Hyrum Smith, then second-in-command of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, preached in May 1842 on the Word of Wisdom. In a fascinating treatment that shares much with the contemporary physiological reformers, Hyrum visits many issues relevant to the Word of Wisdom that are worth reading at length.[1]
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And he [Jacob] rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.

(Genesis 32: 22-32)
Discuss.

Although he deserves far better, please join me in welcoming Brad as a new permablogger at BCC. Brad’s bio will be added unceremoniously to our sidebar, but Brad himself has already been added quite ceremoniously in all our hearts.

I started studying Spanish in the 7th grade. Mostly because my friends were taking it and because my brother Andrew was on a mission in Argentina and he would need someone to talk to when he got home. I make no claims that junior high Spanish is difficult or challenging but I was good at it. Really good at it. I have noticed that when one is good at a thing, they tend to love said thing. I kept on it and chose it as my major when I went to college. I started literature classes, history classes, Latin American revolution classes (that was a goody), pre-Colombian culture classes and I loved all of it (please note above deep insight, as I continued to be very good at it). When I decided to go on my mission, I began to have dreams. I knew I was going to Mexico. It was revelation that felt as earnest and true as my connections with my dead dad and forgiveness of my teenage sins (I was a bad kid).

I got called to Tokyo Japan. (more…)

Eric Eliason is a associate professor of English and folklorist at BYU, and has recently published (with University of Illinois Press) The J. Golden Kimball Stories, a collection of stories about the beloved General Authority that seeks to explore the history and folklore surrounding this popular hero. S.P. Bailey’s excellent review of The J. Golden Kimball Stories was recently published here; I second that review and would add that only that the book is a great read and can be recommended as a Christmas gift for those family members who persist in using profanity in their Church talks. Prof. Eliason agreed to be interviewed about his new book. (more…)

In the past I have always referred to the amounts full-time General Authorities of the Church are paid as stipends. I’m wondering whether I’m being overly defensive in this practice, and I’m thinking about just saying they are paid salaries. But I’m having a hard time figuring out which is the most appropriate word–or perhaps there is a better, more descriptive term (allowance?). So I’m hoping my friends in the Bloggernacle can set me straight on how best to refer to these payments. (more…)

I named and blessed my daughter on Sunday. (more…)

A friend of long standing is about to be ordained as an Episcopalian priest. She grew up Catholic and after study and training served as a chaplain at a hospital. She became increasingly frustrated that what she wanted to accomplish was denied her because of her sex, and made the decision to leave Catholicism and study for the priesthood as an Episcopalian. This has taken a long time (as she is also a wife and mother): the classes she took as a Catholic wouldn’t transfer for “credit”, she had to study out of state for a six-month period. There has been a long apprenticeship. She isn’t free to go anywhere she might be needed so has had to wait a long time for local opportunities. Her final examinations are in early January and will take four days. When I asked her would they would cover, she said that it could be anything: history, scripture, liturgy, pastoral care. (more…)

In the thirty-fifth week of her pregnancy, my wife had some complications. She was ordered to bed for the rest of the pregnancy, and obviously we were worried. I prepared to give a blessing with fasting, seclusion and prayer. The resulting was an outpouring of spiritual gifts that left us all breathless. It gave my wife a tremendous boost of hope and faith.

Just after this, as we all stood around the bed blinking, one of my two year old sons said, very clearly, ‘The baby is a girl. Her name is Emma.’ (more…)

It is a matter of ongoing, unresolved, and deeply irritating debate whether Mormons are a kind of Christians or an alternative to Christianity. Mormons sometimes believe that this debate is strictly due to either a lack of information or a presence of malice on the part of non-Mormon interlocutors. However, this is not the case. At issue is a contest of definitions — and a power struggle in which each of two competing religious camps is proposing definitions that put their rivals in the worst available strategic position. (more…)

From my mystery correspondent: Angie Academic is a constitutional law scholar at a state law school. She is also the temple preparation teacher in her ward. Angie wrote an academic paper, recently published in the Harvard Law Review, in which she takes the position that the constitutional and statutory protections of religion are too strong and that measures should be taken, including a constitutional amendment, if necessary, to allow the federal government to force churches to ordain women and otherwise enforce anti-discrimination measures against churches. In one section of her paper, she gives the example of the LDS church as one that would be improved by the forced ordination of women, stating that otherwise the “out-of-touch, gerentocratic nature of the church hierarchy” made it unlikely that that church would voluntarily extend the priesthood to women for another 50 years or so, which she viewed as “unacceptable.” She also stated that without the priesthood, LDS women were currently “second-class citizens in the church.” (more…)

The question of the fate of the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and more particularly, why the plates have only been made available to perhaps fifteen people (8+3+Joseph Jr+Lucy+Emma+the stray extra) in their history, has vexed Mormons, their critics, and observers since 1830. The possible explanations are myriad.

One particularly intriguing explanation was offered by Parley Pratt in 1842. (more…)

Grandpas don’t bake pies!

(Boyd K. Packer, “For Time and All Eternity“, Ensign, Nov. 1993)

Discuss.

When I was at BYU, I had a professor who taught us that the name James is not truly biblical, and only appears in the Bible because the translators of the 1611 Authorized Version could scarcely dedicate it to King James I if his name did not appear therein. I thought that was a fascinating factoid and I believed it for years. I may have even taught it myself in a lesson or two along the way. (more…)

As LDS we tend to be fairly uncomfortable with the concept of Myth. (more…)

Over the weekend, Viacom launched the new MTV Arabia with much excitement and a publicity blitz in the Middle East that left one’s head reeling. While music videos are nothing new to the Arab market (and quite a few of them more risqué than one would think), it will be interesting to see what kind of impact MTV has on this region. When I think about the effects that it might bring though, I have to admit I am being selfish and thinking more of how it will affect me than the Egyptian society I am living in.

When I get together with other women in Cairo, the topic of conversation almost always turns to the sexual harassment that is a part of everyday life here. No woman is immune, from graying grandmothers to pregnant twentysomethings. Arab women complain of getting harassed to a point as well, but it’s mainly limited to catcalls. That’s what I was prepared for when I arrived here. Catcalls I can deal with, leering I can learn to ignore. But there’s a vibe that’s very difficult to explain but that is felt by many Western women when they are harassed here. The best way I can think of to describe it is instead of getting the usual sense of disrespect and chauvinism, there is rather a clear feeling of proposition and expectation. To try and illustrate this, it’s one thing to be walking down the street with men whistling as you pass. That can be explained away by machismo and bad form. But when a man chases a woman all the way down the street and into her apartment building, then is truly and honestly shocked when she is terrified and angry, there’s clearly a miscommunication going on. (more…)

From my mystery correspondent. Remember the ground rule: This is a parlor game, so no punting to the “guidance of the Spirit.” If you were the official presented with these facts, what call do you make? (more…)

I grew up in a good Republican family, in a wealthy Southern California community, in a ward with lots of good, right-thinking Republican churchmembers. As a youth, I recall occasionally hearing an argument that went something like this: “The Lord asks all his children to pay 10% of their income to his Church, regardless of whether they’re rich or poor. He did so in the days of Malachi, and he does so today. But the government levies a tax on U.S. citizens that rises higher and higher the more money you make. Since we know that the Lord’s ways are just and fair, the government’s ways obviously are not.” In short, the Church’s tithing system was a model that the government should adopt with respect to tax policy. Progressivity in the tax code is unfair, unjust, perhaps even evil.
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Yesterday I read in the Chicago Tribune about a study suggesting that feminists make for better partners and have stronger romantic relationships. (I’ll link the article from another source so you won’t have to register to read it.) The study was done at Rutgers University and appeared in the on-line edition of the peer-reviewed journal Sex Roles. (more…)

While reading an interesting article in Dialogue about dissent in the church (you can read it here), I came upon an even more interesting statement by Joseph F. Smith:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the most democratic institution in the world.

Improvement Era, December 1917, p. 100

Proceeding on the assumption that it is best to take statements from church presidents seriously, how are we to understand this statement?

I attended an unusual wedding in the temple yesterday. (more…)

And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

(Luke 16:9)

Discuss.

A phenomenon is occurring at Columbia that interests me for the fact that it is happening at all.  Columbia over the last semester as had a series of protests.  The first occurred over Ahmadinejad’s visit to the campus.  The next began after a noose was found on a African-American professor’s door at Teacher’s College.  And, finally, a group of Columbia undergraduates has begun a hunger strike over several demands, including reforming the core curriculum to include more minority writers, creating an ethnic studies department, and expanding ethically into Manhattanville. (more…)

Our guest, Brad Kramer, grew up (debatable verbiage) in Utah. He attended BYU, where he earned a degree in Russian, followed by a stint at the University of Utah where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in US History. He now resides with his family (wife, three sons, one newborn daughter) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he teaches Russian and is earning a PhD in Anthropology. He did his master’s research on late nineteenth-century Mormonism, focusing on the dynamics of conflict, accommodation, and transformation, with a case study on the founding of Rexburg, Idaho. Brad writes: “As an anthropologist I plan to study Christian conversion in post-Soviet states (I served a mission in Russia), from the perspective of sociolinguistics and Marxist theory. In addition to being a husband, father, Mormon, and academic, my other salient identities include mediocre musician, amateur chef, Hollywood liberal, and Capricorn.”

Brad will be guest posting with us for the next couple of weeks.

The post:

The following story is true. I have withheld the actual location of the stake in question, because I’d hate for my comments to be taken personally by any of the individuals involved; but the story is verifiable (for those interested in doing a little detective work) and really, actually took place: (more…)

A few months ago, a few of the fathers I’ve met while watching our kids in the park decided to get together, sans children. A location was chosen: a posh bar in the neighborhood. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in bars in my day — listening to music, playing music, meeting friends — so I didn’t think twice about meeting them there, especially as it was a warm evening and I knew the terrace would be pleasant. Is this the primrose path? Maybe. (more…)

Watchers of this fall’s best new show, Pushing Daisies, may have noticed a number of oblique Mormon references. The most explicit of these thus far has been naming a villain “Wilfred Woodruff,” although said villain turned out to be Asian Southern Gentry. Previous villain names also include “Lemuel.”

Tonight’s episode puts Pushing Daisies into new terrain, however. (more…)

Schoolchildren in England and Wales are required to study history up until the end of “Key Stage 3″ (age 14). They can then choose to study history as an optional examination subject at GCSE (16) and A-level (18).

One of the GCSE courses in history (there are several run by different exam “boards”) includes the study of Mormon history. As part of the “History A (Schools History Project)” syllabus, OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations) offers a component on “The American West.” Mormon history is treated alongside the Indians, the pioneers, homesteading, and the railroad.

Here are some sample examination questions for the Mormon component, with examples of high-standard answers:[1] (more…)

I pulled a string and Lori Levinson, Dialogue’s excellent business manager, sent me her advance copy of the Winter 2007 issue. Yours and mine will be along soon. I haven’t made it past the poetry (I usually read the poetry first and this batch is hauntingly appropriate for winter), Neal Kramer’s review of Wayne Booth’s autobiography My Many Selves (which I loved so I had to read the review- good review) and Ethan Yorgason’s interview of John Durham Peters, professor of communications theory at the U. of Iowa and branch president. I’m now too busy googling Peters. (more…)

In this week’s copy of The Economist, they have quotes from the campaign trail.

“‘I only got three [dollars] in my pocket.’ Multimillionaire Mitt Romney has to borrow from an aide to buy a cup of coffee. ” emphasis my own.

Coffee? Did they say coffee? Mitt the Mormon drinks coffee?

I wonder then if his delinquency in keeping the Word of Wisdom is what spurred this comment: “‘What they have done is, they have totally dismissed that fact that this guy’s influence is going to lead people to hell.’ Televangelist Bill Keller on Christian conservative leaders who endorse Mitt Romney, a Mormon.” (all this on page 37 of the Nov 10th issue of the Economist)

Should I be nervous about a coffee-drinking Mormon too? (more…)