00a_cover cmyk final3.qxp 11/14/2006 12:14 PM Page 2 MORMON EXPERIENCE SCHOLARSHIP ISSUES & ART An alternative SUNSTONESUNSTONE interpretation of THE SIN NEXT For Better, for Worse, TO MURDER by Michael R. Ash FOR APOSTASY? (p.34) SCARLET THREADS IN THE LINEAGE OF JESUS by H. Parker Blount (p.44) Capener contest winner John Dewey Remy compares Japanese and Mormon rites for SAVING THE DEAD (p.14) AN OUTLAW’S MANIFESTO England essay contest winner by E. George Goold (p.52) Karen Rosenbaum’s Brown fiction contest winner PARADISE PAVED (p.56) Interview with filmmaker Richard Dutcher (p.67) UPDATE Mormonism and Politics; and more! November 2006—$5.95 HOW Faith Issues AFFECT COUPLE RELATIONSHIPS 00b_inside cover.qxp 11/14/2006 11:29 AM Page 1 IRED of the wait between SUNSTONE T issues? Want to connect with friends between symposiums? VISIT THE SUNSTONE BLOG! New design. New contributors. New energy. FROM RECENT DISCUSSIONS: Not of this Fold? JOHN REMY, 5 September I wonder, however, what defines the Sunstone community in belief terms? Where do its cognitive and discursive boundaries lie? . I know that some of my good friends in Sunstone are driven by a desire to keep people in the Church. I’m curious how many Sunstone supporters share this motivation. Are there those who focus more on the individual’s journey (which may lead out of or back into the Church fold) and less on the institution and community? Miserable, Broke, and Ugly RORY SWENSEN, 13 September Does God want you to be rich? That’s the question posed in this week’s TIME magazine cover story as it details the rise of yet another form of Prosperity Theology. Now I’m certainly not desiring to be miserable, poor, broke, and ugly—but Mormon teachings inspire me to celebrate the nature of this world and muddle through, . inspire me to a belief in a loving God that trusts us and allows us to grow. Perfect Attention SCOT DENHALTER, 24 October I was stunned to recently read that the human mind wanders every six to ten seconds. The spiritual ramifications of this are a bit troubling. During a simple two-minute prayer, my intent to commune with God is temporarily derailed as many as 20 times (Geez, I hate cilantro!) But what if God’s mind also wanders? How could it not? Because Life Seems Too Rich for an Abbreviated Stay JANA REMY, 3 November I think about dying a lot. In fact, I am downright terrified that I will die soon? . While I find some solace in the notion that I will be re- united with loved ones after death, this doesn’t comfort my anxiety about having so many things still yet to experience in mortality. For me, life is so impossibly beautiful that I’m holding tight to this earth and not looking forward to anything beyond. So I have to wonder. Are you afraid of death? Do you think the Buddhist idea of reincarnation can be incorporated into a Mormon worldview? What is it that you most hope to do before you die? WWW.SUNSTONEBLOG.COM 01_toc.qxp 11/14/2006 12:21 PM Page 1 MORMON EXPERIENCE, SCHOLARSHIP, ISSUES, & ART NOVEMBER 2006 Issue 143 FEATURES 14 John Dewey Remy . SAVING THE DEAD: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF POST-FUNERARY RITES IN JAPANESE AND MORMON CULTURE 2006 R. L. “Buzz” Capener Memorial Writing Contest in Comparative Religious Studies First Place Winner 21 Ronda and Mike Callister . FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE, FOR APOSTASY?: Page and Tom Kimball, . HOW FAITH ISSUES AFFECT COUPLE Ruth Ogden and John Halstead . RELATIONSHIPS 34 Michael R. Ash . THE SIN “NEXT TO MURDER”: AN ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION 44 H. Parker Blount. SCARLET THREADS IN THE LINEAGE OF JESUS: FOUR WOMEN OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SUNSTONE (ISSN 0363-1370) is published by The Sunstone 52 E. George Goold . AN OUTLAW’S MANIFESTO Education Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation with no official ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2006 Eugene England Memorial Articles represent the opinions of the writers only. Personal Essay Contest Third Place Winner SUNSTONE is indexed in the Index to Book Reviews in Religion 56 Karen Rosenbaum. PARADISE PAVED and Religion Indexes: RIO/RIT/IBBR 1975–on CD-ROM. 2004 Brookie & D. K. Brown Fiction Contest Moonstone Winner Submissions may be on IBM-PC compatible computer discs (MS Word or WordPerfect format), or by e-mail attachment. 61 Eric Samuelsen . PECULIARITIES: Pizza and a Movie Submissions should not exceed 8,000 words and must be accompanied by a signed letter giving permission for the POETRY manuscript to be filed in the Sunstone Collection at the University of Utah Marriott Library (all literary rights are retained 43 Clifford Paul Fetters . I HAVE SET BEFORE THEE by authors). Manuscripts will not be returned; authors will be notified concerning acceptance within ninety days. 73 Jan Twardowski . RESOLVED SUNSTONE is interested in feature- and column-length articles COLUMNS relevant to Mormonism from a variety of perspectives, news stories about Mormons and the LDS Church, and short reflections 4 . TOUCHSTONES: Letters Home and commentary. Poetry submissions should have one poem per 7 Dan Wotherspoon . FROM THE EDITOR: Pivoting the Sacred page, with the poet’s name and address on each page; a self- addressed, stamped envelope should accompany each CORNUCOPIA submission. Short poems—haiku, limericks, couplets, and one- liners—are very welcome. Short stories are selected only through 9 Marylee Mitcham . ’TIS THE SEASON: Simply to Worship the annual Brookie and D. K. Brown Memorial Fiction Contest 9 Tom Joachim . MARGIN NOTES: Remaking the World (next submission deadline: 30 June 2006; $5 fee per story). Letters for publication should be identified. SUNSTONE does 11 Greg Kofford. WARD STORIES: Vegetative Valiancy not acknowledge receipt of letters to the editor. Letters addressed to specific authors will be forwarded, unopened, to them. 11 James P. Harris . A PLACE FOR EVERY TRUTH: Threats From a Troubled “Prophet” SUNSTONE will not provide subscriber addresses to mail list solicitors without permission. 12 Elbert Eugene Peck . TWENTY YEARS AGO IN SUNSTONE: Send all correspondence and manuscripts to: For Heaven’s Sake SUNSTONE 13 Sean McKissick. SUGAR BEET: New Categories Added to 343 N. Third West Salt Lake City, UT 84103-1215 Testimony Safari Game, and More! (801) 355-5926 67 Richard Dutcher . INTERVIEW: States of Change fax: (801) 355-4043 email: [email protected] 70 D. Jeff Burton . BRAVING THE BORDERLANDS. : website: www.sunstoneonline.com Wormwood among the Mormons—Part 2 United States subscriptions to SUNSTONE are $36 for 6 issues, 80 Neal A. Maxwell . AN OLIVE LEAF: The True Nature of Real Love $65 for 12 issues, and $90 for 18 issues. International subscriptions are $48 for 6 issues; $89 for 12 issues; $126 for 18 BOOK REVIEW issues. All payments must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. All international subscriptions will be sent via surface mail. 72 Stephen Carter . “THE NEXT WEIRD SISTER PUBLISHES A BOOK” Bona fide student and missionary subscriptions are $10 less than The Eyes of a Flounder by Laura Hamblin the above rates. A $10 service charge will be deducted from refund amount on cancelations. UPDATE Printed by 74 . October 2006 General Conference report; Accusations of Church misconduct in Romney presidential Copyright © 2006, The Sunstone Education Foundation. All rights reserved. campaign; Dialogue celebrates its fortieth; and more! Printed in the United States of America. Cover photo by Emily Hatch 02-03_ letters.qxp 11/14/2006 12:17 PM Page 2 SUNSTONE YEA, YEA NAY, NAY back. I read it last, but I read it. It wasn’t a Founded in 1974 PRIVILEGE SCOTT KENNEY 1974–1978 pleasant experience, but it was instructive. ALLEN D. ROBERTS 1978–1980 .D. MALLAMO’S ARTICLE, “ANYTHANG Mallamo’s journalistic realism does justice to PEGGY FLETCHER 1978–1986 DANIEL H. RECTOR 1986–1991 P Will Help” (SUNSTONE, September a subject all too often addressed with glib LINDA JEAN STEPHENSON 1991–1992 ELBERT EUGENE PECK 1986–2001 2006), has lingered with me. I skimmed it sentimentality or righteous self-justification. Editor while visiting family in California and sat As a Mormon missionary, I spent two DAN WOTHERSPOON Publisher down to read and digest it fully once my is- years in Peru. The teeming number of street WILLIAM STANFORD sue arrived in the mail. beggars was a shock with which I was emo- Associate Editor CAROL B. QUIST Mallamo captures the tension between tionally ill-prepared to cope. I tried at first to Managing Editor Christian belief and practice. To give or not to give a little something and was mobbed. It ALLEN HILL give? That is the question. Despite clear scrip- seemed an impossible situation, so I shut Section Editors PHYLLIS BAKER, Fiction Contest tural instructions, more often than not, I’ve down. I told myself I was there to feed the SCOT DENHALTER, Cybersaints ALAN AND VICKIE EASTMAN, Righteous Dominion clutched my purse closer and kept walking. I spirit and not the body. ALLEN HILL, Touchstones can’t count the number of times I’ve gone Here at home, as a graduate student at the RICK JEPSON, Bounds and Conditions HUGO OLAIZ, News/Update blind, deaf, or defensive when faced with a University of Utah, I lived in a small, down- DIXIE PARTRIDGE, Poetry BOYD PETERSEN, Mormonism and politics street person’s extended hand. town apartment and daily negotiated the MARY ELLEN ROBERTSON, Women’s studies Instead, I’ve counted on someone else to same streets Mallamo frequents. But seduced MICHAEL SCHOENFELD, Sunstone Gallery DARRON SMITH, The Long-Promised Day? do good—maybe someone who’s less judg- by idealized notions of self-reliance and free ALISON TAKENAKA, Margin Notes mental or less of a bean counter than I.