Dave's Mormon Inquiry

Two Churches, Two Gospels

As a Mormon, you belong to two churches: your local congregation, be it ward or branch (the Local Church), and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Institutional Church). While something similar may be true for members of other denominations, it is more true for and has more effect on Latter-day Saints. You may draw strength from both your Local Church and from the Institutional Church; I do, and I think most Mormons do. But they are surprisingly distinct units, with rather different, if complementary, agendas.

Mormon Christianity: A Little Bit Catholic

I'm about a third of the way through Stephen W. Webb's Mormon Christianity: What Other Christians Can Learn From the Latter-day Saints (OUP, 2013). Webb is a Catholic professor of philosophy and theology turned writer. His Catholic perspective on LDS doctrine and his evident sympathy for the LDS approach to Christianity make this insightful outsider treatment of LDS theology quite refreshing. I will no doubt post a longer discussion of the book in a week or two, but here is a quotation highlighting some similarities between Catholic and Mormon approaches to Christianity (apart from both traditions being the target of historical Protestant animus, of course):

The God of Pragmatism

Here is William James' vision of a pluralistic universe, as expressed in the final chapter of his short book Pragmatism (1907).

Suppose that the world's author put the case to you before creation, saying:

"I am going to make a world not certain to be saved, a world the perfection of which shall be conditional merely, the condition being that each several agent does its own 'level best.' I offer you the chance of taking part in such a world. Its safety, you see, is unwarranted. It is a real adventure, with real danger, yet it may win through. It is a social scheme of cooperative work genuinely to be done. Will you join the procession? Will you trust yourself and trust the other agents enough to face the risk?"

Facebook Content Comes and Goes, but Blog Content Lasts Forever

Which is why I continue to maintain this solo blog and periodically post new content, although I now use it primarily to archive content that I first post at other sites such as T&S and WWE. Facebook news feeds and groups are fine for social conversation, even meaningful conversation on religious topics as found in various LDS Facebook groups, but that content has a half-life of about one day. Think about that the next time you write a six-paragraph Facebook post or response. Then, if you think those six paragraphs are worth reading by you or anyone else beyond a single 24-hour period, get serious and go make a blog.

Mormonism: The Last Fifty Years

Over the holidays I read The Mormon Image in the American Mind: Fifty Years of Public Perception (OUP, 2013), by J. B. Haws, a BYU prof with a history PhD. Technically, the book is a study of how the LDS Church and Mormonism in general is perceived by the American public, and the author presents survey data throughout the book to gauge the ups and downs of the various ways that Mormons and the Church are viewed. No doubt the book is required reading for every LDS Public Affairs employee. But for most readers the book also serves quite nicely as a narrative history of the last fifty years of Mormonism. A lot has happened and a lot has changed: reading about George Romney's 1968 quest for the Republican nomination for President is like reading about another world.

Sharp Dressed Man

I came across this passage in Joyce Appleby's Inheriting the Revolution (Harvard Univ. Press, 2000) talking about changes in clothing and attitudes about clothing that came to the post-Revolution generation of Americans.

Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, like the Quakers, announced their new devotion by spurning fancy clothes, lavish entertainment, and slaves, enjoining their members to wear plain clothing and avoid frivolities. They kept a strict watch over each others' behavior. Displaying their religious convictions through their dress, evangelical Christians often provoked reactions from the less religious. (p. 145)