The August Ensign reprints a talk prepared by Elder Richard G. Scott for an international leadership training session in 2004; entitled “The Doctrinal Foundation of the Auxiliaries,” the piece outlines the functions and footings of the three female-led auxiliaries.
Year: 2005
Legislatures, Courts, and Gay Marriage
When the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that gay couples had a constitutional right to marry, conservative commentators excoriated the court for usurping — critics claimed — the rightful role of the legislature.
A Response to Kaimi
I like Kaimi, but I am afraid that he is just wrong.
The date
The phone call was innocent. Sister Walker, the mission president’s wife, wanted me to come over for dinner.
The Myth of Religious Liberty as a Precondition for the Restoration
It’s a message you’re likely to hear every Fourth of July, and many times throughout the year as well: The Restored Church could only have been restored in America, the land of religious liberty.
Crystal Palace Ward
Janice and I went to a new ward Sunday.
President Monson’s timely message
It’s always a bit of a booster shot for me, testimony-wise, when I see things like this month’s Ensign message. In an article that appears to have been prepared long before Katrina was around, President Monson delivers a message that is tailored for members dealing with grief and loss.
Quail and the Superdome
I will frankly admit that I have been sickened by the lack of compassion for those victimized by Hurricane Katrina that I’ve seen in some corners of the Bloggernacle.
Book Review: I Love Mormons: A New Way to Share Christ with Latter-day Saints
The techniques that Evangelicals use to convert Mormons to ‘traditional Christianity’ do not work. The same cannot be said for the method proposed by David L. Rowe in his new book. .
Dragonfly
Early this morning my children clattered out the door to the schoolyard across the street, where they returned to freedom a tiny ground frog they’d captured yesterday.
The Taste of Salvation
I wish that we didn’t use white bread for the sacrament.
Playing God
Today I heard many prayers and had to decide whose to answer.
Against Theodicy on the Road to Jericho
Natural disasters often lead people to think about the problem of evil and theodicy. This is, I think, probably a bad idea.
Katrina Relief
I hope that each of us is praying and perhaps fasting for those who have been affected most directly by Katrina. As I thought about doing something more — specifically, donating to the relief effort — I wondered whether we could or should funnel donations through the Church. If not, what are the best options? Red Cross?
The Metaphysics of Mormon Art
Grant me a simple premise: How one thinks about the nature of reality has an impact on how one thinks about art.
‘Til Death Do Us Part
When the topic turns to marriage, someone in Gospel Doctrine class inevitably refers with derision to that famous phrase from traditional marriage vows, “’til death do us part.” To paraphrase Inigo Montoya, “I do not think this [phrase] means what you think it means.”
Thinking With Katrina
While my brother and his family are safe in Texas, it appears that all of their possessions and their home in New Orleans will be under water soon. What I am hearing now is that about half of ‘well-contructed homes’ will be destroyed and the city will not be habitable for weeks. One million may be left homeless.
They govern themselves
A busy downtown intersection. No traffic lights, no road markings, no speed limits, no sidewalks, no pedestrian crossings. Cars, cyclists, pedestrians, all move on the same street level, side by side, carefully merging.
Military Fatalities in Iraq
Take a look at this state ranking. It ranks states by Iraqi-war casualties per 100,000 residents. The chart was made as part of a rather silly debate about red states and blue states that doesn’t interest me. What interests me is Utah.
Oral Histories
As valuable as the Clare Middlemiss papers were in writing David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism, they lacked the subjective, third dimension of the real people portrayed in the book. In conducting some 200 oral histories, we found the third dimension we sought.
The Poetry of Sex, Metaphysics, and Appropriation
Some poets are available for Mormon appropriation and some are only to be envied and enjoyed. John Donne is only to be envied and enjoyed.
Two priesthoods
There is a tiny village, on a remote hill in Burundi, Central Africa, committed to my memory as the place where two priesthoods, Catholic and Mormon, joined.
A Letter to Emma Ray
While David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism is nearly perfect in every way, one thing it doesn’t do is provide an intimate portrait of President McKay. That lacuna is partially filled by Heart Petals: The Personal Correspondence of David Oman McKay to Emma Ray McKay.
The Problems of Mormon-American Toryism
Being an American Mormon makes it difficult, perhaps impossible, for me to be a tory.
Scriptures Citations in General Conference
Times & Seasons commenter and economist Ed Johnson (“ed”) has performed some sophisticated statistical analysis on general conference scripture citations. We discussed the same data, but with the aid of lesser tools and minds, in earlier posts here and here. The finding that most surprised me is that the surge in Book of Mormon citations evident in the previous posts can’t be attributed to President Benson’s famous general conference talks about the Book of Mormon after all: his talks coincide with the crest of the wave.
What They Art (for 40 Years, and Counting)
Today, August 20th, the youngest of my eight siblings, Baden Joseph Fox, married Mary Ellen Smoot in the Salt Lake temple. We weren’t able to attend, which was doubly unfortunate, this being a particularly notable day in Fox family history. You see, on the same date their last child was married, my parents, James Russell Fox and Kathleen Jolley Fox, were married in the Salt Lake temple, 40 years earlier. This post is for them.
From the Archives: A Mormon Studies Family
Both of my parents (now divorced) have been deeply involved in Mormon studies for my entire life. (more…)
Book Review: The Parenting Breakthrough
You just gotta love any book that has a picture of a seven-year-old boy cleaning a toilet on the cover.
Tithing the Mint?
I have a small herb garden: a couple of varieties of thyme, some tarragon, chives, basil, dill, oregano, rose geranium, parsley, lavender, sage, rosemary, and two kinds of mint, regular and chocolate, though the chocolate is gradually disappearing, replaced by the spearmint.
Dallin, Sandra and the Supreme Court
Sandra Day O’Connor has retired from the Supreme Court and John Roberts will almost certainly replace her. History might have been different.