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Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 September 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 November 2016 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012

July 2015

July 17, 2015

Religious and Gay: A Catholic-Mormon Dialogue (Part 3 of 3)

This is part 3 of a 3-part discussion with Alex Griffin and Eve Tushnet. In...

July 16, 2015

Religious and Gay: A Catholic-Mormon Dialogue (Part 2 of 3)

This is part 2 of a 3-part discussion with Alex Griffin and Eve Tushnet. In...

July 13, 2015

Religious and Gay: A Catholic-Mormon Dialogue (Part 1 of 3)

Sometime at church in the past two weeks, local Mormons leaders across the country read...

April 2015

April 10, 2015

The Problem with “Conscience”

The last time a state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) made news, I argued that...

January 2015

January 19, 2015

Review: “Selma”

Selma deserves a Best Picture win, because even with all of its imperfections, it is...

December 2014

December 08, 2014

I Even Remain Alone?: Reflections on Eve Tushnet’s “Gay and Catholic”

About two years ago Ralph Hancock, a BYU professor of political philosophy, met with the...

April 2014

April 02, 2014

Foodism?

I am excited to read the new collection of essays on food and religion in...

November 2013

November 19, 2013

Why Do Americans Love Pope Francis?

The other day, I was talking to my students about how the press has been...

October 2013

October 30, 2013

There’s So Much to Do, Outside the Ivory Tower!

I am an independent scholar. Not independently wealthy unfortunately – I have to earn my...

September 2013

September 18, 2013

We Are Special!: Religion, Historical Memory, and Regional Identity

Over the last week I’ve been re-reading Carol F. Karlsen’s book on witchcraft in Puritan...

September 02, 2013

There Will Be Blood

On Saturday President Obama took to the podium in the Rose Garden and announced that...

August 2013

August 28, 2013

A Plea for Identity on the Internet

I recently watched a preview for The Fifth Estate, the new film about WikiLeaks co-founder...

August 13, 2013

A Review of Darren Wilson’s “Finding God in the Bible”

"Read any commentary and it'll pretty much explain the symbolism. My question is much, much...

July 2013

July 19, 2013

Old Stories and Familiar Tropes: Anti-Catholicism and the Female Body in Dan Brown’s ‘Inferno’

In her post “Dan Brown’s ‘Inferno’: An Eternal Return” earlier this week, my colleague Susanna...

July 16, 2013

Dan Brown’s “Inferno”: An Eternal Return

I just finished reading Inferno, Dan Brown’s latest book. I’m no expert on Brown, though...

July 01, 2013

Justice, Law, and Politics

Reflections on the Case of Edward Snowden Happy birthday, America! For all of you...

April 2013

April 24, 2013

“Matt and Me (But Mostly Me)”*: A Conversation about _The Book of Mormon_ on Broadway

The Book of Mormon, the musical comedy co-written by South Park creators Trey Parker and...

February 2013

February 20, 2013

*Angels in America* at 20: Revisiting Tony Kushner’s Millennium — and His Mormons — in the 21st Century

2013 is the 20th anniversary of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize for his groundbreaking play Angels...

February 04, 2013

“It’s like Methodism, only more”: Mormon Conversion and Narratives of the Great Apostasy

A couple of weeks ago in Sunday School, a middle-aged woman shared her conversion story...

January 2013

January 30, 2013

Mending a Fractured World

In his Bancroft Prize-winning book, Age of Fracture, Daniel Rodgers tells the story of how, following...

December 2012

December 19, 2012

Finding a Bit of Comfort in the Image of Mormonism That Americans Most Respect

About a week ago, I decided to write my next post on a recurrent popular...

November 2012

November 29, 2012

Mormon Supplemental Worship

I've long held an interest in Mormons who supplement their weekly worship in Latter-day Saint...

September 2012

September 12, 2012

Are Mormons Christians? Yes…No…and Yes

At a new(ish) faculty potluck a few Saturdays ago, I mingled with other younger faculty...

August 2012

August 01, 2012

There's a lot of top 5 lists out there listing the best books on Mormonism....

July 2012

July 30, 2012

Individualism, Communalism, and the Foreign Past of Mormonism

For verily I say unto you, the time has come, and is now at hand;...

July 25, 2012

Weed, Mormonism, and the Language of Sexual Politics

The Josh Weed story continues, as evidenced by the recent ABC News Nightline interview and...

May 2012

May 30, 2012

The Limits of Mormon Assimilation

As a historian of religion in the early American republic, much of my research has...

May 28, 2012

Mormon Patriotism and the Cultural Reading of Scripture

At the New York Review of Books blog, Garry Wills recently asked some important questions about Mormonism...

May 22, 2012

Is Mormonism ‘Bad Religion’?

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat has a new book out. It’s called Bad Religion:...