A few months ago, I attended several family reunions. At the time, I was reading John Hamer’s book, Scattering of the Saints. I was absolutely fascinated with all the accounts of Mormon schismatic groups. I was especially interested in Strangism and the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message. As I told the story of their founding, the reaction of my relatives was incredibly interesting to me.
Ok, I created a Facebook page a few months ago, and was amazed at the increase in page views. So, I’m now on Twitter too, and decided to update my GoodReads by adding a new page here about the books I’ve read, am reading, or want to read. So, feel free to add me as a friend on Facebook, Twitter, or Goodreads. Also, I’ve had the Networked Blogs up for a few months, but have only 1 follower besides myself (thanks Vickie!) Go to the bottom and add yourself!
And if you have any other suggestions for me, I’m all ears.
As a follow up to my previous article discussing female priesthood holders in Ancient Christianity, I thought it would be interesting to discuss a now discontinued practice of Mormon women anointing and blessing the sick. Did you know that Mormon women used to wash, anoint with oil, and lay hands on the sick until 1946? Linda King Newell outlines the history of this practice in a Sunstone article called “A Gift Given: a Gift Taken”. When questioned the propriety of women laying hands on the sick to heal, what do you think Joseph Smith’s response was?
I attended Sunstone back in August. Bridget Jack Jeffries (who runs a blog called Clobberblog), gave a fascinating presentation on female priesthood holders in the ancient Christian church. Bridget is a “never Mormon” that attended BYU, graduating in 2005. She “seduced” (her words, not mine) and married a BYU priesthood holder while there, and she is currently studying the History of Christianity in America at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School near Chicago. She has done some fascinating research on women and the priesthood in early Christianity that I wanted to share.
I wish I could take credit for finding this, but the credit goes to Clean Cut. My favorite part is Tom’s reaction to the question, “100% Home Teaching: is it possible?”
This is a sad day for Mormon History buffs. I have just learned that Richard Van Wagoner passed away on Saturday. He has written several book on Mormon History. I blogged about his Sidney Rigdon book, and he recently completed The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young. Here is a list of some of his books. I’ll try to add more information as it becomes available.
I just spoke with Tom Kimball of Signature Books. Tom knew Richard very well since Richard had published several books through Signature. I understand Richard’s funeral on Saturday in Lehi, Utah. Tom expects Richard’s obituary will be available in the Salt Lake area newspapers in the next few days.
Anne Wilde wrote the chapter on Fundamentalist Mormonism in Hamer/Bringhurst’s book Scattering of the Saints. I’ve always viewed Fundamentalist Mormons like an embarrassing relative, and I haven’t really wanted to learn much about them. However, Anne’s chapter was incredibly interesting, and I learned that Fundamentalist Mormonism is much more diverse than I realized.
Wow. I’ve been blogging for nearly 3 years now, and last week was the most eventful week I have ever experienced. Some of you know about it, but some of you don’t. Two big things happened last week: (1) I was an unwilling participant in a Bloggernacle scandal, and (2) tomorrow is the official launch of a new blog called Wheat and Tares (though you can already see it today).
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