In his book, People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture. (Oxford University Press, 2007), Terryl Givens identifies four areas of paradox within Mormonism that affect the practice and development of the cultural arts. The first is the tension between free agency and authoritarianism.  The second area of paradox is the relationship between holding truth [...]

In his book, People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture. (Oxford University Press, 2007), Terryl Givens identifies four areas of paradox within Mormonism that affect the practice and development of the cultural arts. The first is the tension between free agency and authoritarianism.  The second area of paradox is the relationship between holding truth [...]

In his book, People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture. (Oxford University Press, 2007), Terryl Givens identifies four areas of paradox within Mormonism that affect the practice and development of the cultural arts. The first is the tension between free agency and authoritarianism. Givens identifies moral agency – the right of each individual to [...]

I continue to be impressed with the writings of Terryl Givens about Mormonism.  Givens writes as a faithful Latter-day Saint, but not as an apologist for the LDS cause as much as analyst of key issues in the Mormon experience.  Of course I don’t agree with Givens on everything, but his analysis is always through-provoking [...]

Every religious, ethnic, or cultural group or sub-group adopts certain markers by which the group’s members can signify or announce their identity, both internally and externally.  The well-respected historian and observer of Mormonism Jan Shipps, in a published lecture called Signifying Sainthood (2002), reflects on “how Saints tell the world and each other who they [...]

My theme this month has been the relationship Latter-day Saints have with their formative scripture, the Book of Mormon. I believe the book exerts a powerful, culture-forming influence on every aspect of Mormon life. For instance, young LDS men are named Alma and Moroni after Book of Mormon characters. Thousands of Latter-day Saints have grown [...]

In my latest series of posts, I’ve been discussing how the Book of Mormon is used in Mormon life and culture – an expansion of chapter eight of my book Understanding the Book of Mormon. Previously I described the Book of Mormon’s evidential function: how the Book of Mormon catalyzes a self-validating spiritual experience that [...]

My book, Understanding the Book of Mormon, provides an overview of the content of the Book of Mormon and explores the claims Latter-day Saints make about the book as an ancient record and divine scripture. But chapter eight breaks new ground by evaluating how the Book of Mormon is used in LDS life. This is [...]

This month I am reposting a series of reflections I wrote that appeared last summer on the Koinonia blog, which explore the multi-faceted relationship Latter-day Saints have with the Book of Mormon. In 2006, Mark D. Thomas presented at paper at the Sunstone Symposium, entitled “Marketing Research and the Book of Mormon.” Thomas surveyed 57 [...]

Last summer I wrote a series of blog posts for Koinonia, a blog featuring biblical and theological conversations for the Christian community. I posted the links, but in case you did not take the time to go over to the Koinonia site, I am re-posting those articles here. Joseph Smith called the Book of Mormon [...]