Volume 38, No. 3

Fall 2005

The Fall 2005 issue begins with Gary James Bergera looking at polygamy in early Mormonism, as well as speculating on how it was practiced, by whom it was practiced, and the surviving records of the practice in that time period. Following this is "The Remnant Church: An RLDS Schismatic Group Finds a Prophet of Joseph's Seed" by William D. Russel which looks at waning membership among the RLDS following the implementation of Section 156 of the RLDS Doctrine and Covenants. Also included in this issue are several personal voices, fictional pieces, and several beautiful works of poetry.

Articles/Essays

Identifying the Earliest Mormon Polygamists, 1841-1844

Gary James Bergera

Dialogue 38.3 (Spring 2004): 1–74
Bergera uses evidence from plural wives to show who some of the first polygamists were in the church.

The Remnant Church: An RLDS Schismatic Group Finds a Prophet of Joseph’s Seed

William D. Russell

Dialogue 38.3 (Fall 2005): 26–54
When the 1984 conference approved Section 156 , which also indicated that the soon-to-be-built temple in Independence would be dedicated to the pursuit of peace, it became clear that the largest “schism”—separation from the unity of the Church—in the history of the RLDS Church was in the making.

The Weight of Priesthood

Stephen Carter

I was eight years old one March Sunday. The chapel curtains were bright with the springtime sun, as if angels were standing outside. The church itself was new, built only a year or two before…

Carterville

Douglas Thayer

I wanted to lift the glass-framed lid and hold the big German brown trout. He was smooth, beautiful, all shining gold—darker gold on top and lighter gold underneath. The gold had black, orange, and red…

Garden Tomb

Spencer Ellsworth

The water was black around our knees. Bamboo surrounded and overlooked us. It was so quiet in the mist and the dark green stalks that the sound of our legs moving was an intrusion. Water…

Letter to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Gary Huxford, Haitian Mormons
Larry Morris, Folklore Rebutted

Getting Out/Staying In: One Mormon/Gay Marriage: Getting Out

Ben Christensen

Dialogue 38.3 (Fall 2005): 121–133
In Fall 2005, there is a roundtable on mix-orientation marriages from some who were in them and from therapist Marybeth Raynes and long-time activist Ron Schow.

Getting Out/Staying In: One Mormon/Gay Marriage: Homosexual Attraction and LDS Marriage Decisions

Ron Schow

Dialogue 38.3 (Fall 2005): 133–145
In Fall 2005, there is a roundtable on mix-orientation marriages from some who were in them and from therapist Marybeth Raynes and long-time activist Ron Schow.

Getting Out/Staying In: One Mormon/Gay Marriage: Thoughts of a Therapist

Marybeth Raynes

I frequently see Mormons who are gay or gays who are Mormon. Which comes first matters immensely to many. I consult with individuals, lesbian and gay couples, and couples in which one partner is gay, bisexual,…

Getting Out/Staying In: One Mormon/Gay Marriage: Staying In

Ben Christensen

I wrote “Getting Out” as a somewhat naive twenty-four-year-old. Now I return, in theory a wise and mature twenty-five-year-old. Inevitably, I’ll find whatever I write here equally naive a year from now. I don’t know…

The Peach

Patricia Gunter Karamesines

Blake’s angel, for all his winks and nods,
Wouldn’t have it, though it hangs for having:
Drop of down and blush quavering on the rim
Of ripeness, playing at a fall.

The Good Shepherd

Craig Watts

If I were the neighborhood bishop
There’d be lots of things I couldn’t really help with
No rolling up sleeves to fix Brother Nielsen’s car
No driving some new tractor to plow snow

Salad for Two

Henry Landon Miles

I sense someone beside me
and see Emily’s eyes on my hands
and the knife in the sink.
She asks, What are you slicing?

The First Piece in the Puzzle | Emmanuel Abu Kissi, Walking in the Sand: A History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ghana

Mark T. Decker

When teaching argumentative writing, a wise instructor will often introduce her students to what is called the principle of charity, or the realization that problematic arguments were composed by intelligent people who faced rhetorical constraints…

“He Was ‘Game'” | Dan Vogel, Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet

William D. Russell

Dan Vogel has written an extensive volume on the controversial Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, focusing on his creation of the Book of Mormon as “the making of a prophet.”[1] Vogel has done impressive research, not…

Belief, Respect, and an Elbow to the Ribs | Richard Lyman Bushman, Believing History: Latter-day Saint Essaysm

Byron C. Smith

I had a very strange experience once in which Richard Bushman was indirectly involved. This experience took place when I was in an interview with the chairman of a graduate program at a well-respected university.…

The Open Canon and Innovation | Gary JAmes Bergera, Conflict in the Quorum: Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith

Michael W. Homer

Gary James Bergera’s book, Conflict in the Quorum, is a well written and fascinating account of Orson Pratt, one of Joseph Smith’s original Twelve Apostles, that highlights some of his disagreements with Church leaders (including…

Women in a Time Warp | Sheree Maxwell Bench and Susan Elizabeth Howe, eds., Discoveries: Two Centuries of Poems by Mormon Women

Danielle Beazer Dubrasky

Discoveries: Two Centuries of Poems by Mormon Women is a slim publication attempting to represent two hundred years of poetry by Mormon women. The anthology is divided into sections that portray the stages of a…

About the Artist

Issue Art

Throughout a long life, Robert Perine continually sought new ways to express his vision and use his creative gifts. Born in Los Angeles in 1922, he identified himself as a practicing artist from the age…