Posts Tagged ‘ mormon ’

100–101: Mormon Missions

May 30, 2012
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100–101: Mormon Missions

This two-part episode focuses on the unique experience of Mormon missions–their wonderful, powerful, light aspects, as well as those elements that can lead things to go wrong and be potentially unhealthy. Panelists Derrick Clements, T.K., and Rory Swensen join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon in sharing about their mission experiences (two of them quite recently completed, the other two more than twenty years ago), how they interpreted what they were going through then versus now with post-mission lenses that are influenced to some degree by their faith journeys since the time of their service. Knowing what they know now, or…

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98–99: “Middle Way” Mormonism and Women

May 23, 2012
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98–99: “Middle Way” Mormonism and Women

Mormon Matters episodes 85–86 featured a panel consisting of four men discussing “Middle Way Mormonism,” a term that has been gaining traction as a way to describe a path that some Latter-day Saints are taking in which they attempt to negotiate the tensions that arise when they find themselves believing ideas or valuing certain things differently than what they perceive is a typical LDS position yet still working to remain within and fully engaged with Mormon community life. We now turn to a similar discussion of the “Middle Way” journey, but with women’s voices. What are the common experiences women…

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96–97: Mormonism and Its History—Past, Present, and Future

May 10, 2012
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96–97: Mormonism and Its History—Past, Present, and Future

Every religion has many dilemmas when it comes to its history. How does a group incorporate the idea of a God or Universal force or will that acts in the development of that group and/or the unfolding of world events when such things are not acceptable claims in academic disciplines? How does a tradition balance the doing of history for the purposes of community and faith building through the creation and maintenance of a shared story with other ideals, such as telling the truth about missteps and all the humanness and frailties that are also present in each event? Should…

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94–95: Suicide

May 1, 2012
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94–95: Suicide

Suicide affects all of us, and involves so many devastating emotions. Grief (as one of the panelists refers to it, a very “complicated” form of grief), guilt (“What did I do wrong?” “I should have seen signs and intervened”), and, often, an element of concern for the deceased’s soul state (“Can they ever be forgiven?” “Were they accountable when they did this?”). In this two-part episode, panelists Natasha Helfer Parker, Charn Burton, and Nicholas Maughn join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon in an thorough discussion of  suicide—offering education about its primary causes (what to look for if the person has…

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92–93: Can Mormon Theology Affirm Homosexual Relationships Now and in the Eternities?

April 26, 2012
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92–93: Can Mormon Theology Affirm Homosexual Relationships Now and in the Eternities?

Like many other religious traditions today, Mormonism is wrestling with questions raised by homosexuality. And while both LDS rhetoric and many members’ affirmation of homosexuals as beloved children of God to embrace as fellow citizens in the household of faith are moving forward in many ways, these developments have been fed primarily by the inroads being made through political and pastoral discourse. Very little attention has yet been paid to theological questions raised by these relationships. Can Mormon theology accommodate homosexual relationships into its larger views of the cosmos, God, and divine sociality? In a groundbreaking article in the Winter…

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91: Cleanflix and What Its Story Reveals about Mormon Culture

April 17, 2012
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91: Cleanflix and What Its Story Reveals about Mormon Culture

The documentary film Cleanflix tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of businesses (based primarily in Utah) that rented and sold versions of Hollywood movies in which they had edited out bad language, nudity, sex scenes, gore, graphic violence, and anything else that they considered not a match for community standards. In telling the story from its origins to the court case that declared the practices as in violation of copyright agreements to the continuing saga of stores that refused to shut down even after the businesses were declared illegal, the film highlights deeply embedded attitudes in Mormon…

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89–90: Latter-day Saint “Mid-Singles” Experience

April 10, 2012
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89–90: Latter-day Saint “Mid-Singles” Experience

The LDS Church recently restructured its “singles” wards, effectively shutting them off to unmarried people who are 31 years old or above. In many ways, this move formalized even more than previously the “limbo” of sorts that unmarried but still quite young Mormons find themselves in with relation to their church. Do they best fit or will they be most edified in “family” wards or huge “mid-singles” wards that weekly draw as large a crowd as a typical stake conference? Are they to be seen and celebrated as the highly accomplished, dynamic, active creators of meaningful lives that most of…

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87–88: Pacific Island Mormon Identities

April 5, 2012
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87–88: Pacific Island Mormon Identities

This two-part episode features a fascinating, dynamic, and soaring discussion that takes us into the experiences, cultures, and elements of the worldviews of Latter-day Saints from Pacific Island nations. We learn pieces of the history of two of these nations as it relates to the LDS Church taking hold there, what elements resonate with those who are from the “islands of the sea” (D&C 1:1; 2 Nephi 29:11), and the ways that Mormonism integrates into the daily lives of, especially, Maori and Tongan Saints–including places where Polynesian culture does not allow white Mormon practices and ways of seeing to penetrate,…

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85–86: “Middle Way” Mormonism

April 1, 2012
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85–86: “Middle Way” Mormonism

For many Mormons, their faith and relationship to the LDS Church has forever changed from what they were growing up. And this is how it should be. We’re all called to growth and to assuming responsibility for our own life choices, including the most compelling vision of what existence is all about, how we want to live, with whom do we want to associate, what it is that brings us (or promises us, we sense if we keep going) the greatest joy. In the faith and spirituality arena, religions all contain visions of what it means to be a fully…

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Matters of the Heart 2: On “Masturbatory Rage”: A Theatrical Call to Repentance

March 23, 2012
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Matters of the Heart 2: On “Masturbatory Rage”: A Theatrical Call to Repentance

ON “MASTURBATORY RAGE”: A THEATRICAL CALL TO REPENTANCE  By Allan Davis In this episode of Matters of the Heart, Allan Davis shares a short meditation about a call to repentance related to his transitioning relationship to Mormonism that he received last fall while attending the theatrical performance of a play called Church. A great listen for all who are undergoing the process of re-evaluating their own religious identity and stance related to their childhood faith and religious community. And everyone must, of course, listen to find out what the author means by “masturbatory rage”!

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83-84: Creating Spaces for Non-Traditional Latter-day Saints

March 20, 2012
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83-84: Creating Spaces for Non-Traditional Latter-day Saints

This episode explores both the difficulties of creating more comfortable spaces for unorthodox Mormons in wards, stakes, and families, as well as the benefits. What are some of the tensions that arise in LDS communities when engaging those who hold less-literal beliefs or embody idiosyncratic approaches to spirituality, religion, and community norms? What are some positive ways the community or family can welcome and honor those persons? How might these Latter-day Saints assist in their own positive and joyful integration? What are the benefits of having persons from many points on the spectrum be fully integrated in a community? In…

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81-82: Mormonism and Transhumanism

March 13, 2012
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81-82: Mormonism and Transhumanism

Technological advancements in recent decades have drastically altered human experience, with computing power and many other technologies growing at exponential rates. Our lives will continue to change, and most likely in ways that are presently incomprehensible. “Transhumanism” is a relatively new movement that is carefully considering this immanent future, paying particular concern to how humanity will be changed—for already, and certainly in a more thoroughgoing way than ever before, it is poised to be a primary actor in its own evolution. How can we increase the likelihood that this future will better than the present, that we as transforming, evolving…

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79-80: How Can We Truly Confront Racism within Mormon Thought and Culture?

March 9, 2012
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79-80: How Can We Truly Confront Racism within Mormon Thought and Culture?

A recent Washington Post article that discussed the origins and history of Mormonism’s racialized teachings and policies has caused quite a stir, launching important conversations. The article’s most controversial element was the inclusion of comments from BYU religion professor Randy Bott in which he denied that the former LDS ban on black persons holding the priesthood or participating in temple ordinances was racist, as God’s actions were for their benefit. They weren’t ready. Through these restrictions, God was acting as a loving parent, keeping them from having to live at a higher level than they were capable of doing. Church…

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77-78: Recognizing “the Spirit”

March 7, 2012
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77-78: Recognizing “the Spirit”

Most of us were raised with the idea that even amidst all of life’s confusion, if we live in a certain way and follow clear steps to put ourselves in the right frame of mind and heart, we have the right and ability to know for certain God’s will and wisdom for us through communication via the Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit. For many of us, however, as we grow older and encounter various findings in science and psychology about biological and sociological biases, or as we experience disappointments and other types of complexities, our confidence in this simple formula for recognizing…

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Matters of Perspective 1: “Godwrestling–Physicality, Conflict, and Redemption in Mormon Doctrine”

March 2, 2012
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Matters of Perspective 1: “Godwrestling–Physicality, Conflict, and Redemption in Mormon Doctrine”

“GODWRESTLING–PHYSICALITY, CONFLICT, AND REDEMPTION IN MORMON DOCTRINE” By Rick Jepson In this inaugural episode of “Matters of Perspective,” Rick Jepson reads his November 2005 Sunstone article, “Godwrestling: Physicality, Conflict, and Redemption in Mormon Doctrine,” which explores through many different angles the transformative power of struggle, both physical and spiritual. It contains one of the most complete discussions in all of Mormon writing of the Genesis story of Jacob’s wrestle with the angel, and links Jacob’s transformation from this intense battle with physical ordeals in the lives of other prophets, especially Joseph Smith, as well as Jesus’s struggle to complete the…

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Matters of the Heart 1: The Elder Daughter

March 1, 2012
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Matters of the Heart 1: The Elder Daughter

THE ELDER DAUGHTER by Kelly Quinn In this inaugural episode of Matters of the Heart, Kelly Quinn shares her essay, “The Elder Daughter,” which she wrote after listening to Mormon Matters Episode 51 (“The Dynamics of Guilt and Shame”) that contained a different angle on the Parable of the Prodigal Son than is typically given voice to in LDS discourse. As many biblical scholars suggest, this parable might better be referred to as the Parable of the Two Lost Sons. In this essay, Quinn discusses her own embodiment of many of the same qualities of that parable’s elder brother and…

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75–76: Communicating About the Temple

February 22, 2012
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75–76: Communicating About the Temple

Mormon temple practices have come under renewed scrutiny recently as it has come to public attention that Mitt Romney’s father-in-law, a known non-religious person, had recently had temple ordinances performed on his behalf, and, in an even more emotionally charged case, that the names of the parents of well-known concentration camp survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal had been submitted for having baptism and other temple ordinances performed for them vicariously. (After recording this episode, we have learned that famous concentration camp victim, Anne Frank, has also just had temple work performed on her behalf in the LDS temple in…

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74: Writing Mormon Lives

February 14, 2012
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74: Writing Mormon Lives

Phyllis Barber and Joanna Brooks are two of Mormonism’s bravest voices, writers of memoirs in which they offer us privileged glimpses of their inner lives, their comings of age in all the kinds of awkwardness that entails, including learning how to inhabit their bodies and sexuality in healthy ways, tensions between the path indicated by LDS narratives and the various other possibilities suggested by other stories that surround them, struggles with theological ideas and legacies that are especially difficult for women, their searches for place in and peace with the tradition and people into which they were born and “cultured.”…

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73: “And the Survey Says…!”: Reflections on Mormon Disaffection, Marlin Jensen’s Remarks, Recent Articles on Mormonism’s Challenge in Better Facing Its History

February 8, 2012
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73: “And the Survey Says…!”: Reflections on Mormon Disaffection, Marlin Jensen’s Remarks, Recent Articles on Mormonism’s Challenge in Better Facing Its History

This episode is an attempt to aid in processing the current moment in which various Mormon-watching communities are beginning to digest the preliminary results that have recently been released from the Open Stories Foundation survey about why Mormons leave the church, which comes on the heels of remarks made in December at Utah State University by LDS Church Historian Elder Marlin Jensen and reported on in numerous recent news stories in which he reflects on the current disaffection crisis and the Church’s plans to help address it. What does the survey suggest? How might the LDS Church move ahead more…

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72: Effecting Change in the Church

January 31, 2012
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72: Effecting Change in the Church

This episode features panelists who all are deeply involved with theLDSChurch, yet from their position of involvement in, and love and affection for, the church and those they worship and serve with, each of them acts as an agent for change. As one of the panelists, Carol Lynn Pearson, suggests in the podcast, don’t we all want to be a blessing to those we love? But while the idea of bringing about “change” being a way of “blessing” others flows easily from Carol Lynn and the other panelists, these two don’t equate this way for many Latter-day Saints who, like…

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