Sunstone Magazine

From the 2010 Summer Symposium in Salt Lake City Presentation: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty in the Mormon Community Presenters: Moderator: Kaimipono Wenger, JD, assistant professor, Thomas Jefferson Law School, San Diego. Kristine Haglund, editor, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought Bridget Jack Jeffries, MA candidate, history of Christianity in America, Trinity Divinity School. John Dehlin, PhD, clinical/counseling psychology, Utah State University, funder of Mormon Stories podcast, StayLDS.com   Abstract: The work of political economist Albert Hirschman suggests a nuanced approach to public dissatisfaction with an organization. Dissatisfied members of an organization, business, or nation have a variety of choices available, including both exit (simply leaving) and voice (discussing their dissatisfaction). As Hirschman notes, greater loyalty to the organization can correspond to greater use of voice. Contradicting traditional Mormon views, dissent may actually indicate greater loyalty to the organization than does silent acquiescence. Panelists will discuss loyalty, voice, exit, and dissent from a variety of angles, ultimately suggesting that the LDS understanding of public disagreement may be underdeveloped, and sketching ways in which legitimate dissent could take on a broader role in the LDS community. Sunstone 2010, 274: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty in the Mormon Community https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/podcast-player/18875/sunstone-2010-274-exit-voice-and-loyalty-in-the-mormon-community.mp3 Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 1:35:18

  From the 1991 Summer Symposium in Salt Lake City Presentation: Child Sexual Abuse in the LDS Community Presenters: Marion Burrows Smith, co-founded, former executive director, Intermountain Sexual Abuse Treatment Center. Carlos Y. Robey, executive director, Intermountain Sexual Abuse Treatment Center; former director, Utah State Prison Residential Program for Sex Offenders. Brent D. Ward, senior vice-president and general council. Huntsman Chemical Corporation; former U.S. Attorney, District of Utah. Marsha, mother of a victim. Laura Blanchard, program chairperson, Utah County Child Abuse Council; chairperson, Advisory Board for Utah County Children’s Justice Center. Abstract: Child sexual abuse is epidemic in Utah with its 73 percent LDS population. The Church promotes comprehensive youth programs and a reverence for authority which gives perpetrators of sexual crimes unique access to fresh victims. LDS neighborhoods are warm and friendly, an ideal environment for child molesters, most of whom at relatives or family friends. When discovery of abuse occurs, untrained Church leaders may try to treat pedophilia and other sexual disorders with counseling which fails to alter behavior. The panel will explore ways to identity and treat victims and perpetrators. It will discuss typical Church and parental responses to reported abuse, examine the presence of neighborhood sex rings in Utah, outline help which is available, and offer suggestions for more effective ways of dealing with this illness in our society. Sunstone 1991, 80: Child Sexual Abuse in the LDS Community https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/podcast-player/18862/sunstone-1991-80-child-sexual-abuse-in-the-lds-community.mp3 Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 1:30:55

From the 2000 Summer Symposium in Salt Lake City Presentation: The Academic Study Of Religion: Prospects And Perils Presenters: Dan Wotherspoon, Brian Birch, Elaine Englehardt, Eugene England, Mary Ellen Robertson, Scott Kenney Abstract: The recent announcement that early steps have been taken toward establishing a Mormon Studies program at Utah Valley State College has generated much excitement among many who have long felt a need for such a program at one of Utah’s state schools, but it has also raised concerns on two fronts. Some have begun to worry that such a program could easily become a forum for Mormon apologetics, even proselyting, while others voice concerns about it as “yet another forum for Mormon bashing.” This panel, consisting of UVSC faculty, as well as others with experience studying religion– including their own–from an academic perspective, will address these and other issues as they consider both the “prospects” and the “perils” of such an adventure. Sunstone 2000, 134: The Academic Study Of Religion: Prospects And Perils https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/podcast-player/18849/sunstone-2000-134-the-academic-study-of-religion-prospects-and-perils.mp3 Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 1:26:37

From the 1983 Summer Symposium in Salt Lake City Presentation: The Life of Oliver Cowdery Presenter: R.D. Dennis    Presenter: John Sillito  Abstract: Two papers discuss the life of Oliver Cowdery. Sunstone 1983, 017: THE LIFE OF OLIVER COWDERY https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/podcast-player/18841/sunstone-1983-017-the-life-of-oliver-cowdery.mp3 Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 54:05

From the 2013 Summer Symposium in Salt Lake City Panel MYSTICISM, REVELATION AND LEADERSHIP IN MORMON HISTORY: TWO CASE STUDIES Paper 1 J. DUNHAM LAMANITE: EARLY MORMON LEADER, MYSTIC, AND INDIAN AMBASSADOR Presenter: CHRISTOPHER C. SMITH is a PhD student in religions in North america at Claremont Graduate University. He’s writing a dissertation on Mormons and American Indians in the “age of Removal,” which roughly coincided with the lifetime of Joseph Smith.  Abstract: Although Jonathan Dunham was a prominent Mormon leader who left a wealth of journals and papers, he’s largely ignored by modern Mormon historians. When he’s remembered at all, it’s for his role in early Mormon violence (as a Danite, Nauvoo police captain, and Major General of the Nauvoo Legion). yet violence was only one part of Dunham’s life and legacy. His papers reveal him as a mystic, entrepreneur, highly successful evangelist, and great champion of the Indian mission. Dunham’s self-identification as “Lamanite,” though he had no Native american heritage, also provides insight into early Mormon racial theology. Paper 2 THE LAWLESS WOMEN REVELATION: Presenter: CLAIR BARRUS manages several church history sites including Today-in-Mormon-History.Blogspot.com. He blogs at Worlds Without End and has presented papers at Sunstone, the Mormon History association, and the BYU Mormon Media Studies Symposium. Abstract: The day after Brigham young publicly announced the ban on blacks receiving the priesthood, his first counselor Heber C. Kimball received a revelation stating that Kimball had fulfilled “the law of lawless women” and that he was now “free from such Spirrits” [sic]. This paper will take a close look at Kimball’s cryptic revelation, how it was modified, who the lawless women were, what that law was, and the parallels between the “lawless women revelation” and Brigham young’s views on blacks, reproduction, and priesthood authority. Sunstone 2013, 174: MYSTICISM, REVELATION AND LEADERSHIP IN MORMON HISTORY: TWO CASE STUDIES https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/podcast-player/18818/sunstone-2013-174-mysticism-revelation-and-leadership-in-mormon-history-two-case-studies.mp3 Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 1:29:47

  This is an excerpt from the original Sunstone 2015 presentation, Four View of Joseph Smith: Historians Debate the Prophet Puzzle. https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/podcast-player/18523/christopher-c-smiths-four-views-of-joseph-smith-historians-debate-the-prophet-puzzle.mp3 Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 17:11

Six of the twelve contributors to the new book Fresh Courage Take address issues faced by modern Mormon and formerly Mormon women. Authors will speak on ideology, language, motherhood, religious orthodoxy, and more, showing that one heart and many minds can still form Zion. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15156.mp3 Jamie Zvirzdin, Ashley Mae Hoiland,Marcee Monroe Ludlow, Sylvia Lankford, Camille Strate Fairbanks, Rachel Brown

The Mormon theology of a Heavenly Mother has been widely discussed as a transcendent and empowering doctrine, especially among Mormon feminists. While we recognize this can be a valuable paradigm for many, this panel will discuss some of its implications. For example, what does a heterosexual god-couple imply for same-gender couples? Would feminizing some attributes through a goddess figure impair the development of those traits in men? Does eternal gender (and associated eternal attributes) abrogate hopes for egalitarian institutions? http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15224.mp3 Marina N. Capella, Christian Anderson, Janice Allred

This presentation draws on scripture, the teachings of Church leaders (such as President Uchtdorf’s general conference address encouraging diversity), and scholarship (such as Standing Apart: Mormon Historical Consciousness and the Concept of Apostasy) to examine the creative tension between unity and diversity within Mormonism and to propose a model for thinking about a pluralistic unity for Mormonism as it moves forward. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15237.mp3 Christopher Bradford

This panel will discuss the activities of being a faith organizer in Wyoming, particularly her work leading up to the 2015 legislative session that saw the narrow defeat of the non-discrimination bill in Wyoming. Sara will discuss her interactions with Catholic, Evangelical, and Mormon faith leaders, what she learned about the state of discourse in those denominations, and how her own biases came to bear on the dialogue. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15277.mp3 Sara Burlingame, Troy Williams, Sharon Groves, Jim Dabakis

Mormonism has a unique relationship with adoption that culminates in the doctrine and ordinance of sealing. While powerful in its eternal implications, many of the root ideas surrounding this doctrine are problematic to the psychological, emotional, and physical health of persons involved in the adoption triangle: adoptee, birth parents and adoptive parents. This paper identifies shame cycles specific to Mormon culture that impact adoption triangle identities and relationships; it also explores current social science theories that can aid and empower individuals, couples, and families to act in wisdom and order. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15225.mp3 Christy Crowe Hughes

Brigham Young once called Joseph Smith a poetÑand poets, Brigham continued, “are not like other [people]; their gaze is deeper, and reaches the roots of the soul” Such vision, he said, is akin to having “the searching eyes of angels” with which poets can “catch the swift thought of God and reveal it to us, even at the risk of forgetting their underclothes and their suspenders.” A poet sees differently than others see; and to see differently is to risk mental, emotional, social, and spiritual instability. Come and hear original poems by six Mormons that meditate on these themes. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15173.mp3 Tyler Chadwick, Jessica Dixon, Marianne Hales Harding, Robert A. Rees, Bonnie Shiffler, Alex Caldiero

My husband and I didn’t just wake up one sunny morning and say, “Let’s join a polygamist cult.” Over time, a convergence of psychological and social factors ripened us for the picking. Insecurities played a part. So did classic, cultish appeals. So did mainstream Mormonism, not just by laying a doctrinal foundation, but by training members to tolerate cognitive dissonance, and through its own, albeit far less extreme, cultish tendencies. This presentation will examine those factors through my experiences and the work of psychologists such as Frank Sulloway. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15125.mp3 Joanne Hanks

In the early church, talk of building Zion and becoming a Zion people was everywhere. Then, twenty-five years ago, following the publishing of Hugh Nibley’s essay collection, Approaching Zion, and then an iconic “Plotting Zion” conference co-sponsored by Sunstone the following year, “Zion” seemed poised to once again rise up as a vital and energizing concept. But today, we hear much less about it. Has Zion simply become a vague thought, something we strive to practice only “within our hearts”? Are there arenas in which it still holds relevance for how we organize our lives and communities? http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15155.mp3 Boyd Petersen, Jim Smithson, Rachel Whipple, Ron Madsen, Warner Woodworth

The tension between authority and personal conscience can be seen in the citizen’s relation to political authority, the scholar’s relation to academic authorities, and the believer’s relation to the church. The relationship between authority and personal conscience is dialectic: the two are neither identical nor separable, and each is constantly informing the other. Dissent sometimes grows out of this tension. What examples do we have of dissent helping to build a religious community? What examples do we have of when it failed? How do we judge success or failure in these cases? http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15111.mp3 John Dominic Crossan, D. Michael Quinn