MORMON EXPERIENCE SCHOLARSHIP ISSUES & ART D. Michael Quinn SUNSTONE on Early MOrMOnisM’s culturE Of ViOlEncE (p.16) Gary James Bergera documents thE MOnitOrinG Of Byu faculty tithinG PayMEnts (p.42) rEturn Of thE natiVE Fiction by levi s. Peterson (p.54) yOur OlD wOMEn shall DrEaM DrEaMs Essay by sara Burlingame (p.66) MOrMOns talk aBOut sEx (p.70) triButEs tO chiEkO OkaZaki anD MariOn D. hanks (p.82) uPDatE The Mormon Moment; The Book of Mormon Musical; Moroni is an alien? Mormons in the news; more . October 2011—$7.50 00b_inside cover:Cover.qxd 10/6/2011 9:03 PM Page 1 What’s your taste? android coming soon Attention SunSTone Print Subscribers You will soon have online access to ALL issues of Sunstone To get early access to this feature, send your full name as printed on the mailing label of SunSTone and your current email address to [email protected]. Put “online Access” in the subject line. Thanks! 01_TOC:01_toc.qxd 10/10/2011 5:15 PM Page 1 SUNSTONE MORMON EXPERIENCE, SCHOLARSHIP, ISSUES, & ART OCTOBER 2011 Issue 164 FEATURES 16 D. Michael Quinn . THE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE IN JOSEPH SMITH’S MORMONISM 39 Noah Van Sciver . VAN SCIVER’S BOOK OF MORMON 42 Gary James Bergera . THE MONITORING OF BYU FACULTY TITHING PAYMENTS: 1957–1963 54 Levi S. Peterson . RETURN OF THE NATIVE: Fiction 66 Sara Burlingame. YOUR OLD WOMEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS POETRY 2 Paul Swenson. GRAPHIC NOVEL 65 David Lawrence. BIRTHDAY PARTY SUNSTONE (ISSN 0363-1370) is published by The Sunstone 78 Anita Tanner . PAINTING Education Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation with no official ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 81 Lyn Lifshin . MY SISTER WANTS ME TO COME AND READ Articles represent the opinions of the writers only. THROUGH THIRTY YEARS OF DIARIES SUNSTONE is indexed in the Index to Book Reviews in Religion and Religion Indexes: RIO/RIT/IBBR 1975–on CD-ROM. COLUMNS Submissions may be by email attachment or on IBM-PC 4 . 2011 UTAH SYMPOSIUM REPORT compatible computer discs (MS Word or WordPerfect format). 6 Stephen Carter . FROM THE EDITOR: I Will Go; I Will Play Submissions should not exceed 8,000 words and must be accompanied by a signed letter giving permission for the CORNUCOPIA manuscript to be filed in the Sunstone Collection at the University of Utah Marriott Library (all literary rights are 9 Alisa. BLOGWATCH: The Garment and the Veil retained by authors). Manuscripts will not be returned; authors 10 Michael Vinson . SCRIPTURE NOTES: How Much Does Jesus will be notified concerning acceptance within ninety days. Care about Doctrinal Purity? SUNSTONE is interested in feature- and column-length articles 12 Curt Bench . ADVENTURES OF A MORMON relevant to Mormonism from a variety of perspectives, news stories about Mormons and the LDS Church, and short reflections BOOKSELLER: “Unscrupulous or Misguided and commentary. Poetry submissions should have one poem per Adventurers” page, with the poet’s name and address on each page; a self- 13 James P. Harris . A PLACE FOR EVERY TRUTH: Understanding addressed, stamped envelope should accompany each submission. Short poems—haiku, limericks, couplets, and one- Talmage liners—are very welcome. Short stories are selected only through 14 Aaron C. Brown . FROM THE PEWS: Leaderlore the annual Brookie and D. K. Brown Memorial Fiction Contest (next submission deadline: 30 September 2011). 15 Mark Jensen . FROM THE PEWS: My Top Eight Questions Letters for publication should be identified. SUNSTONE does 70 Stephanie Buehler, Natasha Parker, not acknowledge receipt of letters to the editor. Letters addressed to specific authors will be forwarded, unopened, to them. and John Dehlin . ROUNDTABLE: Pornography, Masturbation, Sex, and Marriage in Mormonism SUNSTONE will not provide subscriber addresses to mail list solicitors without permission. 76 D. Jeff Burton . BRAVING THE BORDERLANDS . : Unusual Send all correspondence and manuscripts to: Tales from the Borderlands SUNSTONE 79 Michael Farnworth . THE FAMILY FORUM: Discipline 343 N. Third West Salt Lake City, UT 84103-1215 82 Various Authors . IN MEMORIAM: Marion D. Hanks and (801) 355-5926 Chieko N. Okazaki email: [email protected] website: www.sunstonemagazine.com 90 Chieko N. Okazaki . AN OLIVE LEAF: “May We Shoulder It Together . ” United States subscriptions to SUNSTONE are $45 for 6 issues, $76 for 12 issues, and $106 for 18 issues. International subscriptions are $58 for 6 issues; $100 for 12 issues; $138 for 18 issues. All payments must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. UPDATE All international subscriptions will be sent via surface mail. 85 . News media can’t get enough of the Mormons; Responses to The Book of Mormon musical, Mountain Bona fide student and missionary subscriptions are $10 less than the above rates. A $10 service charge will be deducted from Meadows becomes national park, Mormons are as refund amount on cancelations. All subscription prices subject strange as Muslims; People section . to change without notice. Printed by K and K Printing Copyright © 2011, The Sunstone Education Foundation Inc. All rights reserved. Cover art by Galen Smith Printed in the United States of America. Back cover art by Jeanette Atwood 02-03_letters:02-04_letters.qxd 10/10/2011 4:14 PM Page 2 SUNSTONE YEA, YEA NAY, NAY N RESPONSE TO Noah Van Sciver’s I comic, “Book of Mormon Origins,” (June Founded in 1974 2011) SUNSTONE received the following: Editors Emeritus SCOTT KENNEY 1974–1978 ALLEN D. ROBERTS 1978–1980 PEGGY FLETCHER 1978–1986 ELBERT EUGENE PECK 1986–2001 DAN WOTHERSPOON 2001-2008 Publishers Emeritus GRAPHIC NOVEL DANIEL H. RECTOR 1986–1991 WILLIAM STANFORD 2000–2008 Editor The Sacred Grove is strangely young—devoid of foliage, STEPHEN CARTER Director of Outreach and Symposia with spindly, half-grown trees. And awkward, teen-age MARY ELLEN ROBERTSON Associate Editor CAROL B. QUIST Joseph, on his knees—trapped inside the walls Section Editors PHYLLIS BAKER, Fiction Contest Coordinator of his own comic strip—has coal-black hair, DAN WOTHERSPOON, Touchstones, Cornucopia, An Olive Leaf LISA TORCASSO DOWNING, Fiction ALAN AND VICKIE EASTMAN, “Righteous Dominion” JAMES P. HARRIS, “A Place for Every Truth” and fuller lips than we recall. Is all of this HUGO OLAIZ, News/Update DIXIE PARTRIDGE, Poetry a horror tale? His pale countenance DALLAS ROBBINS, “In the World” ALISON TAKENAKA, “Margin Notes” MICHAEL VINSON, “Scripture Notes” is dipped in wash of pen-and-ink, encroaching Editorial Assistants JOHN-CHARLES DUFFY, HUGO OLAIZ menace of the adversary’s darkness Contributing Columnists D. JEFF BURTON, MICHAEL FARNWORTH Cartoonists JEANETTE ATWOOD, CAMI THORNOCK. that surrounds him. The vision’s blackest blacks JONATHAN DAVID CLARK, JONNY HAWKINS Much-Appreciated Volunteers and whitest whites reveal his face as stark ADRIANE ANDERSEN, SUSAN ANDERSEN, PHYLLIS BAKER, LES AND SHANON GRIPKEY DON AND LUCINDA GUSTAVSON, BRUCE JENSEN ANN M. JOHNSON, LLOYD PENDLETON, and vulnerable—he swims in waves MARY BETH PENDLETON, SHERRI PENDLETON CAMI THORNOCK, SHARI THORNOCK of perspiration. Perhaps we, too, should be afraid, since comic art defies an orthodox interpretation. Blinding light that's soon to vanquish THE SUNSTONE EDUCATION FOUNDATION fleeing vestiges of Satan’s power, and then to manifest The mission of The Sunstone Education Foundation is to sponsor open forums of Mormon thought and experience. Under the motto, “Faith Seeking Understanding,” we ex- a Father God presumed ‘til now as dead, will also testify amine and express the rich spiritual, intellectual, social, and artistic qualities of Mormon history and contempo- rary life. We encourage humanitarian service, honest in- quiry, and responsible interchange of ideas that is the boy and Deity converse in charming lunacy respectful of all people and what they hold sacred. Board of Directors of ordinary speech—preserved and read MICHAEL J. STEVENS co-chair, LAURA R. COMPTON co-chair JOANNA BROOKS , DOE DAUGHTREY, JOHN P. DEHLIN, BILL HANSEN, DAVID KING LANDRITH, KIM MCCALL in dialogue balloons. Trite—the superhero J. FREDERICK (TOBY) PINGREE, MARK D. THOMAS, MATT THURSTON, cartoon-god is old, and whiter still than any ghost. KAIMIPONO WENGER, CLAY WHIPKEY, DAN WOTHERSPOON Office Manager But almost lost in shadow, the story’s one CAROL B. QUIST Regional Symposium Partners (2010 symposiums) authentic flesh-and-bone anomaly, the Son— MOLLY BENNION, Northwest JOHN HAMER, MIKE KARPOWICZ, JEANNE MURPHY, DON COMPIER, Independence Audio Assistants swarthy, plain, Semitic, real—no form WADE GREENWOOD, STEVE MAYFIELD, MATT WRIGHT or comeliness we should desire. Photographer STEVE MAYFIELD www.signaturebookslibrary.org How is it, cartoon-Joseph seems to know him? PAUL SWENSON PAGE 2 OCTOBER 2011 02-03_letters:02-04_letters.qxd 10/10/2011 4:14 PM Page 3 The Signature Books Library Several years back, we thought it would be a grand idea to post some of our books (in their entirety) on a website. We assummed this would be useful for history researchers and readers of poetry and fi ction. Now that we have, we want to advertise to Sunstoners, the only question being how to do so effectively. We met and talked about it and had pizza (which was really tasty), then met a few more times before we realized we had spent our budget on delicious cheese and pepperoni. So we decided we would just show you one of our pizzas and hope you understand. Ugh! ò www.signaturebookslibrary.org 04-05_symp_report2:Column TEMPLATE 10/6/2011 8:09 PM Page 4 2011 Utah Sunstone Symposium New Place New Feel Same Magic 04-05_symp_report2:Column TEMPLATE 10/6/2011 8:09 PM Page 5 2011 Utah Sunstone Symposium 06-08_editorial:Column temPlAte 10/6/2011 8:11 Pm Page 6 SUNSTONE veloped for laughs, and so I suppose we FROM THE EDITOR shouldn’t expect much depth from them.