Summer 2005
The Summer 2005 issue begins with Jason H. Lindquist exploring the use and evolution of the doctrine of "keys" and elaborates on how they were presented initially and how they have changed in subsequent years. Following this is "The Psalms" by Richard J. Clifford, which takes a comprehensive look at Psalms, including the history of the book, and the different genres and structures of psalms included in the book. Next up is a look by David Clark Knowlton at the church in Chile and Mexico where the question must be asked, what does it mean to be a member of the church? This question, and more, are addressed in Knowlton's article as he looks at discrepancies between census data and church records to begin the conversation. Following this Mark L. Grover writes about the growth of the church in Latin America and the difficult path the church has had while attempting to gain a foothold in specifically South America. Finally, we have "The Making of Grave Community Sin" by Garth N. Jones, which looks at poverty faced by saints in developing and third-world countries all over the world. Jones speaks of reconciling his guilt with this fact and expands on ways he thinks more can be done to alleviate this suffering. Also included in this issue are a pair of fictional pieces, several poems, and a collection of reviews.
In a June 1843 public meeting, Joseph Smith was asked why “gathering . . . the people of God” was such an important principle. He responded with this lively bit of wisdom: “A man never…
The Psalms were prayed by David and Solomon, Isaiah and Jeremiah, Jesus, Matthew and Paul, Jerome and Augustine, Ibn Ezra and Rashi, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin, and Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa—in short, by…
How many members are there and what does it mean to be a member? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regularly publishes figures representing Church membership. If nowhere else they appear in the…
In 1926 just before leaving Argentina after a six-month mission and few baptisms, Elder Melvin J. Ballard of the Council of the Twelve Apostles drew on natural images to suggest the future growth of the…
Few articles published in Dialogue disturbed my intellectual comfort as Dr. Bradley Walker’s three-part series on the deplorable condition of Latin American Saints.[1] For some three decades, I lived off and on in Third World…
Latham Runyon wondered what time he ought to close his window. It was going to be a tongue-hanger today. But for now, the morning was still dewy and bearable. He pulled his half-glasses up to…
Lucille Wentworth sat in her working on her cross-stitch, watching Judy and Ray hold hands, sitting across from her on the couch. It was late, past one; they’d talked for hours, the conversation flowing around…
Gary James Bergera, Signature Books Defended
Robert Garrett, Hamblin Ad Hominem?
James L. Rasmussen, Erotic Literature and the Lord
Stephen Lamb, Sexual Morality Revisited
I AM NATASHA MCDONALD. THIS IS MY MOM AND DAD. I HAVE CEREBRAL PALSY. I THINK AND FEEL LIKE YOU DO BUT THE PART OF MY BRAIN THAT CONTROLS MY PHYSICAL SELF WAS DAMAGED WHEN…
That morning you came to me
I saw the lamp arising in your beard,
a flash of solder and fire
wisping in your robes and hair
The trees wear
copper-lit skin tonight.
Spread out and still in the cold,
they look like slender Kenyans
holding up thousands of hands,
Three times I take his words into my mouth
and make them thunder from my tongue.
His final speech will not remain unsung in me.
I feel grace descend like whiskey-scented
oil poured over me in the upper room on
my way to heaven. I dance in the heat of
a fire, like ghosts following Sitting Bull
In her fiftieth year and all these other
smug and satisfied people’s children
gaping faces from the pews like ripe pears
and what can she say—a professional woman,
Driving from Hollister to Santa Cruz late morning, I
stop at San Juan Bautista to grab a sandwich.
All the signs point toward the Mission, so I keep driving.
Brown-skinned Mexican kids swirl around the plaza
The old man bent and balding
is lowered into the water.
At that small moment of burial
he remembers his mother, thinks
Duwayne R. Anderson, a highly accomplished and acclaimed physicist specializing in fiber optics, offers readers a thorough examination of the role of science in his disillusionment from Mormonism. The book provides compelling evidence that Latter-day…
Paul Edwards’s first mystery novel, The Angel Acronym, is not exactly a religious novel, but it is a novel in which the characters spend a great deal of time talking about religion. And the religion…
“Faithful transgression,” a concept developed by Laura L. Bush in this thought-provoking study of Mormon women’s autobiographies, is a concept worth keeping. It’s not “loyal opposition” because it doesn’t openly or politically oppose; faithful transgressions…
Mild-mannered Mormon housewife uses her background in chemistry and family science to whip up a batch of tantalizing cinnamon fragrance as a last-minute party favor for a visiting teaching luncheon. Little did Donna Brooks realize…
This engaging labor-of-love book is a pleasure to read even if one does not always agree with its arguments. In it, BYU German professor Alan Keele mines German literature and drama for what he calls…
Kathy Wilson is the owner and manager of Sego Gallery and Framing Center in Salt Lake City. Her paintings featured on the cover of this issue, Tulips and Aspens at Fish Lake, were done in watercolor.…
