The Mormon Monk

In the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior offered a few directions as to how we ought to pray. Among other instruction, he told his disciples that "when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do : for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking" (Matt. 5:7). This divine injunction notwithstanding, my admittedly imperfect prayers are frequently riddled with repetitive phrases: "Help me be a better father"; "thank you that we arrived safely"; or "please help me find someone to share the gospel with." I've noticed that I'm not the only one with a tendency to use filler phrases--or at least phrases that so well-used that no one who hears them really thinks about them. I especially love hearing the phrase commonly uttered in prayers before a meal, "Please bless the hands that prepared it," because it reminds me of a sketch done by BYU's Divine Comedy. After an offstage explosion, a man with s...

In celebration of Mother’s Day, I wish to say a few words about our first mother, about Eve. This is not a new topic for me; I have dedicated a substantial portion of my graduate student career to examining the ways in which seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English writers have portrayed her. John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, described her as a model of Christian charity. Anne Bradstreet, the first published North American poet, threw Eve under the bus and condemned her as a temptress. John Milton similarly hinted that Eve was a Pandora whose curiosity had brought misery on mankind. Jonathan Edwards, the most influential American theologian up until the Civil War, defended Eve vigorously and gave her a place of honor comparable to that traditionally awarded to Mary. I could give you other examples. Many of these writers have interesting and insightful things to say, but they all share a common problem: they have no knowledge of the truths restored to...