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Preface With the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of his successor, Benedict XVI, a new era has begun in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. But the crisis that has wracked the Church since the Second Vatican Council (1962 1965) goes on, even if the faithful hope that during the present pontificate measures will at last be taken to bring the crisis to an end. Over the past forty years a growing number of Catholics have come to recognize what is manifest: that the postconciliar crisis began with, and has resulted from, a host of...

SALT LAKE CITY -- Joseph Smith recorded several different accounts of the First Vision. On Jan. 28 Steven C. Harper, an assistant professor of church history at BYU and a volume editor of the Joseph Smith Papers, will use the latest scholarship on memory to analyze these different accounts. Harper's lecture, "Memory and the First Vision," will be 7 p.m. Jan. 28 at the University of Utah campus in the Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building, Room 101. The Salt Lake Mormon Studies Student Association hosts the event. There is no cost to attend. For information, go to saltlakemormonstudies.wordpress.com.

It has become fashionable in recent years to make doomsday predictions about the future of the LDS Church based on the recent decline in convert baptisms. Of course, this analysis is grossly oversimplified and demonstrates an entirely underdeveloped sense of history. Convert baptisms have risen and fallen in the past due to a variety of factors: wars interrupting missionary service in the '40s and '70s, 18-month missions in the '80s, et cetera. To predict the extinction of Mormonism or the failure of missionary work based on a relatively short trend of declining conversions is short-sighted. If you want to accurately...

PROVO, Utah -- Placed near the center of Brigham Young University's history-rich exhibit "Education in Zion" is a statue of the Savior encircled by a small flock of sheep. The sculpture's location isn't merely an element of design. The entire exhibit and its celebration of eternal learning is anchored in Christ. Its stories, histories and images seem to branch out from the Lord's love and admonition to learn and share wisdom.. "As Latter-day Saints, we believe Christ is the foundation of truth," said Ann Baier Lambson, the exhibit's curator. Indeed, Christ's truth and light define the foundation of this permanent,...

Hideous. That was the one word a pastor used to describe Mormonism to me the day I sat with him to give pointers on how he could counsel a brand new Christian who happened to also be a third generation Mormon. It’s easy enough for those of us who work in Mormon ministries to become immune to the day to day blasphemous teachings of the LDS Church. So when someone comes along that is unfamiliar with the nuances and outrageous theology, it always gives us a fresh take on the scenario. There are many other books written by reputable pastors...

OK, here's a thread where all the Steve Irwin bashers can post away to their hearts content. Please leave the threads titled "In Memory..." or "Tribute to..." alone. Not every single thread about Steve Irwin on FR has to include the incident of him holding his son in the croc enclosure, a mention of Darwin, and/or the word "Fool" Sometimes the old saying is true "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all."