First Sight of the Desert: Discovering the Art of Ella Peacock is her first book. Through personal essay, excerpts from First Sight of the Desert: Discovering the Art of Ella Peacock, and a documentary of Peacock as an artist (approximately 15 minutes on DVD), I’ll present a woman who, like the Saints, moved from the …
Event: San Francisco Symposium 2005
”“TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?” HISTORICAL PATTERNS OF RESTORATION BELIEVERS WITH SERIOUS DOUBTS
Patterns of religious doubt, disbelief, and disaffiliation can be as diverse and interesting as patterns of religious inquiry, faith, and conversion. Both patterns can be temporary, decades-long, or lifelong. Both involve the mind, the spirit, and the emotions. Drawing on decades of research in Mormon / LDS / RLDS documents, this paper discusses patterns of …
PANEL. TRUTHS IN THE BOOK OF MORMON
It’s been more than 175 years since the publication of the Book of Mormon, and we are yet to find a sign that says “Welcome to Zarahemla.” Without any clear physical evidence in hand, what teachings of the Book of Mormon do panelists see as “True”? How has it inspired them to be better followers …
TRUE TO THE FAITH, THE NEW MORMON DOCTRINE – & – A DECADE OF THE PROCLAMATION ON THE FAMILY
With the publication in July 2004 of True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference, the Church has taken another step toward a unified body of authoritative doctrine. This concise 190-page document, organized alphabetically from A (Aaronic Priesthood) to Z (Zion) thus joins the missionary “white book” of behavioral rules, the newest revision of For the …
Joseph Smith and the Gnostic Restoration & Joseph Smith’s Lesser-Known Wives
The discovery of the Nag Hammadi third-century Gnostic Library has awakened interest in this very early form of Christianity. My proposal is that if Joseph Smith restored true Christianity, then it should share many similarities with Gnosticism. Indeed, there are many strong parallels between these two theologies, starting with a shared sense that humans are …
PANEL. IN QUIET DESPERATION
Over the past several decades, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as the Church itself have struggled with the complex dimensions of homosexuality. The evolving dialogue about the religious, moral, political, and social issues surrounding homosexuality has included many voices. In Quiet Desperation adds to the dialogue the voices …
EMMA SMITH’S LEGACY OF MUSIC FOR THE RESTORATION / AN INTRODUCTION TO SHAPE NOTE MUSIC
At the time of the Restoration, there was no shortage of sacred music that could have been used as hymns by the newly formed LDS Church. Yet Emma Smith was charged with compiling “a selection of sacred hymns . . . which is pleasing unto me, to be had in my church” (D&C 25:11). Eighteenth- …
A PHILOSOPHICAL TESTIMONY
This presentation discusses how I as a student of philosophy and religion am able to be an honest skeptic and still have a testimony of the Gospel. Using a combination of models that illustrate rational, empirical, and mystical approaches to religion as well as different spiritual temperaments, I will discuss Latter-day Saint connections to the …
THE BATTLE OF CROOKED RIVER: ETHNIC CLEANSING IN 1838 NORTHERN MISSOURI
A large volume of poor Mormons moved into Missouri in 1838, and the resulting economic, social, and political tension terminated in a series of small skirmishes which occurred in August through October of 1838. This presentation examines in summary the Mormon raid and cleansing of non-Mormons from Daviess County, Missouri, and will examine in detail …
THE INSISTENT CALL OF MY MITOCHONDRIAL DNA: ONE WOMAN’S PRIMER IN FEMINIST GENEALOGY
While DNA science challenges such Mormon beliefs as Israelite ancestry for Native Americans, it promises fresh pursuits for genealogists. Particularly suggestive is our ability, notably publicized by Cambridge geneticist Bryan Sykes’s Seven Daughters of Eve, to track mitochondrial DNA mutations to seven European “clan mothers”, and beyond them, to African ancestresses. Traditionally overshadowed by surname-conferring …