Although he appears to be a star professor at BYU, I have only become aware of Robert Millet’s efforts during the last two years. As a convert, I have to admit that his approach to investigators distresses me somewhat. I know that Millet means well when he suggests to side…
Category: Mainstreaming
On the church’s uniqueness
…Sometimes, these blog entries just take too much time to set up…anyway, I was reading Mormon Matters and getting into the discussion there, and Bruce had said something that I found intriguing: …John Dehlin suggested that it was a mistake for modern Mormons to down play what he calls “19th…
Your Sunday School Lesson: The First Vision
According to the philosopher Mircea Eliade, of whose work I learned at BYU, every community, tribe, or nation requires an origin myth. The account of a community’s or practice’s origin has far reaching consequences because it implies how they relate to the cosmos, which is necessary for human beings to…
It’s Official: Mormonism is not a Protestant Religion
So says a court in Arkansas. I know lawyers are necessary, but since when do they believe they can determine the answer to longstanding theological, historical, and sociological questions? Oh well… I guess the next time someone asks if Mormonism is Protestant you can cite actual legal precedent when saying…
the average Peter Priesthood
I caught this op-ed in a local paper from a Mormon claiming to set the record straight on Mormonism. It’s a beauty because it illustrates how and what the average Mormon believes. Errors or ommissions include: no discussion of the limited geography model; assumes a hemispheric model of the BofM…
Christian Religion vs. Non Profit Corporation
I think we can all agree that the LDS religion is unique. If we compare it to a mainstream Christian religion, like the United Methodists – it is very different. Even LDS missionaries would be happy to point out the many doctrinal and organizational differences. Case and point, Methodists have…
That’s It! I’m Going Back!
I just finished scrolling through the reader responses to the Danzig affair in the Trib. Granted, it’s the Salt Lake Tribune and not the Deseret News but I have to admit that I am shocked. May be, it’s just me but the tone of the discussion seems to have changed….
on the verge of becoming a denomination
I originally wrote this essay with the idea of submitting it to Sunstone. Thanks to an email exchange with some of the people at Sunstone I’ve come to realize that I don’t belong there… nor does any of my writing (they have quietly become very pro-Mormon over the last few…
NYTimes dissects Romney speech…
… before the speech even occurs. There’s a great op-ed in the Times today on Romney’s upcoming “Mormon” speech. I think this is the best commentary I’ve seen about its potential impact (which is to say, it won’t have an impact). Romney is not JFK and Mormonism is not mid-20th…
In which I ponder the nature of existence…
Watching a special about Christopher Columbus a few weeks ago, I was struck by the importance of names. What a place is named – who decides what something gets to be named. In Christopher Columbus’ case, he renamed places that already had names – giving them European names. Some of…