Review: Russell Banks, Cloudsplitter: a novel.
Partway through Cloudsplitter, Russell Banks’s ambitious fictional account of John Brown’s adult life, our narrator, John’s third son Owen, reflects that his relationship to his father is analogous to...
View ArticleThe Humanist’s Book of Mormon
The past decade has witnessed a remarkable surge of interest in the Book of Mormon—or at least of interest in making the text of the Book of Mormon available and accessible. Beginning, in many ways,...
View ArticleDan Brown’s “Inferno”: An Eternal Return
I just finished reading Inferno, Dan Brown’s latest book. I’m no expert on Brown, though I have also read The Da Vinci Code. He is justly derided as a bad writer, but he is a good storyteller and sets...
View ArticleA Review of Darren Wilson’s “Finding God in the Bible”
“Read any commentary and it’ll pretty much explain the symbolism. My question is much, much simpler than that.” — Darren Wilson, Finding God in the Bible, pp. 193-194 The title is intriguing: Finding...
View ArticleThe Rejoicing and the Torment of Religion
All-too-often these days we hear about the rise of doubt and the loss of certainty with regard to religious faith; the rise of angst and the loss of confidence; the rise of sorrow and the loss of joy;...
View ArticleThe “Value” of the Book of Mormon
As part of a project I’m currently at work on, I’ve been reading as systematically as possible through the literature on the Book of Mormon that has been produced by adherents to the Community of...
View ArticleWhat Is a “Mormon” Reading of Scripture? Thoughts on Michael Austin’s...
Every four years, every Sunday School in the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints turns its attention to the Old Testament. Only a single lesson over the course of that year is...
View ArticleI Even Remain Alone?: Reflections on Eve Tushnet’s “Gay and Catholic”
About two years ago Ralph Hancock, a BYU professor of political philosophy, met with the Claremont Mormon Studies Student Association. As I reflected on the ensuing conversation, which had quickly...
View ArticleJoseph Smith Papers: Documents Volume 3
A couple of weeks ago, I participated—by Skype—in the launch event for the newest Documents volume of the celebrated Joseph Smith Papers Project. I assume the project needs no introduction at this...
View ArticleDoubting at Zion’s Gate
Through happenstance, two of my recent reads synergistically centered on doubt and the thresholds of religion. In the first, Elmer Miller’s Nurturing Doubt, the author reflects on his time as a...
View ArticleThe Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Why an 80-year-old children’s book feels newer and more grown-up than the high-tech PG-13 epics recently based on it. Reviewing the Hobbit movies at this point would be, well, pointless. If you care...
View ArticleA Review and a Farewell: Of Manuscripts and Seer Stones
I’ve been, as Mormons say, “less active” here at the blog for the past few months. A number of changes have forced me to contribute less—among them graduation (“Doctor Spencer,” now!) and a move to...
View ArticleReview: The Mormon Jesus
Perhaps my devotional life’s greatest flaw is that I forget about Jesus. Intellectually, of course, I know that I cannot ignore the Savior when speaking about theology, but much of the time my musings...
View ArticleUnbridling Mormon Illustration: “From the Dust”– 2 of 2
In yesterday’s post, I discussed the relationship between Mormon illustration and historical accuracy, specifying that I’d prefer to see a efflorescence of approaches in the Mormon illustrative...
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