Israel and Palestine. Egypt and Jordan. Gaza, the West Bank, and the Settlements. The PLO, Labor, and Likud. Arafat and Sharon. We hear these terms and names but often only vaguely understand what they mean. We know we should understand why the Holy Land and events in the Middle East are important but often don’t. …
Event: DC Symposium 2003
SPEAKING IN A PROPHETIC VEIN: Hugh Nibley as Social Critic
Eugene England has called Hugh Nibley the finest lay (in contrast to officially called) prophet of the Latter-day Saint people, and has argued that Nibley most perceptively describes our sins, most courageously and persistently calls us to repentance, and most accurately predicts our future if we will not repent. England may be guilty of hyperbole, …
THE LIBERAL RELIGIOUS TRADITION IN MORMONISM: A Personal View of Developments in the Late Twentieth Century
Liberal religion believes in a limited God, holds an optimistic view of human nature, and values reason as a source of religious information. Mormonism emerged in the nineteenth century primarily as a liberal religion. This tradition in Mormonism has been strong but has coexisted also with strong conservative elements. Recently, however, Mormonism has clearly become …
DO WHAT IS RIGHT: Activism in Today’s World
Whether we choose to stand up for the protection of the environment, human rights, civil rights, or love of country, it is a courageous act to become active in todays world. Today’s activist is no longer just the public extremist or (mostly) long-haired protester we see arrested on the evening news. Todays activists are just …
REFLECTIONS ON WAR: Competing Loyalties, Commands, and Impulses
War, perhaps more than any other circumstance, forces us as thoughtful persons to confront important philosophical, ethical, and religious questions. It demands that we recognize our moral outrage over unthinkable crimes and squarely face that part of ourselves that wants to lash out and punish evildoers. For others, the call of Christianity—that we love our …
THE PROCLAMATION ON THE FAMILY: the Way We Ought to Be, or the Way We Never Were?
Issued in 1995, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, includes statements once considered conventional wisdom. Forty years ago, for example, practically everyone would have agreed children are entitled . . . to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows. Today, however, such an ideal excludes many who claim their …
CHOOSING THE RIGHT AND OTHER CONSUMER TRENDS: Reflections on Mormons, Marketing and Art
I have on my desk a catalog offering LDS products for sale. There is, of course, the Truth—for which we Latter-day Saints hold patent and distribution rights but also a great deal of fiction, stoutly adapted to the requirements of truth. And there is much, much more, a bewildering array of devotional arts and crafts …
NATIONAL CULTURE, PERSONALITY, AND THEOCRACY IN THE EARLY MORMON CULTURE OF VIOLENCE
Aside from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and Wild West, most Americans like to think of their country’s distant past either as calmly benign or as a morality play in which the us always wore white hats and the D. Michael Quinn
COPING IN THE MERRY OLD LAND OF ‘ODDS’
For many people, no matter if they are speaking geographically or culturally, Robert Kirby
DIGITAL RITUAL: The Emergent Digital Identity of the Mormon Church
The biographer Fawn Brodie emphasized Joseph Smith’s audacity in utilizing a communications technology–the printing press–to disseminate a new religious identity: [He] dared to found a new religion in the age of printing. After Smith’s martyrdom in 1844, the Mormon Church continued his technological audacity, progressively adopting the telecommunications technologies of the late nineteenth and early …