Welcome dear readers, to a new issue of SquareTwo!
First up, Ashley B. Alley tackles one of the most important issues of our time. If spiritual discernment is the key to survival in the last days of our time, how does one obtain it? And even more importantly, how does one distinguish between spiritual discernment and one’s own thoughts and desires? And what is the relationship between spiritual discernment and one’s feelings? How does one work with the Spirit, the third member of the godhood? Alley has given us a gem of an essay to start us on our own journey towards discernment.
Next, Holly Hamilton-Bleakley takes a look at the show, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Housewives.” It is billed as a spirited revolt against the patriarchy (of the Church), but Hamilton-Bleakley suggests it is an abject surrender to the patriarchy (of our culture). Using Andrea Dworkin’s distinction between the misogyny of the Left and the Right, Hamilton-Bleakley unpacks that surrender, for it has implications for all women in the Church.
Third, an anonymous author writes of the painful journey of infertility she and her husband have experienced. Despite their pain, they have rejected on principle the three major routes to fertility open to them: sperm donation, surrogacy, and snowflake adoption. Her thoughtful explication of how she and her husband came to this conclusion is well worth considering.
Fourth, Savannah Eccles Johnston offer us a fable for our time. Meet a Man who encounters a social movement called “The Sun is Not Shining.” Consider the consequences for his own life and the lives of others as he becomes determined to reject the evidence of his own eyes.
Fifth, V.H. Cassler reviews the three books of self-described Marxist feminist Sophie Lewis: Full Surrogacy Now, Abolish the Family, and Enemy Feminisms. Cassler comes to the conclusion that Lewis is no feminist, and no friend to women. If you want to see what passes for nouvelle vague feminism in 2025, here’s a chance to dip your toe in without having to immerse yourself.
Sixth, our book review editor, Emilee Pugh Bell, reviews a wonderful new book entitled Healing After Sexual Abuse: A Latter-day Saint Perspective by Shirley Washenko and Sage Williams. This book offers important understandings about the nature of healing, anger, and forgiveness after sexual abuse, all informed by the teachings of the Restored Gospel. The book is not meant as an intellectual exercise only, but also contains practical advice for surviving and coming to thrive after such abuse, which is all too common, even among our faith community.
Seventh, our book review editor, Emilee Pugh Bell, reviews Grant Underwood’s magisterial new tome, Latter-day Saint Theology among Christian Theologies. Clocking in at 609 pages, this is the book that will trace for you how CoJC doctrinal teachings, such as the physical embodiment of God, have their roots in ancient understandings of the Christian faith. After reading her review, many on the Board now have the book on their Christmas wish list!
Last, but not least, we have responses from our editorial board members to the last issue’s Readers’ Puzzle on the spiritual challenges that AI poses for Church members as well as the Church itself, and we have a new Readers’ Puzzle on experiences our readers have had with spiritual discernment: when has it come to them, and under what circumstances? How have readers cultivated this great spiritual gift?
Enjoy this new issue! And consider a submission of your own!
Full Citation for this Article: Editorial Board, SquareTwo Journal (2025) "Editors’ Intro, Fall 2025," SquareTwo, Vol. 18 No. 3 (Fall 2025), http://squaretwo.org/EditorsIntroFall2025.html, accessed <give access date>.
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