Q: So Dave, how did you come up with the idea for LDSelect? A: It’s a long story. The concept goes back to when I was dating Fawn Brodie, a few months after I got kicked out of Hogwarts . . .
Month: March 2006
“Seeing” Providential History
Should “providential history” be left to seers? Is it ever possible in a pluralistic world to persuasively ferret out meaning in the chaotic and seemingly arbitrary movement of history?
Culture Shock: BYU
Imagine an LDS woman, 18 years old, who has lived her entire life far from the centers of Mormonism. Next fall, she plans to attend BYU. What will she experience?
Inactivity & The Manhattan First Ward Choir
I just checked, and my last post on T&S was in January. Although I have never experienced a period of prolonged inactivity in my Church life, this posting drought has caused me on more than one occasion to reflect on the state of mind of “believing inactives.”
Book Review: Celebrating Passover: A Guide to Understanding the Jewish Feast for Latter-day Saints
Easter celebrations and the lack thereof have been a hot topic recently; if you want to add something to your celebration of this season, I highly recommend this book.
I am now officially not young
It happened not long ago. I started getting emails from something called the Cambridge Stake MSA. As is my habit with all mass mailings, I deleted the first few without reading them, but after a while I noticed them and realized that I didn’t know what MSA stood for. Turns out MSA is the “Middle Singles,” which is everyone 30-50 years old who isn’t married. In the eyes of the church, I am no longer a “Young Single Adult.” I’m just a “Single Adult.” I am now officially old.
An Easter Activity for Family Home Evening
I can’t take credit for this idea–these are sometimes called Resurrection Eggs and they’ve been around for a few years.
A Preacher of Righteousness
Elijah Abel is one of the more important figures in the history of Mormonism.
Defining terrorism
By request, this morning I am going to talk about defining terrorism. The first important thing you need to realize is that there is no single widely accepted definition, either in academia or in the policy world. Everyone uses their own. So we’re going to talk about how you can build your own definition of terrorism.
From the Archives: The Real Issue
In light of the recent publicity surrouding the Buckley Jeppson case, I thought that some readers might be interested in this post from a couple of years ago. It goes, I think, to the question of the significance of the Canadian-sanctioned marriage of Jeppson and his partner. I am not offering this post as a theological gotcha to homosexual-rights activists. I am well-aware of the pain and difficulty caused by the current stance of the Church toward homosexuality. I would like to see a better resolution than the one that we currently have. However, it seems to me that any such alternative has to begin by taking the doctrines of the Restoration seriously.
The unspeakable
It happened in the mid-seventies, one summer afternoon, in the Swiss Temple at Zollikofen.
Worthless dating advice
The October 2004 New Era was a special issue dedicated to marriage and dating. As a member of a singles ward, I was encouraged to read the issue, so I did. Frankly, it was to me more a source of hilarity than inspiration– probably at least in part because I was almost twice the age of their target audience. One of my roommates and I amused ourselves for a couple of hours reading our favorite passages aloud and laughing our heads off.
Miller-Eccles Report
Last Friday and Saturday, I participated in a panel at the Miller-Eccles group, on the topic of Mormon blogging.
Small-world trolling
So yesterday I was hanging out after church waiting for my Elder’s Quorum President to finish his business so my companion and I could home teach him.
But what’s worse, is this Payne in here
We are pleased to present to you John David Payne as a guest blogger.
Mormonism as a Strand of Western Thought
When we are not in our “Mormons are not weird”-PR mode,
Credible Witnesses
Do historians also need to be credible witnesses in the evidentiary sense? I think they do.
A Funny Thing Happened at the Forum on Mormon Feminism
Yes, really. Actual fun–even laughing. With feminists!
Prophecy vs. History
Not too long ago, I stumbled across the PBS presentation of Jared Diamond’s book Guns, Germs, and Steel (2d ed. 1999). It reminded me of dealing with the book at college and enjoying the ideas presented and the sweeping take of world history that it offered. But while watching the presentation and contemplating the message of the book itself, I was reminded about how much Diamond’s whole analysis depends solely on inference from extremely scant historical evidence.[1]
Woefully Arrayed
Thanks to The Atlantic, I’m in the middle of reading the book From the Hook of Holland to the Horn of Constantinople. When the author was in his late teens in the early 30s, he decided on a whim to walk across Europe and this is his memoir.
JEF Sunday School Lesson #14
Lesson 14: Exodus 15-20, 32-34
Mormon History and the Problem of Mermaids
Mermaids illustrate the problems faced by non-Mormon readers of Mormon histories
Black Comedy
So maybe I missed something, but I’m pretty sure that one genre the Saints haven’t touched is black comedy. I’m not much of a narrative writer, though, so think of the following as sitting on little scraps of paper on a rickety table in my front yard with a hand-lettered cardboard sign next to them reading ‘Free to a Good Home.’
You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Why does Mick Jagger’s observation ever come as a surprise, to any of us?
JEF Sunday School Lesson 13
Lesson 13: Exodus 1-3, 5-6, 11-14 Before looking in detail at the scriptures for this week, consider these parallels between the story of Moses’s life and the story of Israel’s experience:
Cheryl White: A Photo Essay
Cheryl White, an amazing artist who lives in Central Texas, was kind enough to open her home and studio to me (and my three rambunctious boys) for a tour last week. This is what we saw.
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Professor to speak on Mormon Feminism
For Boston-based Naclers: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich will be speaking this Sunday in a panel discussion addressing the question “Where Have All the Mormon Feminists Gone?” Other panelists are Maxine Hanks, Kate Holbrook, and me. The event will be at Quincy House at Harvard University at 7:30 p.m. (The answer? Gone for bloggers, every one. When will they ever learn…?)
Bloomblogging
Mid-march is the season of the burning bush: the crocuses are done, the daffodils are almost on, but for now it’s the forsythia that owns the day.
Market Dominant Minorities in the Book of Mormon
Market Dominant Minorities
Two Cheers for the Manuals!
I have a confession. I am an Elders’ Quorum instructor and I like the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church manuals. Really.