The earth will eventually be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory. But how will our current world ever become the heaven of our dreams? The Lord is already on it; and, as the essays in this book provocatively proposes, He's following good engineering principles. Joseph Fielding Smith said, regarding inventions in these latter days, "The inspiration of the Lord has gone out and takes hold of the minds of men, though they know it not, and they are directed by the Lord. In this manner he brings them into his service." If there is "no such thing as immaterial matter," and "all spirit is...

For over a decade, Boyd Petersen has been an active voice in Mormon studies and thought. In essays that steer a course between apologetics and criticism, striving for the balance of what Eugene England once called the "radical middle," he explores various aspects of Mormon life and culture-from the Dream Mine near Salem, Utah, to the challenges that Latter-day Saints of the millennial generation face today. Praise for Dead Wood and Rushing Water: "Dead Wood and Rushing Water gives us a reflective, striving, wise soul ruminating on his world. In the tradition of Eugene England, Petersen...