Customer Reviews

Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought

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For forty years Dialogue a Journal of Mormon Thought has been a voice for Mormon students, poets, and scholars examining the interplay of the secular world with Christian and Mormon theology and history. I am a charter subscriber to Dialogue and have been entertained, taught, instructed, insulted and inspired by a broad range of concerned, informed, creative and thoughtful voices. Reading Dialogue is worthwhile for faithful Latter-day Saints, for persons wishing to know about Mormonism and for scholars interested in comparative American religions. I heartily recommend the journal to any thoughtful inquirer.

Val Hemming, M.D.

This is the premier scholarly journal in Mormon Studies. It is owned and edited entirely independently of Mormon Church control, but its contents are balanced and scholarly and never attack the church or its leaders. As a professor in religious studies, I have often used this journal for assigned readings to my students. It is the best, and almost the only, source of independently published articles on Mormon history, doctrine, and contemporary issues (as well as short stories and poetry!).

It is hard to imagine where Mormon studies would be without Dialogue's continuous presence over the past forty years. Some of the most important pieces regarding Mormon history, theology, politics, philosophy, science, and the arts have appeared in Dialogue. Its autonomy from church control affords it free range to discuss important but controversial issues that in-house publications may shy away from, but the integrity of its editorial team and reviewers prevent it from being a clearinghouse for malcontents. On the whole, the journal could probably use a few more "conservative" voices for the sake of true "dialogue," but this seems to be an issue of the nature of submissions rather than active censorship or a preconceived agenda. The primary target audience consists of "thoughtful Mormons" (however one defines that), but it is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Mormon issues, and many of the contents deal with religious issues more broadly. It is not a "popular" journal, and will generally appeal to those of a more "intellectual" bent, but it is neither elitist nor explicitly aimed at academics. In short, Dialogue has consistently been at the forefront of Mormon studies and is well positioned to remain there for many years to come.

I like each of the three main Mormon studies journals (Journal of Mormon History, BYU Studies are the other two), and Dialogue is my favorite (I regularly read all three). The academic articles are double-blind peer-reviewed, and I find them consistently interesting and occasionally challenging. I enjoy the art, fiction and personal essay sections, and sometimes even like a poem or two. Part of Dialogue's value comes from its status as an independent journal. Though it doesn't appear to seek controversy (and sometimes, IMHO, seems to try too hard to avoid it), when dealing with controversial socio-theo-political issues, the Journal tries to seek out multiple sides of an issue. Dialogue publishes a fair number of articles on Mormon history, but those if you are interested in purely the history side of Mormon Studies, the Journal of Mormon History would be the first thing to subscribe to.

How can a faithful Latter-day Saint remain fond of a scholarly journal which in recents years has the habit of welcoming pieces written by known apostates? I remember articles such as David John Beurger's which openly described and analyized the sacred temple endowment, and I wonder, where in blazes are these folks heads at?

It is a sweet, delicious delusion indeed, to be part of an enlightened intellectual elite, that one is somehow better than other LDS around them.

And follow the Lord's prophet, yes (that is, if you happen to agree with him).