The recent news concerning Joseph L. Bishop, the former president of the Provo Missionary Training Center (1983–1986) who admitted to sexual misconduct with one sister missionary and is accused of attempted rape of another, has rightly outraged many. So “serious and deeply disturbing” are the allegations that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints … Read more
One exercise I have found interesting is looking at the criticisms Joseph Smith’s contemporaries made against the Book of Mormon. The granddaddy of Book of Mormon skeptics is without a doubt Alexander Campbell (1788–1866), the learned Christian divine who spearheaded, along with his father Thomas, the Restorationist movement of Christianity. Campbell published the first substantive … Read more
The Neal A. Maxwell Institute’s Mormon Theology Seminar continues to release interesting publications highlighting and exploring key Mormon scriptural texts. The latest wave of publications, three volumes dedicated to analyzing 1 Nephi 1, Jacob 7, and Genesis 2–3, adds to this growing list and gives readers helpful new resources for better understanding these passages. In … Read more
In the popular musical The Book of Mormon a character named Elder Price, a stereotyped version of a Mormon missionary, attempts to convert a Ugandan warlord to Mormonism. Faced with a seemingly impossible task, Elder Price reassures himself in the song “I Believe” by confidently sharing what in Mormon parlance would be called a testimony: … Read more
When asked by the New York Times to name a book that people might be surprised to discover on his bookshelf, the illustrious physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson responded, “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. . . . [T]he book tells a dramatic story in fine biblical style. The reader has to … Read more
On November 5, 2015, it was leaked that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was enacting a new policy towards members of the Church in a same-sex relationship and their children. The “November 5 Policy” or the “Exclusion Policy,” as it is sometimes variously called, states the following concerning the blessing of “children … Read more
President Thomas S. Monson, sixteenth president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died on January 2, 2018, as reported on the Church’s website. The news reached me just as I was turning in for the night. As I fell asleep I was able to ponder on how I gained a … Read more
Two of the authors who contributed to the composition of the Book of Mormon, Nephi and Moroni, both claim at the end of their respective records that they will meet the reader of the book at the judgement bar of God and testify to him or her concerning the truthfulness of their writings and teachings. … Read more
The other week I was riding in the car of a senior missionary couple when the senior sister asked me, “If the Book of Mormon was written for our day, why doesn’t it say anything about homosexuality? After all, the Bible has the story of Sodom. Why doesn’t the Book of Mormon have anything like … Read more
One thing I’ve found very helpful in making the New Testament relevant to my own life is understanding its cultural backdrop and looking for parallels to today’s world. Recently I read the book Jesus: A Very Short Introduction by Richard Bauckham. It is quite good at providing an overview of the life and times of … Read more
Hugh Nibley once quipped that the controversy surrounding the Book of Abraham was “a great fuss . . . being made about a scrap of papyrus.” Were it not for the fact that it is tied up in religious polemics involving Joseph Smith, founder and first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day … Read more
Over on Twitter my friend Kwaku El tweeted his dissatisfaction with those who “mock” Mormonism. The ensuing discussion centered around what exactly is meant by “mocking” and when or if it is ever appropriate when it comes to sacred things (e.g. religious doctrines). Mocking Mormonism and “participating in a dialogue” are not the same & … Read more
The remarkable work of the Joseph Smith Papers Project has continued unabated since the publication of Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839 in 2008. Last year the Church Historian’s Press, which publishes the volumes of the series, released Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846. This landmark occasion has finally brought to light a set … Read more