This upcoming Thursday and Friday (April 2-3, 2009) there is a going to be an annual event — the Mormon Studies Conference at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah. I just became aware of this a few days ago, and it looks like it’s going to be very good. The theme of the conference is “Mormonism in the Public Mind: Perceptions of an Emerging World Faith.” The keynote address will be given by Michael Paulson, Pulitzer Prize winning religion reporter for the Boston Globe, on the topic “Far From Zion: Meeting Mormonism on the Religion Beat.” Other participants will include [Read more…]
I’ve also added support for Odiogo, which converts TempleStudy.com posts into audio podcasts. It’s a computerized voice, and isn’t always pretty (because it reads every footnote and related post text), but could be useful for those who don’t have time to read, but could listen to the articles while exercising or commuting to and from work. It could also be a way for those who are visually impaired, or have other disabilities, to access TempleStudy.com:
Odiogo Podcast of TempleStudy.com (viewable in most RSS readers)
TempleStudy.com is also now multi-lingual! If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will see a widget in the sidebar titled “Translate This Website.” You can now choose from any of 40 different languages from the dropdown box, and this entire website will instantly be translated into that language. Translation is provided by Google Translate, so it won’t be perfect, but it works.
I’ve also made a change to the homepage. As I noted a few days ago, I changed the homepage to be a full-page embedded video of “Between Heaven and Earth.” It is a great introduction to LDS temples and what our temple worship means to us. I’ve changed that slightly now. Now the video will only be displayed to new visitors to the website. Returning visitors will not see the video. (Thanks Naomi!)
Thanks again for everyone’s support of TempleStudy.com. You’ve greatly blessed my life, and the lives of many others. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Note: If you don’t know what an RSS feed is, please see this great intro YouTube video called “RSS Feeds in Plain English.”
Some of you may have noticed that I changed the homepage at TempleStudy.com. It now links directly to a full-page video presentation of the immensely well-done professional film Between Heaven and Earth, which I wrote about a while ago. Previously, the video was broken apart into 5 parts (given YouTube’s 10 minute limit), but I have strung them together now into a playlist that will play directly through the whole video. I thought it would be appropriate to post this given all the press the temple has received over the past week. Now, those arriving at TempleStudy.com (the highest trafficked page on this website) will first be presented with the movie, which I believe is an excellent introduction to LDS temples and ancient temple history.
I don’t know how long I’ll keep it like this, or if I’ll make it permanent. Let me know what you think.
The late Krister Stendahl (1921-2008), who was a Swedish theologian, New Testament scholar, and a Professor and Dean of Divinity at Harvard University, once addressed the press about one of the Mormon temples that was being built nearby, and spoke about three important rules for religious understanding. These rules have since been recognized for their tremendous insight and application in interfaith dialogue and learning. They are:
When you are trying to understand another religion, you should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies.
Don’t compare your “best” to their “worst.”
Leave room for “holy envy.” In other words, recognize those aspects of other religious traditions that you admire and wish could be reflected in your own.
I think there is great truth embedded in these principles, and we have the opportunity to exercise them every day. In fact, we use them often here on TempleStudy.com to compare the similarities and differences of Mormon temples with other religious traditions and sacred worship practices.
Below is a short new video which succinctly explains what Mormon temples mean to the Latter-day Saints, from the Latter-day Saint perspective. Hopefully those that are inquisitive about the Church will be able to learn, from us, what the temple means when investigating and evaluating LDS temple worship.
A more comprehensive video of 44 minutes, of which this is only a snippet, is also available to watch, entitled “Between Heaven and Earth,” which includes commentary and interviews from a number of scholars and theologians, both LDS and from other faiths.
This upcoming Thursday and Friday (April 2-3, 2009) there is a going to be an annual event — the Mormon Studies Conference at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah. I just became aware of this a few days ago, and it looks like it’s going to be very good. The theme of the conference is “Mormonism in the Public Mind: Perceptions of an Emerging World Faith.” The keynote address will be given by Michael Paulson, Pulitzer Prize winning religion reporter for the Boston Globe, on the topic “Far From Zion: Meeting Mormonism on the Religion Beat.” Other participants will include [Read more…]