In this second Smith-Pettit lecture, Margaret Starbird will discuss the partnership of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, providing evidence from the Hebrew and Christian sacred texts that the Sacred Union was originally at the heart of the Christian mythology. The loss of the ‘Bride” in the Christian story has had tragic consequences. Restoring the holy mandala …
Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2004
WILLIAM CHAMBERLIN’S LDS IDEA OF GOD
Sterling McMurrin considered William H. Chamberlin (1870–1921) the “foremost Mormon philosopher” and “more competent than Orson Pratt or B.H. Roberts,” but Chamberlin is largely forgotten, and his work can be found only in the special collections sections of university libraries. Chamberlin was a personalist philosopher who believed that the person was the ultimate category of …
100 YEARS OF MORMON NOVELS
More than one hundred years ago, Nephi Anderson published what is considered to be the first Mormon novel, Added Upon. It was an interesting attempt to encompass the entire gospel plan, from pre-mortality to the afterlife. After that came a long dry period for LDS novels, with the form resurfacing in the 1940s and ‘50s. …
GEORGE ROMNEY: MAVERICK MORMON ACTIVIST
As president of an automobile company, governor of Michigan, stake president, and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, George Romney demonstrated a rare form of integrity and commitment to the public weal. However, it was as a private citizen that Romney most exemplified the philosophy that voluntarism is not an act of charity but …
REMEMBERING JAY BELL AND HELPING PRESERVE HIS LEGACY
On December 18, 2003, we lost Jay Bell, a Sunstone friend and independent researcher who spent the last years of life working for the preservation of gay Mormon history. Jay helped start a collection of gay Mormon materials at the archives of the University of Utah and created a GLBT Studies CD-ROM that he shared …
‘BLESSED ARE YOU WHO ARE POOR’: RICH AND POOR IN THE GOSPEL AND IN POLITICS
When, as counselor in the First Presidency, Hugh B. Brown stated that he was a Democrat because Democrats were more sensitive to the poor, he put his finger on an aspect of the gospel that many Mormons separate from their view of religion. Yet many scriptures show that compassion for the poor is central to …
BANQUET. A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON MY WAY TO THE TEMPLE: A STORY ABOUT MORMONS AND JEWS, AND BECOMING BOTH, PART TWO: BECOMING JEW-ISH
During his many years as one of Mormonism’s and Utah’s best-loved poets, essayists, and columnists, Clifton Jolley was unfailingly interesting. Blessed with piercing intelligence, a wry sense of humor, and a radar always tuned to finding life’s wonderful ironies, Clifton has never been afraid to share what’s on his mind. Earlier today (session 351), Clifton …
‘LET US TRY WHAT LOVE WILL DO’: A QUAKER-MORMON MARRIAGE
Acclaimed author Heidi Hart considers the challenges of interfaith marriage and community bridge-building. Living on the threshold between two very different religious traditions, she finds herself continually negotiating those differences with extended family and friends as well as in her own marriage. She is coming to understand relationship not as socially prescribed convention but as …
IN PRAISE OF GOOD WOMEN: THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF MORMONISM’S ‘IDEAL’ WOMEN
The recent death and funeral of Marjorie Pay Hinckley occasioned many heartfelt tributes that praised not only the personal qualities for which she was valued, but also the qualities that Mormonism currently values, and subtly encourages, for all of its women. If David O. McKay and Emma Rae Riggs McKay were models of “eternal sweethearts” …
RELIGION AND NATASHA MCDONALD, BORN UNABLE TO SPEAK OR MOVE
Natasha, now 24, is severely disabled by cerebral palsy, unable to speak by voice, make intentional movements, or control many body functions. Quite early, she learned to answer yes and no to questions by lifting or lowering her head slightly. In grade school, by means of a computer with software operated by a few facial …