Making our history one step at a time
I absolutely loved Craig Harline's memoir of his mission in Belgium in Way Below the Angels, and I hoped he had written more. It is funny, moving, and honest about the spiritual growth and trials built into serving a mission. It turns out that he is a history professor at BYU now, and he just... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Next, I chose to turn to a later story in the Bible, the story of Daniel in Babylon. Daniel and his fellows, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, were taken into the king's court during the Babylonian captivity. the Israelite nation was invaded, a puppet king installed, and its people forced to move from their homeland in... Continue Reading →
Last week, I wrote about 1 Samuel 1-13, which covered the fall of Eli's priestly line, the calling of Samuel, and Samuel's annointing of Saul to be king of Israel. In this post, I will finish out 1 Samuel, which covers Saul's fall and David's rise. There is so much interesting in this chapter. The... Continue Reading →
One thing I have learned recently that has helped me in my scripture study is the realization that the Bible (as well as the Book of Mormon) isn't a single book to be read from cover to cover, but rather a library of individual books. There are multiple genres of literature, and each book must... Continue Reading →
Isaiah really gets dragged through the mud quite a bit in Mormon culture. In all our new goals to re-read the Book of Mormon, give it a week or two and you will hear things like "I hit the Isaiah chapters, and it's a doozy!" or "I had to skip those Isaiah chapters, or I... Continue Reading →
I'm always grateful for an honest attempt to explain Isaiah to us lay members of the Church. When reading the Book of Mormon, it is made clear that understanding Isaiah is absolutely vital. But the moment we hit 2 Nephi's extensive quoting of Isaiah, we give up. We're caught in this endless conundrum, always feeling... Continue Reading →
This week, I come to the Church in the days of Alma. Alma was a repentant sinner who changed his ways and came to serve as both chief judge and high priest among the Nephites in the Book of Mormon. During the time of his ministry, the Nephites were in a period of relative peace,... Continue Reading →
History Engineers 