Welcome, dear readers, to the Summer 2020 issue of SquareTwo! What a year it has been already! We are pleased to announce the addition of Nkoyo Iyamba to our editorial board. She has been working as a multimedia journalist for more than 15 years, holds a Master’s degree in communications from Brigham Young University, and works for the C-SPAN Networks. We’re glad to have you with us, Nkoyo!
We have a great new issue for you! First up is a strong and provocative piece by Savannah Eccles Johnston. Is it possible, she asks, to write and speak as an orthodox member of the Church? That is, is there territory somewhere between Sunstone and LDS Living, as she puts it, that is, to be a faithful voice that nevertheless yearns for greater light and knowledge? And is it possible to be that faithful voice in the public square as well? We think you will enjoy her ruminations on these questions.
Second, V.H. Cassler asks us to understand the PPriesthood. No, that’s not a typo. Why are we reluctant to acknowledge that there is a divine feminine power, and that that power works on earth through God’s daughters? What if we were to excavate early Church thinking on priestesshood?
Third, we are pleased to bring you Part Two of Charles Randall Paul’s review of Catholic thinker Stephen H. Webb’s book Jesus Christ, Eternal God: Heavenly Flesh and the Metaphysics of Matter. Paul dives deeper into Webb’s insistence that God is material. Indeed, is not Christ Himself a testament to the materiality of God? Is there not a deep connection between eternal sociality and eternal materiality?
Fourth, Savannah Eccles Johnston—practicing what she preached in her lead essay for this issue—asserts that the time has come to know more about Heavenly Mother. The only possible way to fight the current pernicious gender ideology is through Her. Johnston argues, “The only theological defense the church has for its position on the importance of gender and marriage in the eternities is Her. I’m not convinced we know enough about Her to sustain our position.” Johnston puts forward that it’s time for greater light and knowledge.
Fifth, V.H. Cassler discovered what many of our readers may also have discovered—that is, in the July 2020 issue of the Ensign there are some remarkable comments by Elder Quentin L. Cook on historical polygamy in the Church. Did you notice those? If not, read this short commentary by Cassler and take note of an important development.
Sixth, our book review editor Kent Harrison reviews White Rage by Carol Anderson, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for 2016. It is an important book that chronicles efforts by whites after Emancipation to hinder efforts by Black Americans to live freely. There was ferocious resistance to Black progress in the South, but equally notable resistance in the North. This is a history that should never be forgotten.
Seventh, V.H. Cassler reviews the forthcoming book by conservative journalist Rod Dreher called Live Not By Lies. The title comes from a famous talk by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn given on the eve of his exile from the Soviet Union to the West. Dreher asserts a soft totalitarianism is forming in the West, especially the United States, and it is inimical to family and faith. If Christians are to prepare for the eventuality of living under such a regime, they may profit by learning from those who kept the Christian fate alive behind the Iron Curtain during the Soviet era. What did Dreher learn from interviewing them that might be helpful to members of the Church today?
Eighth, we have responses from our editorial board to the previous Readers’ Puzzle about Utah’s 2020 decriminalization of polygamy which we think will be of interest.
And last but not least, we have a new Readers’ Puzzle, asking whether our readers are praying for their nation, and if so, what they are praying for exactly? What are you thinking is the most important blessing God could offer the USA now? What role do we play in trying to help our nation? How do we help its renewal?
Enjoy this new issue!
Full Citation for this Article: Editorial Board, SquareTwo Journal (2020) "Editor's Intro, Summer 2020," SquareTwo, Vol. 13 No. 2 (Summer 2020), http://squaretwo.org/EditorsIntroSummer2020.html, accessed <give access date>.
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