Category: What I am Reading

  • Volume One: Introduction

    The first twenty-eight pages of A Cultural History of The Book of Mormon walk us through the meta-text generated about The Book of Mormon even before it was published. Daymon Smith extracts excerpts from newspapers at the time that showed how stories surrounding the unpublished book helped form/frame perceptions of it. “Gold Bible” stirred up…

  • Cultural History

    I’ll be re-reading The Cultural History of The Book of Mormon over the next several weeks. It is five volumes and covers a lot more than meets the eye. I’ll do my best to share what stands out and what blows my mind.

  • It is not about right or wrong

    Just then, Ali, the guy whose side I was agreeing with, snapped at me. “It is not about right or wrong; it is do you understand!” Matthew McConaughey, GREENLIGHTS I’ve been pondering this scene for weeks now. Until coming across that concept in GREENLIGHTS, I had never considered that disagreements shouldn’t be about right or…

  • How it still happens today

    There was once a queer old man who lived in a cave, where he had sought refuge from the noise of the villages. He was reputed to be a sorcerer, and therefore he had disciples who hoped to learn the art of sorcery from him. But he himself was not thinking of any such thing.…

  • Reading Goal 2021

    It isn’t quite December, yet I find myself thinking about 2021. I feel that quite a few individuals are looking ahead to 2021 due to the insanity that has been 2020. Looking ahead and looking at my bookshelf, I realized that I had squandered so much time this year; there were so many books I…

  • Old Sky Hewer

    “Often thought of being led directionally by “the [Holy] Spirit” to drunken Laban, Nephi first foreshadows the influence of “the spirit” later encountered after unsheathing the sword. The talking spirit comes of the sword itself, carried by Laban and which in voice commands Nephi to slay the man. That sword is also featured in Words of…

  • Tale of Izilba – Thoughts on Words

    Nearly every Thursday, a group of individuals gathers in a room in downtown Salt Lake City. I heard of the group from a friend whom I met during my days in The Remnant movement and knew I was reading Daymon Smith’s books. The majority of the group has known one another for years. The group has…