Table of Contents - Issue No. 11

By: Dave - April 26, 2005

Editor’s Introduction by Dave
The Origin of the Universe by Clark Goble
Guest Post: Do Stories Matter? Act 1 by Rosalynde Welch
Selections From Robinson’s Gilead by William Morris
Eternal Regression by Eric James Stone
Habemas papam by Ronan JH
History Never Gets Old; It Simply Gets Older by Justin Butterfield
Weekly Zeitgeist by Steve
The Last Word by Dave

The Last Word

By: Dave - April 26, 2005

I didn’t miss the party, did I? Anyway, if anyone’s still around, here’s another recent weblog appearance in the Bloggernacle, one that seems to point in a new direction: Unofficial Manifesto. This stylish 4-blog features a group of (correct me if I’m wrong) young, edgy artiste-types with personal interests in writing, music, and performance (based on the personal blogs of Arwyn, D-Train, Mike, and Pris) but who are using the new UM blog to post reflections on general Mormon topics and themes. Thus, recent posts on truth, Brigham’s place in LDS history, and the church is boring problem.
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The Origin of the Universe

By: Clark Goble - April 26, 2005

Next up in our list of discussion topics is the origin of the universe. I’ll confess that I’ve long wondered why so many people get riled up about evolution but don’t seem to have much trouble with the universe itself. Presumably it is simply because “man” doesn’t really show up much. However, if you think about it, the same kind of thinking that lies behind biological evolution lies behind most cosmology. The same anthropic reasoning that one often finds in evolution pops up in cosmological discussions as well. One quickly realizes that if any of the basic constants of physics or of the evolution of the universe varied much, human life would be impossible. Some calculate the probabilities of having a universe arranged just right physically so as to develop an earth. (I’ll not give them - Google them if you’re interested in various speculations.) They make most evolutionary probabilities look downright common.

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Do Stories Matter? Act 1

By: Rosalynde Welch - April 25, 2005

IN ONE OF THE MORE COLORFUL EPISODES of last-act Elizabethan history, the performance of Shakespeare’s King Richard II catalyzed the short-lived but highly visible Essex rebellion of 1601. On February 5 of that year, several supporters of the Earl of Essex approached the players to commission a revival of Shakespeare’s history play; two days later, eleven of their cohort attended the public playhouse and witnessed, with the rest of the audience, its shocking—and illegal—onstage enactment of the regicide of a standing monarch. The next morning, the Earl of Essex and his co-conspirators staged an ill-conceived and ill-fated rebellion of their own in the open streets of London. Popular support failed to materialize on those streets, however, and the attempted coup was crushed before the end of the next day. Shakespeare’s history play was not the only—or even the primary—cause of the revolt, of course, but it was sufficiently central to the rebellion’s ignition that one of the players was questioned by the Privy Council in the ensuing investigation, and the conspirators gave testimony concerning the performance. Elizabeth herself recognized the relevance of the play to the current political situation: “I am Richard II; know ye not that?” she asked. “This tragedy was played 40tie times in open streets and houses.” The Essex incident is of special interest to early modernists as part of an ongoing disciplinary debate about the relationship of Elizabethan theater to consolidating state power. But it also raises questions of general interest about the relationship of the stage to the street, and of the stage to the state. Do stories matter?

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Selections From Robinson’s Gilead

By: William Morris - April 25, 2005

Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson, is a fine novel. Yes, it was published to critical acclaim and just won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction—but don’t hold all that against it! It deserves a look and, in my opinion, should immedietely join Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop, Chaim Potok’s My Name is Asher Lev, and the short stories of Flannery O’Connor as a major exemplar and reference point for Mormon readers, writers, and critics.
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