In today’s Internet world with ever-increasing numbers of Mormon-themed websites, blogs, and podcasts, it is sometimes easy to forget that many of the most frequent topics under discussion in today’s forums have been debated and discussed in uncorrelated publications and gatherings for more than four decades, and that we who enjoy (or crave) these conversations today have an amazing treasure trove of wonderfully written, meticulously researched, and pioneering articles and essays that are definitely worth discovering, as well as thousands of highly thoughtful, dynamic, and many times funny discussions available in audio for free (or close-to-free) downloading.

Please join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon along with Joanna Brooks, Dialogue editor Kristine Haglund, and Sunstone editor Stephen Carter for a fun and informative tour of the history and contributions of these stalwart organizations and their offerings, along with some very thoughtful (not kidding here: listen!) comments about the way the blogging/podcasting and print worlds each have important and separate functions and roles to play but also how they can (and already do) benefit from each other. In the first half hour, Joanna also pushes Kristine into sharing some of her own experiences growing up in a faithful but very “thinky” home in which Dialogue was always around and difficult questions in Mormonism were regularly discussed, with no topics off limits.

After listening, please join in the fun by sharing your thoughts and ideas in the comments below! What do you see as the ideal continuing role for these stalwart independent Mormon institutions? What are your favorite classic articles, essays, humor pieces, and/or Sunstone symposium sessions?

Websites:
Dialogue
Sunstone

The last time I came, I was a young, single, childless university student. The world was my oyster, and Mormon Studies was, for me, a new phenomenon. I went to celebrity-gaze.

Whether I would continue to be involved with the Church was an open question for me.

This time I am an old, married, child-ful university employee. Mormon Studies is old hat to me now, and I went to see my friends.

I am committed to the Church more than I have ever been. All of which made Sunstone more enjoyable.

I had the best of intentions to see the morning devotional by Frances Lee Menlove called “Living the Questions: Loving the Mysteries” but I was sidetracked by the Benchmark Books room. Every conceivable Mormon Studies book was in that room. I bought New York Doll for my wife’s upcoming birthday and at the registration desk picked up a free copy of cartoonist Calvin Grondahl’s Freeway to Perfection and a CD from Lisa Arrington and the Fiddlesticks band called Farewell to Nauvoo (traditional renderings of old Mormon songs, which I am a sucker for).

I scanned the Sheraton Hotel corridors for friends, and met them. I met Bored in Vernal for the first time, surrounded by a phalanx of bodyguards, greeting every face she recognized, snapping pictures.

I saw the inimitable Clay Whipkey, thankfully recognizable with his modest tuft of hair under the lower lip (what is the proper term for that anyway, a third of a Van Dyke?)

I gave John Dehlin a man-love hug after a particularly moving presentation on crisis-of-faith experiences.

I learned that our frequent commenter Matt Thurston is even cooler in person, and that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree (his parents astounded me with their wisdom and courage).

I thanked Claudia Bushman for her writings on early Utah women and the medical profession (which have helped me win people over at the University of Utah to greater efforts to encourage young women to consider bccoming doctors). She was tickled to hear she was making a difference.

I thanked Richard Bushman for his book Rough Stone Rolling and the impact it has had on my family (it’s a book my Mormon mother-in-law and her Lutheran husband can listen to together).

I chatted with Armand Mauss about our mutual friend and his fellow Irvinian, Andrew Ainsworth.

I joked with Jeff Burton about his presentation, “Stories from the Borderlands”.

I learned the entrance requirement for the little-talked about second level of the celestial kingdom from Jess Groesbeck.

I heard from Claudia, Jeff, Morris Thurston, Lavina Fielding Anderson, and Greg Prince on “Why We Stay”. This session was worth the registration fee alone. Order it here when they’ve uploaded this year’s presentations to the website.

I made new friends too, sneaking out for lunch to Crown Burger (home of the pastrami burger for which a multitude of nations flow unto the Salt Lake Valley) with Bored, John, Clay, Matt, and many others.

I hope to go again next year for more catching up with folks like you.

So if you’re reading this and I didn’t see you there, why not?  (Reasons other than plane tickets are expensive nowadays).

Before John Dehlin, there was Jeff Burton.

Jeff, a mechanical engineer by profession who was once an LDS Social Services counselor, has helped countless Mormons stay in the Church and stay active after experiencing crises of faith. His book and website, For Those Who Wonder, (where you can download his book for free!) continue to minister to the needs of those who are looking for ways to reconcile their changed religious understandings with their love for, and desire to remain involved with, the LDS Church. He helped me see that I could “remodel” my Mormon “house” to suit my needs in a way that was compatible with the expectations of others who live in it.

After purchasing his book at the BYU bookstore, I began to correspond with him about serving a mission, a decision which weighed heavily on my mind. In these pre-”raised bar” days, he helped me see that my doubts about parts of the Joseph Smith narrative need not prevent me from serving. I could witness to the things which I did strongly believe, like the mission of Jesus Christ and His teachings, in improving people’s lives. I cannot overestimate the impact that his honest and refreshing advice had on an 18 year old who thought he was alone in the Church. Others had gone through the same struggles!

Unfortunately, in the MTC I sometimes pretended to “know” things I doubted. I resented the social pressure to constantly testify. Jeff sent me another letter in the MTC which gave me some good advice about honesty. I determined to be more honest in my convictions and to let the force of what I DID believe in overshadow the doubts I harbored about aspects of the Restoration, especially in my conversations with missionaries and investigators.

Interestingly, Jeff’s advice to be honest helped me with many members of the Church in Germany, who had similar doubts as mine. I became friends with a few souls who entrusted parts of their faith journey to me. We encouraged each other to hold on to the gospel of Jesus Christ, while letting go of the parts of the Restoration narrative that didn’t work for us. (As an aside, Germany is a great place to go to test your religious convictions! Between the ravages of World War II, the Holocaust, and the dominance of Euro-secularism, you are hard pressed to find fellow theists).

I followed Jeff’s trail to the Sunstone Symposium in Salt Lake when I returned to BYU post-mission. He was presenting on inactivity rates in different areas of the Church which was quite interesting.

Most recently, I shared my appreciation for his help in staying in a Church which has continued to bring me joy and fulfillment. If not for Jeff, who knows, I might have ended up Episcopalian!

Have any of you benefitted from counselors like Jeff?