I’ve written about the LDS Church’s quorums of seventy before: Organization of LDS Church, Part 2; Chart of LDS General Authorities; How Many Children do the Seventy Have?
I’ve been fascinated by the leadership and organization of the Church for many years. I enjoy watching the Church grow and seeing how the structure of the general church leadership changes to meet the needs of a growing church. What is interesting is how the changes made always fit within the pattern Christ established when on the earth as well as the pattern revealed to Joseph Smith. In other words, the pattern of church leadership established in ancient and modern scripture is sufficient for meeting the needs of any size church. I was thus pleased to see that the Church posted an interview between Elder Ronald Rasband (Senior President of the Seventy) and Pres. Boyd K. Packer.

At one point in the interview Pres. Packer commented about the foresight of Joseph Smith (the foresight was not his own but rather was from God). “President Packer said it is marvelous that Joseph Smith could have anticipated an organization that would expand to meet the needs of the Church worldwide. ‘The revelations came when he was a very young man,’ President Packer said. ‘How he knew what he knew, I was going to say it was incredible. It is not, because he did not have to know much. All he had to do is follow the patterns of revelation.’”

Here’s the video of the interview with Pres. Packer. It’s a nice video that shows the hand of the Lord as He directs the work of His church.

Related posts:

1. Chart of LDS General Authorities
2. BYU Speeches – Pres. Monson’s Principles From Prophets
3. More Thoughts on the New Leadership Handbook

There is a continually growing interest among Latter-day Saints for dialogue with Jewish people, who occupy a special place in Mormon theology and perspective. Latter-day Saints, seeing themselves as descendants of ancient Israel (primarily from the tribe of Ephraim), often feel a special bond, a kinship, with the Jewish people, whom they sometimes regard as “cousins” of “the house of Israel” of the tribe of Judah,

Below is an excerpt from Mark Paredes, blogger on the Jewish-Mormon dialogue, who asked if he could respond to  questions posed during the interview mentioned above:

3] Why is Mormon-Orthodox Jewish dialogue important?

Mormons generally consider the Orthodox to be Jews who take G-d and their religion seriously. We have enormous respect for people who believe that the Hebrew Bible is a divine book, and that this knowledge obligates us to act in certain ways. On a personal level, I have found that Orthodox Jews are usually much more knowledgeable about their own faith than their Reform and Conservative counterparts.

Given that Mormons believe that they are modern-day Israelites and that their theology is far more complete than other Christian belief systems on the Abrahamic covenant, chosenness and Israel, the prophetic tradition, etc., it’s only natural that they would seek to dialogue with Jews who look to Judaism, not secular liberalism, for enlightenment on these questions.

The LDS Church as a whole is interested in working with other faiths in two areas: humanitarian aid and promoting religious freedom. At the grass roots level, however, Mormons love Jews, Judaism, and Israel, and any attempt by the Orthodox to engage in dialogue with us would be warmly welcomed.

4] Do the Orthodox rabbis ever learn about Mormonism and its doctrines?

I’ve fielded many questions from Orthodox rabbis on LDS beliefs and practice. On one occasion the local LDS Church’s public affairs committee invited a group of LA-based rabbis to visit the temple in Draper, Utah, before it was dedicated. An Orthodox rabbi was in the group, and he was very appreciative of the chance to learn more about our sacred rituals.

 
http://www.jewishjournal.com/jews_and_mormons/item/interview_with_a_rabbi_on_lds-orthodox_dialogue_39110430/

I appreciate TT and the other bloggers at FPR giving me the opportunity to talk specifically about my PhD research in their forum.

If you would like to check it out, see here: http://www.faithpromotingrumor.com/2011/02/the-royal-psalms-an-interview-with-david-l/

Mara’s work has been featured in has been featured at the Amerikahaus in Vienna, Austria; the “Women of Faith” exhibit in Washington D.C.; and in the literary journal Irreantum. She lives with her husband and two sons in Tennessee. You can see more of her work at Reluctant Nomad. 

1) How did you begin your work as an artist? It was a complete accident.  I had worked in portraiture since 2005 and while avoiding work for a client, I began layering pictures on top of one another, changing the blending methods, and figuring out what came out of the mix.  I was so intrigued with those manipulations that I kept exploring, usually in fits and starts.  My work, unlike most artists, and probably to its detriment, is most often not premeditated.  Although I would argue that the pieces I create have imbued meaning of some kind, that they answer a question or a series of questions that I pose while creating them, the answers are often delightfully unexpected.

2) You call the American West home and say that “you can’t think of anywhere else [you'd] rather be.” However, you’ve spent most of the last decade living in the American South or in Europe. How has being away from your “home” influenced your art? The search to find a replacement for being settled is the between-the-lines motivation in every piece of art that I create.  That being said, I would love to use my home in the American West as a symbol in my work, but I’m not there.  And photography is a victim of location.  Plus I’ve been working as an outsider for so long, I don’t know if I would know how to represent my own culture even if I tried.  I have a deep respect for artists who critique and represent their culture from the inside.  It’s the harder path.  In “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”, the main character mentions that you wouldn’t write your name in pencil across the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle when faced with a blank page before you.  And he’s right–never settling in any one place, in any one identity, I’m always on the hypotenuse, shakily writing my name wherever I happen to land.  Like I said, it’s the less-logical and sometimes easier path, but it’s my path and I wouldn’t know how to represent any other.

3) What role does being an artist play in your life right now? Outside of this interview and shyly sharing the latest version of Segullah with family and friends, being an artist plays no role.  Having just moved from overseas back to the States, my role as matriarch has superseded almost everything else. Art-making is a process that is often, at least in my life, interrupted by more important pursuits like packing and unpacking.  Also, my camera scares me right now.  When I feel fragile which I often do in the process of moving, I don’t want to create anything that might reveal more than I’m able to share and still feel safe doing so. 

4) Describe how you go through the process of making a photographic collage? I work in Photoshop and the process itself is very simple.  I take a photograph or part of one that I have shot.  I then layer another photograph on top.  Usually one of the layers is graphic in nature, a pattern covering the entire frame.  I’m endlessly taking pictures of sewer drains, graphic display windows, and in Europe, advertising billboards.  Another layer is usually organic.  In the body of work featured in Segullah, the organic layer I use most often is one of giant mushrooms.  For other pieces, I’ve looked to cemeteries for inspiration for the organic layer.  I love cemeteries.  In the last two places where I’ve lived, my daily routine to the store and to my children’s bus stop would take me past a cemetery simply by happenstance.  I would often sideline myself to sit and admire what I found there.  The last layer often involves the human figure.  The human figure is a powerful testimony that there is a God and I try to include it in as many of my pieces as I can.

5) As an LDS artist, what are your views on LDS art in general, and in your place within the body of LDS artists. I respect, love, and have worked with many contemporary LDS artists and I have a few favorites.  What I struggle with are consumers who view art as a morality play–an (often) oversimplified version of right or wrong, black and white.  I just can’t view art as being right or wrong.  For me, it’s a means of communication.  And communication, outside of abusive forms, is inherently open and nuanced, complex and two-sided.  While morality may play an important role in what a member of the church hangs over a mantle, religious art is not the only art worthy to adorn an LDS home.  Additionally, artists who create pieces that don’t fit well on a Mormon mantle are still worthy of attention and their work is a valuable contribution to the larger genre of LDS art.  I have a wonderful print of a (mostly) nude woman hanging in my house.  The human figure is, as I’ve mentioned, just as powerful a testimony of God to me as a Temple or a prophet.  These opinions may make my work or attitudes unconventional in a Mormon context.  I’m ok with that.

6) How has your faith shaped your art (or vice versa)? My art is usually an escape.  It has served as a release valve from “mommy-ism,” “wife-ism,” and sometimes even “Mormonism.”  But that said, that escape has been essential to my enjoyment of being a mother and a wife and a Mormon.  And the enjoyment of those pursuits is absolutely a blessing from my Father in Heaven.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Featured Artist Leslie Graff
2. The Cult of Art
3. Segullah Gift Cards!

What motivated you to write “Temple Themes in the Book of Moses”?

Jeff Bradshaw: My hope in writing this new book was that readers would gain a greater appreciation for the depth and sophistication of temple teachings—and the implications of those teachings for our daily lives. We are naturally drawn to the temple because it is a place apart where we can feel the peace and joy of God’s presence as we participate in sacred ordinances for ourselves and others. We take our problems to the temple and pray for help and guidance, and we also engage in group prayer for others with particular needs. These things alone are great blessings.

Often less appreciated, however, is the fact that the temple is intended to be a place of profound and very personal learning, not only with respect to the answers we seek to prayers about our immediate concerns, but also about our place in the overall economy of our divine Father’s Creation. Noting the magnitude of our opportunities in this respect, Elder Neal A. Maxwell once remarked: “God is giving away the spiritual secrets of the universe,” and then asked: “but are we listening?”^[i]

To help prepare our minds and hearts to receive this divine instruction, we have been counseled to study the scriptures and the words of latter-day prophets. Allusions to temple themes can be found throughout these writings, but it is not always easy to recognize them. Efforts have been made to bridge this gap through books that explain the meaning of specific symbols used in scripture and temple worship. However, most of us not only struggle with the meaning of individual concepts and symbols, but also—and perhaps more crucially—in understanding how these concepts and symbols fit together as a whole system. The symbols and concepts of the temple are best understood, not in isolation, but within the full context of temple teachings to which they belong.

Chesterton has compared our position to that of a “sailor who awakens from a deep sleep and discovers treasure strewn about, relics from a civilization he can barely remember. One by one he picks up the relics—gold coins, a compass, fine clothing—and tries to discern their meaning.”[ii] The point is that the essential meaning is to be found not so much in the individual relics as in a true grasps of the milieu that produced them.

As Latter-day Saints, we have access to more knowledge about the temple than has been available generally in any other dispensation. As a result, we are in a privileged position to have “the scriptures laid open to our understandings, and the true meaning and intention of their more mysterious passages revealed unto us.”^[iii]

Because its stories form such an important part of the LDS temple endowment, the book of Moses is an ideal starting point for a scripture-based study of temple themes. It is well known, for example, that the endowment, like the book of Moses, includes “a recital of the most prominent events of the creative period, the condition of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, their disobedience and consequent expulsion from that blissful abode, their condition in the lone and dreary world when doomed to live by labor and sweat, the plan of redemption by which the great transgression may be atoned.”^[iv] What is more rarely appreciated, however, is that the relationship between scripture and temple teachings goes two ways. Not only have many of the stories of the book of Moses been included in the endowment, but also, in striking abundance, themes echoing temple architecture, furnishings, ordinances, and covenants have been deeply woven into the text of the book of Moses itself.

In short, this book, though neither authoritative nor definitive, attempts to highlight a few of the temple themes that once seem to have been part of a widely-shared background of understanding for scriptural interpretation and to apply these themes as latent interpretive possibilities for the book of Moses. Though many of the arguments made will, no doubt, someday prove to have been ill-founded, my hope is that bringing such perspectives into discussion will, at the very least, help in some small way to spur deeper study and appreciation of the book of Moses and the temple.

*Can you tell me how your Temple Themes book differs from the material in the “In God’s Image” book? If someone has one of the books, would it still be helpful to get the other?

Bradshaw: Originally, “Temple Themes in the Book of Moses” was intended to be a slim and simply-worded synopsis of some of the temple-related material in the commentary that someone like my mother could pick up and enjoy reading. In the end, it turned out to be nothing like that. Perhaps the sole bit of progress I’ve made toward my goal is that at least this book is short enough that my mother can lift it—in contrast to the nine-pound hardback commentary that many found difficult to heft and read comfortably. Despite my failure on this book, I am still hoping to get a slim and simple summary volume together in the coming months.

In writing “Temple Themes,” I was freed from the obligatory chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse organizational scheme of the commentary, and was able to bring together related material on a given theme that was often inconveniently scattered throughout the text, endnotes, and excursus sections of the book. Moreover, I was able both to update some of the previous topics with illuminating new findings and also to branch out into subjects that had not been previously discussed.

An appendix covers frequent questions on the relationships among Genesis, the book of Moses, and the Joseph Smith Translation, as well as issues relating to authorship and translation.

Of course, the process adding in over a hundred full color images and photographs, many published here for the first time, was also a delight. The great majority of these were not included in the previously-published book of Moses commentary.

*

What are some examples of new and updated material found in this volume?

Bradshaw: As an example of updating previously-treated topics, I’ve added significant new material on the concept of the Tree of Knowledge as the veil of the sanctuary. Allusions to this idea, which I first found in rabbinic commentary and in the writings of Ephrem the Syrian, and the related association of the Tree of Knowledge with themes of death and resurrection, has proven to be much more widespread in the ancient literature than I could have ever imagined, not only appearing in the biblical stories of Noah, Babel, King Uzziah, and Esther, but also showing up in Islamic, Egyptian, Mesoamerican, and pseudepigraphal variations.

Once having understood the relevance of these sources, it is hard to imagine that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge could have ever been construed as anything other than—obviously—knowledge! Whether speaking of the heavenly temple or of its earthly models, the theme of access to hidden knowledge is inseparably connected with the passage through the veil. For example, Jewish and Christian accounts speak of a “blueprint” of eternity that is worked out in advance and shown on the inside of the veil to prophetic figures as part of their heavenly ascent. In his final book, One Eternal Round (and, previously, in Abraham in Egypt), Nibley gave the “great round” of the hypocephalus as an example of an attempt to capture the essence of such pictures of eternity among the Egyptians, and showed how similar concepts pervade the literature of other ancient cultures.

Another subject that has been treated in much more depth is the vision of Moses (Moses 1). As you know (as a co-author of that chapter), the discussion in the new book goes far beyond what was included in the book of Moses commentary to include a thorough discussion of striking parallels in the Apocalypse of Abraham, as well as the first known publication in more than a hundred years of the full set of illustrations from the Sylvester Codex, a fourteenth-century Slavonic manuscript of that work.

In my opinion, one of the most significant new topics treated in the book is the question of how much Eve understood when she took of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. In light of the LDS understanding that the Fall was a necessary prerequisite for mankind’s further progression and our rejection of the generally negative portrayals of Eve in historical Christianity, Mormon authors typically emphasize her perceptiveness and interpret her role as ultimately constructive. A few have, however, taken this view to what I take to be an untenable extreme, not only rightfully exonerating her from full accountability for her transgression and honoring her lifelong faithfulness, but in addition arguing that, for various reasons, she was not actually “beguiled” by Satan in her decision to take of the forbidden fruit. One of the chapters in the new book is dedicated to correcting what I take to be as some misconceptions relating to this important topic that bears on some of our foundational doctrines.

Another favorite new chapter has to do with the surprisingly ubiquitous ancient theme of “standing in holy places.” Though this idea is explicitly found only once in the New Testament[v]—and that in a context that seems a difficult fit to current LDS construal of the phrase—it turns up frequently in modern scripture. In surprising echoes of modern revelation, the theme of one’s fitness to stand in holy places can be shown to be of paramount importance in the Old and New Testament—not to mention its particular relevance for our own time. Indeed, Avivah Zornberg has argued that to “hold [one’s] ground” in sacred circumstances is the meaning of being itself—“kiyyum: to rise up (la-koom), to be tall (koma zokufa) in the presence of God.”^[vi]

In another chapter, drawing on the arguments of Sarah Ruden and LDS scholar Lynne H. Wilson, I counter George Berrnard Shaw’s conclusion that the apostle Paul was “the eternal enemy of Woman.^”[vii] For example, in Paul’s description of the veiling of women during prayer, there seems to be no question of the woman being presented as a second-class participant in the ordinances or, for that matter, in eternal life, as some have erroneously concluded. Rather, by way of analogy to the divine radiance of Moses in Exodus 34:33–34, the veil might be understood not only as a woman’s sign of authority, necessary for her own exaltation, but also as a witness of womanhood’s glory, a glory that must eventually be shared with man if he is to attain completeness in God’s sight.

There is also new material relating to what I call Adam and Eve’s “temple work.” In contrast to frequent attempts to draw parallels between modern “secular employments” and the work required of the first couple in Paradise, I believe that the very point of the scriptural injunction in Moses 4:15 is to inform Adam and Eve that no labor of the ordinary kind was required in Eden so long as they qualified to remain in that place. In this view, any conception that they were to focus their energies on digging and pruning the trees of Eden is surely mistaken, since the account makes clear that “man’s food was ever ready at hand.”^[viii] Instead, I argue that a different, and even more strenuous and demanding kind of work was required of Adam and Eve while they lived in the Garden of Eden. Moreover, I attempt to show that the divine injunctions given there to the first couple have not changed in their priority since mankind fell from Paradise.

*

What is the relationship between this book and the weekly columns you wrote for Meridian Magazine during the first half of 2010?

Bradshaw: Some of the challenging questions raised in the “Temple Themes” book were first addressed in Meridian Magazine. Though some links and articles have been lost due to problems with a recent Web site update at Meridian, we’ve updated the links to this series on http://www.imageandlikeness.net so they can still be freely accessed. The new book has allowed me to correct, expand, and more fully illustrate the subjects treated in these articles.

Regretfully, I had to give up the weekly column in May 2010, due to a recall to service as a bishop, and the consequent reprogramming of my early-morning reading and writing time to nearly-full-time shepherding matters. My first day as a bishop, I received 79 email messages! Happily, my scripture study is still just as intense as it was when I was writing for Meridian—but my time and attention are now spread among many more topics!

*

Where can the new book be found? What about “In God’s Image and Likeness,” now that the hardbound edition is sold out?

Bradshaw: “Temple Themes in the Book of Moses” is published by Eborn Publishing. It’s available at any of the Eborn bookstores and at Amazon.com. It’s in stock and available for purchase in both inexpensive black and white ( $19.95) and full-color two-volume ($59.95) editions at the FAIR Online Bookstore and the BYU Bookstore. Full-color PDF versions ($19.95) of both “In God’s Image and Likeness” and “Temple Themes in the Book of Moses” for laptops, the iPad, Kindle, and virtually any other reading device are also available at BYU and FAIR, as well as at www.imageandlikeness.net.

A four-part softcover version, of “In God’s Image and Likeness” is also available for $19.95/volume or $59.95 for the four volume set. It incorporates corrections of many typographical errors and minor mistakes of other sorts, and adds several new and updated sources.

The key thing in all these new publications was to keep them as inexpensive as possible. Unlike the now-sold-out hardcover edition of the commentary, we did not have benefactors to subsidize the cost of publication—thus some compromises in print quality had to be made. Though the softcover volumes do not fully match the beauty and servicability of the single-volume hardcover edition, I am happy to have both the book of Moses commentary and the “Temple Themes” book in print in editions that are as affordable as we could possibly make them.

At the other end of the spectrum, a handful of copies of the limited leather edition of “In God’s Image and Likeness” are still available for $5000 each—certainly out of my own price range! Twenty-five pounds in the clamshell box, with beautifully-tooled gold decorations adorning the fine English leather–certainly not something you’d want to read in bed, but it is reputed by Eborn Publishing to be the most beautiful LDS book ever printed.

*

What are your personal feelings about the book of Moses?

Bradshaw: It is my firm witness that the book of Moses is a priceless prophetic reworking of the book of Genesis, made with painstaking effort under divine direction. While neither “complete” nor “inerrant,” it is a text of inestimable value that should be a centerpiece of our gospel study. With respect to yet unrevealed portions of the book of Abraham, a companion to the book of Moses, Hugh Nibley reminds us:^[ix]

Important parts of the Pearl of Great Price which are still being held back include “writings that cannot be revealed unto the world; but is [sic] to be had in the holy Temple of God,”^[x] “ought not to be revealed at the present time.”^[xi] Years ago, when we cited some passages from what we called an Egyptian endowment,^[xii] without elaborating, many Latter-day Saints quietly recognized their own temple endowment. Important things are still expressly withheld which “ought not to be revealed at the present time”; these include Facsimile 2, figures 12-21. For some of the secrets there is a standing invitation: “If the world can find out these numbers, so let it be. Amen.”^[xiii] That was over a century and a half ago, and the invitation to search is still open.

*

References

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith. 1908. Orthodoxy. New York City, NY: Image Books / Doubleday, 2001.

Maxwell, Neal A. “Our Creator’s Cosmos.” Presented at the Church Educational System Conference on the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, August 13, 2002, 2002, 1-8.

Nibley, Hugh W., and Michael D. Rhodes. One Eternal Round. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 19. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2010.

Nibley, Hugh W. 1975. The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment. 2nd ed. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2005.

Ruden, Sarah. Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time. New York City, NY: Pantheon Books, 2010.

Sarna, Nahum M., ed. Genesis. The JPS Torah Commentary, ed. Nahum M. Sarna. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989.

Talmage, James E. 1912. The House of the Lord. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 1998.

Wyatt, Nicolas. “When Adam delved: The meaning of Genesis 3:23.” In ‘There’s Such Divnity Doth Hedge a King’: Selected Essays of Nicolas Wyatt on Royal Ideology in Ugaritic and Old Testament Literature, edited by Nicolas Wyatt. Society for Old Testament Study Monographs, ed. Margaret Barker, 55-59. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2005.

Zornberg, Avivah Gottlieb. Genesis: The Beginning of Desire. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 1995.

Endnotes

[ii] P. Yancey, introduction to G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, p. xiii.

[iii] Joseph Smith—History 1:74.

[iv] J. E. Talmage, House of the Lord, 4, p. 54.

[v] Compare Matthew 24:15.

[vi] A. G. Zornberg, Genesis, p. 21.

[vii] See S. Ruden, Paul, p. 73.

[viii] N. M. Sarna, Genesis, p. 18. But see the interesting discussion in N. Wyatt, When Adam.

[ix] H. W. Nibley et al., One Eternal Round, pp. 18-19.

[x] Abraham, Facsimile 2, figure 8.

[xi] Abraham, Facsimile 2, figure 9.

[xii] H. W. Nibley, Message 2005.

[xiii] Abraham, Facsimile 2, figure 11.

01. Please explain the part prayer plays in your life?

Having grown up with daily prayer, I can’t imagine a day go by in which I don’t communicate with my Heavenly Father in prayer.  We start the day in prayer as a family asking for the Lord’s blessing upon us as we work.  We end the day in prayer the same way, usually kneeling by the bed, reporting our activities to God and thanking him for his help.  We give thanks for the food we eat at mealtimes and participate in public prayers in our weekly worship service.  It is through prayer and reading scriptures that I feel close to God and directed in my life.

02. Which of the Savior’s teachings have influenced you in your life?

The most powerful admonition of the Lord that has helped me find happiness in this life is his commandment that we love one another.  I remember this whenever I feel that I have been misunderstood or hurt by someone else, either intentionally or not.  It is so easy to take offense in this world but the end result is that we only hurt ourselves when we do that.  To love others is to trust in the Lord that he will help make everything all right, even if it doesn’t appear that way at first.  He also requires us to forgive others since we all make mistakes and errors in judgment. We show our love by forgiving.

03. Please share your feelings/testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel.

Even though I grew up hearing the Joseph Smith story I am still amazed as an adult to realize just how powerful his history really is.  Think about it!  Angels, gold plates, visits from God, Jesus Christ and ancient apostles and prophets – these are all miraculous events that we just don’t hear about everyday.  It is truly a marvelous thing to learn all that the Lord did through Joseph Smith, the Prophet of God.  I am especially grateful for revealed doctrines that clarified and corrected the errors of man in the many religions of the world.

04. Please share your feelings/testimony of Joseph Smith.

I have read at least a dozen biographies of the life of Joseph Smith, and continue to be amazed that the Lord was able to accomplish so much through this one man.  He was a prophet in every sense of the word in that the Lord revealed his will for us through him and continues to do so through the prophets that have followed.  But it was Joseph who paid so dearly with his life even though he did what the Lord told him to do in bringing forth the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I hold Joseph Smith in high regard and look forward to meeting him in the world to come.  I want to thank him for his faithfulness in translating the Book of Mormon.

05. Why do Mormons go on missions?

I went on a mission because I watched a video of the prophet asking all worthy young men to serve the Lord as missionaries.  As he shared his vision of how the gospel would go to all the world, I deeply felt a desire stirring within my soul to be a part of that great army of missionaries.  It was a major sacrifice for me to leave my studies and spend two years in Central America seeking out those who would respond to the Lord’s invitation to come unto him through baptism.  I loved my mission experience and found joy in testifying to the world that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  We go on missions because we are commanded to share the gospel and feel the desire to seek out and bring the message of the truth to all who will receive it.

06. Why do Mormons do family history or genealogy work?

Besides being a commandment to seek out our ancestors, we do family history research because we feel a desire to know and appreciate the story of those to whom we are indebted for our very lives.  I am a product of all those who came before me.  My parents were influenced by their parents and they were who they were because of their parents and so on back as far as we can discover.  Once we have the basic facts of their lives such as names and dates, we are privileged to go to the temple and perform proxy ordinances for them so that they too may meet the commandments of the Lord to be baptized and enter into covenants of exaltation.  We do family history work so we can be saviors on Mt Zion (Obadiah 1:21).

07. How has attending Church services helped you?

One of the highlights of my week is to attend church services each Sunday.  I serve in a leadership capacity in my church, and attend a few more meetings besides the regular three-hour block of Sacrament, Sunday school and Priesthood meetings.  I love the interaction with others who believe as I do and feel as I do about trying to follow the teachings of the Savior.  I say try because nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes each week.  That’s another reason why I love to go to church each Sunday – I get to renew my baptism covenants by taking the Sacrament each week.  I learn more of the gospel of Jesus Christ in these church services and feel a unity with God and with my fellow saints as we worship God and Jesus Christ together.

08. What has helped develop greater harmony in your home?

Like everyone else, I have experienced moments of argument and disharmony in my home which leave me feeling frustrated, resentful, hurt or angry.  I do not like such feelings, especially in my home where I want to relax and feel happy, safe and secure.  So over the years, I have made a greater effort each day to promote harmony and unity by not arguing and not finding fault with my family members.  I was not very good at this as a youth and so I appreciate the blessings that have come to me as an adult as I try to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ to love others, especially members of my own family, who need and deserve my love the most.  We can have a harmonious home by practicing kindness and forgiveness.

09. What have you done successfully to shield your family from unwanted influences?

Of all the teachings of the church about family, this idea of keeping out the world has been the most difficult but the most rewarding.  Television and the Internet are two of the most challenging types of media to monitor and control.  We believe in freedom so we encourage each other to seek after virtuous and uplifting material.  So the shield we put into place is not anything controlling such as “thou shalt not!”  It is more of making sure that we understand the differences that certain material, music or entertainment can produce, compared to the results of worthy content.  We seek out and support worthy entertainment and uplifting media content and pray constantly that we will each desire such material over the worldly offerings.

10. Could you talk about your baptism?

I was eight years old when I was baptized and for me, that is a long time ago.  My father, who was a recent convert, had to work the evening of my baptism, so he was unable to perform the ordinance.  I was baptized by a young man who was preparing to serve a mission.  My father was able to confirm me a member of the church the next day and I remember the special feelings that came to me as he conferred upon me the gift of the Holy Ghost.  I remember my primary teacher was there and gave me a picture of the Savior mounted on a small piece of wood.  I still treasure that memento and the words of encouragement that she penned on the back.  I’m sure I did not understand all the implications of the covenants I was making at eight years old, but I have come to appreciate the blessings of this ordinance more and more each Sunday as I take the Sacrament and remember what the Savior miraculously did for me in taking upon himself the effects of my sins upon conditions of repentance.  It is baptism that makes my repentance possible.

11. Why/How do you share the gospel with your friends?

I am not a very outgoing person so I believe that the best way I can share the gospel with others is through providing a good example of following the teachings of the Savior.  I have been amazed over the years as I see the influence that my behavior has on others.  I feel it brings respect and a kind of trust that can come in no other way.  I am sometimes surprised that people, including co-workers, will unsolicited confide in me details of problems they are working out and seek my advice and opinion.  I am then able to share my beliefs that following the teachings of Jesus Christ can and does help me deal with problems and that it can help them too.  Because I am shy, I find great comfort in sharing my feelings about the gospel online and am an active LDS blogger.  I also use modern technology like Facebook and Twitter to share my life.  The gospel comes up in the natural course of sharing things online and results in online dialogs in non-threatening and informative way.

12. How does making right choices help us make more right choices?

When we choose the right even when it is hard to do, we strengthen our character and develop integrity.  Deciding to do the right thing one time makes it easier to do the right thing the next time.  Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the added advantage of the gift of the Holy Ghost.  This gift helps us understand what the right thing to do is in difficult situations.  When we decide to follow the impressions of the Holy Ghost in making life’s choices, we show God that we value and appreciate this gift.  The impressions of the spirit will then become stronger or easier to recognize and we can grow in always making right choices.  Of course, being mortal, we will all make mistakes.  The Holy Ghost can also help us repent and make better choices in the future.

13. In what ways have your prayers been answered?

There are so many countless examples over the years that it is hard to share just one or two.  Perhaps the most dramatic for me was on the day that I proposed to my wife.  After I returned home from my mission, I had been praying for quite some time to find a woman who believed as I did and with whom I could be happy.  I was dating my wife’s best friend but the chemistry was just not there.  One day my wife invited me to a ball game and I told her about my troubles getting her friend to like me.  I could see that her feelings were hurt. The next day I visited her in her home and had a long conversation about life and marriage and family.  I had some very powerful spiritual feelings as I was talking to her that I knew were an answer to my prayers.  I proposed on the spot and we were married a few months later.  The Lord helped me with one of the most important decisions of my life.

14. What are you doing to help strengthen your family and make it successful?

My role in the family is to provide security and stability – both financial and spiritual.  I enjoy my responsibility to work and earn the money that we need to have a home, food, clothing and other necessities of life.  But more importantly, I enjoy my responsibility to provide spiritual direction for my family.  We are strengthened by attending church together, by praying and reading the scriptures together and by pursuing worthwhile family goals.  For example, my wife and I take classes at the local community college in the evenings in an effort to improve ourselves and keep our minds active.  We are strengthened as we work together as a family to accomplish good things with our lives and to provide service in our church and our community.  The gospel of Jesus Christ helps us in this endeavor.

15. How has your knowledge of the Plan of Happiness changed/benefited your life?

Sometimes this life can be a drag on the spirit because of all the disappointments and setbacks that come as a natural part of living in this world.  Understanding the Plan of Happiness helps me to realize that such setbacks are temporary.  I remain convinced that the Lord is very involved in my life and wants to help me through my journey until I am ready to return to his presence in the life to come.  Knowing that I lived before I came to this world to experience mortality helps me to have a bigger picture of things.  Knowing that I will live in the world to come and that I will someday be resurrected with a glorious and eternal body give me hope that goes beyond the drudgery and dullness that this life can sometimes be.  The Plan of Happiness is just that – a plan for me to find and achieve happiness through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance and enduring to the end of mortality true to what I know.

16. What is hope and what do you hope for?

Hope is the belief and conviction that there is purpose and meaning to this life.  Hope is the understanding that even though we pass through trials and troubles, we can have the assurance that our experiences are for our good and will cause us to grow.  I hope for a glorious resurrection.  I know that this is dependant upon my personal righteousness and my works of faith in this life.  Yes, the resurrection is a free gift to all men, but we believe that the quality of our lives in the hereafter is very much dependant on our actions here.  This life is a time of testing and proving and we can hope that our efforts in struggling against opposition in this world will be rewarded by a just and merciful God who wants to bless and help us through it.

17. How has the Book of Mormon helped you understand the purpose of life?

In the Book of Mormon we read that “men are that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25).  I can’t think of any more concise and explicit scriptural reference that helps us understand the purpose of life.  Of course, the Book of Mormon provides a lot more insight into how we go about finding that joy and even helps us to understand what true joy is.  One of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon is the prophet Lehi’s dream about the Tree of Life (1 Nephi 8).  In his dream he partakes of the fruit of the tree which is desirable to make one happy and is sweet above all that he had ever before tasted.  Eating of the fruit fills our soul with exceedingly great joy.  The fruit of course is the love of God and we obtain it by holding fast to the Word of God that is represented by the Rod of Iron in Lehi’s dream.  What a great story!

18. How has the Holy Ghost helped you?

I consider the Gift of the Holy Ghost one of the greatest blessings in my life.  There have been so many instances in which I have been helped by the Holy Ghost that it is hard to imagine getting through this life without this wonderful gift.  The Holy Ghost inspires me and encourages me to do things that are hard to do but that result in happiness for me and for others in my life.  The Holy Ghost has warned me of danger many times, prompting me to stay away from certain things and places.  The Holy Ghost has helped me by prompting me to a certain course of action that I otherwise might not have considered.  The Holy Ghost has been my constant companion in my work, helping me to remember things that, if forgotten, could have been the cause of much distress or pain.  The Holy Ghost has comforted me in times of sorrow and distress, helping me to feel the love of my Heavenly Father and my Savior even when I do not feel worthy of their love.

19. What blessings have come through your faith in Jesus Christ?

It is because of my faith in Jesus Christ that I am able to get through some of the more difficult aspects of my life.  For example, it is hard for me to do things in a public setting.  But I have been taught and believe that it will be for my good.  The Lord has promised me through the scriptures that he will help me through these difficult circumstances as I exercise faith in him.  And like everyone in this world, I am no stranger to making mistakes and poor choices, even when I know better.  It is through my faith in Jesus Christ that I put into practice one of my favorite little sayings that helps me keep going: “Success is not in never falling, but in getting up each and every time we fall.”  I know that I can be a better person than my fallen human nature would dictate, and it is through faith in Jesus Christ that I am willing to make greater effort each day to be the man that I know he would have me be.

20. How can we develop greater harmony in our homes?

One of the best ways I know of to live in harmony as a family is to do all within our power to avoid criticism, cutting remarks or any attempt to make another family member feel less than loved.  We do this by sharing the same ideals and goals – to seek happiness in living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Where some family members may not have fully accepted the vision of the gospel, we can provide an example of tolerance and patience with them, just as our Heavenly Father and our Savior do with us.  Fighting, arguing, bickering and contemptuous behavior toward any family member is not the way to have peace and harmony in our homes.  Thus, we pray each day that such undesirable activities are mitigated by expressing love and kindness in all that we do.  We are each at differing levels of maturity in our understanding of this concept, so it is up to those who do, to live it better each day.

21. Can you think of a specific challenge in your family that Gospel Principles helped overcome?

Like most families, we have experienced our share of challenges that have tested our faith and caused us to lean deeply on our understanding of the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ to overcome.  For example, my wife and I have both lost parents to death, have had our share of serious health problems, including cancer, and have suffered through multiple seasons of financial stress due to unexpected unemployment.  In addition, we have been pained as not all family members have accepted our faith in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  But it is because of the teachings of Christ that we are encouraged to be patient, that we are comforted when discouraged, that we are inspired when distressed and that we are given strength when we feel weak.  We go on and we press forward, believing that it will all work out for our good, either in this life or in the life to come.  We meet those challenges with strength knowing that we are not alone and that God has promised to help us through them if we will but exercise our faith in Jesus Christ and remain true and faithful to him.

22. How can your talents and gifts bless others?

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that God gives gifts to each member for the purpose of blessing and supporting each other in this life.  Some of those gifts and talents are more obvious, such as singing, musical ability, acting, performing or even a talent to be able to speak with confidence in front of the congregation (trust me, not all members have this talent).  But the scriptures teach that God gives some gift or talent to every member.  Perhaps one is blessed with the ability to be a good listener, another to share heart-felt testimony of how they know the church to be true, others with the gift of teaching children or even just the talent of being able to live peacefully among their neighbors.  When we share our talents and gifts with others, God blesses us and we are “magnified” or made more effective so that others can receive the same benefits that we enjoy.

23. Think about your everyday activities. What are things you act upon each day where you cannot see the end results? How does faith move you to action?

A very simple everyday activity for me that is an act of faith is prayer.  I have never seen an angel or heard a voice in response to my prayers, but I continue to pray each day, believing that God does hear and answer my prayers.  And indeed he has – by sending the comforting feelings of the Holy Ghost to bless and confirm to me that he loves me and wants me to know the truth for myself.  My faith in God and my trust in the words of his prophets as found in the scriptures causes me to continue to pray both as an individual, with my family, in my congregation and in the homes of other members of the church that I visit.  The end results of my prayers are not always evident right way but are just as certain as if I had seen the effects at the time of the prayer.  I am confident; yes I can say that I know, that God hears and answers our prayers that are offered in faith and with real intent.

24. How has the Book of Mormon brought you closer to God?

I first read the Book of Mormon when I was very young – probably 5 or 6 years old.  I read it out loud with my mother, who was a schoolteacher.  Our family had recently joined the Mormon Church so this was also my mother’s first time reading the Book of Mormon.  I remember the special feelings I had as we read it together.  I felt a warm and comforting spirit as I read. I have read the Book of Mormon many times in the many years since I first read it.  In fact, there is not a year that goes by in which we do not read from it either individually or as a family.  No matter how many times we read the same passages, we always seem to learn something new or have our faith in the truthfulness of the book reaffirmed.  The same warm feelings always return. But it is by following the principles of the gospel that are written in the Book of Mormon that we draw closer to God.  It is in the pages of the Book of Mormon that we learn more about the purpose of life and God’s plan of happiness for us.  The Book of Mormon teaches us to study things out and to pray about them that we may know of their truthfulness for ourselves.

25. Can you talk about the missions of the Church and your participation in them?

Up until recently, we as members of church recited the mission of the church as follows: to preach the gospel, redeem the dead and to perfect the saints.  Within the past year, a fourth mission has been added: to care for the poor and the needy.  We now call these four areas of focus simply the purposes of the church.  In my life, I have participated in each of these areas by serving a mission and continuing to share the gospel, by doing family history or genealogy work and by magnifying my callings to serve in the church as a teacher, leader or whatever I’m asked to do.  I’m grateful to be able to assist in caring for the poor and the needy by contributing money to the fast offering funds of the church and by volunteering to serve food at the local homeless shelter on a regular basis.  These missions or purposes of the church help me as an individual member focus on what is really important to our Heavenly Father – to save his children, both temporally and spiritually.

First, let’s make sure we have a clear understanding of some of the terminology we’ll be using. What is creative nonfiction?

I’m not sure it’s possible to be very clear on terminology, or, I suspect that the only people who are clear on such things are those who don’t know very much (Socrates: “I know only one thing, namely, that I know nothing”). Nevertheless, a simple, utilitarian definition of creative nonfiction is “literature derived from real events.” The term is a bit unwieldy, but it does serve to distinguish prose that’s made up from prose that’s true to reality.

Could you also describe the difference, as you see it, between “essay” and “memoir”? In your book of essays, Quotidiana, you rarely use the term “personal essay,” which is the term we here at Segullah often use to describe the creative nonfiction published in our journal. Is there a difference between a “personal essay” and an “essay” in your mind, or are the two terms synonymous?

Memoirs, with an s, used to mean a famous person’s autobiography, interesting or important for its content because its author was noteworthy in some way. Memoir without an s tends to mean a story from someone’s life (sometimes story-length, sometimes book-length), typically someone you’ve never heard of and in whom you’re not inherently interested, though the material that drives memoir tends to be interesting for its drama or exotic nature. Essay, originally, when Montaigne coined the noun from the verb, meant an attempt or a trial, an experiment; in practice this meant not autobiographical narrative but far-reaching thinking or meditation on a subject, filtered through the author’s individual sensibility and cast in the author’s personal voice. Nowadays, the adjective “personal” attached to the noun “essay” probably gets us closest to what Montaigne meant and what he did, as well as what centuries of writers after him did, for the most part, when they wrote “essays.” I lament that the term “essay” has been adulterated to mean something very nearly opposite what it meant originally. That is, when many people hear “essay,” they think of a linear article, with a point to prove, full of lofty language that obscures small ideas to fluff them out. So I try, in my small ways, to reclaim the word “essay” to mean a meandering, inconclusive amalgam of experience and ideas, written in a colloquial, engaging voice. I’ll limit myself to one quick quote about essays, an illustrative image from William Hazlitt, speaking of Montaigne as the king of that kind of writing “in which the reader is admitted behind the curtain, and sits down with the writer in his gown and slippers.” That’s what essays (personal essays) are (should be). For some of the clearest thinking on the subject of memoirs and essays, I encourage everyone to read Phillip Lopate’s “Reflection and Retrospection,” which basically argues for the essayfication of memoir.

Many of your essays are idea-driven instead of story-driven. Why do you enjoy writing idea-driven essays? Reading them?

I’m in love with thinking, especially unrestrained, associative thinking, the kind of idle fancying that combines dreams and cold, hard facts into a new creation. And I’ve always had wide-ranging interests, so I see (or find) connections between disparate objects and ideas all the time. I love to read other essayists because I get a sense that when I take their words into my brain, I can reconstitute some essential part of the authors, some sliver of soul, in a way that is not available with other forms of writing, which seem to focus too heavily on what happened or what an author imagined to have happened. An essay is an artistic representation of a whole mind as it thinks and remembers and plays, which gets at something deeper and more important, it seems to me, than a record of happenings.

You teach writing at Brigham Young University, so now I must ask you a question that seems to be de rigueur of writing instructors these days: Do you think writing can be taught?

Yes, absolutely, though perhaps “teaching” writing is something different from teaching mathematics. My writing has improved a great deal as a result of excellent teaching, and I’ve seen my own teaching affect many students in positive ways. What seems most effective is a subtle rhetoric of selection and demonstration, combined with small nudges toward ideas, plus detailed critique. I mean that a good writing teacher will offer excellent example texts, speak about them critically (in small and large ways), then offer writing exercises and make suggestions for student improvement, from punctuation to vocabulary to unexplored questions. I’m big on offering influences to students. I believe creativity, especially artistic creativity, is never ex nihilo, but is a reconfiguring of influences passed through an active and metacognitive individual. Creation is rearrangement. This is easily seen in writing, which consists only in placing old words in new orders.

Every year, Segullah sponsors an essay contest. Could you give our readers and potential writers some general advice regarding what a good essay should do? What a good essay avoids?

Your judges will certainly have their own criteria, but I love essays that move beyond straightforward recounting (recreating) of experience, that don’t rely on drama or sensationalism, that engage in a thoughtful way to grapple with the meaning of experience, or that explore an abstract idea through many concrete examples. I dislike obvious morals (whether stated or implied), preferring instead investigations of answerless questions. I like to learn something new from an essay, especially trivial information. I also value a strong emotional core, something that makes me, a stranger, who shouldn’t care about a writer, care anyway.

Many of Segullah’s readers are also bloggers. Do you have any feelings, pro or con, about blogging as a means of written expression and its relationship to traditional essay writing?

As I see it, “blog” refers to the medium, not the content or the value of writing as art. And with blogs, there’s no consensus about those more important things. So, blogging can be great, a democratic way of sharing insight and emotion. Many blogs, bloggers, and individual posts are enlightening. But my informal, incomplete survey of the blogosphere tells me that most blog posts are not literary, nor are most of them interesting or valuable to more than their authors and a small handful of invested friends and family members. This is OK. It doesn’t bother me. Most published books aren’t very literary. As for blogs’ relationship to essays: I think essays can be posted to blogs, or blogs can become essays, or bloggers are sometimes essayists, people ruminating experience and making a kind of guerrilla art. That’s great. And writing, no matter the writer’s abilities or goals, is nearly always salutary.

Your book is full of quotes and excerpts from others’ essays. Could you offer some reading recommendations for those of us who are interested in widening our essay-reading horizons? Who are some writers of creative nonfiction (both idea-driven essays and story-driven memoirs) that we should be reading?

Although I love the Great and Forgotten Dead, I’ll focus on some contemporary writers and books that have brought me beauty and joy:

- Brian Doyle Leaping: Revelations and Epiphanies (the best book by one of the greatest spiritual essayists in the world)
- Mary Cappello Awkward: A Detour (an exhaustive, humorous personal investigation of awkwardness)
- Annie Dillard Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (a wonderful example of meditative nature writing)
- Ian Frazier Great Plains (a surprisingly vibrant exploration of one of the most seemingly boring places on earth)
- Eduardo Galeano The Book of Embraces (brief vignettes of stark, heart-wrenching, dream-inducing nonfiction)
- Scott Russell Sanders Hunting for Hope (theme-driven essays about parenthood in contemporary culture)
- W. G. Sebald The Rings of Saturn (one of the strangest, most powerful books I’ve ever encountered)
- Joni Tevis The Wet Collection (small memory/imagination excursions through odd jobs and places)

Of course, I could go on and on, but I’ll end with an invitation to low-budget or past-loving readers to visit quotidiana.org, which includes hundreds of wonderful classical essays. I recommend starting with Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, A. A. Milne, G. K. Chesterton, Agnes Repplier, Vernon Lee, Louise Imogen Guiney, and Alice Meynell.

I’d like to thank Pat for a great, insightful interview. And now, for the rest of you: what are your thoughts on what makes a good essay? Memoir? What are some of your favorite essays or memoirs? Do you agree or disagree with Madden that the best essays are idea-driven instead of story-driven? Do you find that blogging encourages “unrestrained, associative thinking, the kind of idle fancying that combines dreams and cold, hard facts into a new creation” that Madden champions? (And are such blog posts even essays? Or are they simply the beginnings of essays?) How has your experience with such writing been different from the “essays” of high school English class?

And to all you essay writers out there: Don’t forget Segullah’s yearly essay contest, deadline: Dec 31. Also, the literary magazine of the Association for Mormon Letters I co-edit, Irreantum, will accept submissions for its annual essay and fiction contests until May 31. Write, polish, submit!.

Related posts:

1. I’d Write Creative Nonfiction If I Knew What the Heck It Was
2. Want to write for Segullah? Read Segullah!
3. O Revise, What Can I Say More?

Barbara Bishop has an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Utah, a PhD in English from UCLA, and a master’s in counseling psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She taught English, using a curriculum that combined dreams and literature, for seven years at Marymount College in Palos Verdes, California. In addition to her work as a therapist, she is also writing a book about addiction dreams. She is married to Brent Pace and has three beautiful boys, about whom she dreams regularly.

As research for her book on addiction dreams, Barbara is seeking dreams from addicts and recovered addicts. If you have a family member who is an addict, she is interested in your dreams as well. Please email me –emilymilner at byu dot net–if you have an addiction-related dream you would like to share with her.

When did you first begin to pay attention to your dreams and what they might mean?
I first became interested in dreams while I was writing my dissertation for my PhD in English. I had a nagging thought, which I tried to ignore, that writing literary criticism wasn’t quite my bliss. I loved literature and I loved teaching literature, but I didn’t enjoy the lit crit industry. It seemed like literary critics wrote to other literary critics, and argued with and against their particular readings, and it seemed rather pointless. I had been writing down my dreams, trying to figure out why I was having these second thoughts now, when I was nearly finished with my dissertation. My sister invited me to attend a weekend workshop on dreams, and I immediately saw that studying dreams and writing about dreams had more relevance to the general population than writing literary criticism. Dream interpretation uses some of the same skills as literary interpretation, and dreams are as intriguing as literature. But everyone dreams, and each person’s dreams are tailor-made metaphorical stories about the dreamer’s life. I loved how the dreams could show my life in a symbolic way.

Also, I had interviewed for a teaching job which my friend, who worked at that school had assured me I would get. The interviews went well. I gave a presentation that went well. And I left fairly confident that I would receive a job offer. My dreams, however, basically told me that I would not get the job, long before the notice came. That intrigued me. How did my dreams know? The dreams prepared me, so that I was not as devastated as I might have been.

What led you to using dreams in your writing classes and therapy sessions?
I used dreams when I worked as a therapist because I found it easier to diagnose and figure out what was really going on with clients. Clients typically won’t tell a therapist everything; they don’t consciously conceal; but they wait to see if they can trust the person before spilling all of the “dirty laundry.” Dreams will get to the truth sooner than a usual therapy session. Especially when clients only have a limited number of sessions because of managed care, sometimes getting to the real reasons for needing therapy quickly are important. I found I could diagnose and formulate a treatment plan for clients after listening to a dream or two. Not all clients wanted to discuss dreams.

After I had worked as a therapist for a number of years, I missed teaching and decided to return to academia. I wanted to see if I could incorporate dreams into writing classes. I was interested in bringing information about dreams to a larger population than those who seek therapy. Everyone dreams every night, but more people do not take advantage of the information they receive from their dreams, usually because they do not know what to do with them. Universities typically do not teach classes on dreams, and this is a terrible mistake, in my opinion. Paying attention to one’s dreams could help students with everything from career decisions to problems with roommates and substance abuse. I thought that teaching a dream course could show students several methodologies to make their dreams work for them. In addition, I thought writing about dreams would be a way to make a writing course fun and not simply one of those required courses that students hate.

One of the things that frustrated me when I taught writing at UCLA was that the writing texts, which typically had contemporary essays, did not focus around a core subject. They had several. Typically the texts were organized around themes–education in America, race relations, feminism, the American dream, etc. When I became interested in dreams, I thought it would be fun (finally) to teach a writing class focused on one subject rather than several. And it was. I began teaching part-time at a private Catholic school, and eventually full-time.

I experimented with different texts and essay questions. I had joined the International Association for the Study of Dreams, and at their annual conferences they always have workshops on teaching dreams in the classroom. I incorporated many of the ideas from the annual conferences into my classes. I also had one of my favorite dream researchers, Kelly Bulkeley, come and speak at the college. One year we had a “Dream Club” where students who weren’t in my classes could come and discuss their dreams over lunch. I gave presentations on dreams after I attended conferences, and we even held a regional dream conference at the college in 2008. After teaching dreams in the classroom for several years, I am more than ever convinced that education about dreams should be a core subject in every university.

What is your favorite dream reference guide or website and why? Or what do you recommend to people interested in understanding dreams and dream symbolism better?
I have several favorite dream reference books. I like all of Kelly Bulkeley’s books. The text I used in my writing class, “An Introduction to the Study of Dreams,” by Kelly Bulkeley is a good introduction for people who want basic information. The International Association for the Study of Dreams has a website with several links. That’s also a good place to find everything from introductory to more specialized information about dreams. I also like Jeremy Taylor’s books on dreams. I have attended several of his workshops, which also provide good introductory information on dreams. Robert Hoss (another IASD member) has a methodology for working with one’s dreams alone, and I always taught my students his interpretive method. It is simple to learn, and good for people to know who do not feel comfortable sharing dreams with others. However, my bias is that dreams should be shared!

When someone has a memorable or unsettling dream, what is the best way to understand it better?
The best way to understand an unsettling dream is to tell three best friends, a spouse, a neighbor, your mother or father–people whom you trust. One student told me she would call her parents and tell them her dreams before she started writing her paper. Her parents didn’t know anything about dream interpretation, but they knew their daughter very well, and were therefore able to understand the metaphors in their daughter’s dreams. People who know you well will often intuitively understand your dreams. And just talking about them out loud will help you better hear what the dream is trying to tell you.

Anything else you would like our readers to understand about dreams that you have not already mentioned?
The more you pay attention to your dreams, the more your dreams will pay attention to you! If you show that you are interested in your dreams by writing them down, and by discussing them with a trusted friend or two, you dreams will gradually provide personal spiritual revelation. They can aid you in your creative endeavors, in your church chores, your career and family relationships.
***
Thank you, Barbara, for taking the time to answer! In the comments, I would love to hear your response to Barbara’s fabulous article. What have you learned as you pay attention to your dreams?

Related posts:

1. To sleep, perchance to dream
2. Segullah: Gifts of the Spirit
3. Sam and Sally go to the Bishop

I remember when I was serving in Switzerland, we tracted out a Pakistani banker. Now, the Swiss were not always very receptive, which is putting it mildly, to our going door to door. The Swiss home was the Swiss castle, so you just didn't get in. On this particular occasion, this Pakistani banker came to the door and said: "Mormons. Oh, wonderful. I've always wanted to talk to Mormons. Please come in." Well, this just didn't happen to us. We were as thrilled as could be. He explained that he was a Muslim, and I remember thinking to myself in what was I guess 20-year-old arrogance at the time, "Ah, what a lucky man this is, because I'm the only missionary in Switzerland who knows anything about Islam" -- which was a joke. I didn't know anything about Islam. I've since gone on to get a Ph.D. in the subject; I know a little more about it now than I did then.

But I thought that I was pretty much a hotshot at the time, so my mind was immediately going around the avenue of, what would be the best avenue of approach to this guy? So I thought: Post-biblical prophets -- that'll do it. Common ground. Muhammad and Joseph Smith. I said, "We have great news; there's a modern prophet." And he said, "After Muhammad?" And I said, "Yes!" And he said: "Oh. Well, I'm sorry. I can't have you in my apartment talking about something like that. That's blasphemy."

He was very polite about it, very civil. But we had just barely sat down. I mean, we had been sitting in that apartment for 30 seconds, I think, and he ushered us right out and apologized, but we were gone. And I remember thinking, boy, was that a failure of inspiration. That was the worst possible opening line. I could have chosen anything else, except possibly a defense of Israel or something like that, if I had launched into something like that. ...

I remember tracting out a fellow fairly late one night. We were about to go home, and his wife came to the door, and she was nice enough. We were having a conversation. It was pretty clear that they probably weren't interested; that was fine. And suddenly her husband showed up with a pistol and held it about 4 inches from my nose, and he said, "Do you see that, boys?" And I said, "Yes." And he said, "We don't want you here." And I remember his wife said in German, "Mein Mann ist nicht so begeistert": "My husband isn't all that enthused." I thought, that's putting it mildly. I mean, what a strange comment to make. Of course he's not; he's holding a gun to my face. ...

The reason I wanted to talk to Tony about his book isn’t just because he’s my brother. It’s because I wish a book like this had been available when I was a teenager, and because I know I need to be reminded of the principles he explores even now. So, on to the interview!

Tell us a little bit about I’m Not Perfect. Can I Still Go To Heaven? What was the impetus behind your writing it?

I wrote the book after doing some informal polling with seminary students and other LDS youth attending EFY conferences around the country. In those polls, I found that over half of these youth don’t think they will make it to the celestial kingdom. Over half! And these are the youth who are actively engaged in the gospel, who are generally trying to do what is right. When I ask them why they think this way, the most common answer goes something like this: “Well, I’m not horrible and a murderer or anything, so I don’t think I’ll go to the telestial kingdom. But I’m not perfect or like my grandparents or my Bishop or the prophet, so I don’t think I’ll go to the celestial kingdom either. So, good thing God made three kingdoms, because I’ll probably go to the middle one where average people like me belong.” Here are the numbers from an anonymous poll of a group of 184 9th grade seminary students in Salt Lake City who answered the question: “If you died and were judged today, which eternal kingdom do you think you would go to?”: 30% celestial kingdom, 54% terrestrial kingdom, 16% telestial kingdom. I have heard too many of our youth say they don’t think they can’t make it to heaven, so I thought I’d write a book to help them understand why they can, even if they aren’t perfect.

This book takes a very serious topic—the atonement—and approaches it in a rather non-traditional way. You’ve basically created a fictional classroom with you as the teacher and eight “students” who represent a cross-section of the types of kids you might find in an average seminary class. These students are introduced with Facebook-like profile pages and interact with each other and with you in ways that are typical of teens. Each student has an avatar that lets us know when he or she is speaking—much like the avatars you see beside people’s comments in blogs like Segullah. Why did you choose to write the book this way? What were the benefits and challenges you encountered as you wrote?

More than anything, I wanted the important doctrine that is taught in the book to be understandable and engaging to teenagers and to your average reader. The doctrines discussed in the book are big and serious doctrines—perfection, covenants, works, grace, judgment, the atonement, just to name a few—and I felt that a traditional chapter book would lose the average teen reader in a mountain of text. A class discussion with student questions and comments seemed the most logical way to approach the book to make it more readable, as teens are used to the discussion formats from their classes at school, conversations with friends and family, and of course on the web through social media.

The challenge, of course, was to make the discussion seem genuine. The format required me to move into a little creative fiction and write in the voice of different types of teenagers as they made their comments and asked their questions. Luckily, I’ve been with teenagers long enough and taught this subject to them often enough that I could pull from real life dialogues I’ve actually heard teenagers say in the classroom. When we read a scripture about being “damned,” I know some kid in the class will usually say “Whoa. You just swore,” so it was fun to be able to put those little lines in there. A specific and more serious example is the opening chapter when Katie (one of the fictional students) expresses her frustration and despair she feels when talking about who will make it to the celestial kingdom. Those lines and many others were almost word for word transcripts from real students I’ve heard express those very feelings. Although it was challenging to accurately represent the different students’ perspectives and voices, it was enjoyable at the same time, and I think it makes the book more readable and understandable. Hopefully the different characters represented in those dialogues help the youth who read it say, “That is what I would think or say…I’m a lot like him” and get more into the book and what is being taught.

The heart of the book seems to be encapsulated by these lines near the end: “Because [Christ] was perfect, we don’t have to be. . . . We don’t have to qualify ourselves for the celestial kingdom, but instead qualify ourselves for Christ, and He will bring us into the celestial kingdom.” Could you explain this concept, and why you think it’s so difficult for some Latter-day Saints (including LDS youth) to understand?

Although the Book of Mormon repeatedly teaches about grace, we seem (at least from my personal and teaching experience) to not really get it sometimes. We think that somehow our works will qualify us for heaven, and they won’t. They simply can’t. King Benjamin tells us that even if we served God with our “whole souls” we would still be unprofitable servants—we would still be in the hole (Mosiah 2:21). Sometimes we think that if we can just bake enough casseroles, set up a few thousand metal chairs for meetings, visit all our visiting and home teaching families (early in the month even!) then we will qualify ourselves for heaven. That just isn’t true. I love when Nephi says that we will be saved by grace “after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). I think what Nephi is saying isn’t that we need to do everything in our power and then, and only then, will Christ’s loving grace kick in. No. I think more what he is saying is, “Try as you might, in spite of everything we do, we still will need to be saved by Christ’s grace. He is the only way. We cannot save ourselves.” The beauty of that idea is that it should relieve the burden of perfection off our shoulders. We don’t need to be perfect, because Christ already was. What we need to do is figure out how to join ourselves with Christ—to be linked with him. Instead of trying to qualify ourselves for heaven (which is impossible), we need to look to our Savior and qualify ourselves for Christ. This is done through making covenants with him, and this is where our “works” figure into the equation. If my works can qualify me to make and keep covenants with Christ, I will make it to heaven, in spite of my imperfections. Covenants are the key. Covenants are what make us “the children of Christ” as King Benjamin said (read Mosiah 5:5-10 for a powerful summary of this idea). I think this idea is difficult for some of us, adults and youth, to understand because it takes faith. It takes truly believing in Christ and his perfection, and not relying on ourselves and our own independence and works. It takes both true faith and true humility.

Your book is full of a lot of hope and positivity. Do you think there’s any danger in telling youth that they don’t need to worry about being perfect? Is there any value to the long tradition of scaring kids straight?

No, I don’t think we need to scare kids straight. I think the gospel is a gospel of hope. Christ didn’t come to the earth to condemn the world, but to give life and hope to the world. I see more youth and adults who give up on the gospel because they don’t feel worthy, or because they feel like they can’t measure up to some impossible yardstick of perfection, or because they feel like they have messed up their chances for salvation because of a mistake, than I ever see youth who use the idea of faith in Christ’s perfection as an excuse to sin. Love and hope and optimism are consistent with the spirit of the gospel, whereas fear and discouragement are usually tools of the adversary.

In your ten years of working with LDS youth, what trends do you see among them that fill you with the most hope? What trends worry you most?

In terms of conversion and dedication to the gospel, these youth are better than my generation. They just are. As a whole, they know the scriptures better, they can teach the gospel better, they are more perceptive of the Holy Ghost. They have to be. The divide seems to be widening between righteousness and sin, so youth are forced to decide which side of the line they want to be on sooner than previous generations. One thing that worries me is that the abundance of sin in the world, and the social acceptability of so much of this sin, means we cannot take spiritual things lightly in our youth. It can be very difficult for teens who start to stray young, who have the idea that they can “get serious” about the gospel before a mission or during their twenties, to get back on track. Of course, they can get back on track—this is one of the main messages of my book—but it can be a hard road. We need to be spiritually strong and mature younger than perhaps we ever have before. But what gives me hope is that the whole of the youth today are up to the challenge of their day. I see it on a daily basis, and it is inspiring.

There are many parents of teenagers who read Segullah. How can the message found in your book help parents as well as teens?

That is a great question. Although the book is written for teens, I would hope adults could also learn a lot and gain a better understanding of the doctrines of perfection, covenants, and the atonement if they read it. I learned a lot writing it. As parents and leaders of youth, we are the ones who help shape their original ideas and thinking in their formative years. If we understand and have faith in these doctrines, and have the hope in Christ that springs from them, then naturally our children will benefit from our knowledge and faith as they are trying to develop their own testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Talking to Tony made me wonder: when you were a teen, did you see the Celestial Kingdom as a kind of distant impossibility? Are you unsure, even today, about where you’ll wind up when you die? How do you navigate the terrain between works and grace, and how to you teach these concepts to your children?

Related posts:

1. The [Mama Trying] on the Mount
2. My Heavenly Heaven
3. Stop Murmur. Learn Doctrine. Do Crafts (if you want.)

As those who are LDS are studying the Old Testament this year in our Sunday School curriculum, this book is an amazing resource for studying the Book of Moses — this sometimes neglected, but so important book of Latter-day scripture. To learn more about the book, visit the official website at: www.imageandlikeness.net

And now for part 5 (the exciting conclusion) of this series. We delve into Dr. Bradshaw’s background as a scientist, and his ideas on the topics of Mormonism and Science, the Origin of Man, the literalness of the Bible, Scripture reading techniques, and other poignant topics. Dr. Bradshaw’s answers are simply fascinating.

[David] You have some interesting excurses on Mormonism and Science and also on the Origin of Man. Can you tell us about some of your background and experience that led you to want to comment on these topics?

[Dr. Jeff Bradshaw] During my daily work at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, I'm caught up in thinking about and implementing new science and technology ideas that can complement and augment human physical, cognitive, and social capabilities. It's a dream job, and I wouldn't want to trade places with anyone I know. However, it's a challenge in the sense that I can't stand still. Although it's true that every innovation builds to a degree on the past, the pace of change is so rapid that I find myself constantly throwing away the results of recent ideas and developments that can now be replaced with better approaches.

In addition to the obvious spiritual enrichment that I find in studying the scriptures and other ancient documents, it is wonderful and satisfying to work on something where knowledge is much more cumulative than in my daily work. Though, of course, there are exciting new findings that appear every day in the world of scripture exegesis and ancient studies, I can have the sense over time of continually building up a deeper understanding of the diverse puzzle pieces that constitute major keys to understanding the world of religious history and teachings over the centuries. Complementing the keys that come from study are those that come from faith, as I try to discern the hand of God in such things, and as I relate the spiritual experiences of the past to divine guidance and teachings in the immediate context of my own life.

I like what Donald Knuth, a well-known computer scientist when I was younger, wrote in the preface to his book of Bible commentary: "I can't say that my scientific background makes me a better Bible student, but I don't think it's a handicap either" (D. E. Knuth, 3:16, p. 2). The apostle Paul advocated a very empirical approach to spiritual things: "Prove [i.e., examine, put to the test] all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). I feel greatly blessed to have been raised in a community of faith that values truth and goodness, and in a church that, because of its unique status in being led by modern revelation, does not have any reason to fear the bright light of close examination. I feel fortunate to be able to say with conviction that the moorings of my own faith are as deeply grounded in my daily experience as is my knowledge of everyday things.

[David] How would you evaluate the compatibility or relationship between Mormonism and Science? Are they mutually exclusive?

[Dr. Jeff Bradshaw] Science and Mormonism have nearly always been on very friendly terms, with Church members sharing the deep conviction that, as expressed by former scientist and apostle Elder James E. Talmage, "within the gospel of Jesus Christ there is room and place for every truth thus far learned by man, or yet to be made known" (J. E. Talmage, Earth and Man, p. 252). With respect to the idea that the Church is required to welcome religious and moral truth from all sources, President Brigham Young stated:

"Mormonism"... embraces every principle pertaining to life and salvation... no matter who has it. If the [unbeliever] has got truth, it belongs to "Mormonism." The truth and sound doctrine possessed by [other churches], and they have a great deal, all belong to this Church... All that is good, lovely, and praiseworthy belongs to this Church... "Mormonism" includes all truth. There is no truth but what belongs to the Gospel (B. Young, 8 April 1867, p. 375; B. Young, Discourses, p. 3).

With specific regard to scientific truth, President Young's approach was no less open and all-embracing. As Barlow summarizes:

Brigham Young's position was in one sense more "liberal" even than that of [many contemporaries]. Not a scholar himself and easily put off by what he saw as scholars'... pretentious ways, Young still wished to distance the Mormon response to science from what he took to be the common Christian reaction. Widespread infidelity in the world did not surprise him, he said, because religious teachers often advanced notions "in opposition to... facts demonstrated by science," making it difficult for honest, informed people to embrace the claims of religion. Geology, to take a specific instance, "is a true science; not that I would say for a moment that all the conclusions and deductions of its professors are true, but its leading principles are; they are facts...." "[Our] geologists... tell us that this earth has been in existence for thousands and millions of years... [and Mormonism] differ[s] from the Christian world, for our religion will not clash with the facts of science" (P. L. Barlow, Bible, pp. 90-91. See B. Young, 14 May 1871, pp. 115-117).

Moreover, President Young said:

The idea that the religion of Christ is one thing, and science is another, is a mistaken idea, for there is no true religion without true science, and consequently there is no true science without true religion (B. Young, 3 May 1874, p. 52).

Subsequent Presidents and General Authorities of the Church have advanced similar views about the ultimate compatibility of religious and scientific truths and, with notably few exceptions, have maintained markedly positive attitudes toward both the methods and conclusions of mainstream science and the advance of modern technology. A barometer for the positive attitude toward science among the membership of the Church has been a series of studies over the last several decades documenting numbers of scientists with backgrounds in different faith groups (see, e.g., the summary in J. M. Bradshaw, Image and Likeness, pp. 526-527, 707-708). In nearly every scientific meeting that I attend, Mormons are overrepresented when compared with our percentage of the general population.

With respect to the creation accounts in scripture, the Latter-day Saints have avoided some of the serious clashes with science that have troubled other religious traditions. For example, we have no serious quarrel with the concept of a very old earth whose "days" of creation seem to have been of very long, overlapping, and varying duration (Alma 40:8; B. R. McConkie, Christ and the Creation, p. 11; B. Young, 17 September 1876, p. 23). Joseph Smith is remembered as having taught that the heavenly bodies were created long prior to the earth: "... the starry hosts were worlds and suns and universes, some of which had being millions of ages before the earth had physical form" (E. W. Tullidge, Women, p. 178). Consistent with this stance, LDS scientist David Bailey has very competently summarized scientific inadequacies and theological incompatibilities of the creationist movement in both its "young earth" and "intelligent design" forms (e.g., D. H. Bailey, Mormonism; D. H. Bailey, Deceiver; D. H. Bailey, Latter-day; D. H. Bailey, Church and Evolution; D. H. Bailey, What's Wrong). Despite what some advocates of a creationist agenda would have people believe, to question specific features of the theories they have advanced is not tantamount to rejecting the concept of a Divine Creator. Many devout scientists have found different ways to reconcile their scientific views on the origin of the universe with their belief in God.

With respect to beliefs about the origin of man, the relevant article in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism emphasizes the point that acceptance of essential doctrinal claims rather than belief in a particular modus operandi for the creation of man is ultimately the determinant of Mormon orthodoxy (J. L. Sorenson, Origin, p. 1053). As evidence of current LDS openness to the study of the latest scientific advances in relevant fields, note that the first formal class in evolution was instituted at BYU in the fall of 1971 with the First Presidency's approval, and is currently a required part of the core curriculum of all BYU students in the biological sciences. Evolutionary biology has since become "one of the largest and most successful graduate programs at BYU" (M. R. Ash, Myth, pp. 32-33), with professors publishing in major evolutionary conferences and journals. Givens provides a brief summary of efforts of Mormon scientists that "not only incorporate evolutionary science, but break new ground in the field" (T. L. Givens, Paradox, pp. 209-210, 378-379 nn. 59-64). While differences of opinions exist among members of the Church on such matters, the key point is that such differences are not used as an ecclesiastical measure of orthodoxy.

[David] What are the principal lessons from the Book of Moses that you have tried to share with readers through this book?

[Dr. Jeff Bradshaw] While most of the world looks on the story of Adam and Eve as a simple collection of childish myths, it is my hope that Latter-day Saints will increasingly appreciate the spiritual sophistication and doctrinal depth of this unique book of scripture. In light of the importance in of these stories in our temple worship, we might say that no book of scripture is more important for us to study and understand. Elder David A. Bednar has emphasized that mere reading is not enough--to be most effective, our scriptural regimen should include prayer, work, consistency, pondering, looking for patterns and connections, and writing down our impressions (http://www.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/1998_01_06_Bednar.htm ).

I was fortunate to have taken a course on reading the scriptures from BYU Professor Arthur Henry King that changed my life in important ways (for a collection of his essays, see Arthur Henry King, Arm the Children: Faith’s Response to a Violent World, ed. Daryl Hague. Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 1998). Brother King's approach emphasized slow and careful reading, with frequent pauses to raise questions in a spirit of humility and to ponder one's personal response to the text (see Dennis and Sandra Packard, Feasting Upon the Word. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 1981).

By way of contrast, Kugel notes the "subtle shift in tone" that has come with "the emphasis on reading the Bible [solely] in human terms and in its historical context" without the counterbalance provided by traditional forms of scripture reading:

As modern biblical scholarship gained momentum, studying the Bible itself was joined with, and eventually overshadowed by, studying the historical reality behind the text (including how the text itself came to be). In the process, learning from the Bible gradually turned into learning about it. Such a shift might seem slight at first, but ultimately it changed a great deal. The person who seeks to learn from the Bible is smaller than the text; he crouches at its feet, waiting for its instruction or insights. Learning about the text generates the opposite posture. The text moves from subject to object; it no longer speaks but is spoken about, analyzed, and acted upon. The insights are now all the reader's, not the text's, and anyone can see the results. This difference in tone, as much as any specific insight or theory, is what has created the great gap between the Bible of ancient interpreters and that of modern scholars. (J. L. Kugel, How to Read, p. 666).

Latter-day Saints recognize, of course, that the Bible is not inerrant. Indeed, our people have always tried to avoid both the extremes of literalism and liberalism with respect to the historicity of the Bible (See Reverence for the Bible at http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/reverence-for-the-bible ). Although the belief that the characters mentioned in Genesis are actual historical figures who underwent something that was somehow like the events described in the biblical account has always been held firmly by the Saints, Nibley observes that we also bring ridicule and disillusionment upon ourselves when we fail to pursue scriptural understanding beyond the initial level of vivid picture images inculcated upon the minds of young children:

The stories of the Garden of Eden and the Flood have always furnished unbelievers with their best ammunition against believers, because they are the easiest to visualize, popularize, and satirize of any Bible accounts. Everyone has seen a garden and been caught in a pouring rain. It requires no effort of imagination for a six-year-old to convert concise and straightforward Sunday-school recitals into the vivid images that will stay with him for the rest of his life. These stories retain the form of the nursery tales they assume in the imaginations of small children, to be defended by grown-ups who refuse to distinguish between childlike faith and thinking as a child when it is time to "put away childish things" (1 Corinthians 13:11). It is equally easy and deceptive to fall into adolescent disillusionment and with one's emancipated teachers to smile tolerantly at the simple gullibility of bygone days, while passing stern moral judgment on the savage old God who damns Adam for eating the fruit He put in his way and, overreacting with impetuous violence, wipes out Noah's neighbors simply for making fun of his boat-building on a fine summer's day. (H. W. Nibley, Before Adam, p. 63)

As an antidote to these Sunday morning cartoon perspectives on scripture, the Prophet Joseph Smith cautioned against the products of a "fanciful and flowery and heated imagination" and explained that:

... the things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, O man! if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity--thou must commune with God. (J. Smith, Jr., Teachings, 25 March 1839, p. 137)

It has been my prayer that what I have written, despite its insufficiencies, may be in its own way a worthy addition to the "great cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1) of the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and an encouragement to deeper study and appreciation of the book of Moses--and of the divine reality behind it that awaits our discovery.

Jeff Bradshaw and I at the Atlanta Airport

This photo was taken at the Atlanta Airport in November 2009, after Jeff and I met up “by chance” when we sat across from each other at a table there.  This was totally unplanned! I didn’t even know that he was going to be at that airport on that day. When I saw someone who looked like Jeff (I had never met him in person, but had seen photos), I quickly sent him an email, asking where he was, because there was someone sitting right in front of me that kind of looked like him!  We had a wonderful conversation until it was time for my flight to leave, and I am grateful to have met this wonderful scholar and gentleman in person.

I hope you have enjoyed this series of posts. I, personally, have learned so much from Jeff Bradshaw through our many email conversations and collaborations on projects. For an example of some of the material I’ve had the privilege of working on with him, please see his recent article about “The Vision of Moses as a Heavenly Ascent” at the Meridian Magazine website:http://www.ldsmag.com/articles/100106heavenly.html. From what I’ve come to know of him, he is a meticulous scholar, loyal family man, faithful Latter-day Saint, helpful mentor and great friend.

If you like what you’ve read here about Dr. Bradshaw and his new book on the Book of Moses (and so many more topics), the book is available now at all Eborn Bookstores (Utah: Valley Fair Mall, South Towne Centre, Provo Town Centre, and Ogden) and the BYU Bookstore. It can also be ordered directly from the publisher, Eborn Books, at Amazon.com (link), at the BYU Bookstore (link), or for a discount at the FAIR bookstore (link). The retail price is $49.99.