conference

Sacred Space Symposium at BYU – June 3rd, 2009

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Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple

Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple

This Wednesday, June 3rd, the Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding at BYU will be sponsoring an academic symposium entitled “Sacred Space.”  The symposium will commence at 9:15 a.m. at the Gordon B. Hinckley Center at Brigham Young University, with a welcome from President Cecil O. Samuelson.  Presenters will include Terryl Givens, Richard A. Cohen, Jeanne H. Kilde, Hamid Mavani, Michael Fishbane, Steven Olsen, and Laurie Maffly-Kipp.  There will also be a panel discussion in the evening with Richard Bushman as moderator.

The symposium comes in recognition of the open house of the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple, and will discuss the idea of sacred space among several scholars of different religious backgrounds.  It should be very interesting.  I’m planning on attending.  I’m still unsure whether I will liveblog it or not.  The last time I liveblogged a BYU conference, it did not seem like there was that much interest.  Let me know if you would be interested in a liveblog.

More information, including presentation topics, can be found at the Times and Seasons blog, and this BYU News Release.

10 Reasons to Remove your Watch When You Enter the Temple

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rolex-submariner

Remove your watch when you enter a house of the Lord. -Elder Richard G. Scott

This last weekend in General Conference, Elder Richard G. Scott gave an incredibly good talk about the temple and the importance of temple attendance.  I will break down more of this talk in a future post to glean more from the great insight he gave us.

One of his “interesting suggestions” for gaining more benefit from temple attendance was this — “Remove your watch when you enter a house of the Lord.”  I immediately took notice of this counsel, as you might have also.  I have not heard the General Authorities recommend this before.  I did find it “interesting” because it is something that I have already practiced since the first time I went to the temple.  It didn’t feel right for me to wear that piece of apparel into the sacred space.

But how could something as trivial as wearing a watch affect what we gain from the temple?  While it is unlikely we can easily know why Elder Scott counseled us so, let me offer some personal reasons why I don’t wear my watch when I enter the temple, and why it might be a good idea for you too. [Read more…]

Liveblog Notes from Mormon Studies Conference

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I went to the Mormon Studies Conference today at UVU, and heard some great presentations. I liveblogged much of it. Unfortunately, my hard drive crashed part-way through the day, and I could not finish. Below are the notes that I was able to take of several of the presentations. Feel free to read through them (click the replay button). Since I am out a computer now, I will not be liveblogging the Mormon Studies Conference tomorrow. However, I will still be liveblogging General Conference, so be sure to tune in to TempleStudy.com this weekend for live commentary and Twitter discussion!

Sneak Preview of General Conference Liveblog

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General Conference live Twitter feed

General Conference live Twitter feed

As I noted a couple days ago, I will be liveblogging General Conference.  This year I’m going full out and changing the design of the blog just for this occasion.  I’m dimming the lights, so to speak, to make a more comfortable Conference viewing experience.  I’m including the video broadcast from the Church, a liveblog commentary, and a slick live auto-updating Twitter feed that will be following the hashtag #ldsconf, all in one place.

I hope you will join me in listening in to Conference this weekend, and adding your own thoughts and comments as we listen to the prophets of God speak to us.

And no, this is not an April Fool’s joke.  You can get a sneak preview of what the liveblog will look like at this page.  (Note that the liveblog page will become the homepage beginning Friday night.)

Don’t forget, I will also be liveblogging the Mormon Studies Conference at UVU starting Thursday morning.  Hope to see you here for that great event too.