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Review: Adam Miller’s “Rube Goldberg Machines”

April 24, 2013

Title: Rube Goldberg Machines: Essays in Mormon Theolog
I watched Groundhog Day the other night. I’ve owned the DVD for years but never tore the plastic wrapping until Adam Miller put a bug in my ear via one of his theological essays. (It was just as good as I remembered it!) Miller, the theological film critic. I laughed when Phil, Bill Murray’s character, punched Ned Ryerson in the face at a busy intersection and I teared up as he fruitlessly pummeled the chest of a dying homeless man in a freezing alleyway. “Come on, pops, come on pops, don’t die on me.” Watching Phil struggle through incomprehension, laugh at absurdity, and find joy in relationships, reminded me a lot of reading Miller’s book. I’d already read great reviews of it, I couldn’t wait to get a copy. But I hit many more brick walls than I anticipated. This deceptively thin volume will take much more of your time than you might think. It felt at times like the alarm clock kept hitting 6:00 AM, February 2, and I was in for another round of difficulty. Not that all the essays were the same, but that they were each difficult in their own way. It’s way above my level to feel confident in doing this, but my review is an attempt to help readers like me have a better chance at making it through the book.

Patrick Mason on unmanned drones

April 3, 2013

Board member Patrick Mason discusses the ethical responsibility of religious people in looking at unmanned drones for The Christian Century. He opines ”
“The latest development in our capacity to kill ever more people from an ever more distance is unmanned, armed drones. Since 9/11, the U.S. military and intelligence communities have dramatically increased their reliance on drones for surveillance and “targeted killings” of enemy combatants. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in these supposedly “surgical” strikes, including at least 176 children.
While experts debate the utility, strategic value, morality and legality of drone attacks, Christians have historical and theological reasons to join the swelling chorus of critics of drone warfare. Notwithstanding the tremendous diversity of Christian views on war, peace and the state more generally, the very phrase ‘targeted killing’ should make every Christian cringe.”
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C.S. Lewis and Mormonism, Mormon Matters Podcast

March 6, 2013

In this new podcast “C.S. Lewis and Mormonism,” Book Review Editor Blair Hodges joins Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and other panelists Mahonri Stewart and Katie Langston to discuss “Lewis’s life and writings and impact both in religious conversation at large as well as in their own lives. Especially within their own lives and spiritual journey.”
For more on C.S. Lewis and how he influences Mormon thought, see Blair Hodges’ Dialogue article “‘All Find What They Truly Seek’: C. S. Lewis, Latter-day Saints, and the Virtuous Unbeliever”

Grant Hardy on recent scriptural changes

March 6, 2013

After looking at “The King James Bible and the Future of Missionary Work” for Dialogue last summer, Grant Hardy now looks at the recent scriptural changes for Faith Promoting Rumor at Patheos, lamenting that accuracy has been unfortunately delayed in “The 2013 Adjustments to the Book of Mormon.”

Here’s an excerpt:
“…So for the Book of Mormon, the 2013 adjustments are a holding pattern. I look forward to the day when the Church will return to trajectory set in 1981 of “bring[ing] the material into conformity with prepublication manuscripts and early editions edited by the Prophet Joseph Smith.” Perhaps in that future, more fully revised edition, we will also get indications of the original, longer chapter divisions (since the original manuscript suggests that those breaks were written on the Gold Plates, and hence were intended by Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni), and maybe even a return to paragraphs—the formatting of the Book of Mormon during Joseph Smith’s lifetime.”

Perspectives on the "Mormon Moment"

February 27, 2013

“This particular moment reveals something new in that …the questions American observers are asking from the outside are more similar to the ones Mormons are confronting on the inside.” – Kristine Haglund

The 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney was accompanied by unprecedented attention to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dubbed by Newsweek Magazine as the ‘Mormon Moment,’ The Book of Mormon Musical, California’s Proposition 8, and the elevated profile of prominent Latter-day Saints provided a unique opportunity to observe the successes and challenges of this dynamic religious tradition. The lecture and panel featured scholars addressing issues related to the rise of Mormonism and the forces that have shaped its development as a distinctive Christian faith.

International Mormon Studies Book Project

February 19, 2013

As a followup to Michelle Inouye’s Winter 2012 Letter to the Editor about the International Mormon Studies Book Project, here is a Patheos post with more information on how to donate. “As Mormonism continues to…

Photos from a Conference in Honor of the Career of Armand Mauss

February 19, 2013

Updated with photos*: “Beyond the Mormon Moment: Directions for Mormon Studies in the New Century” A Conference in Honor of the Career of Armand Mauss Held on March 15-16.
*All photos shot by Morris Thurston, Dialogue Board President

Why I’d Like to Hear a Woman Pray in Conference

January 16, 2013

A short note from Editor Kristine Haglund:
It’s because every time I’m on a plane, and the captain’s voice on the intercom is female, I get a little teary. I’ve never wanted to be a pilot, and it really doesn’t make any practical difference whether a man or a woman lands the plane safely. I have no eloquent or reasoned argument to explain my emotion. But it matters. It. Just. Does.
I want my daughter to know girls can fly.

Article Spotlight: Stephen Taysom, “Abundant Events or Narrative Abundance: Robert Orsi and the Academic Study of Mormonism”

January 7, 2013

In case you missed it during the business that is the holiday season, the winter issue of Dialogue appeared on its website. As its lead article, our own Steve Taysom offers a fabulous look at one of the new and provocative theories in religious studies: Robert Orsi’s “abundant events.” This theory should be familiar with Mormons studies practitioners and Dialogue readers since Orsi, Richard Bushman, and Susanna Morrill did an interview about it in Dialogue‘s fall 2011 issue. Put simply, Orsi’s theory starts with the problem that plagues many scholars: what does one do with supernatural events that are claimed by the religious people one studies? Or as Steve summarizes, “how do scholars of religion account for experiences that are simultaneously irrational and real?” (4-5) Orsi’s response is to construct a conceptual category that both avoids the reductionism of skeptical scholars while still providing a framework in which the importance of the claimed experience can still be analyzed. Taysom examines the theory and sees how it works when applied to the study of Mormonism’s gold plates.

Winter 2012 Issue

January 4, 2013

For those with premium access, the Winter 2012 issue is up and begins with two path-breaking articles—Stephen Taysom frames a discussion of the gold plates in terms of Robert Orsi’s theory of “abundant events,” and Walter Van Beek uses the history of the Dutch temple to ask important questions about how temples work within communities to create sacred space. There are also two wonderful personal essays—one lighthearted, one wrenching, both deeply thoughtful. The Fiction section offers stories from two of the best Mormon storytellers of their generations—Levi Peterson and Jack Harrell. Excellent new poetry, curated by new poetry editor Tyler Chadwick, and several informative and thought-provoking book reviews round out the issue. The issue concludes with a talk by Russell Hancock, on learning to pray on one’s feet as well as one’s knees—finding a way forward to spiritual growth and confidence even in the absence of unmistakable spiritual manifestations.
If you don’t have premium access, you can purchase individual articles for $1.99 each, pick up the entire issue for $15.00, or become a subscriber and enjoy Dialogue content for an entire year!