopefully) and a hoops...

The Genius Ritual @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  Okay, my last post talked about the concept of the “genius”: guardian beings...

The Genius @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  The following is a short excerpt from my dissertation.  It’s part of a bigger...

My two current favorite books on ritual/liturgy/practice @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  A couple of years ago, I was reading David Hall’s edited volume Lived Religion, and...

Visual Aid to The Gospel of Jesus Christ: Updated @ New Cool Thang
  -  Today I am teaching the Elders about Faith and Repentance, and made this visual aid. Have...

Things You Wouldn’t Think Might Go Together… @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -    About last Friday or so I was sitting under my rock reading from Ehrman’s and...

Mormon Studies Weekly Roundup 3/1-3/8 @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  Hello and welcome to this week’s Mormon Studies Weekly Roundup! As always, if we missed...

Building a Bibliography: The History of Mormon Practice @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  Today’s the day here at JI when, in keeping with our theme this month, we compile a...

A Natural History of Sacrament Bread @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  Cooking… situates us in the world in a very special place, facing the natural world on...

“Undone:” The Contours of a Folk Tale @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  There’s a new Mormon urban legend making the rounds. You may have heard it before –...

Introduction to Religious “Practice” Month at the JI @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  The study of American religion ain’t what it used to be. Not so many decades ago, most...

Mormon Studies Weekly Roundup @ Juvenile Instructor
  -  The main news items for this week are all the up coming events.  Matt McBride is giving...

Friendly Fire on Mormon Scholars @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  While some corners of the LDS church’s intellectual health have been thriving,...

Turns Out Chronic Internet Trolls Really Are Bad People @ New Cool Thang
  -  I saw this provocative Slate article today. It was inspired by this recent study....

Teacher Improvement Lesson 5- Effective Methods @ New Cool Thang
  -  This week I decided to keep things simple. I start with quoting this famous story of...

What is the Moral Lesson of Genesis? @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  Latter-day Saints are studying the Old Testament this year.  Unfortunately, many LDS...

Book Review: The Broken Heart: Applying the Atonement to Life’s Experiences by Bruce C. Hafen. @ New Cool Thang
  -  This week was ward conference in our ward, so no teacher improvement this week. In lieu...

A Bunch of Imbeciles Wrote About a BYU-Idaho Video @ New Cool Thang
  -  First, here is the BYU-Idaho video that has apparently caused a small stir this week: It...

Teacher Improvement 4: Ages and Stages in Gospel Learning @ New Cool Thang
  -  This Lesson is a little more unfocused than prior lessons as my main goal here is the...

Remember that one time God totally denied having a body in restoration scripture? @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  There I was looking at all the fascinating differences between the First Book of Moses...

Teacher Improvement Lesson 3 preparing a lesson @ New Cool Thang
  -  I spent most of my preparation time this week debating whether I should teach this lesson...

The Myth of “Listening” to the Scriptures @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  So, I am still thinking about the interpretive claim made by another blog that “God...

The God of Pragmatism @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Here is William James' vision of a pluralistic universe, as expressed in the final...

“Generous Orthodoxy” and Continuous Revelation @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  I recently came across a phrase from feminist theologian Hannah Bacon that I really...

Laban’s Execution and the Manifesto on Plural Marriage @ New Cool Thang
  -  Laban’s execution ranks among the most troubling stories in Mormonism.  It’s...

A Mormon Tribute to MLK @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  Given some of the discussion of Martin Luther King, Jr. in some LDS venues, I thought it...

Facebook Content Comes and Goes, but Blog Content Lasts Forever @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Which is why I continue to maintain this solo blog and periodically post new content,...

Teacher Improvement Lesson 2: Christ-Centered Teaching @ New Cool Thang
  -  My Lesson has a few guiding principles. The first comes from this quote from Jeffrey R....

Who wrote Ether 3? Or, Why Mormons do not fear the Documentary Hypothesis @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  The story of the appearance of Jesus Christ to the brother of Jared is one of the...

Teacher Improvement Lesson 1: What Makes a Great Teacher? @ New Cool Thang
  -  So I have been asked to teach a church teacher improvement course over the next six weeks...

Even More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  I once wrote about the Jacob (pseud)epigraphon in the book of Alma, which I said I would...

Sharp Dressed Man @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I came across this passage in Joyce Appleby's Inheriting the Revolution (Harvard Univ....

Repost: Ethics as an Interpretive Lens @ Faith-Promoting Rumor
  -  This is a repost of an earlier post of mine that seems relevant today. How should we...

Evangelicals Need Inoculation Too @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I hope you have seen the recent public announcement of the initiative to use the Gospel...

Did Jesus Exist? @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   Yes, he did. But you don't have to take my word for it; go read Bart Ehrman's latest...

The Practical Atonement @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  This is the third of three posts on the atonement (Post 1 | Post 2). What effect, if any,...

The Theological Atonement @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   Last week I posted The Atheological Atonement, noting that the LDS Church affirms the...

Better Than Apologetics @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Over at Patheos, Joe Spencer posted "Apologetics Again — But This Time with...

The Atheological Atonement @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   I presented a paper on vicarious atonement at the recent SMPT Conference. To prepare the...

It Takes Courage for a Mormon to Dissent @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  That's a quotation from Wallace Stegner, found in historian James L. Clayton's 10-page...

The Atonement as Moral Influence @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Here's the next article from the Dialogue archive, Eugene England's essay "That They...

Meeting Tillich Halfway @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I am continuing to read the archive at Dialogue, this week Louis Midgley's article...

Negotiating LDS History and Faith Challenges (notes, recap) @ Nine Moons
  -  A few weeks ago, I attended the Negotiating LDS History and Faith Challenges presentation...

The Quest for Religious Authority @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I just renewed my Dialogue subscription and decided I should work a little harder to, you...

New Seminary Scriptures @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  With no public announcement or explanation that I am aware of, CES has modified LDS...

The Life and Times of Parley P. Pratt @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   I recently finished reading Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism (OUP, 2011),...

The Day Creationism Died @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  It was January 5, 1982, the day United States District Court Judge William R. Overton...

Liveblogging the FAIR Conference, Part 2 @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Day 2 of the FAIR Conference — I am streaming it here in Wyoming and posting short...

Liveblogging the FAIR Conference, Part 1 @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Liveblogging from a distance — I am streaming it here in Wyoming. The conference...

Mormon Doubt or General Doubt? @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Laurie Goodstein's July 20 New York Times article "Some Mormons Search the Web and Find...

What Goes Around @ Nine Moons
  -   Since the time I understood the basic idea of it, I have always believed in the Hindu...

Science, Mormonism, Dialogue @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  The good news: There is more room for dialogue between science and Mormonism than between...

FAQ: Temple Cancellation/Clearance @ Nine Moons
  -  Over at MormonMentality, NewlyHousewife has posted a great list of FAQs for those...

The Earliest New Testament @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   This is the third post (first, second) in a series on the New Testament. This post...

Science as Friend or Foe @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  On a recent long drive, I listened to all 12 lectures of a Science and Religion audio...

Revelation @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  My previous post on the upcoming BYU New Testament Commentary series was so well received...

BYU's New Testament Commentary @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  A website for the upcoming BYU New Testament Commentary series has popped up. The short...

God and Galaxies @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -     Elder Ballard started out his recent Conference talk "This Is My Work and My...

Socially Constructed Mormonism @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   This is the second post (see first post) discussing ideas presented in the recently...

N.T. Wright on Jesus @ Nine Moons
  -  I took the advice of Henry Eyring yesterday – imagining the talk that I needed and...

A Stranger, A Pilgrim: Liveblogging El Camino @ a bird's eye view
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Tithing And Responsibility @ Nine Moons
  -  A court has ruled that paying back taxes is a higher priority than paying tithing –...

My Problem With the Couplet @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   In 1840, almost nine years before being called as an LDS apostle, while he was listening...

Prophets Don’t All Weigh The Same @ Nine Moons
  -  Mormons like to beat themselves up for not giving enough value to the man they call...

Mouths of Babes — Does Can Mean Should? @ a bird's eye view
  -  A

Knowledge or Faith? @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Last month, Jacob over at BCC started an interesting series on the philosophy of...

When Women Don’t Want The Priesthood @ Nine Moons
  -  Imagine for a moment a Northeastern urban ward. The average age is 32, a large number of...

The Problem With Correlation @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  Over at Worlds Without End, Seth posted Overcoming Correlation, or Mormon Studies and...

Mauss on Dialogue @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   I am almost done with the recently published memoir by Armand Mauss, Shifting Borders...

Comments on LDS in the USA @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   I recently read through the short book (114 pages of text, plus notes) LDS in the USA:...

Brother Husband @ Nine Moons
  -  If the stars align just so, my first novel will be released this summer. Needless to say,...

Thrown Into This Mormon Life @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   This is the third and final post on Adam Miller's Rube Goldberg Machines: Essays in...

Mormonism: How Thinkable Is It? @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   This is the second post on Adam Miller's Rube Goldberg Machines: Essays in Mormon...

Prince on the Evolution of Mormon Thought @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I stumbled across a Greg Prince talk giving a nice overview of Mormon thought in the past...

What Mormon Theology Looks Like @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   This is the first of several posts discussing Adam Miller's Rube Goldberg Machines:...

Can Books Cause Problems? Reflections on Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  I recently did a quick read of John G. Turner's Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet and posted...

Turner, Part 4: Brigham's Last Two Decades @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  [Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3] This last post covers Chapters 9 through 13 of John G....

Turner, Part 3: Brigham as Pioneer and Prophet @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  [Part 1 | Part 2] This post covers Chapters 5 through 8 of John G. Turner's Brigham...

Wear Pants To Church Day @ Nine Moons
  -  A group is asking Mormon women to wear pants to church this Sunday as a sign of support...

Turner, Part 2: Brigham as Preacher and Polygamist @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -  [Part 1] This post covers Chapter 2 through 4 of John G. Turner's Brigham Young: Pioneer...

Turner, Part 1: Brigham the Reformed Methodist @ Dave's Mormon Inquiry
  -   I'm a little late to the party for John G. Turner's Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet,...

The Best and Worst of the “Mormon Moment” @ Nine Moons
  -  We’ve been hearing for a while now about the so-called “Mormon Moment,”...

Our Dead V: Memorial Day at St. Paul’s Cathedral @ a bird's eye view
  -  A

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

Latent Racism, Orientalism and “Magic Underwear” in American Society and Mitt Romney’s Presidential Campaign @ a bird's eye view
  -  A

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...

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...

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

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...

Becoming a Mormon: Thinking about a Brand with Elder Ballard @ a bird's eye view
  -  A

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

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

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

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

Like a Trampled Flag on a City Street @ a bird's eye view
  -  A

Pluralism and Persecution in the UK @ a bird's eye view
  -  A

Where Does It End? The Real Danger in Warren Smith’s Perspective @ a bird's eye view
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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...

Our Remembrance Sunday @ a bird's eye view
  -  A

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...