Few Latter-day Saints, I think, know that May 4 is a significant day in LDS liturgical history. (This is reposted from last year.) Continue reading
Category: LDS Church History
Tales from the Archives: Joseph Fielding Smith, Utah Geology, and Premises
President Joseph Fielding Smith took his understanding of geology and cosmology from his readings of scripture. One of his central premises was that scripture consisted of divinely-revealed facts of religion but also science and history; and therefore, scripture— as he interpreted it— should take precedence over limited and flawed human theorizing, i.e. modern science.
On two occasions, Smith commented on the mountains of Utah, and these illustrate his premises.
The 1980 Old Testament Institute Manual: Why You Should Ignore it for Teaching Genesis
Today’s take-away is simple: Don’t use the Old Testament Institute manual for Genesis. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk…
Tales from the Archives: Premises, Genesis, and the Priesthood Ban
Tales from the Archive: Joseph Fielding Smith, James Fletcher, and the Moon
It is somewhat well-known that Joseph Fielding Smith did not like the idea of astronauts; scripture, in his view, was clear that humans were limited to this planet, and attempts to get off it, at all, would fail. It even made the Ensign, in 2015.
Tales from the Archives: Cleon Skousen, George Hansen, and Geology
My last post talked about Cleon Skousen’s book, The First 2000 Years. Today I came across an interview with BYU professor Bertrand Harrison, a biology and botany professor. If you’ve ever been to the garden or duck pond on the south end of BYU campus, on 800 North, that’s the Bertrand F. Harrison Arboretum, pictured above
Harrison had written one of the most pro-evolution articles ever published in a Church magazine, and it was specifically read and approved by President McKay to appear in the magazine. That article was part of a controversial pro-science series in Church magazines in 1965, which I detailed here.
I came across this interview with Harrison, wherein he relates an anecdote about George Hansen and Cleon Skousen. Continue reading
Two notes on Cleon Skousen’s Thousand Years series
Cleon Skousen, via Wikipedia
Cleon Skousen‘s opening book in his Old Testament series came off the Bookcraft press in 1953, The First 2000 Years. Skousen had worked on the series for 15 years, to “try and bring together in one volume everything the Church has received thus far concerning the first 2000 years of human history— from Adam to Abraham.”1Preface
James E. Talmage, the Articles of Faith, and Progression between Kingdoms: New Light
A young and pugnacious James E. Talmage, per the picture in the BYU Geology Dept.
The idea of progression between kingdoms in the afterlife has long been debated, with Church leaders taking differing positions. One interesting and well-known point in this debate is textual differences between the first and later editions of Talmage’s The Articles of Faith.1See Dialogue 15:1 (Spring 1982) “Is there Progression Among the Eternal Kingdoms?” p. 181ff However, no one has ever explained why Talmage apparently changed his mind.
Tales from the Archives: Neal A. Maxwell and the Creationist Filmstrip
A brief and incomplete story, illustrating Elder Maxwell’s language fun… even in internal memos.
Tales from the Archive: Henry Eyring Teaches the First Presidency about Carbon-14 Dating
Henry Eyring Sr. taught chemistry at the University of Utah, but also served on the general Sunday School board for the LDS Church from 1946 onwards. He frequently spoke about science and religion. Continue reading
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