SunstoneBlog

A discussion forum for thoughts on Melissa Inouye’s article “Mormonism: An Eastern Religion?” Read it at SunstoneMagazine.com, then comment here:

June 15th, 2009 | Category: Sunstone | Leave a comment

Sunstone has launched a CafePress shop where you can peruse and purchase a variety of Sunstone merchandise!

Check it out here: http://www.cafepress.com/ShopSunstone

Browse our selection of stylish bags and nifty apparel, and buy Sunstone gear to outfit your home, office, and self.

Wear your dedication to exploring Mormon experience, scholarship, issues and art.

April 30th, 2009 | Tags: Sunstone apparel, Sunstone fashion, Sunstone fundraising, Sunstone T shirts | Category: Community, Humor, Sunstone, Symposium, lds, mormons | Leave a comment

Plan to join us in the Bay Area for Sunstone Symposium West
27-28 March 2009

Friday Opening Session

Saturday’s Warrior Sing Along

At Atherton Fine Art Gallery
700 El Camino Ave, Suite 165
Menlo Park, California
27 March 2009, 8:00 pm

Saturday Symposium Sessions
Devotional at 8:00 am
Concurrent sessions begin at 8:30 am
at the Hilton Garden Inn – Cupertino
10741 N. Wolfe Road, Cupertino, CA 95014

Selected Papers and Panels Include:

Lunch Plenary Where Big Love Began: The Inception of Mormon Celestial Marriage at Nauvoo, Illinois

• Screening & discussion of Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black
Mormons

• This I Believe: Mormon Style

• Saturday’s Werewolf: Vestiges of Premortal Romance in Stephenie
Meyer’s Twilight Novels

• A History of Segullah—a Literary Journal and Blog Nurturing Mormon
Women’s Writing

• Teen Marriage Age in Mormon Polygamy and in American Culture:
What Was the Norm?

• What Does Neuroscience Have to Do with Parenthood, Leadership,
and How People Change?

• Strangers in Zion: Homosexuality and the Latter Day Saint Movement

• Marriage, Mormons, and Civil Liberties

• LDS Historical Rhetoric and Praxis Regarding Marriage Between
Whites and Blacks

• Panel Discussion about Personal Spirituality

• A Marginal Moses: A Case Study in Canonicity, Historicity, and
Revelation

• Suffer the Little Children: The Liahona Children’s Project

• Balancing the Motherlode: LDS Women on Parenting, Work, Life
Choices, and Everything Else

• Saturday Closing Plenary: Proposition In All Things: Post-Election
Perspectives on 8

Pre-registration and more information is available on the Sunstone web site: http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/symposium.html

February 27th, 2009 | Tags: Add new tag | Category: Community, Faith, Featured, Homosexuality, Mormon Studies, News, Scripture, Sunstone, Symposium, mormons, symposiums | Comments (1)

Join us for the second Restoration Studies Symposium/Sunstone Midwest April 17-19, 2009 in Independence, Missouri.

Registration for the Restoration Studies Symposium is now online: http://www.jwha.info/meetings/registrationRSS09.asp

You’ll be able to see conference prices, events, program highlights and a link to the complete program, as well as area maps, transportation and lodging information, and a printable registration form.

You can view the complete program here: http://www.jwha.info/meetings/scheduleRSS09.asp

There are reserved blocks of rooms at the Crossland Economy Studies hotel with the church’s conference rate of $33 and $43 (depending on the number and size of beds).

The Restoration Studies Symposium is co-sponsored by the John Whitmer Historical Association, the Community of Christ Seminary, and the Sunstone Education Foundation.

We hope to see you there!

February 19th, 2009 | Category: Sunstone | Leave a comment

This year’s Sunstone West will be in the Bay Area 27-28 March 2009 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cupertino, California.

You can view the Call for Papers on the Sunstone web site. (Scroll down to see Sunstone West information).

We welcome session proposals on a variety of Mormon-related topics and encourage you to submit your ideas for paper and panel discussions. Given the ongoing concern over Proposition 8, we plan to have several sessions exploring its impact.

The deadline for proposals is 20 February 2009. Proposals must include the following:

– Session title
– a 100-word abstract of the session content
– presenter(s) names
– a short bio or background for each presenter
– contact information for each presenter
– a summary of the topic’s relevance to Mormon Studies
– description of any audio/visual equipment needed (please specify PC/Mac)

If possible, please include a complete preliminary draft.

Proposals submitted after 20 February will be considered on a space-available basis.

Please send email submissions to both Laura Compton: aurlarae@gmail.com and Mary Ellen Robertson: mary.ellen@sunstonemagazine.com

January 28th, 2009 | Tags: Add new tag, Sunstone Symposium, Sunstone West | Category: Community, Mormon Studies, Politics, Sunstone, Symposium, SymposiumCFP, mormons | Leave a comment

There’s been another break in at the Sunstone offices–the third one this year. The would-be thieves did major damage, but fortunately did not get inside the offices to do worse.

We lost our laptop, some computer equipment, stamps and small electronics in the November 2008 break in, so there isn’t much of value left. Still, we’re vulnerable and it’s clear we need to take action to protect our office, remaining equipment, data, and personnel.

We’re appealing to the Sunstone community for expertise regarding building security and alarm system options and/or dedicated funding toward the cost of securing and maintaining said security equipment.

We’re hoping that with your help, we’ll have a safer, more secure office for the new year. Please visit our web site or call our office if you can help. There are still a few days left in 2008 if you’d like your donation toward Sunstone Office Security (SOS) to be tax deductible this year.

December 29th, 2008 | Category: Adversity, Community, News, Service, Sunstone, technology | Comments (3)

First, I want to announce that the newest issue of Sunstone should be hitting the mail the first part of next week. It’s a really interesting issue and should provoke plenty of thought. Some of the highlights of the issue include a section on personal reflections on California’s Proposition 8, and a compelling article by John-Charles Duffy on how social construction theories could impact Book of Mormon historicity debates.

But here’s the real reason I’ve called you here:

I want to start up a section of Sunstone that digests the articles from academic Mormon publications such as Dialogue, Irreantum, the Journal of Mormon History, the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal, Element, BYU Studies, etc. I want this section to be kind of a Wilson Quarterly or UTNE Reader that makes the Mormon academic world pithy and accessible, so that a larger audience is aware of the work being done in Mormon studies, and so (hopefully) people will want to subscribe to these publications to get the whole story.

There's too much already on my plate for me to be able to do this. So I’m hoping to find some people who 1. read some of these magazines anyway, 2. have time, 3. have the brains and background to digest the articles well, 4. have a compelling writing style.

Do you folks have any suggestions for who might have the ability and willingness to take this up? I’d be more than happy to put them on the masthead. If you have any suggestions please contact me privately at stephen [at] sunstonemagazine [dot] com.

Thanks,

Stephen Carter

December 19th, 2008 | Category: Sunstone | Leave a comment

You know why Santa wears red?

To hide the bloodstains.

Get a sneak peek at an article in the upcoming Sunstone.

December 17th, 2008 | Category: Sunstone | Leave a comment

Your intrepid editor calls writers to repentance on the Red Brick Store.

Click here.

December 17th, 2008 | Category: Sunstone | Comments (1)