We’ve already discussed our moral obligations to the very very young. Now I’d like to talk about our obligations to the very very old.
Year: 2004
Labute and the Beasts
Speaking of Mormon masculinity, once-Mormon playwright Neil Labute premiered his new play this week, Fat Pig.
Can a Good Mormon Be a Socialist?
One of the great benefits of having Nate Oman and Frank McIntyre as regular bloggers here at T&S is that they can rapidly and thoroughly devastate the flakey assumptions which underlie my repetetive calls for social arrangements which prioritize public goods and community maintenance over individual choice and economic growth. This is a good thing: it’s good to be corrected by people who have more knowledge than you, and it’s good to be humbled. I’m confident this post will continue in that tradition.
Jay’s Journal: Mormon Horror Fiction…or is it?
If you’ve never heard of Jay or Jay’s Journal let me explain. Jay’s Journal is a slim volume, published in 1979 and edited by adolescent psychologist and Provo resident Dr. Beatrice Sparks. It’s a series of journal entries that detail a sixteen year-old Mormon boy’s descent into the occult, culminating with his encounters with an evil spirit, the mysterious deaths of his friends, and eventually his suicide.
Utah and the Working Mother
On a recent post, Kristine was wondering about the number of Mormon women who work*.
Secular knowledge
Is secular knowledge a spiritual distraction?
A Mormon Reinterpretation of a Christmas Carol
Today I heard a well-known Christmas carol, and it occurred to me that the carol’s underlying story was incredibly ahistorical. In fact, it is roughly the opposite of what we know happened. Or rather, it is roughly the opposite of what most Christians know happened.
The Church and the Tribe
The church seems to have replaced the tribe as God’s pattern for organizing his people–or has it? When God covenanted with Abraham, the covenant was with Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 17:7-8+). This covenant was to be fulfilled in part through Abraham’s righteous leadership as a father
Virus Concerns
Ryan Bell has just posted about some fishy virus-containing e-mails that he received, allegedly from Greg Call, Nate Oman, Daniel Bartholomew. It looks like there is a virus somewhere in the bloggernacle. This could be as simple as a bloggernacle participant using an infected machine that is sending virus e-mails with false “From” data. Or it could be a more serious issue. For the moment, bloggernacle participants are warned to be very careful opening e-mail purporting to come from Nate, Greg, or for that matter any bloggernacle participant. And as a general matter, bloggernacle readers (like all computer users) should at the very least have up-to-date virus protection on their computers.
The Thrift Ethic Gone Bad (and a Happy Ending)
Over at some other blog there is an interesting thread on thrift that got me thinking of my own family’s tortured relationship to the Mormon thrift ethic.
Christmas Music for Choir Nerds, Part III
My first two posts were mostly devoted to large-scale pieces; this one is for miniatures, carol collections, and other minor or miscellaneous loveliness.
Hooray for Dialogue! No, not that Dialogue
No, we’re not talking about the journal Dialogue—we’re talking about lines of dialogue from film, television, or books that creep their way into our homes and stick around for years, much like food supplies from the cannery. The lines that resonate with us can reveal a lot about ourselves and our families.
So What Shape is God’s Social Welfare Function?
It’s time for the post that I am sure you have all been waiting for on that perrenial hot-button issue of the Mormon intelligensia: the relationship of the Gospel to welfare economics.
Leavitt to HHS?
Well, perhaps now we’ll see if, as discussed at length on this site, there is anything particular a Mormon can offer to discussions of stem-cell research or family welfare policies. President Bush has just nominated former Utah governor Mike Leavitt to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. My guess: don’t expect to see Mormon theology mingle with Republican orthodoxy anytime soon.
Welcome Shannon Keeley and Brian Gibson
We’re pleased to introduce Shannon Keeley and Brian Gibson, our newest guest bloggers and our first co-blogging team.
The Art of Gift-Giving
Along with all the glorious choral music of the season, which we’ve praised recently at T&S, Christmas is also a time of gift-giving. We make long lists of presents to give to those we love, trying hard to fulfill everyone’s Christmas wishes. Lots of toys, clothes, CDs, books and flannel pajamas get purchased and carefully wrapped. Some years bigger-ticket items like electronic equipment, jewelry or even furniture are given. Still, despite our best efforts it may be rare that we give gifts that are really cherished because they speak love. Over the years I’ve come to believe that gift-giving is an art.
The End of the World as We Know It
Check your 72-hour kits, everyone. Over the weekend I bought and started reading a book because Adam linked to a positive review of it in the National Review.
Tithing Settlement
Last year at this time I posted on the topic of “Tithing Settlement.” Although I strive to avoid repetitive posting, I trust that most of our current readers were not around at the time, and I never received an answer to my question. So I am trying again.
Thanks, Jed!
Jed W.’s term as a guest blogger has come to a close, and I am sure that I speak for all us in thanking him for his insightful and provocative posts. I learned in Church today that Jed and his wife Shauna are expecting their first child next summer. The current debate in the W. household is whether to discover their child’s gender before the birth. I am quite certain that Jed and Shauna would appreciate your insights on this issue. In the meantime, best of luck to Jed. We hope that you will not be a stranger.
Laughing at ourselves
I am particularly fond of an old Jewish folk story called Esperanza’s Bread.
Christmas Music Geekery, Part II–Hodie and Messiah
Yesterday I mentioned Ralph Vaughan Williams’ ‘Hodie’, but did not rhapsodize about it. Allow me to rhapsodize:
My Mormon Hanukkah Celebration
This year, on an impulse, I picked up a menorah and candles, and we’re trying out a new (at least, for my family) tradition — Hanukkah.
The ideal Mormon university
I want to thank you all for your very generous and interesting comments over the last two weeks during my time in the guest blogger’s chair. Everyone has been most congenial and welcoming. I hope to come back for the guest blogger’s reunion. For my last post, I’d like to
The cheeses of Times and Seasons
And now for a very serious topic. Which T & S bloggers are like which types of cheese?
Thoughts on evolution
I suspect that when many people think about how God created humans, they have a subconscious image of Him carefully designing each system and part, essentially the same way a human engineer would. But increasingly that’s not how human engineers work.
Oh How the Mighty are Fallen! (Sort of)
I witnessed a very powerful illustration of the vanity of the pride of the world the other day, or at least I witnessed it until I realized that I was probably wrong.
Kristine’s Much-Less-Endearing-than-Rosalynde’s Christmas Music Confessions (which may nonetheless redeem themselves by being useful for aspiring classical music geeks)
So, umm, I sort of dimly know what Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby sound like, but the voice that means Christmas for me is John Shirley-Quirks’s.
Saying No to Baptism: A Philosophical Account
A couple of days ago, Bob Caswell reposted at BCC a wonderful old post of his, dealing primarily with the complications of missionary work in an area (in this case, Bulgaria) where there are significant racial, social, and economic factors which get in the way of preaching the gospel to everyone equally. In the comments following that post, Gary made an observation which has been made many times before, but which probably cannot be repeated too often:
Are Mormons a “myopic” people?
Are Mormons a “myopic� people? The historian Richard Poll first suggested the possibility in an article on Mormon personality published many years ago.
An Engineering Analysis of Santa Claus
To prove that engineers have a sense of humor, I send the following to my family every year at Christmas. I wish I could say I wrote it, but I didn’t, and don’t know who did. Perhaps you’ve seen it before. If not, enjoy.