The Truthfulness of Deutero-Isaiah: A Response to Kent Jackson (part 2)
Mormonism began as such a radical, non-traditional Christian movement, it's strange now that evangelical scholars are showing Latter-day Saints how to appropriate critical scholarship; but they are. In recent years, many evangelical scholars (who have in the past,...
The Truthfulness of Deutero-Isaiah: A Response to Kent Jackson (part 1)
Biblical scholarship can be an exciting, yet challenging pursuit for people of faith. For Latter-day Saints, the insights critical scholars have gained concerning the historical development of biblical sources can sometimes prove especially troubling—though as I...
Unendurable and Unmournable Lives
But the primary struggle for religious communities in the modern age isn’t about specific questions, answers, and doubts, it’s about what communities are willing to bear on behalf of their members. More specifically, it is the struggle over what counts as that which “must be borne and endured.” Worse than making questioning and doubting unendurable, we’ve chosen to make those who question and doubt unendurable.
Overcoming the Natural Man: Lessons from Biology
I tend to not start or end with scriptural authority, but I want you to take a close look at what these verses teach about the natural man. (Unfortunately, I am limited in my knowledge about the natural woman both because of my natural bias in thinking about how I...
When Religion Treats Its Adherents Like Children
Jacob looks at institutional religion’s tendency to marginalize some of its adherents by not treating them as adults who can face a world of constant change and suffering.
DO I REALLY NEED JESUS IN MY LIFE?
I took the white bread off the plastic tray. This time I was really going to catalog my past week. I thought and thought. Who had I wronged? I've been a decent man. I've never done anything too grievous. Sure, when I was a kid I stole candy and maybe a toy from a...
TWO MOTHERS: TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS
My brother, Paul, and I have two moms. Our biological mother is a Guatemalan immigrant. At about the age of 5 our mom and dad divorced. Shortly after, she moved to Canada with her new husband. She kidnapped Paul and me and took us with her; in the end, she lost all...
Controlled Burn
Fire prevention awareness has had an unintended side-effect in some parts of the U.S. It has created a stigma about fires, but fire is part of a healthy, natural forest life. For example, regular fires reduce the amount tinder available to burn in a fire. When a...
The News and Our Ongoing Problem with Boundaries
“In the recent rash of LDS news, I’ve noticed the issue of boundaries to be a bit of a common element.”
Nothing New Under the Sun: A Blunt Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes – Reviewed
Miller has done it again! The brain-crush for many LDS readers, Adam Miller, has given us another paraphrase of scripture he thinks we should be more familiar with. Last year it was Paul's letter to the Romans and this time around it is Ecclesiastes. This is a lovely...
Multireligious identities, postmodernism, and Mormonism
In my previous post on this topic, I gave an exceedingly brief overview of some of the differences between premodern, modern, and postmodern religious institutions in terms of their structure and conceptions of authority. It was summarized like this: Premodern Modern...
Mormonism’s transgender confusion
Regardless of the understanding of the roots of gender dysphoria in psychology and biology, there is a perfectly Mormon explanation for how the phenomenon of the transgender individual could occur. Unlike the perceived threat to eternal marriage posed by the idea of Gay marriage, transgender identity is no threat to Mormon doctrine as we know it, whatsoever.
Tyler Glenn and the Need to Comfort
I have four children--three girls and one boy. Last week our family enjoyed a beautiful experience. My oldest daughter, a returned LDS missionary who served in Chile, married a wonderful young man in the temple. As a father, I cannot express how much joy I felt seeing...
Malcom Gladwell, Elder Holland and the Legitimacy of Authority
“If you stand in a position of authority and you lose one of those, you’re on shaky ground. Lose two, and you’re asking for trouble. Lose all three? You’re staring in the face of rebellion.” – James Patterson on recent remarks by Jeffrey R. Holland and what they say about modern Mormonism
No Longer Quivering Before the Patriarchy
Imagine having to submit yourself to a form of Christian Patriarchy minus “the Priesthood,” and you have the beginnings of Vyckie Garrison’s story. “I am not really good at submission,” Garrison explained to the Charlotte Atheists and Agnostics group at the Concord...
The Articles of My Faith
In 1842 Joseph Smith wrote a letter to John Wentworth who was the editor of the “Chicago Democrat”, the first newspaper in Chicago. In addition to a condensed history of the Church, Joseph answers Mr. Wentworth’s Question about the beliefs of the Mormons. His answer...
LGBTQ Mormon Crisis
Two Printable handout for bishops and stake presidents that talks empirically about LGBTQ suicides:
The LGBTQ Mormon Crisis: Responding to the Empirical Research on Suicide
Youth Suicide Rates and Mormon Religious Context: An Additional Empirical Analysis
The Barker Brothers’ Projects
These videos were created for Latter-day Saint parents and allies to voice their love for their LGBT brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. They want to give a message of comfort and support to other parents who are navigating the difficult conflicts that can arise in families around this issue.
“Cogito!” (“I think!”) follows the intellectual adventures of a recovering academic outside the walls of academia.
Follow Us!
Recent Comments