Welcome dear readers, to a new issue of SquareTwo!
First up, Savannah Eccles Johnston reflects on how it could be that highly educated and intelligent CoJC women in Utah are all undergoing tweakments and even cosmetic surgery. Could it be related to CoJC teachings on polygamy? Say it ain’t so! But Johnston is quite persuasive on the topic . . . Decide for yourself.
Next, Holly Hamilton-Bleakley reviews a new book by Jonathan Rauch entitled, Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy. Rauch is very complimentary about the CoJC’s “thick Christianity” and its articulation of a “civic theology” that he believes strengthens democracy. While overall approving of his thesis, Hamilton-Bleakley wonders if Rauch really understands the CoJC position or not.
Third, JD Vance, the vice president, recently invoked the concept of “ordo amoris” to justify the administration’s hard line stance on immigration. Others, including recently deceased Pope Francis, objected to the use of that term. Ted Richards explores the concept to try and sort through this controversy.
Next, Anonymous explains why he is not proud to be gay. He explains that there are identifications that transcend whom one is attracted to; identifications leading to eternal life. Anonymous gives us an account one disciple’s heartfelt wrestling with same-sex attraction, and it is well worth reading.
Fifth, Scott Hammond has been involved in Search and Rescue for decades. What has he learned in a spiritual sense from those many years of searches, some of which end in heartache and some of which end in miracles?
Sixth, Emilee Pugh Bell, our book editor, reviews Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s 2017 A House Full of Females for SquareTwo. She almost could not finish reading the book, it stirred so many deep feelings about the practice of polygamy in the early Church. What did she learn, and how did she bring herself to finish reading the book?
Last, but not least, we have responses from our editorial board members to the last issue’s Readers’ Puzzle on family estrangement, and we have a new Readers’ Puzzle on whether our readers feel the United States is facing a constitutional crisis between the three branches of government.
Enjoy this new issue! And consider a submission of your own!
Full Citation for this Article: Editorial Board, SquareTwo Journal (2025) "Editors’ Intro, Spring 2025," SquareTwo, Vol. 18 No. 1 (Spring 2025), http://squaretwo.org/EditorsIntroSpring2025.html, accessed <give access date>.
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