Exporting Utah’s Theocracy Since 1975: Mormon Organizational Behavior and America’s Culture Wars Contrary to most theocracies, Mormon Utah has always required democratic participation for its theocracy. Two major transitions bracketed the twentieth-century manifestation of Utah Mormon theocracy. Beginning in the 1890s, Utah’s democratic theocracy had to confront significant political dissent from faithful Mormons and to …
Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2001
Elementals
Elementals This session will consist of a reading of ‘ Elementals: Auto-Reductive Sonnets in Major and Minor Modes,” a collection of original poetry inter-cut with selected quotations from such Church writers as Parley P. Pratt, John A. Widstoe, and Hugh Nibley. Taken together, the poems (which have been described as “nuclear-fused sonnets, free radicals one …
Wayne Booth as Wanderer
Wayne Booth as Wanderer Wayne Booth is one of our nation’s most honored teachers. He is also considered by many one of our finest scholars. He has published numerous books, several of which, including ‘The Rhetoric of Fiction” and “The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction,” are standard reading in college English departments. He …
Coming Home: Challenges Faced By Returning Missionaries
Coming Home: Challenges Faced By Returning Missionaries They walk off the airplane into the arms of friends and family and gobble their first burger and shake in years. They report to their stake presidency, give a homecoming talk in their ward, usually on a bishop-assigned topic, and for a few months, may partner with a …
Ethical Theory for the Believing Mormon
Ethical Theory for the Believing Mormon Philosophers over the millenniums have developed several schools of philosophical ethics–some involving God, some not. Because some have tried to develop ethical theories that do not depend on revelation, Bruce R. McConkie has called philosophy a religion whose followers are apostates. Now that you’ve been warned, come hear some …
Christ and Culture in Conflict: The Gospel and the Homosexual
Christ and Culture in Conflict: The Gospel and the Homosexual Those who believe the gospel of Jesus Christ regards homosexuality as an evil to be condemned usually point to various scriptures in the Bible and portray the controversy today as a conflict between the gospel and a modern culture that has grown more tolerant of …
What’s Wrong with Simply Being Saints?
What’s Wrong with Simply Being Saints? The testimony and witness to simplicity is profoundly rooted in scriptural tradition and is most perfectly exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ. Our Latter-day Saint traditions are full of testimonies about the blessings of living more with less, of nurturing people rather than material stuff. The modern ‘simplicity …
‘Only Your Hearts Know’: Sunstone During the Rector/Stephenson/Peck Years–Part 2: The Elbert Peck Years
‘Only Your Hearts Know’: Sunstone During the Rector/Stephenson/Peck Years–Part 2: The Elbert Peck Years This paper, the second half of a history of the Sunstone Foundation during the years Daniel Rector, Linda Jean Stephenson, and Elbert Peck served as publishers and executive directors, treats the period Elbert headed the foundation. During this tumultuous time, Sunstone …
‘How Long, O Lord?’: Constitutional Protection for Plural Marriage
‘How Long, O Lord?’: Constitutional Protection for Plural Marriage Polygamous Mormons have (unsuccessfully) invoked the Constitution as a shield against prosecution for their ‘domestic arrangements” ever since their practice of the principle was first made public in 1852. This session offers a historical and legal perspective on pertinent constitutional arguments, and tries to predict their …
Sunstone Celebrates Elbert Peck
Sunstone Celebrates Elbert Peck Join us this evening for a joyous farewell for Elbert Peck, our long-time editor, publisher, and director. Program: ‘RetrosPECKtive” A look at Elbert’s fifteen years with ‘Sunstone,’ complete with personal glimpses and funny stories from many good friends. Speaker: Philip Barlow The Public Thought of Elbert Peck Abstract: Elbert Peck has …