No, this post isn’t advocating the use of a seerstone to divine the date of the MP restoration. Rather, I wish to explore the implications of Zebedee Coltrin’s 1866 recollection of an exchange he had with Joseph Smith.
With May 15th marking the yearly commemoration of the Aaronic Priesthood restoration in 1829, I hope it is appropriate to explore some of the foundational narratives associated with it.
My wife ordered for me a copy of Halldor Laxness’ 1960 novel Paradise Reclaimed. First she called stores in the area in case one of them had it. A store in Bethesda, Maryland had two copies, but they had been set aside for other customers. On hearing from a third person interested in the book, the clerk wondered if some book club is reading it. Though our purchase is unrelated to those other two, I’m also curious. Does anyone happen to know of some group in the Maryland D.C. suburbs that is reading this book?
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought ran a review of this novel, “The Witty and Witless Saints of a Nobel Prize Winner” by Karl Keller (autumn-winter 1971, v. 6, no. 3-4, pp. 48-54). It also printed an article on Laxness’ study of the Mormons, “Halldor Laxness, the Mormons, and the Promised Land” by George S. Tate (summer 1978, v. 11, no. 2, pp. 25-37).
Professors are apparently most negative towards Mormons and Evangelicals. A hat tip to reader Bob Bell.
Today marks the 165th anniversary of the first endowments being given in the latter days. At that time, the Nauvoo temple was still far from completion. Baptisms for the dead were conducted in the cellar font, but there was not yet a place for the endowment. The upper room of the Red Brick Store in Nauvoo would have to suffice. “Although on one occasion Joseph Smith stated that in the days of poverty the Saints could obtain their endowments on a mountain, there were no mountains in the vicinity of Nauvoo. Moreover, the surrounding prairie offered insufficient privacy for the administration of temple ordinances…. Apparently the one place where he felt he had enough control of access to insure the required privacy was in his own store.” (1) On 4 May 1842, Joseph Smith gathered nine men (2) and gave them the endowment.
With “September Dawn” — the movie that reportedly tries to make Brigham Young look like Osama bin Laden — about to come out, and criticism aimed at the Church coming seemingly from all sides, it’s nice to read something, well, nice about Mormons. And it is written by an evangelical too.
Next time I hear a comment about polygamy or how we are not Christian or are a cult, instead of feeling down I will choose to concentrate on these sentiments:
I know that I’m going to get in trouble in some quarters for the following statement, but I’m going to say it anyway. I love Mormons, and I deeply appreciate the role played by the LDS church in our nation and our culture.
On the Republican side, recent data indicates Mitt Romney is inching up in popularity in the crucial states of Iowa and New Hampshire. He has 24 percent of the vote in NH, behind McCain but solidly ahead of Giuliani. In Iowa, he is third with 14 percent to McCain’s 26 percent and Giuliani’s 19 percent.
On a nationwide basis, Romney’s support has slowly been inching up, as a look at these results and this graph indicate. Reports from the field indicate Romney has the most efficient campaigning organization.
The Bloggernacle loves to play down Romney’s chance in this election, but I don’t think that’s wise. If I were a betting man, which I’m not, I’d put good money on him winning the Republican nomination. The general election is unfortunately another story, however.
UPDATE: This poll shows Romney solidly ahead in NH.
Overall, I thought “The Mormons” was a wonderful documentary that showed most of the positive things about the Church from a secular perspective while also exploring many of the criticisms in a fair way.
In this post, I would like to touch on one area where I thought the documentary really fell short, and this is the area of how we treat intellectual dissidents.
UPDATE: Look at this link for complete transcripts from “The Mormons.” Both Elder Holland and Daniel Peterson touch on this issue pretty eloquently.
I was interviewed for an article that came out Saturday in the Ogden Standard Examiner for a reaction to some quotations from the PBS special. Since my sound byte level reactions weren’t used, I would like to share them here.
I really have to work on my dissertation, and the “Romney thing” is become increasingly tepid and overdone in the ‘Nacle -
BUT - (this is way too good to pass up) - Romney just revealed his favorite novel, and suddenly I just might vote for him after all (okay, not really). Find out what it is below the fold:
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