Mark A. Wrathall

Oct 26, 2024 | scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Kevin Winters |Mark A. Wrathall |Brigham Young

Keywordsspiritual matter, Mormon materialism, Mormon studies, spiritAbstractIn May of 1843, Joseph Smith gave a decisive statement against dualism: “There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; we cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter” (D&C 131:7-8).

Jul 17, 2024 | open.substack.com | Mark A. Wrathall

In the modern understanding, faith is something you do with your mind. To have faith is to believe a proposition. Or, more precisely, it is to believe a proposition even when lacking supporting evidence. But this is an impoverished conception of faith—one, incidentally, that Alma does not share. Popular accounts of Alma’s magnificent sermon on faith often get it wrong in their telling of the details of the central metaphor of the sermon—the planting and sprouting and eventual fruition of the seed.