Theological ethics are derived from conceptions of the divine and are, in part, an effort to identify divine mandates and human obligations meant to serve a transcendent purpose. The work of Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine represent an attempt … Continue reading
In our current election season, many issues have been debated about the economy, including wealth redistribution, social safety nets, economic recovery, the size of government, the poor and self-sufficiency. Brigham Young was faced with these same issues when building a … Continue reading
Each month, I plan to feature an article, story, or document of interest that was published 180 years ago that same month in a Mormon periodical. There are some fascinating gems in the early newspapers, and interesting developments in thought … Continue reading
So I stumbled across a short book titled Judaism’s Great Debates (Jewish Publication Society, 2012) by Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz. It includes an interesting chapter on defining boundaries, an issue that is familiar to Mormons. Why do we Mormons sometimes … Continue reading
Mormonism is a cultural field that is white, already to harvest by literary genius. But what we mostly see from observers and writers of the phenomenon of Mormonism in the current hour is chaff not grain, gossip not soul. So why … Continue reading
The growing scholarly corpus on Christian deification stands as a testament to an ever-increasing interest in the topic among academics, which may, in turn, be indicative of a fascination with the idea throughout the general population. While the Eastern Orthodox … Continue reading
In the Saturday Morning Session of General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson sent waves of excitement throughout the LDS world when he announced the lowering of the age for young men eligible to serve as full-time missionaries from age 19 … Continue reading
In the New York Times travel section, “New Zealand’s Hobbit Trail” recounts the unexpected surge of Middle-earth tourism that has flooded New Zealand since the Lord of the Rings movies hit the screen ten years ago. The quote that got … Continue reading
President Obama’s terrible showing at the presidential debate last night understandably has some liberals feeling nervous. Many, including the Obama campaign, have risen to the occasion and critiqued Mitt Romney’s debate performance at the level of substance. Others, unfortunately, have … Continue reading
I have often considered the massive practical difficulties in regards to promulgation that would be involved if the Church today were to present a radical, paradigm-, policy- or doctrinal-shifting revelation, the likes of 1978’s Official Declaration 2. This difficulty can … Continue reading