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Griffin, Brenton. “‘Neutral in Matters of Party Politics’?: The Uneasy Place of The Mormon Church within Commonwealth Politics.” The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History(2025): 1-15. This current debate historicises and scrutinises the claim of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon Church, in regards to its stance of ‘political neutrality’, particularly in relation to the Commonwealth. Over the last several decades, the Church has pronounced itself as politically neutral, though scholars have critiqued this in regard to its actions within the United States. Where this debate diverges from current scholarship, however, is… Read More
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For generations of Latter-day Saints, the story of John Taylor’s pocket watch stopping a bullet at Carthage Jail has been a defining symbol of the Martyrdom, seemingly frozen in time at 5:16 p.m. However, for nearly as long as the watch has been displayed at the Church History Museum, questions have persisted: did a bullet actually strike it, or—as proposed by researchers in the late 1990s—did the damage occur when Taylor fell against the windowsill? In relentless pursuit of accurate portrayals of our history, the Church History Department commissioned an exhaustive forensic analysis to settle the debate in 2020, and… Read More
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[Note: I know that in my last post I noted that, pursuant to Elder Gong’s counsel on this, I wouldn’t be posting any more AI depictions of deity, but this post was in the queue before I was aware of the Gong talk, so this will be my last AI depiction of deity.] One of the most exciting and intriguing big-picture theories in physics is the idea that our universe is the inside of a black hole in another parent universe. Unlike many other creative big theories in physics that started almost as kind of a fun lark or an… Read More
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In the United States, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, ending a period when many people complain about Christmas coming earlier and earlier. If it isn’t the advertisements, it’s the music that somehow reaches our hearing earlier than expected. While I know many people love Christmas music and don’t mind hearing it almost all year, others are bothered by having Christmas overwhelm Thanksgiving—and I admit that I wonder if too much Christmas might reduce the impact of the holiday. This year I began thinking about the relationship between the two holidays. Because the controversy over when the Christmas season starts almost puts the… Read More
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There have been several big AI advancements since I last wrote on the subject. Gemini 3, the frontier model from Google, was just released. The coding and writing is noticeably, but incrementally better (since they’re releasing models quicker there aren’t any huge jumps anymore like there was from GPT 3.0 to 3.5), but where it really shines is creating interactive apps/games on the fly (for computer, doesn’t work so great for mobile devices as far as I can tell). I generated: A first-person, 3D simulation of the tabernacle. I just asked it to create a biblically accurate representation. I… Read More
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How did you react to Church yesterday? What did you notice? Did you end up thinking differently? Do you think your reactions were what they should be? Were they ethical? This is the latest invitation for reactions to local meetings, continuing the spirit of my post on September 25th about how we can take what happens in Church meetings—sermons, lessons and anything else—and enter a conversation with them, magnifying what was said or adding what we think. The point here is that no matter how poorly prepared the speaker or teacher is, we can still find elements in what is… Read More
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A less-discussed principle of the gospel is the idea that it is universal—i.e, that the gospel and its blessings are available to all of God’s children, including those who are dead. The application of this belief leads to performing ordinances for the dead, a practice that is unique, as far as I know, among Christian sects. The fairness and equality implied in the principle of a universal gospel is throughout the vision discussed in this lesson. Of course, universal doesn’t mean that everyone receives all the blessings. Instead it means that everyone has an opportunity to choose, by learning how… Read More
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Stephen O. Smoot’s Pearl of Great Price: A Study Edition for Latter-day Saints, Revised Edition is a timely and useful resource that synthesizes academic rigor with devotional utility. Published in partnership with Scripture Central and Interpreter Foundation, this work succeeds in its mission to bring crucial historical and linguistic context directly into the hands of Latter-day Saint students of the scriptures. Read More
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Lately I’ve heard a number of comments in church of ward members noting people of other faiths liking the idea of eternal marriage as a something of a validation of our beliefs. The recent movie release Eternity seems to play around with this idea of a woman getting to the afterlife and trying to figure out what to do with the two different men she was married to in life. This does seem like a conundrum and seems to have been the point the Sadducees wanted to pose to Christ about the woman with seven husbands. Read More
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TLDR: The occasional art missionary to Europe or groundbreaking female doctor notwithstanding, a few years after the “Utah War” we were still pretty much a people of farmers and day-laborers with hardly any middle-class or educated professions. It’s hard to compare the relative economies of different states and territories in the 19th century, because the relevant income questions weren’t asked until the 20th century. However, one way we can kind of get at this is what is called the Duncan SEI Index, a measure from 1 to 100 which measures the relative prestige and income of different careers. Of course… Read More
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For many, the Bells at Temple Square are a familiar and joyful sight, especially at the Tabernacle Choir’s annual Christmas concerts or broadcasts of Music and the Spoken Word. It’s easy to appreciate the beautiful music, but what’s the story behind this world-class ensemble? How did it start, and what is its unique role within the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square organization? A new interview over at the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, answers these very questions. The interview features the ensemble’s conductor, Geoff Anderson, who provides a remarkable “insider’s view” of the group’s history, its distinct purpose,… Read More
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How did you react to Church yesterday? What did you notice? Did you end up thinking differently? Do you think your reactions were what they should be? Were they ethical? This is the latest invitation for reactions to local meetings, continuing the spirit of my post on September 25th about how we can take what happens in Church meetings—sermons, lessons and anything else—and enter a conversation with them, magnifying what was said or adding what we think. The point here is that no matter how poorly prepared the speaker or teacher is, we can still find elements in what is… Read More
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Come Follow Me Currculum, Doctrine and Covenants, Latter-day Saint Thought, Poetry, SS Lesson – Doctrine and Covenants
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Our feelings about Joseph Smith can often be conflicted. On one hand we revere him as the prophet of the restoration, who has “has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived.” But need to the use of the phrase “save Jesus only” suggests the danger of revering someone so much—he should not get in the way of our focus on the Savior. In addition, Joseph was a human being, whose foibles are increasingly in the public eye, as researchers and historians sift through more aspects of his… Read More
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So I found Brittany Romanello’s presentation to Dialogue on their series on DC 132 (15:30) interesting in the context of lots of internet talk about polygamy in anticipation for a discussion of DC 132 coming up tomorrow. Romanello talked about getting lessons on polygamy and said that in wards she’s been in as a teenager, the adult female teachers were so uncomfortable that they would bring in men to teach it: bishopric members or husbands. Romanello said the men would teach while the women sat silent which suggests a lot of things, she notes. Read More
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The recent 2025 updates to Latter-day Saint scriptures have raised important questions for many members. While we know the changes are minor (applying primarily to the study helps rather than the scriptures themselves) and stem from the monumental Joseph Smith Papers Project, official announcements often lack the full context for how and why these adjustments are made. How exactly does that scholarship get into our scriptures, and how should members understand this ongoing process of “correcting” and “clarifying” the historical context of revelations? A fascinating new interview at the Latter-day Saint history blog From the Desk, with scholar Matthew Godfrey,… Read More
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While many Latter-day Saints are familiar with the mechanics of redeeming the dead through family history and temple work, the theology behind it—whether it’s just a “fix” or something more fundamental to God’s plan—is a deeper question. As we study the scriptural foundations for this work in the Doctrine and Covenants (especially D&C 124, 127, 128, and 138) for Come Follow Me, a recent interview from the history blog From the Desk offers key insights. The post features Dr. Amy Harris, author of Redeeming the Dead: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants, who provides a perspective that moves beyond the… Read More
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In Latter-day Saint thought and history the idea of “believing blood” has racial connotations. The traditional “believing blood” theological model that is (rightfully, in my view) criticized by thinkers such as Armand Mauss in his book All Abraham’s Children goes something like this: certain ethnicities and nations are more amenable to the gospel message because they are the literal descendants of Israel, maybe even Ephraim. (And there’s a whole other post or several to be written on the interesting connection between such Latter-day Saint beliefs and British Israelitism, or the belief that the British are descended from the Lost Ten… Read More
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As with previous years (e.g., the 2024 edition), I’ve prepared a list of my top 10 books that I’ve read this year. (That can include books that were not published within the last year, though the majority of them were published in 2024 or 2025). Also, since I have published 30 book reviews so far in 2025 (with more on the way), I’ll include links to their reviews and relevant excerpts. Read More
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In my ward growing up one of the scoutmasters was a non-member father of one of the boys in the troop. This was one of the nice side-benefits of the Church’s involvement in the Boy Scouts: it was the perfect calling for the non-member husband of an interfaith couple who wanted to be involved with his kids in the Church’s youth programs. I’ve also seen cases where the proverbial, completely non-believing, occasionally-comes-to-church-to-support-their-spouse member was wholeheartedly willing to accept home teaching assignments when we all knew full well it was more akin to a social worker arrangement than a ministering priest… Read More
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What did you notice in Church yesterday? How did you react? Did you end up thinking differently? This is the latest invitation for reactions to local meetings, continuing the spirit of my post on September 25th about how we can take what happens in Church meetings—sermons, lessons and anything else—and enter a conversation with them, magnifying what was said or adding what we think. The point here is that no matter how poorly prepared the speaker or teacher is, we can still find elements in what is said and what happens that inspires and edifies us. Even if church meetings… Read More
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Come Follow Me Currculum, Doctrine and Covenants, Latter-day Saint Thought, Poetry, SS Lesson – Doctrine and Covenants
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It’s difficult to overestimate the importance of the second coming in the restoration. Early members of the Church thought it would come quickly, in just a few years. And they wrote and taught about that expectation. While it seems like the focus on the second coming has diminished over time, we still regularly preach and discuss our expectations. But today we tend to temper our understanding of the second coming with thoughts about what life is like before the awaited event. We need to prepare for the second coming, yes, but we also need to try to create a Zion-like… Read More
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Brian Q. Cannon’s Building a Global Zion: The Life and Vision of David O. McKay is a significant and welcome addition to the biographical literature on the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Despite its accessible length of just over 250 pages, the work is substantive, providing a comprehensive overview of McKay’s life while offering illuminating details on his accomplishments. Read More
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Okay, now I’m thinking of a few posts related to the topic of “faithfully disagreeing” in the church, or those who’ve disagreed with certain policies (the race ban being a salient example) but who saw themselves as wanting to be faithful to and to remain in the church. Such a tendency has been given different names like “faithful dissent,” and probably others, but I’ve been thinking about another metaphor I want to try out: steadying the ark. Read More
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I’ve already addressed at length, both here and elsewhere, the idea held in some “direction of history” circles that the Church will inevitably wholly embrace the gender and sexuality positions on the left, with all the up- and down-stream implications of that (in some versions, after so- and so- passes away, after Uchtdorf becomes President, etc.). I don’t mean to keep beating that horse to death, but recent events have triggered a new take on this. Because of the Church of England’s leftward march on sex and gender issues, the African churches of the Anglican Communion have now officially split… Read More
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Guest post by Paul Burnham What Conditions Might Generate a Social Preference for Polygyny? Introduction During the occasional discussions of polygyny in Church literature and on the Bloggernacle, I see two competing narratives—a religious narrative and a romantic narrative. In the religious narrative, God’s will must always prevail and on occasion His will has been that polygyny be practiced. In the romantic narrative, pair-bonding is the most important feature of marriage and polygyny is antithetical to true pair-bonding, making it unthinkable under any circumstances. But I think there is a third narrative—what I call a quasi-Darwinian narrative that eschews… Read More
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In the grand narrative of the Latter-day Saint settlement of the West, certain figures loom large: Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, and the thousands of Mormon pioneers who made the desert blossom as a rose. Native figures in this story often appear as either obstacles to be overcome or as Lamanite brethren waiting for redemption. Max Perry Mueller’s Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West offers a necessary intervention and complication to this familiar story. His central thesis is bold: the Ute leader Wakara, far from being a peripheral character, “should be counted… Read More
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What did you notice in Church yesterday? How did you react? Think differently? This is the latest invitation for reactions to local meetings, continuing the spirit of my post on September 25th about how we can take what happens in Church meetings—sermons, lessons and anything else—and enter a conversation with them, magnifying what was said or adding what we think. The point here is that no matter how poorly prepared the speaker or teacher is, we can still find elements in what is said and what happens that inspires and edifies us. Even if church meetings aren’t conducted in a… Read More
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Come Follow Me Currculum, Doctrine and Covenants, Latter-day Saint Thought, Poetry, SS Lesson – Doctrine and Covenants
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This lesson can be both difficult and exulting. Our LDS understanding of the next life both inspires because of the idea that our relations have an eternal permanence, and troubles many of us because of what we don’t understand about polygamy and the details of how the multiple relationships we begin on earth translate into the eternities. Read More
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I love studying folklore and stories, particularly among Latter-day Saints. One reason for doing so is that they reveal information about the core beliefs, cultural values, and lived religious experiences of the communities that share them. Perhaps no folklore cycle illustrates this better than the persistent legends of The Three Nephites, and a fantastic new interview with folklorist Julie Swallow at the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, digs into this very topic. Based on a recently published book from the University of Illinois Press, the discussion offers a compelling analysis of how these stories, drawn from a vast… Read More
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I usually don’t provide any additional commentary for these, but the Anderson et al., study below showing that Latter-day Saints didn’t receive the COVID vaccinations any more than average provides some support for my earlier conjecture that the President of the Church actually doesn’t have a lot of influence when it comes to member attitudes towards politicized topics. Pinheiro da Silva Filho, Fernando. “Deconstructing Narratives: The New History of the Beginning of the Church in Brazil.” Journal of Mormon History 51, no. 4 (2025): 33-57. No abstract. Preston, Julia. “Weaving Gender: Men, Women, and the Mormon Home Manufacture Movement.”… Read More