Here is what will probably be the first of several Book of Mormon Wordprint Analysis posts, based on a database I put together and curiosity I’ve had for many years about ‘voices’ in the Book of Mormon.  Book of Mormon computer studies are fascinating to me, and I believe in the future they will be […]

  Greg Prince, in a podcast interview at Mormon Stories with John Dehlin, articulated what I have referred to as New Mormonism.  New, as contrasted to the old version–the fundamentalist type Mormonism that some feel is being proven false by ‘CES Letter type issues’, ie Book of Mormon historicity, multiple First Vision Accounts, Book of […]

LDS Faith Crisis.  This is a great document that can introduce a nuanced view of historical issues. It can be shared both with members struggling with faith issues and also with LDS leaders to help them see the direction LDS scholars are going to address these issues.  This 10 page pdf is a very helpful […]

  As I was watching Elder M. Russell Ballard’s talk ‘To Whom Shall We Go?”, October 201 general conference talk, I liked the talk, but I knew it would be controversial.  Here, I share how I heard the talk. Elder Ballard is keenly aware of the difficult historical issues that are causing many people to […]

  This blog post is a review of Patrick Mason’s chapter in his popular book, ‘Planted’, on prophets, ‘In All Patience and Faith.’  I will also include my own view of how I view and sustain prophets despite not having a traditional/literal view of scripture and church history. Patrick tells the story of himself as […]

  Adam Miller is my favorite Mormon thinker today.  Richard Bushman called him “the most original and provocative Latter-day Saint theologian practicing today”.  I agree.  Adam’s writings, to me, have been powerful and life changing.  At least, the stuff I understand.  The stuff I don’t understand I assume it’s equally powerful, and I’m working to […]

    Grant Hardy gave a landmark presentation at the Fairmormon 2016 Conference titled “More Effective Apologetics”. In this blog post, I will review the presentation and also go a little deeper into some of the sources and references Dr. Hardy used in the presentation, and provide wider context he’s given in published materials and podcast […]

I planned to attend the Friday session of FairMormon Conference 2016, just as I had for Sunstone the week before and compare the two experiences. I wasn’t able to attend live, but I was able to follow most of the day’s presentations through the live streaming. I watched one of Thursday’s presentations. Royal Skousen and […]

  This was my first time attending the Sunstone Symposium in person.  I went up with my wife for Friday’s session.  We plan to go to Friday’s session of FairMormon next week.  Looking forward to that, as well.   We started out with Michael Marquardt’s presentation on Martin Harris.  What a sweetheart.  For someone I […]

  The issue of multiple First Vision accounts has tripped up the faith of some LDS in recent times.  The LDS church uses the 1838 account of Joseph Smith’s First Vision to teach members and future investigators of how God selected Joseph to restore his true church, focusing on the message of LDS exclusivity. As […]