Over at Wheat and Tares there was an interesting post on neo-apologetics. I’ll admit that this is one of these terms, like neo-orthodoxy back in the 90’s, that just seems inherently problematic as used. Having been “accused” of being a…
Missionaries and European privacy laws
The Court of Justice of the EU just ruled that Jehovah’s Witnesses must obtain consent from people before they take down their personal details during door-to-door preaching in order to comply with EU data privacy rules. See here the Reuters press…
Suffer the Children
It’s my pleasure to share here a guest post from my friend Samuel Morris Brown. By inclination, I’m something of a misanthrope. I’m not sure where I came by this trait. Maybe it’s good old-fashioned nature, some mixture of a…
The History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 9: The 1985 Hymns
The dissolution of the hymnbook committee in the late 1970s brought the work of preparing a new collection of hymns for the worldwide Church to a halt. Approximately five years later, the First Presidency instructed Michael F. Moody of the…
The History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 8: The Hymnbook that Never Was
Increased oversight by Church leaders caused by the Correlation movement brought the tension between the Church Music Committee’s ongoing crusade for more sophisticated hymns and general Church membership’s tastes for enjoyable music in the hymnal to a head. Correlation was…
Fair Mormon Conference
The 20th Fair Mormon Conference will be August 1-3 at the Utah Valley Convention Center. If you’re not able to go they’ll provide streaming of the presentations.
The History of LDS Hymnbooks Part 7: The 1948 Hymns: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Sometimes musicians (both in our tradition and others) think of themselves, more or less, as musical dieticians for their religion when assembling hymnbooks. Some types of hymns are deemed to be higher quality (and therefore spiritually healthy) while others are…
The History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 6: The Latter-day Saint Hymns
In the early 20th century, the LDS Church formed an official music committee of professional musicians to oversee the production of a new hymnal for Church use. By 1920, there were a variety of hymn books in use by the…
The History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 5: The Sunday School Hymnals
The Sunday School played a prominent role in the development of LDS hymns during the late nineteenth century. In saying this, it is important to remember that in times past, auxiliary organizations had greater autonomy than they do today. For…
The History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 4: Latter-day Saints’ Psalmody
Original music for LDS hymns initially developed in 19th century Utah. For the faction of the Mormonism that followed the Quorum of the Twelve west to the Great Basin region, the Manchester hymnal continued to serve as the official hymnal…
“Saints, Slaves, & Blacks”: A Review
This past May, I went to see Jana Riess present her recent research on Mormon Millennials at the Miller Eccles Study Group here in Texas. One of the most interesting (and disturbing) bits of information was her finding regarding Mormons’…
History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 3: Emma’s 1841 Nauvoo Hymnbook
Two hymnals published in the early 1840s displayed a growing divide in opinion over selection of hymns in the Church. In October of 1839, a high council “voted that Sister Emma Smith, select and publish a hymn Book for the…
History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 2: The Manchester Hymnal
The history of Mormon hymnbooks is not always straightforward, with one authorized hymnbook following another. Following the publication of the 1835 hymnbook, a few unauthorized hymnals were published that influenced future hymnbooks. Recognizing a growing need for hymnals in Mormon…
Contract vs. Covenant
As a first order approximation, we frequently describe a covenant as a two way promise often with consequences attached if one breaks ones promise. That almost sounds like a contract. So what exactly is the difference between a contract and…
History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 1: The 1835 Hymnal
It has been stated before that “of all artistic endeavors . . . music may justly be named as the first to claim divine support and prophetic direction for its development in the fledgling LDS church.”[1] Mormonism began developing its…
The New LDS Hymnbook: Changes and Possibilities
Recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that they were going to prepare a new hymnbook and children’s songbook for use in the worldwide Church. Specifically, the goal is to create unity in hymn numbers and selections…
Welcome Guest Blogger Chad Nielsen
We are delighted to welcome guest blogger Chad Nielsen to Times and Seasons. Chad’s three great intellectual passions in life are science, history/religious studies, and music. He has pursued a career in biotechnology, but maintains an active interest in both…
Women in the New Kingdom
Some of the places I love the most in the Holy Land are the churches dedicated to women. My favorite is the Duc In Altum in Magdala on the shore of Galilee. It is a lovely Catholic chapel overlooking the…
10 Questions with Ben Park
We’re happy to present Kurt Manwaring’s interview with Benjamin Park. He’s a professor of history at Sam Houston University and has been a visiting fellow at the Maxwell Institute. He just had published American Nationalisms: Imagining Union in the Age…
The Divine Christ and the Human Jesus
We’ve been in Jerusalem long enough to be able to spend time with pilgrims of varying denominations from all over the world. I personally love the concept of pilgrimage. I love being able to find the spiritual world within the…
Times & Season Welcomes Mary Grey
Times and Seasons is excited to welcome our newest guest blogger, Mary E. Grey, who will be writing a series of posts from her current home in Jerusalem.
The Loss of Sin
I think one of the many social changes we’re seeing unfolding before us is the loss of sin. I don’t mean loss in the good sense of moving away from sin. Rather I mean loss in the sense that the…
12 Questions With Gary Bergera
We’re happy to present Kurt Manwaring’s interview with Gary Bergera. This is cross-posted here and at the 12 Questions site. Gary Bergera, for those not already familiar with him, is the editor of the recently released Confessions of a Mormon…
What if Harry and Meghan ….
As more or less self-appointed wedding-specialist I simply had to watch the “wedding of the year”, between the British prince Harry and the American actress Meghan Markle. And what a splendid event it was, a joy to watch, and a…
Future Mormon 6: A Radical Mormon Materialism
Welcome to the oft delayed sixth chapter of the once weekly reading club for Adam Miller’s Future Mormon. Hopefully we’ll get back to weekly again. For general links related to the book along with links for all the chapter discussions please…
Messianism as Ethical Futurism – Reading Nephi – 19:7-17
Nephi’s eclectic messianism can be read as prophesying an ethical futurism.
The Death of the Newspaper
I know the travails of the Salt Lake Tribune and then smaller papers like the Daily Herald in Provo and the Ogden Examiner don’t seem directly LDS related. However all these papers, along with the Deseret News, tend to cover…
To Every Man is Given a Free Gift
In D&C 46:11 we read, “there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.” I’ve long taken that to mean that literally every person on earth has a spiritual gift, if they’ll…
Review Essay: “The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology”: Materiality and Performance
Like a paring knife to a grapefruit, Jonathan Stapley’s new book on the history of Mormon cosmology is slim, sharp, and swift to carve through pith, serving up elegant wedges of history. The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology…
Bridewealth and gospel: an African quandary?
In his recent world tour President Russell Nelson visited Kenya and spoke about a specific cultural custom in Kenya, the bridewealth or bride price. President Nelson called it ‘dowry’, which is technically incorrect, but that is not the issue I…