Cover_130.qxd 1/9/2004 2:43 PM Page 2 MORMON EXPERIENCE SCHOLARSHIP ISSUESISSUES && ARTART CONFESSIONS OF A MORMON SUNSTONESUNSTONE BOY,, a one-man play by Steven Fales (p.40)(p.40) Pillars of My Faith, A FISTFUL OF PIRITUAL ATHS FTER LISTS by S P A Rebecca Chandler (p.32)(p.32) SEPTEMBER 1993 SKETCHING THE BY FIFTEENTH WARD,, fictionfiction LYNNE KANAVEL WHITESIDES contest winner by Dawn Jeppesen PAUL TOSCANO Anderson (p.60)(p.60) MAXINE HANKS JAR OF REPENTANCE, D. MICHAEL QUINN personal essay by Kathleen Smith LAVINA FIELDING ANDERSON Thomas (p.57)(p.57) Jared Christensen shares his GREAT DILEMMA (p.64)(p.64) UPDATE Church responds toto DNADNA andand Book of Mormon controversy; Mormon polygamy inin spotlightspotlight onceonce more; Christian ministers denounce templetemple garmentgarment desecration; Church lawyerslawyers areare busybusy again; Angels in America on HBO;; New LDSLDS filmsfilms onon thethe horizon;horizon; More!More! (p.72)(p.72) December 2003—$5.95 ifc.qxd 1/7/2004 12:19 PM Page 1 2004 SUNSTONE SYMPOSIUM WEST CALLFor PAPERS CALL FOR PROPOSALS Sunstone seeks to celebrate and explore Mormon experience, issues, and art through diverse approaches and from many perspectives. From scholarly paper to artistic expression, we strive for excellence in thought and quality in presentation. FORMATS Sessions may be scholarly papers, panel discussions, interviews, personal essays, sermons, dramatic performances, literary readings, debates, comic routines, art displays, or musical presentations. PROPOSALS SHOULD INCLUDE At press time, Session title; a one-hundred-word abstract; presenter name(s), background(s), and Sunstone is contact information; a summary of the topic’s relevance and importance to Mormon finalizing location studies; description of any audio or visual equipment needs. If possible, please include and dates a complete preliminary draft. for this year’s DEADLINE Symposium West. The conference Please submit proposals by 15 February 2004. Proposals submitted after the will be held in deadline will be considered on a time/space-available basis. the Los Angeles area in late March SUBMIT PROPOSALS TO: or late April. John Hatch, Sunstone symposium coordinator We will send flyers <[email protected]> to all western states’ To submit proposals by mail, please send them to: subscribers. Watch Sunstone Symposium West www.sunstoneonline.com 343 N. Third West Salt Lake City, UT 84103 for updated information. 01_toc.qxd 1/7/2004 1:23 PM Page 1 MORMON EXPERIENCE, SCHOLARSHIP, ISSUES, & ART DECEMBER 2003 Issue 130 FEATURES 13 . SPIRITUAL PATHS AFTER SEPTEMBER 1993: A DECADE REPORT 14 Lynne Kanavel Whitesides. THE DANCE OF LOVE 17 Paul Toscano . AN INTERVIEW WITH MYSELF 21 Maxine Hanks . EXILE AND RETURN: FROM GNOSTIC MORMON TO MORMON GNOSTIC 25 D. Michael Quinn . APOLOGIA PRO MEA VIA 28 Lavina Fielding Anderson . A DECADE ON THE THIN EDGE 32 Rebecca Chandler . A FISTFUL OF LISTS 40 Steven Fales . CONFESSIONS OF A MORMON BOY: SUNSTONE (ISSN 0363-1370) is published by The Sunstone A One-Man Play Education Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation with no 57 Kathleen Smith Thomas . JAR OF REPENTANCE official ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Articles represent the opinions of the writers only. 60 Dawn Jeppesen Anderson . SKETCHING THE FIFTEENTH WARD: SUNSTONE is indexed in Religion Index One: Periodicals, 2000 Brookie & D.K. Brown Fiction Contest the Index to Book Reviews in Religion, Religion Indexes: RIO/RIT/IBBR Starstone Winner 1975– on CD-ROM, and the ATLA Religion Database, published by the American Theological Library Association, 250 S. Wacker Dr., 16th Flr., Chicago, IL 60606 POETRY (e-mail: [email protected], WWW: http://atla.com/). 59 Anne Fasulo . THE FOX Submissions may be on IBM-PC compatible computer discs (MS Word or WordPerfect format), or by e-mail attachment. 63 Christopher Salerno . RETURNING TO NORTH BRANCH Submissions should not exceed 8,000 words and must be accompanied by a signed letter giving permission for the COLUMNS manuscript to be filed in the Sunstone collection at the University of Utah Marriott Library (all literary rights are retained by 5 Dan Wotherspoon . FROM THE EDITOR: State of the Body authors). Manuscripts will not be returned; authors will be notified concerning acceptance within ninety days. CORNUCOPIA 8 Anonymous . RIGHTEOUS DOMINION: Jesus in the Ward SUNSTONE is interested in feature- and column-length articles relevant to Mormonism from a variety of perspectives, news 9 . MORMON MEDIA IMAGE: The Mormons Come to stories about Mormons and the LDS church, and short reflections South Park and commentary. Poetry submissions should have one poem per page, with the poet’s name and address on each page; a self- 10 . ALL-SEEING EYE: Jell-O Diplomacy addressed, stamped envelope should accompany each 11 J. Jacob Sorensen. LIGHTER MINDS: Articles of Regulation submission. Short poems—haiku, limericks, couplets, and one- liners—are very welcome. Short stories are selected only through 11 . MORMON MEDIA IMAGE II: Playing the the annual Brookie and D. K. Brown Memorial Fiction Contest Polygamy Card (submission deadline: 30 June 2004; $5 fee per story). 12 Michael Hicks. TWENTY YEARS AGO IN SUNSTONE Letters for publication should be identified. SUNSTONE does not acknowledge receipt of letters to the editor. Letters addressed 64 Jared Christensen. TURNING THE TIME OVER TO. : to specific authors will be forwarded, unopened, to them. My Great Dilemma SUNSTONE will not provide subscriber addresses to mail list solicitors without permission. 67 D. Jeff Burton. BRAVING THE BORDERLANDS: Personal Send all correspondence and manuscripts to: Experiences in the Borderlands SUNSTONE 70 Michael Nielsen . NONSTANDARD DEVIATIONS: Dad, It’s Not 343 N. Third West a Key Ring! Salt Lake City, UT 84103-1215 (801) 355-5926 80 Joseph Smith Jr. AN OLIVE LEAF: That Principle of Generosity fax: (801) 355-4043 email: [email protected] UPDATE website: www.sunstoneonline.com United States subscriptions to SUNSTONE are $36 for 6 issues, 72 . Church statement dismisses DNA challenges to Book of $65 for 12 issues, and $90 for 18 issues. International Mormon, LDS officials respond to accusations of “soul- subscriptions are $48 for 6 issues; $89 for 12 issues; $126 for 18 buying”; New cases thrust Mormon polygamy into spot- issues. All payments must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. All international subscriptions will be sent via surface mail. light once more; Report on Counterpoint Conference; Bona fide student and missionary subscriptions are $10 less than Church sends “Michigan Relics” back home; Christian the above rates. A $10 service charge will be deducted from refund amount on cancelations. ministers denounce temple garment desecration during October General Conference; Angels in America broad- Printed by A “Green” Shop cast on HBO; LDS films report; BYU “calls” sports mission- aries; Church involved in new lawsuits; More! Copyright © 2003, The Sunstone Education Foundation. Cover art: Jonathan Coombs, <www.jonathancoombs.com> All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Cover concept: William Stanford 02-04_letters.qxd 1/7/2004 12:43 PM Page 2 SUNSTONE YEA, YEA NAY, NAY those willing to discuss religious issues or to Founded in 1974 SEARCHING FOR TESTIMONY SCOTT KENNEY 1974–1978 facilitate such discussions. ALLEN D. ROBERTS 1978–1980 S A CHARTER SUNSTONE SUBSCRIBER, JOSEPH B. ROMNEY PEGGY FLETCHER 1978–1986 DANIEL H. RECTOR 1986–1991 A occasional attender and one-time sym- Rexburg, Idaho LINDA JEAN STEPHENSON 1991–1992 ELBERT EUGENE PECK 1986–2001 posium presenter, and committed Latter-day Editor Saint, my response to the “Why We Stay” es- DAN WOTHERSPOON WHO’S YOUR AUDIENCE? Publisher says in the October 2003 issue may, I hope, WILLIAM STANFORD reflect views of other subscribers as well. ’VE JUST FINISHED BROWSING THE Associate Editor I consider SUNSTONE and similar publi- latest issue of SUNSTONE (Oct. 2003), and CAROL B. QUIST I Managing Editor cations and activities as a resource rather I have read some of the articles. I find the se- JOHN HATCH than a refuge. I approach any resource by ries of essays on “Why We Stay” interesting. Section Editors PHYLLIS BAKER, fiction contest evaluating its contents to determine the ex- However, it strikes me, and I may be wrong, SCOT DENHALTER, Cybersaints ALAN AND VICKIE EASTMAN, Righteous Dominion tent of its merit. The standard works, Church that in recent years, SUNSTONE has aimed at HUGO OLAIZ, News/Update News, general conference talks, Sunday convincing “the Brethren” that the magazine DIXIE PARTRIDGE, poetry MARY ELLEN ROBERTSON, women’s studies School lessons, Latter-day Saint and other is no threat but is, in fact, a “faith-promoting” MICHAEL SCHOENFELD, Sunstone Gallery DARRON SMITH, The Long-Promised Day? scriptural commentaries, St. Augustine, publication. This article seems in line with ALISON TAKENAKA, Margin Notes Plato, Salt Lake City Messenger, Time maga- that trend. Again, I may be mistaken, but I BRAD WOODWORTH, book reviews Editorial Assistants zine, student comments in a class, and all am struck by the impression that the number NATHAN BANG, JOHN-CHARLES DUFFY ERIC JONES, HUGO OLAIZ, WILLIAM B. QUIST else, come under a similar scrutiny. Of of people choosing not to stay is growing an- Contributing Columnists course, the nature of the scrutiny varies with nually. I am one of those people. I have been MICHAEL AUSTIN, D. JEFF BURTON MICHAEL NIELSEN, JANA RIESS the resource. I do not expect to find funda- a long-time subscriber to SUNSTONE, but I Photographer and Taping Engineer mental gospel principles in the pages of find that it is increasingly less relevant to me, STEVE MAYFIELD Cartoonists Time, nor do I expect to find current events and perhaps to others like me as well. KYLE ANDERSON, MACADE detailed in the Sunday School manual from Mormonism is part of my culture. Toby Much-Appreciated Volunteers ADRIANE ANDERSEN, SUSAN ANDERSEN, DEVERY ANDERSON which I teach.