Posted on September 7, 2009 by Jeff Thayne
[This is a "reprint' of part 2 of a series I posted on my home blog, www.ldsphilosopher.com]
One of my favorite movies is Contact, based on a novel written by Carl Sagan. One reason I like it is that it makes such important statements about how we come to know things. (Spoiler alert: Those who haven’t [...]
Filed under: Philosophy, Science | Tagged: agnosticism, atheism, Bruce R. McConkie, Carl Sagan, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Contact, Eleanor Arroway, empiricism, epistemology, experience, extraterrestrial life, faith and reason, God, humanism, Jodi Foster, Latter-day Saints, Mormons, nihilism, Palmer Joss, reason, revelation, Science and Religion, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, traditional empiricism | 5 Comments »
Posted on April 5, 2009 by Dennis
We had another great General Conference! Some of the dominant themes were faith and endurance amidst trials, temple worship, and unselfish service. Here are some highlights, with some of my own thoughts (and at least one soap box.)
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine | Tagged: Atonement, Celestial Kingdom, Christian service, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, consumerism, Dallin H. Oaks, David A. Bednar, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, distractions, economic crisis, exaltation, Facebook, family budgeting, financial planning, Gary E. Stevenson, general authorities, General Conference, God, Henry B. Eyring, intergenerational connectedness, Internet addiction, Jeffrey R. Holland, Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, LDS, M. Russell Ballard, me generation, Mormons, name of Jesus Christ, Neil L. Andersen, new and everlasting covenant, pornography, pride, pride cycle, Quentin L. Cook, Richard C. Edgley, Robert D. Hales, salvation, selfishness, temple worship, Thomas S. Monson, unemployment, universal salvation, Zion | 11 Comments »
Posted on March 26, 2009 by Joe O.
Things are quiet on the blog lately, so I figure it’s a good chance to make an appearance. Perhaps few people will read this entry and then I can likely avoid being blacklisted.
I applied to teach at Messiah College in Pennsylvania recently and part of the application was affirming the Apostles’ Creed. I affirmed the [...]
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine, Theology | Tagged: Apostles' Creed, Christianity, creeds, First Vision, God, Joseph Smith, Latter-day Saints, LDS, Mormon Doctrine, Mormons, orthopraxy, Theology, Trinity, truth | 16 Comments »
Posted on November 7, 2008 by Dan
I hear the word “objective” used fairly often. I’ve heard it at home, at the university, at work, and even at church on occasion. One thing I think we fail to appreciate is that this word can have several different meanings and that some of these meanings may convey more philosophical baggage than we [...]
Filed under: Philosophy, Science | Tagged: foreknowledge of God, God, Kant, Latter-day Saints, LDS Church, Mormons, noumena, objective, phenomena, philosophy of science, Plato, revelation, Richard Rorty, Science, Science and Religion, Thomas Kuhn, truth | 5 Comments »
Posted on September 28, 2008 by Brady
How often have you heard someone testify from the pulpit that prayer works, that priesthood blessings work, that the gospel works? Well, I heard one of those again today and (as always) it made me cringe. By now I’ve probably proved myself someone who gets a little too caught up in the way [...]
Filed under: Relationships, Theology | Tagged: behaviorism, Christianity, determinism, egoism, evidence-based practice, God, individualism, instrumental reasoning, Latter-day Saints, LDS, love of God, materialism, morality, Mormonism, Mormons, pragmatism, prayer, psychotherapy, reductionism, relationships, self-centered, utilitarianism, William James | 8 Comments »
Posted on September 24, 2008 by Joe O.
Whenever I hear people talk about the kingdom of God, it seems like it’s always referred to in the future tense. Lately, I’ve begun to wonder if the kingdom of God isn’t already all around us.
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine, Relationships, Theology | Tagged: Mormons, Theology, Scripture, Jesus Christ, God, Mormon theology, Gospel of Jesus Christ, LDS, Love, Book of Mormon, Kingdom of God, Two Great Commandments, Holy Ghost, Gift of the Holy Ghost, children of God, sons of God, baptism, Christ's visit to America, Doctrine of Christ | 10 Comments »
Posted on August 13, 2008 by Jeff Thayne
Today, I would like to consider two different genres of fiction: fantasy and science fiction. The way in which I talk about them will probably be different than the way a literary expert would talk about them; I make no claims to any serious research in this post, but rather I would just like to [...]
Filed under: Literature, Philosophy, Science | Tagged: agency, Aristotle, biology, determinism, fantasy, fiction, free will, God, LDS, magic, Mormons, psychology, reductionism, science fiction, scientific naturalism, spirits, teleology | 20 Comments »
Posted on March 27, 2008 by Dennis
This post might only make sense after reading this post or this post.
To help concretize the essential need of an open folk belief (OFB) LDS community, I will illustrate a case example regarding a theological issue for which there are substantial gaps from authoritative Latter-day Saint sources. For this fictional example, imagine two individuals, Susan [...]
Filed under: Folk Theologies, Mormon Doctrine, Theology | Tagged: agency, Bobby Fischer, Folk Theologies, foreknowledge, God, Mormon theology, Mormons, William James | 13 Comments »
Posted on March 3, 2008 by Joe O.
Dennis thought I ought to share this short story that I wrote. It represents one of my folk theologies…
“There once was a man who wished to learn physics because he wanted to be like God.
Filed under: Folk Theologies | Tagged: death, God, physics, relationships | 5 Comments »
Posted on March 2, 2008 by Dennis
On March 27 (3-5 p.m.) at the University of Utah, I am giving a presentation at the Society of Mormon Philosophy and Theology, entitled “Toward a Latter-day Saint Theology of Possibilities.” Information about the conference can be found here.
In this presentation I will talk about how “folk beliefs” are unavoidable among Latter-day Saints. Because we [...]
Filed under: Folk Theologies | Tagged: Folk Theologies, Gender, God, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, LDS, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon theology, Mormons, Politics, Pre-Mortal Life, Priesthood Authority, Word of Wisdom | 39 Comments »
