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Passing Through the Fires of Doubt and Emerging into the “Living Church”
“There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?” – Supreme Leader Snoke Admittedly, I had been dragging my feet on writing this post until I read Peggy Fletcher Stack’s recent article, “In this new...
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Dreading the Sabbath: Or, why you should stop worrying and enjoy life
I had to laugh yesterday after reading Robert Kirby’s weekly satirical (and sometimes downright cranky) column in the Salt Lake Tribune titled, “Judgement Day shouldn’t Come Every Sunday,” where he...
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Eliza R. Snow wasn’t the only LDS leader sexually assaulted in Missouri
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...
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Write Your Own Story: Thoughts for Transitioning or Former Mormons
There have been interesting reflections on LDS blogs recently on history, being lied to, heritage, the CES Letter, and the general angst of former or transitioning Mormons. As a has-been Mormon in the...
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What We Should Learn from Jeremy Runnells: Some Thoughts on His Departure...
A disciplinary council for Jeremy Runnells, author of the CES Letter and founder of the non-profit CES Letter Foundation, was held yesterday on charges of apostasy. Leading up to this disciplinary...
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BYU Book Seeks to Overturn Manchester Location of the Founding of the Church
Worlds Without End is very pleased to present this guest contribution from acclaimed historian H. Michael Marquardt. Mike has authored many books and articles on Mormon history, including The Joseph...
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Manchester, New York Is the Place
Worlds Without End is very pleased to present this guest contribution from acclaimed historian H. Michael Marquardt. Mike has authored many books and articles on Mormon history, including The Joseph...
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Ronald W. Walker (1939-2016): A gifted and gracious historian
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...
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Review of Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume Four: April 1834–September 1835
Matthew C. Godfrey, Brenden W. Rensink, Alex D. Smith, Max H Parkin, and Alexander L. Baugh, eds. Documents, Volume 4: April 1834–September 1835. Vol. 4 of the Documents series of the Joseph Smith...
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The Night I Spoke in Tongues
Most modern Mormons understand the “gift of tongues” as the ability to quickly learn a foreign language in the Missionary Training Center. But early Latter-day Saints had a very different concept of...
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The House Adam Built: Review of ‘Future Mormon’
Review of Adam S. Miller, Future Mormons: Essays in Mormon Theology (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2016). A couple weeks ago, I dropped in on another ward’s Gospel Doctrine class as I was making...
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Early Mormons and Mass Poisoning
In this 1842 letter, Mormon dissenter George M. Hinkle rashly accused Joseph Smith of plotting to poison the Missourians’ water supply. In August–November 1838, Mormons and their “Gentile” Missourian...
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On doing Mormon theology as a non-Mormon
I have been a participant at the Third Annual Mormon Theology Seminar at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley for the past week, and it has been a refreshing experience so far. After spending the...
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Saints and Bodhisattvas: Mortal Human Messianicity in Mormonism and Mahayana...
In a previous post I reviewed Jad Hatem’s Postponing Heaven, recently published in English by BYU’s Maxwell Institute. Hatem sets out to draw parallels between Mormonism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Islam...
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We are all enlisted: breaking our silence on behalf of our LGBT brothers and...
I woke up this morning to heartbreaking news of two more young members of the Church who ended their lives this week, presumably because their sexual identities were at odds with the teachings of their...
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Co-Creators With God: A Review of “Writing Ourselves”
Review of Jack Harrell, Writing Ourselves: Essays on Creativity, Craft, and Mormonism (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2016). My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the...
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Why I don’t consider myself a “faith-transitioned” Mormon
We all use labels whether for self-identification or to identify others. All too often, labeling others is used as a method of marginalization. However, this is not always the case. Labels can also be...
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“A nurturing environment for new ideas”
At the fountain by the Free Speech Monument at UoC Berkeley, June 2016 I have a guest post at the Maxwell Institute blog on my participation in the Mormon Theology Seminar earlier this year, here. The...
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Emma Smith’s ‘Elect Lady’ predecessors
As part of a discussion on the gospel topics essay on Women, Temple and Priesthood, I looked briefly at Emma Smith as an “Elect Lady” who was to be “ordained” by Joseph Smith to expound and exhort...
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Council of Fifty minutes: anti-American sentiment, theocratic aspirations,...
Matthew J. Grow, Ronald K. Esplin, Mark Ashurst-McGee, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, and Jeffrey D. Mahas, eds., The Joseph Smith Papers, Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January...
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