There is a strand of progressive Mormon thinking that associates Zion with an exaltation of agrarian virtues. I am thinking here of folks like Hugh Nibley or Arthur Henry King or my friend Russell Arben Fox who argue that small scale, local economies, ideally based in large part on agriculture provide the best possible model for building Zion. At least one way of understanding this line of thinking is to see it as a kind of Mormonization of agrarian thinkers like Wendell Berry. It is striking in this regard that Leonard Arrington, whose works on nineteenth-century Mormon communitarianism provide the historical ur-texts for much of this thinking, was trained at North Carolina in a progressive economics department then much under the influence of an earlier generation of Southern agrarian thinkers. I am skeptical. Cooperation and trust, are, it seems to me key to the idea of Zion. If the Lord’s people are of one heart and one mind they must be able to rely on one another and work well together. Levels of trust and cooperation, of course, are not uniformly distributed across places, times, and cultures. Robert Putnam, the contemporary guru of social capital theory, famously made his academic name contrasting the high-trust, high-cooperation society in northern Italy with the low-trust, low-cooperation society in southern Italy.
A dear friend–who is a single, never-married, 40-something, extremely faithful LDS woman–emailed this to a few friends. I share it with her permission, having edited out identifying information: I received a call today from high councilman Z to meet with Pres Q in our stake pres on Sunday after Stake conference to talk about single adult needs in the stake
The question of the truth of the church didn’t enter my consciousness until I was about twelve years old. That was the age when I started discussing religion with my school friends. I remember a conversation I had with a friend after school.
Old Testament Lesson 21 Study Notes: 1 Samuel 2-3; 8
One can reasonably argue that the book of Judges shows us the decline of Israel to a situation in which they have to have a king to lead them, and that the treatment of women that we see in Judges is a sign of that decline. One can also argue that Ruth is a response to that theme in Judges.
Obama Sends 1,200 Troops to the Border to Guard Against Republican Criticism
This past Tuesday, President Obama announced that he intends to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. He also plans on asking Congress for $500 million dollars to target the smuggling of people, drugs, money, and weapons into…
Memorial Day: Giving Our Full Measure of Devotion to Peace
Utopia. It is the place that is no place. It is the reality that does not yet exist. It is the political economy that has no politics or economics. Yet. A utopian vision is important. It is important to see…
In this simple statement from his poem Mending Wall , modern American poet Robert Frost voices the deep concern with how human fear leads to building walls that separate us from others. “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know,”…
Since instituting the “A Mormon Image” series last fall, our submissions have slowed from a glut to a trickle. As a result, we thought we would issue a new call for photographs to be considered for inclusion in the series. The instructions for submissions can be found here and the images we have featured since kicking off the series can be viewed here . 0 people like this post
I came to be friends with Rosanna through my wife’s work. Becca is the founding director of Magdalene, a two-year residential program for women with a history of prostitution and drug addiction. She also founded Thistle Farms, a bath and…
The latest news on Offshore Drilling Suspended, Jobs Bill, Immigration, National Security Strategy, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Netanyahu to…
Oil Spill. Engineers have succeeded in stopping the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a gushing BP well, the federal government’s top oil spill commander, U.S. Coast Guard Adm.
Drugs, Guns, and Immigration: An Unholy Trinity of Failed Policy
The reports out of Juarez, Mexico, are depressing, doubly so for me. I grew up in the border area of El Paso with many relatives on both sides of the border. My memories of going to the mercado, of watching the…
Climate of Change: Global Grassroots Environmental Success Stories
In Climate of Change , director Brian Hill tells the story of how ordinary people from around the world are taking action steps to save the environment.
The latest news on Oil Spill, Obama Meets with Rep. Senators, Finance Reform, Death Penalty, Berenson Freed in Peru, Afghanistan, Mideast, Iran,…
North Korea. North Korea announced Tuesday that it is severing all relations with South Korea, heightening the risk of armed conflict and creating perhaps the most serious crisis on the Korean Peninsula in more than two decades. Troops to the Border.
A Reading of President Packer’s “Presiding in the Home”
During a great discussion of our most recent general conference, one very bright young woman in my class sincerely asked, “President Packer said that ‘the father presides at the table’ – and I just want to know what that means.” A very lively discussion ensued. The women in the classroom sat very still, intently listening, but unwillingly to chime in as a barrage of answers were given by the men – ranging from the mildly to the wildly sexist
For many years, Palestinians have engaged in nonviolent actions aimed at resisting the Israeli military occupation and its violent and humiliating policies aimed at suppressing the will of the Palestinians in seeking to achieve their legitimate aspirations. Villages and communities have…
Gulf Oil Spill: Watching a Disaster Unfold with a Log in My Eye
Watching a disaster unfold on the news is always heartbreaking, but when it occurs in your hometown and you are far away, it can be debilitating. I grew up minutes from the Gulf beaches in Florida, and reading about and…
A friend of mine came to visit a couple weeks ago, and he had me take the “Color Code” personality test. Perhaps you’re familiar with it. It divides people into red (control-oriented), blue (intimacy-oriented), yellow (socially-oriented), and white (peace-oriented) personalities
White Flag Warriors at the Border: Recognizing Humanity on All Sides of the Immigration Debate
About a year ago, when we were writing our song “White Flag Warrior”, my friend (and fellow frontman) Stephen and I had quite a conversation. We talked about Leonard Cohen’s song “Story of Isaac” and about Kierkegaard’s multiple interpretations of…
A Neighborhood View of Consumer Financial Protection
As someone who lives in Cleveland – which in some years is identified as the poorest city in the U.S. – I have seen how banks, mortgage companies, payday lenders, and other financial institutions have been grinding into the dirt…
Dr. Dorothy Irene Height: A Servant Leader Among Us
In an age when many leaders desperately seek their 15 minutes of YouTube fame, Dr. Dorothy Irene Height was celebrated by presidents and everyday citizens alike for being the rarest of all humans — a servant leader
Zion and the Limits of Intellectual Agrarianism
