How can we act responsibly toward discomfitting Church experiences? Necessary, though uneasy, alliances exist between institutions and individuals. The underlying tension is fundamental: A central purpose of mortality is to allow individual growth through the exercise of free agency. A central purpose of institutions generally is to maintain themselves with a minimum of disorder. Individual free...
The opportunity to participate. to state a position, to make a mistake, is critical in a learning, growing community. I can support the dialogue, the forum, the exchange, if not all of the content. DEAR FRIENDS, As the Preacher states, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Eccl. 3:1. ) After much reflection, I have decided that the...
In 1956 I was serving as a missionary in the Eastern States Mission. On a train ride from Pittsburgh to New York City to attend a mission conference I decided to do something productive (in addition to catching up on sleep) by memorizing scriptures. For some reason I chose the 121st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants. Although I was taking a break from my engineering studies at the University...
Gene first came to my attention when, as a graduate student at Berkeley in the late sixties, I heard of a couple of Mormon intellectuals “down the peninsula” at Stanford who were founding “a journal of Mormon thought.” I had not met Gene (or Wesley Johnson, the other founding editor), but I immediately assumed that I would like him. The life of the mind is addictive, and I knew I wanted to...
(appeared in BYU’s Kennedy Center Bridges Alumni Magazine) A MIDDLE EAST ODYSSEY by J. Bonner Ritchie, emeritus professor of organizational behavior, Brigham Young University Ancient and modern prophets have repeatedly reminded us of the sacred responsibility we have toward each other. The opportunity and obligation to serve our neighbors is codified in the great commandment, second only to...
I appreciate the opportunity to share some ideas with you and would like to invite you to explore with me some ways of applying gospel truth. I prefer to define this process as exploring avenues of application rather than as a mere erudite academic inquiry. The kingdom of God is not a spectator sport. It is an action process requiring learning, commitment, and a special kind of understanding in...
Sunstone, August 1992. The limits of contention ought to be tight; the limits of difference ought to be wide. IT IS A COMMON AND USUALLY CONSTRUCTIVE reality that there is tension between an organization and its intellectuals. Regardless of the institution–governments, trade unions, churches–there will always be tension. It is part of the larger world of conflict between...
(Sunstone, June 1996, written with Dave Ulrich) WHY ASK WHY: Most Mormons focus on doing more, not thinking more. A FRIEND RECENTLY OVERHEARD US CASUALLY discussing some observations about the Church — the lack of the Spirit in many meetings, the tendency of some leaders to “exercise unrighteous dominion” by imposing their personal political, social, or theological bias on others...
From the podcaster: “A few weeks ago, a very close friend of mine named Russell mailed me a CD full of his favorite Sunstone Symposium MP3s. While several of struck me as profound, one presentation in particular was groundbreaking, and almost breathtaking to me. It was a presentation delivered in a 1992 “Pillars of my Faith” session by J. Bonner Ritchie — a former BYU Professor of...
written with Mark E. Mendenhall as a chapter in the book Joseph & Hyrum: Leading as One The Prophet Joseph Smith held up Zion to the Latter-day Saints as a perfected and celestial organization marked by the unity of its members. We each covenant to build up Zion, that individual and communal condition where everyone is of “one heart and one mind” (Moses 7:18), but often we are unsure how to...