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…
Author: Clark Goble
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 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…
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…
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…
Starting With Faith…
Over at Faith Promoting Rumor G Wesley has up a post critiquing BYU’s scholarship. The main bone of contention was a talk by Elder Bednar regarding scholarship at LDS schools. Wesley responds that BYU should “first and foremost places set…
A Simple Religion
You’ve probably noticed I’ve not been around much of late. I was fighting off a case of the flu which seemed to be persisting a tad long. I figured it might be a secondary lung infection as I was also…
Maxwell Institute Giveaway
To promote #10questions interviews about “To Be Learned is Good” with Richard Bushman, @spencerfluhman, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and @patrickqmason, @MI_BYU is sponsoring a book giveaway. FOLLOW & RT on Twitter by April 5 for a chance to WIN A FREE…
10 Questions with Grow and Smith
As part of our work with the 10 Questions team I’m proud to announce their interview with Matthew J. Grow and R. Eric Smith, editors of The Council of Fifty. The council of 50 is one of the more mysterious…
Some Thoughts on WordPrint
Just a quick post on the current kerfuffle over wordprint studies. Wordprint studies are a type of stylometry that look at certain connective words that aren’t main words in a sentence. The claim is that they can determine the authorship…
Hell Part 2: Lake of Fire and Brimstone
Back when I first was invited to join T&S I started doing a series on Hell in the Book of Mormon. This is the long delayed follow up. Last time I discussed the three broad categories of how hell has…
Defiantly Turning the Other Cheek
On Twitter last week in the aftermath of the whole Porter situation someone mentioned the issue of turning the other cheek. Now first off I don’t think in any legitimate interpretation of turning the cheek it means submitting to abuse…
10 Questions
We’re please to be working with Kurt Manwaring over at 10 Questions to bring you some really great interviews. The first one coming up in a little bit will be an April 10 interview with Spencer Fluhman. He’s the executive…
Church History Symposium
The 2018 Church History Symposium will be held on March 1st & 2cd. They’re doing it in two locations. The first day will be at BYU while the second day will be at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.…
Mormon Social Science Association Conference
The Mormon Social Science Association is having a conference at Utah Valley University on February 21st from 1:00 PM – 6:45 PM. This looks to be particularly interesting. The featured speakers are Marie Cornwall and Jana Riess. Marie Cornwall is…
Helaman 12:15 and Astronomy
Helaman 12:15 reads, “according to his word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun.” If…
Trump Approval 2018 Mormon Edition
So many were shocked by today’s Gallup poll breaking down Trump’s job approval rating by religion. More Mormons approved of Trump’s Job performance than any of the other religious groups. A staggering 61% of Mormons approved of his performance. Like…
Satan’s Plan Part 1
This week in Sunday School and Primary the lesson is on Abr 3 and Moses 4 with a focus on the plan of salvation. I wanted to go in a somewhat different direction than the lesson would go. You might…
End of an Era: Hatch Retires
Orrin Hatch is retiring from the Senate. McKay Coppins first broke a story months ago that Hatch was expected to retire with Mitt Romney planning on running for his seat. Then the last few months Hatch seemed to indicate he…
Moderate Worship Losing Ground
While it’s not really new news, Sociological Science had an interesting story on how American religion is becoming polarized and losing its middle ground. We’ve known for quite some time that mainline churches were rapidly losing members since the 1980’s.…
Some Brief Thoughts on 2 Nephi 25
2 Nephi 25:23’s “we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” has proved surprisingly controversial the past few decades. I mentioned last week some of the views on grace during that period.…
Mormons and Doubt
I really wanted to comment on recent articles of polls on doubt and Mormons but didn’t have time due to other commitments. I hope you don’t mind a few comments on the Huffington Post article about doubt based upon the…
Talking About Grace
The Deseret News today had an interesting article “Grace is not a Mormon heresy, LDS leaders and scholars say after doctrinal ‘climate change’” It’s an interesting story about how Mormons came to accept talking about grace. Reading it though I…
Unintended Consequences (or How Bad People Can Lead to Good Results)
There’s an interesting issue of distinguishing good consequences from good people. Good people can make bad decisions leading to bad consequences. My favorite example of that is apostle Reed Smoot who was made a Senator in 1902. I take it…
SMPT Events
The Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology has a few upcoming events.
Future Mormon 5: The God Who Weeps
Welcome to the fifth chapter of the originally weekly reading club for Adam Miller’s Future Mormon. For general links related to the book along with links for all the chapter discussions please go to our overview page. Please don’t hesitate to give…
The Danger of Theology
Over at his blog, Tarik LaCour has an interesting post on Mormon theology. The actual focus is a review of the book Mormon Christianity: What Other Christians Can Learn From the Latter-day Saints. In the process of the review he mentions how…
Changes to the Mission Programs
There’s been quite an uproar the past day or so over announced changes to the missionary program. First up was the Deseret News story, “LDS Church plans to decrease missions; utilize tech savviness to locate religious-minded people.” Added in were…