The LDS Church has released a guide for journalists titled Approaching Mormon History. The document acknowledges that some journalists “have questioned the miraculous aspects of the faith” and wonder “why Latter-day Saints continue to believe them as reality and not myths.” The document argues for the historical reality of the Mormon foundational stories, namely the …
Speaker: H. Parker Blount
SL10174: Panel: The Book of Job
The Book of Job has been labeled the ur-text of both tragedy and the practical joke; it has inspired such interpretations and responses as Answer to Job by Carl Jung and A Serious Man by the Coen Brothers. Often considered a tale of mature spirituality, it both elicits and demands thoughtful consideration. This panel will …
Proclaiming the Family: Which Family?
Proclaiming the Family: Which Family? The document ‘The Family: A Proclamation To The World’ declares that ‘the family is ordained of God.’ Are we to assume that means all families, or just some families of a particular type? When the Proclamation warns of the ‘disintegration’ of family, what exactly does that mean? And what do …
Scarlet Threads In The Lineage Of Jesus
Scarlet Threads In The Lineage Of Jesus In his list of who fathered whom in the lineage of forty-two generations from Abraham to Jesus, Matthew includes five women. This presentation focuses on four of them, Tamar, Rachab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, who, though chosen as members of the most royal of lineages, are largely ignored today, …
Join None Of Them, For They Are All Wrong
Join None Of Them, For They Are All Wrong The panelists in this session will present their experiences of attending a variety of non-LDS churches. Their observations will range from music to preaching, from doctrine to fellowship, from proselytizing to church government. How do their experiences compare with those of Joseph Smith? Did they find …
What Does It Mean To Me To Call Joseph Smith A Prophet?
There are now a number of biographies painting a different picture of Joseph Smith than that which is typically presented at church. What should one make of the differing accounts of the first vision, Joseph’s version of celestial marriage, peep stones and magic, for example? This session asks active Latter-day Saint panelists to focus on …
Pillars Of My Faith
This is Sunstone’s perennially best-attended session. Hear speakers share the events and concepts that animate their religious lives; a little soul-baring, a little spiritual journey, a little intellectual testimony-bearing. This self-reflective night is about the things that matter most, plus spirited congregational hymn-singing. H. Parker Blount, Margaret Blair Young, Darius Gray
Pain, Sorrow, Suffering, Failure, Despair And Occasional Moments Of Transcendence: The Wisdom And Insights Of Karen Armstrong
Former nun Karen Armstrong writes that she “failed” at every important endeavor she undertook until she began exploring the value of religion and the idea of God not from the viewpoint of a specific doctrine, but from the position of someone baffled by her own experiences and open to the doubts and beliefs of others. …
CHURCH LEADERSHIP AND MORMON ECOTHEOLOGY
As an LDS Church member, just how should I feel about the earth? In this session, I explore that question from the perspective of ecotheology, studies that address the extent to which Church doctrine influences members’ perception and practices relative to the earth and its creatures. I suggest that LDS leaders provide limited guidance concerning …
Doing Things That Change Us
Unlike Christianity, many religions downplay belief and instead emphasize behavior, so that what one believes is of little consequence compared to what one does. As Karen Armstrong stresses, religions such as Judaism and Buddhism are not about accepting a body of doctrine but Holly Welker, Phyllis Barber, H. Parker Blount, Jana Reiss, John Dewey Remy