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Introducing Book Reviews

May 18, 2012

Blair Hodges brings his years of reviewing experience to Dialogue in a new section devoted to Book Reviews of interest to Dialogue readers. He shares insights and opinions about recent Mormon-flavored books ranging from theology to history to memoir to biography and more.
Click in to explore some of his recent ones including a look at Joanna Brooks’ new memoir (“This brings me to what I understand to be the heart of the matter, especially for Mormon readers of Brooks’s book: the tension between personal and institutional revelation; or, questions of authority.”) as well as two offerings from the new Salt Press (…we all come to the text with various preconceptions, hopes, fears, and experiences which help determine what we get out of our reading. These particular (peculiar?) volumes encourage us as readers, above all, to pay close attention to what we bring to the text.)
And that’s just a taste of what’s to come so bookmark Dialogue’s new Book Reviews (found in the menu above) and check back often.

A Mother's Day Sermon for All

May 7, 2012

Dubbed a “Mother’s Day sermon you will actually like” by Editor Kristine Haglund, this piece titled “A Community of Abundance” by Lant Pritchett was spoken over the pulpit last Mother’s Day and flippantly begins “I have never spoken on Mother’s Day in church before, nor have I wanted to. One cannot talk in church on Mother’s Day without venturing into territory like women’s role in the Church and its relation to motherhood. Antique maps mark such territories with warnings like ‘There Be Dragons’; in that territory, there is no safe ground for man.”
But wit aside, what follows is a beautifully inclusive essay that touches on international cultures in India and Indonesia, looks at how Jesus Christ overturned social structures and asks “What does the community in Christ that we create in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints require from us to get the love, respect, status, and appreciation that all humans yearn for?” Oh and he manages to relate it all back to the mother’s in the conclusion. Whether you are a mother or not, plan to attend church on Mother’s Day or not, this sermon will both inspire and comfort you, a funny combination, but nonetheless true.

Introducing Religion & Politics

May 3, 2012


This week marked the ignition of the new online journal Religion & Politics with some familiar Dialogue faces participating. Board Member Max Mueller serves as associate editor and Dialogue Associate Editor Matt Bowman contributes a thought-provoking essay.
Within this inaugural issue, there are two Mormon-related pieces.

UVU: Mormonism and the Internet Conference

May 2, 2012


On March 29-30, Utah Valley University hosted a “Mormonism and the Internet” Conference and it is now online via YouTube with sessions by Rosemary Avance , Buddy Blankenfeld, Joanna Brooks, Gideon Burton, David Charles, Alan Cooperman, John Dehlin, Greg Droubay, James Faulconer, Scott Gordon , Patrick Mason, Ardis E. Parshall, Jana Riess, David W. Scott, and our own Editor Kristine Haglund, who eloquently discusses the communities found within Bloggernacle, with brilliant insights on how women are forming online identities.

More on Motherhood in Mormonism

April 20, 2012

In light of recent politically ignited articles on “Why Ann (Romney) Stayed Home” and “The rise of the Mormon feminist housewife” we bring back from the archives articles and essays discussing the role of motherhood in the Mormon Church:
Begin with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s significant survey of “Mormon Women in the History of Second-Wave Feminism” from 2010 that includes a handy timeline as well as important analysis: “Mormon women did not become feminists because they read The Feminine Mystique or subscribed to Ms magazine. They became feminists as new ideas, filtered through a wide range of personal associations, helped them make sense of their lives. Discovering history, they also discovered themselves.”

Laurie Maffly-Kipp on "The Long Approach to the Mormon Moment"

April 18, 2012


Watch Laurie Maffly-Kipp, a professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, present a lecture entitled, “The Long Approach to the Mormon Moment: The Building of an American Church” in St. Louis. Click in to view.

Editor Kristine Haglund on Mormon motherhood

April 17, 2012

By Gary Skidmore on Flickr

Editor Kristine Haglund was tapped for quotes on Mormon motherhood in light of the remarks on Ann Romney’s motherhood in both Buzzfeed and Slate:
“The strong prescription that women should not work seemed more jarring in a social context in which women’s right to participate more fully in the economy was starting to seem well-established,” said Kristine Haglund, a feminist and editor at liberal Mormon journal Dialogue.

Mormonism's Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview

April 4, 2012

Editor’s note: In light of the Washington Post piece on “The Genesis of a church’s stand on race” we bring back from the archives the famous article cited therein. This essay originally appeared in Dialogue 8 (Spring 1973).[p.54]

by Lester E. Bush, Jr.
There once was a time, albeit brief, when a “Negro problem” did not exist for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints During those early months in New York and Ohio no mention was even made of Church attitudes towards blacks.

Blogging General Conference

March 26, 2012

I’ll be blogging conference live at Dialogue’s affiliated blog, By Common Consent, with real-time coverage from the Conference Center, photos, and lots of discussion, both serious and silly, in the comment section. Will President Monson arrive late? Will Elder Oaks talk about Religious Freedom? Will someone reference an April Fool’s Joke? You’ll find somebody talking about it at BCC. Twitter updates also available throughout the weekend at https://twitter.com/DialogueJournal and http://twitter.com/ByCommonConsent. Join us!