The high rate of depression and prescription drug use in Utah strongly suggests some form of social pathology may exist that contributes to widespread emotional problems. These statistics seem incongruousin in the light of the positive correlation between Church affiliation, individual happiness, and family stability. This paper explores the questions,“is there such a pathology?” and …
Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2002
Eternal Love: The Biblical Model of Marriage
Latter-day Saints are promised that marriage can be eternal, but what does eternal love look like? While not usually thought of as a book of great romance, the bible provides answers, presenting an ideal for love so astounding that right now we don’t dare imagine it. Beginning with God’s intent in creation and elaborating on …
A Calvinist Compares Mormonism and Calvinism
The men who have led the LDS and RLDS churches have the dual and often contradictory roles of “prophet” and “president.” W. Grant McMurray, RLDS (now Community of Christ) president since 1996, has suggested that his denomination should think of itself as a “prophetic church” and not merely a “church with a prophet.” This paper …
Temple Square Iconography: A Photographic Tour
Temple Square has recently undergone a major facelift. With the purchase of Main Street and the construction of the Conference Center, the square has more than doubled in size, and radically different displays have been placed in both visitors centers. Join us for a photographic tour of the new Temple Square. How do the changes …
How Joseph Smith Found Thirty Women to Marry Him and How This Changed His Life
Researchers who have tried to determine which and how many women Joseph Smith married agree on one thing: he had at least thirty plural wives. But how does a young man, a husband and father of three children, in the space of three years, find thirty women to marry? And how would the LDS community …
Anniversary Looks at Two Feminist Books
Anniversary Looks at Two Feminist Books Panelists will explore the paradoxical role of Mormon feminism on the anniversary of two feminist books, Women and Authority (1992) and A Daughter of Zion (1972). These books were avidly received by women, yet the books’ creators encountered Church disapproval. Still, the books have continued to have an impact. …
The War in Heaven Revisted: Agency vs. Compulsion
As told in the scriptures, the war in heaven was more than a simple story of the good guys defeating the bad guys. The fundamental issue was the question of agency versus compulsion. Are there forces in the Church today which are attempting to compel righteousness? Does it make a difference if these forces are …
”Then I Became Me”: A Qualitative Analysis of Written Accounts of Leaving the LDS Church
This paper reports on my examination of 127 personal narratives of people who, for varied and complex reasons, have disassociated themselves from the Church. Of those under study, seventy-one percent had been lifetime members; sixty-two percent of males are returned missionaries; and of those married, over fifty percent are temple marriages. As I report my …
Understanding Talmage: Stories from the Life of an LDS Original
Apostle James E. Talmage was a very complex man, brilliant, in mind, expansive in spirit. This paper explores several themes in Elder Talmage’s life and work, including the bridge he was able to build between his intellect and spirit; the role that President John Taylor played in his life as well as other early LDS …
Seerstones, Scrying, and “Translating” Holy Writ: Can a Government Espionage Program Help Us Understand Joseph Smith’s Translation Methods?
Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon (according to some accounts) by burying his face in a hat with a “seerstone.” Skeptics think such methods undermine Joseph’s claim to legitimacy as a prophet, while apologists try to reconcile the apparent facts in a faith-preserving way. Calling on personal experience in a U.S. government remote viewing …