Making our history one step at a time
I picked up a copy of Abraham Heschel's The Prophets the other day from the library for my next book. I have read Heschel's God in Search of Man, and was stunned by his beautiful explanation of the Jewish faith. The Prophets seemed like a fitting book, as we are currently reading the Old Testament... Continue Reading →
After reading one Pulitzer Prize winner, Gilead, I thought I looked into other recent prize winners, and this one caught my eye. What caused the Great Depression? Trying to dredge some of my knowledge from AP US History, I couldn't come up with a good answer. I doubt I could have answered it if it... Continue Reading →
I ran into this book on a blog post at BCC. BCC always has great content that gets you thinking. You may not agree with every post, but they all have something of value to add, and the tone is always respectful. The book is a selection of poems from an LDS mother, student, and... Continue Reading →
I chose to turn to the Book of Proverbs next, because I wanted to get try on of the books in the Old Testament considered Wisdom literature. I read a fascinating book last year called Re-reading Job: Understanding the Ancient World's Greatest Poem, and one of the things I took away wasn't specific to the... Continue Reading →
I believe I picked up Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle, from a Goodreads recommendation based on my LDS history bookshelf. A fascinating read in one of the most well-known, yet simultaneously forgotten, turning points in the Latter-Day Saint faith tradition. Have you ever heard of Reed Smoot... Continue Reading →
We usually think of bias in the context of underlying motivations or interests, particularly in the political realm. The underlying premise of this book is that there are much more fundamental biases in human judgments. Humans aren't perfectly logical creatures. Even when we have perfectly good information, and we are free from motivational biases, we... Continue Reading →
In 2018, priesthood quorums and Relief Societies within the Church are going to begin counseling together about how to effect change within their own areas of influence. And I couldn't be more excited. Theoretically, we know that our priesthood quorum or our Relief Society is more than a class, that it is an organization and... Continue Reading →
Today, I was thinking about a vague topic, and perhaps one that has come under a lot of scrutiny recently. I mean the topic of Mormon culture. Oftentimes, someone will blame a seeming injustice within the Church on the culture rather than something explicitly stated in doctrine. I suppose Mormon culture is a catch-all for... Continue Reading →
The second book in Harry Potter-Evans-Verres and the Methods of Rationality, The Professor's Games continues Harry's adventures in his first year at Hogwarts. The professor mentioned in the title "The Professor's Games" is no other than Professor Quirrell (or, perhaps you could interpret it as Dumbledore, but I will let you figure that out). Quirrel... Continue Reading →
I have been fascinated by the idea of liturgy, which I understand as seeking to make time itself holy. Liturgy isn't a word often encountered in LDS culture, be we have our own version if you use the definition. However, I wanted to use it in a more personal sense. I often notice that hours... Continue Reading →
History Engineers 