Fall 1986
The Fall 1986 Issue presents a collection of essays, personal reflections, poetry, and fiction that delve into various aspects of Mormon history and culture. Thomas G. Alexander discusses historiography and its implications for understanding the New Mormon history, while a panel explores the themes of serving versus converting in religious contexts. Lowell L. Bennion emphasizes the importance of service before teaching, and Marjorie Whitman contributes insights on person-to-person service. Richard M. Troeh examines internal divisions within the Church, and Kevin L. Barney analyzes Joseph Smith's translation efforts alongside ancient biblical texts. In the personal voices section, Mary Ann Marti Dickey Esplin reflects on her experiences, and Elaine R. Alder shares her thoughts on nursing homes. And much more!
Seventeen years ago, Moses Rischin, Fulbright Professor of History at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, in a review essay first used the phrase, “the New Mormon History.” By it, he meant to categorize the…
I would like to try to lay a religious foundation for the point of view I am going to take regarding serving or converting. I see five basic dimensions to being religious. Some people feel…
Going into all the world to serve others on an individual basis is an opportunity for creative, thoughtful expression. An individual may render service on behalf of an organization or may act independently of any…
The World Conference is the highest legislative authority of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The First Presidency of the Church is responsible for administering the laws and policies of the…
The question this essay attempts to answer is whether the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible (JST) represents in any way a restoration of text that originally existed in ancient manuscripts but was later altered…
God gave David nightmares. The flame-eyed giant hurling thunderbolts from the mountain of heaven, hair and beard blown back by the storm of righteous wrath—it was he who haunted the boy. *** David knew his father…
One of the least known rites of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the sacred hosanna shout.
It was one of those crisp November days in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when I heard the news. Snuggled under a quilt, I was reading to my two young sons when the telephone interrupted us. It was…
My mother was eighty-four, a widow of six months, and badly crippled with arthritis in the fall of 1981. She was also virtually blind. For the past six months, her eight children had watched anxiously…
That fine white burst of bush blossom
Has come again. Blast
ing through the winter crust
And scattering the afterbirth of spring,
Grey clouds, March-heavy hung over
an old and mottled snow that day
we brought him there to you.
A white pillar will glow from the sand as I die.
Those backyard trees will shake their empty pods
against the sky. My moldy body will sink
into its bed, smothered by sinners.
“Knowledge is a comfortable and necessary retreat and shelter for us in advanced age,” Lord Chesterfield told his son in 1747, but “if we do not plant it while young it will give us no…
At least once a decade, it seems, someone publishes a book about the Latter-day Saints without taking the necessary “trouble” to adequately research the subject. Stanley Hirshon was judged guilty of this offense in 1969…
I discovered Ed Geary’s essays by chance — a friend happened to mention them to me: “You’ve got to read them; they’re about growing up in Utah, and they’re excellent.” Curious, but not so curious…
Northrop Frye, perhaps North America’s pre-eminent literary critic, is not a name ordinarily associated with scriptural exegesis. Yet his name virtually assures that this volume will be read and analyzed by those in literary fields,…
