Volume 55, No. 4

Winter 2022

The Winter 2022 Issue begins with an important analysis by Eliza Wells on "Quoted at the Pulpit: Male Rhetoric and Female Authority in Fifty Years of General Conference." This is followed by "The Production of the Book of Mormon in Light of a Tibetan Buddhist Parallel" by Tanner Davidson McAlister and "The Garden Atonement and the Mormon Cross Taboo" by Jeremy Christiansen. And find our Bodies of Christ Writing Contest winners with their gorgeous and fascinating essays, poems and fiction pieces. Purchase single issue here.

Articles/Essays

Quoted at the Pulpit: Male Rhetoric and Female Authority in Fifty Years of General Conference

Eliza Wells

Dialogue 55.4 (Winter 2021): 1–50
While much has changed for women in the Church over the last half-century, much remains the same. Women consistently make up less than 3 percent of quotations in general conference. They are still described in terms of their appearance and relationship status; sermons about how they should live are the domain of male authority; their own representatives in the Church spend much of their time at the pulpit repeating male leaders’ words.

The Production of the Book of Mormon in Light of a Tibetan Buddhist Parallel

Tanner Davidson McAlister

Dialogue 55.4 (Winter 2022): 41–83
Drawing on observations and suggestions from scholars of Tibetan Buddhism and Mormonism, this article compares the production of the Book of Mormon with that of the class of Tibetan Buddhist scripture known as gter ma (“Treasure,” pronounced “terma”)

The Garden Atonement and the Mormon Cross Taboo

Jeremy M. Christiansen

Listen to the Out Loud Interview about this article here. Michael Reed’s 2012 book Banishing the Cross: The Emergence of a Mormon Taboo sets out an excellent account of the uncomfortable relationship between the Church…

BODIES OF CHRIST WRITING CONTEST

Editor

Editor’s Note: In 2021, Dialogue hosted a writing contest titled Bodies of Christ with the following parameters: Dialogue seeks submissions of poetry (up to 100 lines), short fiction (3500–6000 words), and personal voice (nonfiction, narrative…

First Place: The Ward Organist

William Morris

Listen to the Out Loud audio version of this fiction piece here. Listen to the interview about this piece here. Never learn to play the organ, the old woman told me. I should call her…

Second Place: Dispatches from Kolob

Ryan Habermeyer

Listen to the Out Loud audio version of this article here. Listen to the interview about this piece here. Dear President Russell M. Nelson, For centuries, the pope has been addressed as Your Holiness, and they…

Honorable Mention: Butterflies

Phyllis Barber

Trying to get to the nursery proper and all of the blooming plants—bright colors, heady smells, early summer at its best—Mona almost walked past his table. It was one of those fold-up numbers with foldout…

Second Place: Pressed Palms

Caitlin McNally Olsen

Listen to the Out Loud Interview about this article here. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. —Romans 12:2 One spring weekend, with a six-month-old…

First Place: Times and Seasons

Margaret Olsen Hemming

Listen to the Out Loud Interview about this article here. They came to us just before spring arrived, at the same time I began putting seeds into the ground in my garden. Lettuce, spinach, arugula.…

Third Place: All Things Both Temporal and Spiritual

Mauri Pollard Johnson

Listen to the Out Loud Interview about this article here. For by the power of my Spirit created I them; yea, all things both spiritual and temporal. —Doctrine & Covenants 29:31 The therapist I had…

First Place: His Own Hand

J.S. Absher

I desire to be to the Eternal Goodness what his own hand is to a man.—Theologica Germanica i. What the Right Hand Is Take my right hand—the index finger crookedfrom a long-forgotten break; the dintwhere…

Second Place: Our Lady of Innumerable Appellatives

Dayna Patterson

Listen to the Out Loud version of the poem here. Enter into Her gates with thanksgivingand into Her courts with praise.—Psalm 100:4 1.Swirl of gold gleaming in our daughters’ eyes.Amen. Whorl of cirrostratus haloingthe moon.…

Third Place: Penitent Magdalene, Donatello

Anita Tanner

Shock of agingin a wooden sculpture—more than yearsdisplayed here,her gauntand weathered faceportraying time had its way—sunken eyes,broken teeth,parched and haggard lips. The cathedralof her handsforms a gothic archbelow her chinsuggesting prayer,her frail body embracedby heavy…

Volume 55, No. 4

Contents

Articles/Essays

Quoted at the Pulpit: Male Rhetoric and Female Authority in Fifty Years of General Conference

The Production of the Book of Mormon in Light of a Tibetan Buddhist Parallel

The Garden Atonement and the Mormon Cross Taboo

Fiction

BODIES OF CHRIST WRITING CONTEST

First Place: The Ward Organist

Second Place: Dispatches from Kolob

Honorable Mention: Butterflies

Personal Voices

Second Place: Pressed Palms

First Place: Times and Seasons

Third Place: All Things Both Temporal and Spiritual

Poetry

First Place: His Own Hand

Second Place: Our Lady of Innumerable Appellatives

Third Place: Penitent Magdalene, Donatello

Reviews

Queerness Is Mormonism Is Queerness Blaire Ostler, Queer Mormon Theology

The Enduring Vertigo of the Elect Lady Libbie Grant, The Prophet’s Wife

Volume Art

Volume Art