Volume 22, No. 4

Winter 1989

The Winter 1989 issue presents thoughtful reflections on Joseph Smith’s legacy and Mormon history. Karl C. Sandberg examines Joseph Smith’s role as translator, specifically in relation to the Book of Abraham, while an interview with Leonard Arrington addresses challenges in Mormon historical interpretation. Stanford Cazier’s piece honors Arrington’s contributions to Mormon scholarship. Max Nolan explores the tension between materialism and Mormon teachings, and Michelle Stott discusses the intersections of Mormonism with existential philosophy. Carol Edison’s article on Mormon gravestones reveals cultural expressions of identity and belief. William A. Wilson examines Mormon folklore as a mirror reflecting cultural truths. The issue also includes Lisa Madsen de Rubilar’s fiction, exploring mortality and spirituality. And more!

Articles/Essays

Knowing Brother Joseph Again: The Book of Abraham, and Joseph Smith as Translator

Karl C. Sandberg

No man knows my history. Joseph Smith   Millions shall know Brother Joseph again. Mormon hymn The original problem prompting this essay occurred improbably more than twenty years ago as I was sifting through the four in folio volumes of Pierre Bayle’s 1697 Dictionnaire historique et critique in search of...

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Honoring Leonard Arrington

Stanford Cazier

How does one capture Leonard Arrington? It is a pleasure to attempt, but certainly no easy task. I see Leonard as scientists see nature: in four dimensions. But just as scientists are now discovering and…

Materialism and the Mormon Faith

Max Nolan

In his landmark study of early Mormon economic life, Great Basin Kingdom, Leonard J. Arrington observed: Joseph Smith and other early Mormon leaders seem to have seen every part of life, and every problem put…

Of Truth and Passion: Mormonism and Existential Thought

Michelle Stott

In the first century A.D., Pontius Pilate, confounded by Jesus Christ’s forceful witness to his mission to “bear witness unto the truth,” asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38) This was neither the first nor the…

Mormon Gravestones: A Folk Expression of Identity and Belief

Carol Edison

For years cultural geographers, folklorists, and other researchers have identified and delineated the Mormon region of the American West by charting characteristic elements of its cultural landscape. In his 1952 work The Mormon Village, Lowry…

Pure Thin Bones

Lisa Madsen De Rubilar

José Luís was sick. That was why Michelle and Renata stopped by to see him on their way home from missionary zone meeting. They walked with Nielsen, his companion, who had gone to the meeting…

Coming to Terms with Mormon History :An Interview with Leonard Arrington

Editor

Letters to the Editor

Jews in the Columns of Joseph’s Times and Seasons

Steven Epperson

On 21 May 1839, Joseph Smith introduced an unusual entry in his journal history, writing, “To show the feelings of that long scattered branch of the house of Israel, the Jews, I here quote a…

Forever Tentative

Charles L. Boyd

I was stimulated, concerned, and saddened simultaneously as I read David Bailey’s article in DIALOGUE (Summer 1988) and reread Richard Pearson Smith’s Spring 1986 article, both discussing science and the LDS Church. I was stimulated…

Reply to “Forever Tentative”

David H. Bailey

I wish to thank Charles Boyd for bringing to light some additional material relevant to the topics discussed in my article on science and Mormonism. I will briefly respond to some of the issues he…

Christmas Morning—1906

Aldyth Morris

By now the Christmases of my life—all but one—have escaped re strictions of time and place and have arranged themselves, undated, in an intricate mosaic of memories, which can be instantly evoked by such small…

…of the Book…

Helen Beach Cannon

My friend’s two-year-old loves the stories in books. He loves them so much that sometimes he takes a book from his mother’s hands, places it on the floor, and tries to step into the story.…

Grandpa’s Coffee

Dennis Smith

It is a morning flight. We have gained altitude and are somewhere over the Colorado Rockies. Below, through breaks in the clouds, a thin film of early snowfall covers the mountaintops like a veil. High…

On a Denver Bus

Anita Tanner

Out of the cold Christmas streets
we climb to an old woman
raising her scarfed face to us,
scarred and hollow-nosed,

Early Through Winter

Jill Hemming

Someone went shooting rabbits last night
blasting any flesh too slow to dodge.

I track the powdered ground until I toe
a scarlet gash melted to concrete.

A Case for the Rain

Paris Anderson

Living the Principle | Jessie L. Embry, Mormon Polygamous Families: Life in the Principle

Joan S. Iversen

Unfortunately but undeniably, the practice of polygamy is closely associated in the popular mind with the Mormons, fascinating both scholars and casual readers, generating a plethora of anecdotal studies, and resulting in many oversimplifications and…

Brief Notices

Gerald Erichsen

The Study of Mormon Folklore: An Uncertain Mirror for Truth

William A. Wilson

It is an honor for me to speak here, partly because of the standard of excellence set by those who have preceded me at this podium, but primarily because of my respect for the man…

Volume 22, No. 4

Contents

Articles/Essays

Knowing Brother Joseph Again: The Book of Abraham, and Joseph Smith as Translator

Honoring Leonard Arrington

Materialism and the Mormon Faith

Of Truth and Passion: Mormonism and Existential Thought

Mormon Gravestones: A Folk Expression of Identity and Belief

Fiction

Pure Thin Bones

Interview

Coming to Terms with Mormon History :An Interview with Leonard Arrington

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Notes

Jews in the Columns of Joseph’s Times and Seasons

Forever Tentative

Reply to “Forever Tentative”

Personal Voices

Christmas Morning—1906

…of the Book…

Grandpa’s Coffee

Poetry

On a Denver Bus

Early Through Winter

A Case for the Rain

Reviews

Living the Principle | Jessie L. Embry, Mormon Polygamous Families: Life in the Principle

Brief Notices

Sermon

The Study of Mormon Folklore: An Uncertain Mirror for Truth