Along with many, I was saddened by the news of Ronald W. Walker’s passing. This tribute is brief look at the influence he has had on me as a budding student of history. In January, 2013, I had just completed … Continue reading
Last week historian Andrea Radke-Moss made headlines with the revelation that Missouri ruffians raped Eliza R. Snow during the 1838 Mormon War. Snow was a beloved “founding mother” of Mormonism and went on to become one of the longest-serving Relief … Continue reading
Our fearless leader Christopher Smith recently shared an insightful bit from his forthcoming dissertation on his Facebook wall. The paragraph in part describes the use of Edenic imagery by Mormon settlers of the Salt Lake Valley and the need to restore the creation … Continue reading
The term “big tent Mormonism” has appeared frequently in online LDS discourse over the past 5 years, usually in the context of some good-natured navel-gazing on the part of liberal Mormons in regards to whether–or, to what extent–there is a … Continue reading
Mormon feminist activism in recent years has sparked discussion about the role of women in the church and priesthood. The newly published essay “Joseph Smith’s Teachings about Priesthood, Temple, and Women” by the LDS church discusses some of these concerns … Continue reading
Review of Steven Peck, Evolving Faith: Wanderings of a Mormon Biologist (Provo: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, BYU, 2015). The ultimate purpose of the work of this God may never be understood by the mind of man. Perhaps … Continue reading
Latter-day Saint (LDS) scripture is filled to the brim with biblical quotations, allusions, and echoes that tie back to earlier scriptural writings. The use and interpretation of scripture goes far back in the Jewish and Christian traditions,[1] and can sometimes be … Continue reading
The recently released images of Joseph Smith’s brown seer stone in the Joseph Smith Papers, Revelations and Translations, Volume 3: Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon and forthcoming article in the Ensign titled “Joseph the Seer” discussing Smith’s method … Continue reading
Title: Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding Authors: Brian C. Hales and Laura H. Hales Publisher: Greg Kofford Books Genre: Religion Year Published: 2015 Number of Pages: 204 Binding: Paperback ISBN13: 978-1-58958-723-6 Price $19.95 Reviewed by: Cheryl L. Bruno … Continue reading
Mormonism’s nineteenth-century white Protestant critics often cast the Latter-day Saints as racially degenerate—a tragic decline into non-white barbarism. Anxious about the lack of obvious physical markers of this degeneracy, critics constructed fantasies of distinctive Mormon bodies: red, black, yellow, and … Continue reading