Religion
Recommended
Review: Mormon Tradition and the Individual Talent Mary Lythgoe Bradford. Mr. Mustard Plaster and Other Mormon Essays
Joey FranklinScared Sacred: How the Horrifying Story of Joseph Smith’s Polygamy Can Help Save Us
Stephen CarterDialogue 49.3 (Fall 2016): 75–88
Probably the most destabilizing piece of historical information most Mormons come across is Joseph Smith’s polygamy.
A View from the Inside: How Critical Ethnography Changed My Mind about Polygamy
Jennifer Huss BasquiatGenetics and Gathering the House of Israel
Brian H. ShirtsQuestions from My Past Listen to an interview about this piece here. My patriarchal blessing indicates that I am a literal descendant of Ephraim and heir to specific blessings and promises. But what does this…
The Correct [Domain] Name of the Church: Technology, Naming, and Legitimacy in the Latter-day Saint Tradition
Spencer P. GreenhalghOf all the changes made in response to the 2018 decision to emphasize the full name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, those made to the official Latter-day Saint web and digital…
Drum Rhythms and Golden Scriptures: Reasons for Mormon Conversion within Haiti’s Culture of Vodou
Catherine S. FreemanListen to the Out Loud Interview about this article here. At first glance, it may be difficult to see a relationship between Haitian Vodou and Mormonism.[1] How could Mormonism, which established and upheld racist policies…
Understanding the Community of Christ’s Doctrine and Covenants Dale E. Luffman, Commentary on the Community of Christ Doctrine and Covenants. Volume 2: The Reorganization—Community of Christ Era
Chrystal VanelFitting Comfortably: Mormonism and the Narrative of National Violence
Frederick W. AxelgardThis is an important, accessible book that should be in the hands of everyone who thinks deeply about Mormonism’s place in the world. Writing for the Cambridge Element series on religion and violence, Patrick Mason…
Sweater
Theric JepsonWith Marbles for Eyes
Nate NoorlanderAs they crested the final hill into town, the speed limit dropped and the noise from the tires was quieter and less constant. Travis looked out Sarah’s window and she looked at him like he…
Review: The Empty Space between the Walls Joseph M. Spencer. The Vision of All: Twenty-five Lectures on Isaiah in Nephi’s Record
Mark D. ThomasReview: Not Alone Stephen Carter, ed. Moth and Rust: Mormon Encounters with Death
Cristina RosettiReview: Envisioning Mormon Art Laura Allred Hurtado. Immediate Present
Sarah C. ReedReview: Horror Becomes Banal Under Scrutiny but Loss is Lasting in The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner Jennifer Quist. The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner
Rachel HelpsReview: Helping Us Think and Be in the World Linda Sillitoe. Owning the Moon
Lisa Orme BickmoreReview: The Gift of Language Heidi Naylor. Revolver
Michael Andrew EllisReview: A Life Worth Living George B. Handley. Learning to Like Life: A Tribute to Lowell Bennion
Zach HutchinsReview: Traveling “the undiscovered country” Stephen Carter, ed. Moth and Rust: Mormon Encounters with Death
Susan Elizabeth HoweReview: A Philosophical Portrait in Pieces Steven L. Peck. Gilda Trillim: Shepherdess of Rats
Rachel KirkwoodArt
J. Kirk RichardsReview: Gender Structures within Seasons of Change: Stories of Transition Sandra Clark Jergensen and Shelah Mastny Miner, eds. Seasons of Change: Stories of Transition
Mei Li InouyeFrom the Pulpit: The Song of the Righteous is a Prayer unto Me
Sariah TorontoReview: On Apple Seeds, Rats, and the State of Mormon Literature Steven L. Peck. Gilda Trillim: Shepherdess of Rats
Shane R. PetersonReview: Resisting Interpretation Lisa Bickmore. Ephemerist
Bert FullerReview: Problem Plays that Cultivate Compassion Melissa Leilani Larson. Third Wheel: Peculiar Stories of Mormon Women in Love
Julie BowmanReview: Opening Invisible Doors: Considering Heavenly Mother Rachel Hunt Steenblik. Mother’s Milk: Poems in Search of Heavenly Mother
Kristen EliasonReview: Judith Freeman: A Remarkable Memoir of an Unremarkable Life Judith Freeman. The Latter Days: A Memoir
Darin StewartReview: The Life of a Spiritualist Saint Scott H. Partridge, ed. Thirteenth Apostle: The Diaries of Amasa M. Lyman, 1832–1877
Cristina RosettiReview: Anything but Orthodox Matthew James Babcock. Heterodoxologies
Elizabeth TidwellReview: Thin Volume, Thick Questions Luisa Perkins. Prayers in Bath
Sandra Clark JergensenReview: As the Savor: The Poetry of R. A. Christmas R. A. Christmas. Saviors on Mt. Disneyland: New and Collected Poems by R. A. Christmas
Dennis ClarkReview: Raw Hope and Kindness: The Burning Point Tracy McKay. The Burning Point: A Memoir of Addiction, Destruction, Love, Parenting, Survival, and Hope
Mel HendersonReview: Our Artistic Potential The Mormon Arts Center. The Kimball Challenge at Fifty: Mormon Arts Center Essays
Jacob BenderDuties of a Deacon
Theric JepsonI never got to do it when I was a twelve-year-old Mormon boy even if it is, technically, as much a duty of a deacon as passing the sacrament—and I doubted anyone in my presidency…
The Pew
Alison BrimleyHelen realizes at church Sunday morning that still, after all these years, she does not have fond feelings for the chapel. She doesn’t want to hold on to any grudges against it—she doesn’t take it…
Review: The Making of a Hard, Then Softened Heart in The Book of Laman Mette Harrison. The Book of Laman
Laura Hilton CranerCommunity of Christ: An American Progressive Christianity, with Mormonism as an Option
Chrystal VanelDialogue 50.3 (Fall 2017): 89–115
I thus argue that Mormonism exists wherever there is belief in the Book of Mormon, even though many adherents reject the term “Mormonism” to distance themselves from the LDS Church headquartered in Salt Lake City.
Mormon-Catholic Relations in Utah History: A Sketch
Gary ToppingA Capacious Priesthood and a Life of Holiness
Kristeen L. BlackThe Provo Tabernacle and Interfaith Collaboration
Kim AbunuwaraAuthority and Priesthood in the LDS Church, Part 2: Ordinances, Quorums, Nonpriesthood Authority, Presiding, Priestesses, and Priesthood Bans
Roger TerryDialogue 51.1 (Spring 2018): 167–180
In the prequel to this article, I discussed in general contours the dual nature of authority—individual and institutional—and how the modern LDS concept of priesthood differs significantly from the ancient version in that it has become an abstract form of authority that can be “held” (or withheld, as the case might be).
Authority and Priesthood in the LDS Church, Part 1: Definitions and Development
Roger TerryDialogue 51.1 (Spring 2018): 167–180
The issue of authority in Mormonism became painfully public with the rise of the Ordain Women movement.
Review: A Book Full of Insights Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women’s Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835–1870
Benjamin E. ParkReview: Lapsing into Daredevilry Shawn Vestal. Daredevils
Julie J. NicholsReview: The Fruit of Knowledge Thomas F. Rogers. Let Your Hearts and Minds Expand: Reflections on Faith, Reason, Charity, and Beauty
Mahonri StewartReview: Just Saying Stanton Harris Hall. Just Seeing
Mary Lythgoe BradfordReview: Asking the Questions Julie J. Nichols. Pigs When They Straddle the Air: A Novel in Seven Stories
Emily Shelton PooleReview: Faith, Family, and Art Jack Harrell. Writing Ourselves: Essays on Creativity, Craft, and Mormonism
Jennifer QuistReview: Exploring the Unfamiliar Realm of Religion in Young Adult Literature Julie Berry. The Passion of Dolssa Jeff Zentner. The Serpent King
Jon OstensonReview: The New Descartes and the Book of Mormon Earl M. Wunderli. An Imperfect Book: What the Book of Mormon Tells Us about Itself
Mark D. ThomasReview: Past Second Base Joey Franklin. My Wife Wants You to Know I’m Happily Married
Eric FreezeReview: Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Wives: Ceaselessly into the Past Karen Rosenbaum. Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Wives
Josh AllenReview: Quiet Stories, Complex Emotion Darin Cozzens. The Last Blessing of J. Guyman LeGrand and Other Stories
Braden HepnerReview: Mormon Tradition and the Individual Talent Mary Lythgoe Bradford. Mr. Mustard Plaster and Other Mormon Essays
Joey FranklinThe Source of God’s Authority: One Argument for an Unambiguous Doctrine of Preexistence
Roger TerryGerontocracy and the Future of Mormonism
Gregory A. PrinceScared Sacred: How the Horrifying Story of Joseph Smith’s Polygamy Can Help Save Us
Stephen CarterDialogue 49.3 (Fall 2016): 75–88
Probably the most destabilizing piece of historical information most Mormons come across is Joseph Smith’s polygamy.
A View from the Inside: How Critical Ethnography Changed My Mind about Polygamy
Jennifer Huss BasquiatJoseph Smith, Polygamy, and the Levirate Widow
Samuel M. BrownThe Celestial Law
Carol Lynn PearsonJesus Christ, Marriage, and Mormon Christianities: 2016 Smith-Pettit Lecture, Sunstone Symposium
John G. TurnerDeus Mea Lux Est: A Mormon Among Catholics
Zina Nibley PetersenInto a Foreign Land: A Catholic among Mormons
Polly AirdAbundant Grace: The Humanness of Catholics and Latter-day Saints as a Basis for Friendship and Collaboration
Daniel P. Dwyer OFMOrdination and Blessing
Robert A. ReesMormon/Catholic Dialogue: Thinking About Ways Forward
Matthew N. SchmalzReview: More than a Different Color W. Paul Reeve. Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness
Laurie Maffly-KippReview: A Cluttering of Symbol and Metaphor David G. Pace. Dream House on Golan Drive
Theric JepsonReview: Mormonism from Varied Fictional Perspectives William Morris. Dark Watch and Other Mormon-American Stories
Jonathan LangfordReview: Walking the Narrow Path Patrick Q. Mason. Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt
Brad J. TharpeReview: Planted: An Earthy Approach to Faith and Doubt Patrick Q. Mason. Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt
Brian WhitneyHow Can a Religious Person Tolerate Other Religions?
Dennis PragerWhen I was in my early twenties, a prominent American rabbi, Yitz Greenberg, once heard me lecture to a Jewish group. I was offering comparisons between Judaism and other religions. Afterward he complimented me on…
Why do Some Perceive the Church to be a Cult? Inside and Outside Perceptions versus Reality
M. Lou ChandlerThe Golden Dream and the Nightmare: The Closet Crusade of A.C. Lambert
Samuel W. TaylorPillars of My Family: A Brief Saga
Lydia NibleyDissent and Schism in the Early Church: Explaining Mormon Fissiparousness
Danny L. JorgensenDancing Through the Doctrine: Observations on Religion and Feminism
Cecilia Konchar FarrDialogue 28.3 (Fall 1995): 1–12
As American feminist thinkers and organizers, we’ve walked a long road since then, a road that has led us farther and farther away from religious discourse and Christian justification. Our reasons have been good: We didn’t want to limit or exclude. We didn’t want to direct all feminists down a single philosophical path.
Leaders and Members: Messages from the General Handbook of Instructions
Lavina Fielding AndersonFeasting on the Word by Richard Dilworth Rust
L. Mikel VauseLDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike
Wade KotterWayward Saints: The Conflict of Opposing Visions: Wayward Saints: The Godbeites and Brigham Young by Ronald W. Walker
John SillitoCAUTION: Men in Trees by Darrell Spencer
Phyllis BarberMormonism and the Radical Religious Movement in Early Colonial New England
Val D. RustThe Discovery of Native “Mormon” Communities in Russia
Tania Rands LyonParallelomania and the Study of Latter-day Scripture: Confirmation, Coincidence, or the Collective Unconscious?
Douglas F. SalmonDialogue 33.2 (Summer 2001):139–173
This article looks at some of the ways parallels have been used by Nibley in the exposition of latter-day scripture, the types of parallels employed, and some of the problems that arise from this comparative exercise.
Ritual as Theology and as Communication
John L. SorensonAnalyzing LDS Growth in Guatemala: Report from a Barrio
Henri GoorenMaking Miracles: Parting the Veil by Phyllis Barber
Mary Ellen RobertsonRestless Grace: Leap by Terry Tempest Williams
Gail Turley HoustonThe Dangers of Missionary Work: Evil Among Us: The Texas Mormon Missionary Murders by Ken Driggs
Nancy KaderTextual Tradition, the Evolution of Mormon Doctrine, and the Doctrine & Covenants
Todd M. ComptonThe Idea of a University: Matters of Conscience
Stacy BurtonBird Island
Hugh NibleyA Tentative Approach to the Book of Abraham
Richard P. HowardThe First Vision Controversy: A Critique and Reconciliation
Marvin S. HillThe Search for Truth and Meaning in Mormon History
Leonard J. ArringtonWhat the Church Means to People Like Me
Richard D. PollThe Challenge of Honesty
Frances Lee MenloveAbout this Commemorative Issue
Neal ChandlerLife Writings of Frontier Women Series, Vol. 1-5.
Judy Nolte TempleSojourner in the Promised Land: Forty Years Among the Mormons by Jan Shipps
Bradley D. WoodworthMadame Ridiculous and Lady Sublime by Elouise Bell
Kathryn Loosli PritchettCan Science Be Faith Promoting
Richard F. Haglund Jr.LDS “Headquarters Culture” and the Rest of Mormonism: Past and Present
D. Michael QuinnCoyote Laughter
Joe StaplesThe flask lay under a loose plank on the back porch. To someone lifting the board there was only an empty space, but when Wayne knelt and reached to his elbow beneath the adjacent board,…
Antidote for Solitude: The Life of Bonnie Bobet
Karen RosenbaumWhy Mormons Should Celebrate Holy Week
Robert A. ReesWhere Can I Turn for Peace?
Emma Lou ThayneSexual Morality Revisited
Wayne SchowGood News for Fiction Readers: Vernal Promises by Jack Harrell and The Conversion of Jeff Williams by Douglas Thayer
Todd Robert PetersenReed Smoot and the Twentieth-Century Transformation of Mormonism: The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle by Kathleen Flake
Robert R. KingRelations and Principles: The Mormon Dialectic: An Introduction to Mormonism by Douglas J. Davies
Matthew Thomas NagelSinging the Differences to Sleep: Grace Notes: The Waking of a Woman’s Voice by Heidi Hart
Phyllis BarberA Maturing View of the Book of Mormon: An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins by Grant H. Palmer
David P. WrightReligion and Natasha McDonald
Francine Russell BennionHouseholding: A Quaker-Mormon Marriage
Heidi HartNapoleon Dynamite, Priesthood Skills, and the Eschatology of the Non-Rational: A Nonwarranted Physiotheologic Analysis
Cetti CherniakThe Man Lying in the Grass
Henry Landon MilesMy Belief
Gail Turley HoustonAn Interview with Darrell Spencer
Douglas ThayerTrue to the Faith: A Snapshot of the Church in 2004
Lavina Fielding AndersonGrant McMurray and the Succession Crisis in the Community of Christ
William D. RussellDialogue 39.4 (Winter 2006): 67–90
Members of the Community of Christ were shocked when our president, W. Grant McMurray, announced that he had resigned on November 29, 2004 , effective immediately.
King Benjamin and the Yeoman Farmer
G. St. John StottAn Inside View of Polygamy in the Midwest: “”God Has Made Us a Kingdom””: James Strang and the Midwest Mormons by Vickie Cleverley Speek
William ShepardColonizing the Frontier between Faith and Doubt: A Rascal by Nature, A Christian by Yearning: A Mormon Autobiography by Levi S. Peterson
Michael AustinWhere We Lay Our Scene
S. P. BaileyHer ticket is at will-call. She needs no help finding their seats, but Tom repeatedly cranes his neck to check the doors at the back of the hall. He likes it when she emerges from…
The Nature of Comets
Sigrid OlsenWe found the remains just below the embankment of an antediluvian oxbow. She had been lying there a long time, before the Cayuse and Lewis and Clark and the Grand Coulee Dam and long before…
An Old Mormon Writes to Harold Bloom
Henry Landon MilesWriting: An Act of Responsibility
Phyllis BarberShould Mormon Women Speak Out? Thoughts on Our Place in the World
Claudia L. BushmanWhat I Would Be If I Weren’t A Mormon
Kathleen Petty“A Climate Far and Fair”: Ecumenism and Abiding Faith
Thomas F. RogersA Year of Dialogue: Thinking Myself into Mormonism
Sam BhagwatStraight Home
Lisa Torcasso DowningSix cars pulled through the intersection, one after the other over the course of an hour, but none of them was hers. Barefoot, Bart waited on the slat bench outside his front door, picking away…
Badge and Bryant, or, the Decline and Fall of the Dogfrey Club
Levi S. PetersonBadge and Bryant Braunhil were first cousins, but they could have passed for fraternal twins, having—both of them—bright blue eyes, big grins, and unkempt blond hair. They lived in Linroth, a Mormon town in northern…
Scandals, Scapegoats, and the Cross: An Interview with René Girard
Scott BurtonEternal Misfit
Roger TerryFor some reason I can’t explain, I know Saint Peter won’t call my name. Coldplay[1] Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and…
The Canyon That is Not a Canyon
Ryan McIlvainThis is Dagan on the day after a 4 a.m. porn binge. Another. The third in as many weeks. He drifts into the living room in late afternoon, sees Tam at his computer, freezes. He…
Ghost Towns
Erin Ann ThomasReviews: Shield of Faith: The Power of Religion in the Lives of LDS Youth and Young Adults & Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults
Boyd Jay PetersenReview: Dispensation: Latter-day Fiction
Myrna Dee MarlerReview: Utah in the Twentieth Century
David SalmansonReview: Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide
Julie M. SmithReview: Raw Edges
Kathryn Lynard SoperReview: Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons on the Page, Stage, and Screen
Randy AstleReview: Encouraging Heterosexuality: Helping Children Develop a Traditional Sexual Orientation
William S. BradshawReview: Craig H. Harline Conversions: Two family stories from the Reformation and Modern America
(author)Reviews: Therese Doucet. A Lost Argument: A Latter-Day Novel Robert Rees, ed. Why I Stay: The Challenges of Discipleship for Contemporary Mormons Thomas Riskas. Deconstructing Mormonism:An Analysis and Assessment of the Mormon Faith
Rosalynde WelchAbundant Events or Narrative Abundance: Robert Orsi and the Academic Study of Mormonism
Stephen TaysomThe Revelations & Opinions of the Rev. Clive Japhta, D.D.
James Goldbergas extracted from a series of emails James Goldberg discovered in his junk folder I am—without question—an American. If I’ve ever doubted that, it was clear the moment I walked into the humidity and human…
Review: Michael G. Reed. Banishing the Cross: The Emergence of a Mormon Taboo
(author)Genetics and Gathering the House of Israel
Brian H. ShirtsQuestions from My Past Listen to an interview about this piece here. My patriarchal blessing indicates that I am a literal descendant of Ephraim and heir to specific blessings and promises. But what does this…
The Correct [Domain] Name of the Church: Technology, Naming, and Legitimacy in the Latter-day Saint Tradition
Spencer P. GreenhalghOf all the changes made in response to the 2018 decision to emphasize the full name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, those made to the official Latter-day Saint web and digital…
Drum Rhythms and Golden Scriptures: Reasons for Mormon Conversion within Haiti’s Culture of Vodou
Catherine S. FreemanListen to the Out Loud Interview about this article here. At first glance, it may be difficult to see a relationship between Haitian Vodou and Mormonism.[1] How could Mormonism, which established and upheld racist policies…
Understanding the Community of Christ’s Doctrine and Covenants Dale E. Luffman, Commentary on the Community of Christ Doctrine and Covenants. Volume 2: The Reorganization—Community of Christ Era
Chrystal VanelFitting Comfortably: Mormonism and the Narrative of National Violence
Frederick W. AxelgardThis is an important, accessible book that should be in the hands of everyone who thinks deeply about Mormonism’s place in the world. Writing for the Cambridge Element series on religion and violence, Patrick Mason…
Sweater
Theric JepsonWith Marbles for Eyes
Nate NoorlanderAs they crested the final hill into town, the speed limit dropped and the noise from the tires was quieter and less constant. Travis looked out Sarah’s window and she looked at him like he…
Review: The Empty Space between the Walls Joseph M. Spencer. The Vision of All: Twenty-five Lectures on Isaiah in Nephi’s Record
Mark D. ThomasReview: Not Alone Stephen Carter, ed. Moth and Rust: Mormon Encounters with Death
Cristina RosettiReview: Envisioning Mormon Art Laura Allred Hurtado. Immediate Present
Sarah C. ReedReview: Horror Becomes Banal Under Scrutiny but Loss is Lasting in The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner Jennifer Quist. The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner
Rachel HelpsReview: Helping Us Think and Be in the World Linda Sillitoe. Owning the Moon
Lisa Orme BickmoreReview: The Gift of Language Heidi Naylor. Revolver
Michael Andrew EllisReview: A Life Worth Living George B. Handley. Learning to Like Life: A Tribute to Lowell Bennion
Zach HutchinsReview: Traveling “the undiscovered country” Stephen Carter, ed. Moth and Rust: Mormon Encounters with Death
Susan Elizabeth HoweReview: A Philosophical Portrait in Pieces Steven L. Peck. Gilda Trillim: Shepherdess of Rats
Rachel KirkwoodArt
J. Kirk RichardsReview: Gender Structures within Seasons of Change: Stories of Transition Sandra Clark Jergensen and Shelah Mastny Miner, eds. Seasons of Change: Stories of Transition
Mei Li InouyeFrom the Pulpit: The Song of the Righteous is a Prayer unto Me
Sariah TorontoReview: On Apple Seeds, Rats, and the State of Mormon Literature Steven L. Peck. Gilda Trillim: Shepherdess of Rats
Shane R. PetersonReview: Resisting Interpretation Lisa Bickmore. Ephemerist
Bert FullerReview: Problem Plays that Cultivate Compassion Melissa Leilani Larson. Third Wheel: Peculiar Stories of Mormon Women in Love
Julie BowmanReview: Opening Invisible Doors: Considering Heavenly Mother Rachel Hunt Steenblik. Mother’s Milk: Poems in Search of Heavenly Mother
Kristen EliasonReview: Judith Freeman: A Remarkable Memoir of an Unremarkable Life Judith Freeman. The Latter Days: A Memoir
Darin StewartReview: The Life of a Spiritualist Saint Scott H. Partridge, ed. Thirteenth Apostle: The Diaries of Amasa M. Lyman, 1832–1877
Cristina RosettiReview: Anything but Orthodox Matthew James Babcock. Heterodoxologies
Elizabeth TidwellReview: Thin Volume, Thick Questions Luisa Perkins. Prayers in Bath
Sandra Clark JergensenReview: As the Savor: The Poetry of R. A. Christmas R. A. Christmas. Saviors on Mt. Disneyland: New and Collected Poems by R. A. Christmas
Dennis ClarkReview: Raw Hope and Kindness: The Burning Point Tracy McKay. The Burning Point: A Memoir of Addiction, Destruction, Love, Parenting, Survival, and Hope
Mel HendersonReview: Our Artistic Potential The Mormon Arts Center. The Kimball Challenge at Fifty: Mormon Arts Center Essays
Jacob BenderDuties of a Deacon
Theric JepsonI never got to do it when I was a twelve-year-old Mormon boy even if it is, technically, as much a duty of a deacon as passing the sacrament—and I doubted anyone in my presidency…
The Pew
Alison BrimleyHelen realizes at church Sunday morning that still, after all these years, she does not have fond feelings for the chapel. She doesn’t want to hold on to any grudges against it—she doesn’t take it…
Review: The Making of a Hard, Then Softened Heart in The Book of Laman Mette Harrison. The Book of Laman
Laura Hilton CranerCommunity of Christ: An American Progressive Christianity, with Mormonism as an Option
Chrystal VanelDialogue 50.3 (Fall 2017): 89–115
I thus argue that Mormonism exists wherever there is belief in the Book of Mormon, even though many adherents reject the term “Mormonism” to distance themselves from the LDS Church headquartered in Salt Lake City.
Mormon-Catholic Relations in Utah History: A Sketch
Gary ToppingA Capacious Priesthood and a Life of Holiness
Kristeen L. BlackThe Provo Tabernacle and Interfaith Collaboration
Kim AbunuwaraAuthority and Priesthood in the LDS Church, Part 2: Ordinances, Quorums, Nonpriesthood Authority, Presiding, Priestesses, and Priesthood Bans
Roger TerryDialogue 51.1 (Spring 2018): 167–180
In the prequel to this article, I discussed in general contours the dual nature of authority—individual and institutional—and how the modern LDS concept of priesthood differs significantly from the ancient version in that it has become an abstract form of authority that can be “held” (or withheld, as the case might be).
Authority and Priesthood in the LDS Church, Part 1: Definitions and Development
Roger TerryDialogue 51.1 (Spring 2018): 167–180
The issue of authority in Mormonism became painfully public with the rise of the Ordain Women movement.
Review: A Book Full of Insights Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women’s Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835–1870
Benjamin E. ParkReview: Lapsing into Daredevilry Shawn Vestal. Daredevils
Julie J. NicholsReview: The Fruit of Knowledge Thomas F. Rogers. Let Your Hearts and Minds Expand: Reflections on Faith, Reason, Charity, and Beauty
Mahonri StewartReview: Just Saying Stanton Harris Hall. Just Seeing
Mary Lythgoe BradfordReview: Asking the Questions Julie J. Nichols. Pigs When They Straddle the Air: A Novel in Seven Stories
Emily Shelton PooleReview: Faith, Family, and Art Jack Harrell. Writing Ourselves: Essays on Creativity, Craft, and Mormonism
Jennifer QuistReview: Exploring the Unfamiliar Realm of Religion in Young Adult Literature Julie Berry. The Passion of Dolssa Jeff Zentner. The Serpent King
Jon OstensonReview: The New Descartes and the Book of Mormon Earl M. Wunderli. An Imperfect Book: What the Book of Mormon Tells Us about Itself
Mark D. ThomasReview: Past Second Base Joey Franklin. My Wife Wants You to Know I’m Happily Married
Eric FreezeReview: Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Wives: Ceaselessly into the Past Karen Rosenbaum. Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Wives
Josh AllenReview: Quiet Stories, Complex Emotion Darin Cozzens. The Last Blessing of J. Guyman LeGrand and Other Stories
Braden HepnerReview: Mormon Tradition and the Individual Talent Mary Lythgoe Bradford. Mr. Mustard Plaster and Other Mormon Essays
Joey FranklinThe Source of God’s Authority: One Argument for an Unambiguous Doctrine of Preexistence
Roger TerryGerontocracy and the Future of Mormonism
Gregory A. PrinceScared Sacred: How the Horrifying Story of Joseph Smith’s Polygamy Can Help Save Us
Stephen CarterDialogue 49.3 (Fall 2016): 75–88
Probably the most destabilizing piece of historical information most Mormons come across is Joseph Smith’s polygamy.
A View from the Inside: How Critical Ethnography Changed My Mind about Polygamy
Jennifer Huss BasquiatJoseph Smith, Polygamy, and the Levirate Widow
Samuel M. BrownThe Celestial Law
Carol Lynn PearsonJesus Christ, Marriage, and Mormon Christianities: 2016 Smith-Pettit Lecture, Sunstone Symposium
John G. TurnerDeus Mea Lux Est: A Mormon Among Catholics
Zina Nibley PetersenInto a Foreign Land: A Catholic among Mormons
Polly AirdAbundant Grace: The Humanness of Catholics and Latter-day Saints as a Basis for Friendship and Collaboration
Daniel P. Dwyer OFMOrdination and Blessing
Robert A. ReesMormon/Catholic Dialogue: Thinking About Ways Forward
Matthew N. SchmalzReview: More than a Different Color W. Paul Reeve. Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness
Laurie Maffly-KippReview: A Cluttering of Symbol and Metaphor David G. Pace. Dream House on Golan Drive
Theric JepsonReview: Mormonism from Varied Fictional Perspectives William Morris. Dark Watch and Other Mormon-American Stories
Jonathan LangfordReview: Walking the Narrow Path Patrick Q. Mason. Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt
Brad J. TharpeReview: Planted: An Earthy Approach to Faith and Doubt Patrick Q. Mason. Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt
Brian WhitneyHow Can a Religious Person Tolerate Other Religions?
Dennis PragerWhen I was in my early twenties, a prominent American rabbi, Yitz Greenberg, once heard me lecture to a Jewish group. I was offering comparisons between Judaism and other religions. Afterward he complimented me on…
Why do Some Perceive the Church to be a Cult? Inside and Outside Perceptions versus Reality
M. Lou ChandlerThe Golden Dream and the Nightmare: The Closet Crusade of A.C. Lambert
Samuel W. TaylorPillars of My Family: A Brief Saga
Lydia NibleyDissent and Schism in the Early Church: Explaining Mormon Fissiparousness
Danny L. JorgensenDancing Through the Doctrine: Observations on Religion and Feminism
Cecilia Konchar FarrDialogue 28.3 (Fall 1995): 1–12
As American feminist thinkers and organizers, we’ve walked a long road since then, a road that has led us farther and farther away from religious discourse and Christian justification. Our reasons have been good: We didn’t want to limit or exclude. We didn’t want to direct all feminists down a single philosophical path.
Leaders and Members: Messages from the General Handbook of Instructions
Lavina Fielding AndersonFeasting on the Word by Richard Dilworth Rust
L. Mikel VauseLDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike
Wade KotterWayward Saints: The Conflict of Opposing Visions: Wayward Saints: The Godbeites and Brigham Young by Ronald W. Walker
John SillitoCAUTION: Men in Trees by Darrell Spencer
Phyllis BarberMormonism and the Radical Religious Movement in Early Colonial New England
Val D. RustThe Discovery of Native “Mormon” Communities in Russia
Tania Rands LyonParallelomania and the Study of Latter-day Scripture: Confirmation, Coincidence, or the Collective Unconscious?
Douglas F. SalmonDialogue 33.2 (Summer 2001):139–173
This article looks at some of the ways parallels have been used by Nibley in the exposition of latter-day scripture, the types of parallels employed, and some of the problems that arise from this comparative exercise.
Ritual as Theology and as Communication
John L. SorensonAnalyzing LDS Growth in Guatemala: Report from a Barrio
Henri GoorenMaking Miracles: Parting the Veil by Phyllis Barber
Mary Ellen RobertsonRestless Grace: Leap by Terry Tempest Williams
Gail Turley HoustonThe Dangers of Missionary Work: Evil Among Us: The Texas Mormon Missionary Murders by Ken Driggs
Nancy KaderTextual Tradition, the Evolution of Mormon Doctrine, and the Doctrine & Covenants
Todd M. ComptonThe Idea of a University: Matters of Conscience
Stacy BurtonBird Island
Hugh NibleyA Tentative Approach to the Book of Abraham
Richard P. HowardThe First Vision Controversy: A Critique and Reconciliation
Marvin S. HillThe Search for Truth and Meaning in Mormon History
Leonard J. ArringtonWhat the Church Means to People Like Me
Richard D. PollThe Challenge of Honesty
Frances Lee MenloveAbout this Commemorative Issue
Neal ChandlerLife Writings of Frontier Women Series, Vol. 1-5.
Judy Nolte TempleSojourner in the Promised Land: Forty Years Among the Mormons by Jan Shipps
Bradley D. WoodworthMadame Ridiculous and Lady Sublime by Elouise Bell
Kathryn Loosli PritchettCan Science Be Faith Promoting
Richard F. Haglund Jr.LDS “Headquarters Culture” and the Rest of Mormonism: Past and Present
D. Michael QuinnCoyote Laughter
Joe StaplesThe flask lay under a loose plank on the back porch. To someone lifting the board there was only an empty space, but when Wayne knelt and reached to his elbow beneath the adjacent board,…
Antidote for Solitude: The Life of Bonnie Bobet
Karen RosenbaumWhy Mormons Should Celebrate Holy Week
Robert A. ReesWhere Can I Turn for Peace?
Emma Lou ThayneSexual Morality Revisited
Wayne SchowGood News for Fiction Readers: Vernal Promises by Jack Harrell and The Conversion of Jeff Williams by Douglas Thayer
Todd Robert PetersenReed Smoot and the Twentieth-Century Transformation of Mormonism: The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle by Kathleen Flake
Robert R. KingRelations and Principles: The Mormon Dialectic: An Introduction to Mormonism by Douglas J. Davies
Matthew Thomas NagelSinging the Differences to Sleep: Grace Notes: The Waking of a Woman’s Voice by Heidi Hart
Phyllis BarberA Maturing View of the Book of Mormon: An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins by Grant H. Palmer
David P. WrightReligion and Natasha McDonald
Francine Russell BennionHouseholding: A Quaker-Mormon Marriage
Heidi HartNapoleon Dynamite, Priesthood Skills, and the Eschatology of the Non-Rational: A Nonwarranted Physiotheologic Analysis
Cetti CherniakThe Man Lying in the Grass
Henry Landon MilesMy Belief
Gail Turley HoustonAn Interview with Darrell Spencer
Douglas ThayerTrue to the Faith: A Snapshot of the Church in 2004
Lavina Fielding AndersonGrant McMurray and the Succession Crisis in the Community of Christ
William D. RussellDialogue 39.4 (Winter 2006): 67–90
Members of the Community of Christ were shocked when our president, W. Grant McMurray, announced that he had resigned on November 29, 2004 , effective immediately.
King Benjamin and the Yeoman Farmer
G. St. John StottAn Inside View of Polygamy in the Midwest: “”God Has Made Us a Kingdom””: James Strang and the Midwest Mormons by Vickie Cleverley Speek
William ShepardColonizing the Frontier between Faith and Doubt: A Rascal by Nature, A Christian by Yearning: A Mormon Autobiography by Levi S. Peterson
Michael AustinWhere We Lay Our Scene
S. P. BaileyHer ticket is at will-call. She needs no help finding their seats, but Tom repeatedly cranes his neck to check the doors at the back of the hall. He likes it when she emerges from…
The Nature of Comets
Sigrid OlsenWe found the remains just below the embankment of an antediluvian oxbow. She had been lying there a long time, before the Cayuse and Lewis and Clark and the Grand Coulee Dam and long before…
An Old Mormon Writes to Harold Bloom
Henry Landon MilesWriting: An Act of Responsibility
Phyllis BarberShould Mormon Women Speak Out? Thoughts on Our Place in the World
Claudia L. BushmanWhat I Would Be If I Weren’t A Mormon
Kathleen Petty“A Climate Far and Fair”: Ecumenism and Abiding Faith
Thomas F. RogersA Year of Dialogue: Thinking Myself into Mormonism
Sam BhagwatStraight Home
Lisa Torcasso DowningSix cars pulled through the intersection, one after the other over the course of an hour, but none of them was hers. Barefoot, Bart waited on the slat bench outside his front door, picking away…
Badge and Bryant, or, the Decline and Fall of the Dogfrey Club
Levi S. PetersonBadge and Bryant Braunhil were first cousins, but they could have passed for fraternal twins, having—both of them—bright blue eyes, big grins, and unkempt blond hair. They lived in Linroth, a Mormon town in northern…
Scandals, Scapegoats, and the Cross: An Interview with René Girard
Scott BurtonEternal Misfit
Roger TerryFor some reason I can’t explain, I know Saint Peter won’t call my name. Coldplay[1] Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and…
The Canyon That is Not a Canyon
Ryan McIlvainThis is Dagan on the day after a 4 a.m. porn binge. Another. The third in as many weeks. He drifts into the living room in late afternoon, sees Tam at his computer, freezes. He…
Ghost Towns
Erin Ann ThomasReviews: Shield of Faith: The Power of Religion in the Lives of LDS Youth and Young Adults & Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults
Boyd Jay PetersenReview: Dispensation: Latter-day Fiction
Myrna Dee MarlerReview: Utah in the Twentieth Century
David SalmansonReview: Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide
Julie M. SmithReview: Raw Edges
Kathryn Lynard SoperReview: Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons on the Page, Stage, and Screen
Randy AstleReview: Encouraging Heterosexuality: Helping Children Develop a Traditional Sexual Orientation
William S. BradshawReview: Craig H. Harline Conversions: Two family stories from the Reformation and Modern America
(author)Reviews: Therese Doucet. A Lost Argument: A Latter-Day Novel Robert Rees, ed. Why I Stay: The Challenges of Discipleship for Contemporary Mormons Thomas Riskas. Deconstructing Mormonism:An Analysis and Assessment of the Mormon Faith
Rosalynde WelchAbundant Events or Narrative Abundance: Robert Orsi and the Academic Study of Mormonism
Stephen TaysomThe Revelations & Opinions of the Rev. Clive Japhta, D.D.
James Goldbergas extracted from a series of emails James Goldberg discovered in his junk folder I am—without question—an American. If I’ve ever doubted that, it was clear the moment I walked into the humidity and human…