Sunstone (magazine)

Sunstone

Sunstone Issue 127, cover dated May 2003
Director of Publications and Editor Stephen R. Carter
Categories Mormon studies: scholarship, issues, literature, and art
Frequency about four times per year
First issue Winter 1975
Company Sunstone Education Foundation
Country United States
Based in Salt Lake City, Utah
Website Sunstone
ISSN 0363-1370

Sunstone is a magazine published by the Sunstone Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, that discusses Mormonism through scholarship, art, short fiction, and poetry. The foundation began the publication in 1974 and considers it a vehicle for free and frank exchange in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The magazine's motto is Faith Seeking Understanding.

History

In 1979, Sunstone began sponsoring an annual symposium in Salt Lake City, which is now a four-day event with approximately 100 different sessions generally held the second week of August. Since the 1980s, Sunstone has also held regular regional symposia in Washington, D.C., California, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, and Boston.

While early magazine issues and symposia included heavy participation from a full range of perspectives, circumstances and events in the late 1980s and early 1990s damaged Sunstone's reputation and hurt subscribership.[1] These events included a 1989 address given by Dallin H. Oaks, an apostle of the LDS Church, warning of "Alternate Voices"[2] and a November 1991 "Statement on Symposia" issued by the church's First Presidency,[3] although Sunstone was never mentioned in either case. Because of Sunstone's position as a visible symbol of independent thought within Mormonism, however, these communications led to a decline in participation in Sunstone fora by many conservative and moderate voices. This trend culminated after six individuals were disciplined by the LDS Church in September 1993, after which the potential costs of writing for the magazine and speaking at its symposia were feared by some to be too high. With a lack of participation from moderate and conservative voices, Sunstone experienced an unbalancing of many presentations toward liberal causes and points of view.[4][5][6]

With the passage of time and under new leadership, the Sunstone Education Foundation has begun to recover much of its former status as a vehicle for frank, honest discussion in Mormonism, with increased balance and a concerted effort to be welcoming to all voices.[7][8]

Publication

The magazine is published about four times per year,[9] and in addition to the annual Salt Lake symposium, the foundation generally sponsors three to five smaller-scale, regional symposia each year.

Editors and publishers

Editor Publisher
Scott G. Kenney, 1975–1978
Allen D. Roberts and Peggy Fletcher, 1978–1980
Peggy Fletcher, 1978–1986 [10]

Elbert Eugene Peck, 1986–2001

 Daniel Rector, 1986–1991
Linda Jean Stephenson, 1991–1992
William B. Stanford, 2000–2008 [11]
Dan Wotherspoon, 2001–2008
Stephen R. Carter, 2008–present [12][13]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Clark, Cody. "Da Vinci, Santa Claus and Joseph Smith walk into a symposium...: Annual Sunstone conference tackles broad range of LDS topics," Provo Daily Herald, August 07, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
  2. ↑ Oaks, Dallin H. "Alternate Voices," Ensign, May 1989. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
  3. ↑ "Statement on Symposia". Ensign. November 1991. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
  4. ↑ Jarvik, Elaine. "Sunstone Publisher Resigns," Deseret News, June 13, 2001.
  5. ↑ Moore, Carrie A. "2 meets to focus on LDS thought," Deseret News, August 3, 2002.
  6. ↑ Peck, Elbert Eugene (December 1999). "The Origin and Evolution of the Sunstone Species - Twenty-Five Years of Creative Adaptation" (PDF). Sunstone (115): 5–14. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
  7. ↑ Stack, Peggy Fletcher. "Sunstone aims for new audiences," Salt Lake Tribune, August 6, 2002.
  8. ↑ Mims, Bob. "Sunstone's future at a crossroads," Salt Lake Tribune, June 17, 2001.
  9. ↑ See back issues listed at:
  10. ↑ Peggy Fletcher Stack (June 17, 2001). "Sunstone: The Cost of Intellectualism". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
  11. ↑ "Into the Sunset" (PDF). Sunstone (153): 2. February 2009. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
  12. ↑ "Sunstone Education Foundation Board of Directors Announces New Editor, New Director of Symposia". Sunstone Education Foundation. 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  13. ↑ "About Us". Sunstone Magazine. Retrieved 2014-08-01.

Further reading

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