Volume 21, No. 4

Winter 1988

The Winter 1988 Issue explores themes of theology, community, and history in Mormonism. Anthony Hutchinson revisits LDS creation narratives, proposing a reinterpretative "Mormon midrash." A panel discussion offers insights into the role and relief provided by the Relief Society, with contributors like Maureen Ursenbach Beecher and Catherine Stokes reflecting on leadership, community support, and grace. Lavina Fielding Anderson examines Ezra Taft Benson’s parenting guidance, while John C. Lehr investigates the impact of polygamy and prophecy in the Mormon colonization of Cardston. Personal narratives include reflections on producing the play Huebener and an encounter at a chapel. The issue also features commentary on "New Mormon History," fiction by Michael Fillerup, and poetry by Kathy Evans and E. Victoria Grover-Swank. And more!

Articles/Essays

A Mormon Midrash?: LDS Creation Narratives Reconsidered

Anthony A. Hutchinson

Latter-day Saints, with other groups in the Judeo-Christian tradition, accept as scripture the stories of creation found in Genesis 1-3 but are unique in accepting as scripture three other parallel versions of the same stories. These include chapters in the books of Moses and Abraham brought forth by Joseph Smith,...

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How Do You Spell Relief? A Panel of Relief Society Presidents

Sharon Lee Swenson, Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Catherine Stokes and K. Carpenter

The idea for this panel sprang from last year’s western Pilgrimage reunion, an annual meeting of women. We were sitting around observing who’d become a Relief Society president and being amazed. We tried to figure out what it could possibly mean and came to no conclusion but decided it would be interesting to talk about.

A Voice from the Past: The Benson Instructions for Parents

Lavina Fielding Anderson

In February 1987 at a fireside for parents, President Ezra Taft Benson delivered an address called “To the Mothers in Zion.” In October 1987, he delivered a parallel address in the priesthood session of general…

Polygamy, Patrimony, and Prophecy: The Mormon Colonization of Cardston

John C. Lehr

Dialogue 21.4 (Winter 1990): 114–121
Lehr discussed the journey undertaken by Charles O. Card to move to Canada and preserve polygamy, before the First Manifesto during a time that members were being hunted down for for their religious beliefs.

The Bowhunter

Michael Fillerup

Jack slowed down, looking for a sign. Seeing none, he sped on down the highway, grumbling to himself. Dean could have given more specific directions — or better, first-hand instructions, not this friend-of-a-friend nonsense. It…

Letters to the Editor

The Case for the New Mormon History: Thomas G. Alexander and His Critics

M. Gerald Bradford

My overwhelming first impression of Thomas G. Alexander’s “Historiography and the New Mormon History: A Historian’s Perspective” published in DIALOGUE (Fall 1986) is that the author, in the words of a character in a recent…

Doing Huebener

Margaret Blair Young

Everyone is insecure in some way. But only a schizophrenic or a Theatre Person would alleviate that insecurity by becoming someone else. As a Theatre Person I had been a queen, a bitch, an unwed…

The Man at the Chapel

Karin Anderson England

I wrote to my mission president for the last time almost two years ago during the final week of my mission. I think I expressed my love to him and my gratitude for the example…

Failed Friendship

E. Victoria Grover-Swank

Sisters nod and smile,
inclining intimately toward her in the crowded room.
Years of testimonies shared and friendships deified
linger in the worn cushions and heavy curtains.
She brushes jostling shoulders, turns and feels

Here’s the Church

Kathy Evans

While the organist pumped
“Let Us All Press on in the Work of the Lord,”
and the chorister napped her arms
like a whooping crane, and some sat there

Forgeries, Bombs, and Salamanders | Linda Sillitoe and Allen D. Roberts, Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders

Mary Blanchard and Jeffery Ogden Johnson

Every once in a while you will see an image that stays with you for years. On 16 October 1985 I saw an image that will be with me a lifetime: a burned out sports…

Joseph in an Alternate Universe | Orson Scott Card, Seventh Son

Sandra Ballif Straubhaar

There is a time-honored tradition in science fiction and fantasy of the “alternate universe” story, set in a time and place partially familiar to the reader but with carefully chosen differences. Philip K. Dick’s The…

Honoring Arrington | Davis Bitton and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, eds., New Views of Mormon History: Essays in Honor of Leonard J. Arrington

F. Ross Peterson

Leonard Arrington deserves to be honored. Nineteen of his professional associates, former employees, and friends have each contributed to this book a previously unpublished essay to thank a man who fostered their individual careers. Although Arrington’s…

A Celebration of Diversity: A Heritage of Faith: Talks Selected from BYU Women’s Conferences

Helen Beach Cannon

In 1986 Deseret Book published an anthology of talks selected from BYU women’s conferences. That collection, Woman to Woman, as the title suggests, included talks exclusively by Church women. Now, a 1988 anthology includes both…

Brief Notices

Gerald Erichsen

Volume 21, No. 4

Contents

Articles/Essays

A Mormon Midrash?: LDS Creation Narratives Reconsidered

How Do You Spell Relief? A Panel of Relief Society Presidents

A Voice from the Past: The Benson Instructions for Parents

Polygamy, Patrimony, and Prophecy: The Mormon Colonization of Cardston

Fiction

The Bowhunter

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Notes

The Case for the New Mormon History: Thomas G. Alexander and His Critics

Personal Voices

Doing Huebener

The Man at the Chapel

Poetry

Failed Friendship

Here’s the Church

Reviews

Forgeries, Bombs, and Salamanders | Linda Sillitoe and Allen D. Roberts, Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders

Joseph in an Alternate Universe | Orson Scott Card, Seventh Son

Honoring Arrington | Davis Bitton and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, eds., New Views of Mormon History: Essays in Honor of Leonard J. Arrington

A Celebration of Diversity: A Heritage of Faith: Talks Selected from BYU Women’s Conferences

Brief Notices