Adam S. Miller

Adam S. Miller is a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas. He earned a BA in comparative literature from Brigham Young University and an MA and PhD in philosophy from Villanova University. He is the author of nine books, including Speculative Grace, The Gospel according to David Foster Wallace, Letters to a Young Mormon, and An Early Resurrection. He also directs the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar.

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Does God’s justice require suffering as punishment for sin? Philosopher Adam S. Miller answers

By Adam S. Miller

August 09, 2022 03:28 PM MDT

Sin begins from the original assumption of guilt and concludes that suffering is deserved. Grace begins from the original reality of suffering and concludes that redemption is needed.

8 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

Why Eternal Life in the Next Life Is Not Enough

By Adam S. Miller

July 20, 2018 01:51 PM MDT

Eternal life is the promise that death is not the end, that there is life after death. It’s the promise that both my body and this world can continue after death in the presence of God. And this promise matters. As Paul says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19). But the reverse is also true. If for the next life only I have hope in Christ, I am also lost. By itself, even the glory of an eternal life is not enough.

8 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

Why Love Is a Form of Dying + 3 More Insights the Savior Teaches Us About Love

By Adam S. Miller

July 16, 2018 10:15 PM MDT

To say that the law can only be fulfilled by Christ is to say that the law can only be fulfilled by love. Love is the point of the law. “All the law and the prophets” hang on this imperative to love (Matthew 22:40). Without love, the law comes unplugged from Christ. It stops functioning as a type and leaves me hopeless. When, instead of love, the law generates fear, anger, guilt, envy, and frustration, then the law is broken. A loveless law is a broken law. A loveless law is a law incapable of mercy or justice. A loveless law is an occasion for selfishness, pride, and hypocrisy.

8 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

How We Can Live in God's Presence Before We Die

By Adam S. Miller

June 30, 2018 12:00 PM MDT

The Book of Mormon is a key. The Bible is a door. It’s not enough for me to shelve them side by side. It’s not enough to read the one and then the other. I need to slot the key, turn the tumblers, and open the door.

5 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

The Beautiful Meaning Behind the Sacred Phrase "Eternal Lives"

By Adam S. Miller

March 19, 2018 10:07 PM MDT

Dear S.,

7 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

The Only Thing Scarier Than God Working Through Imperfect Leaders Is to Think He Doesn't

By Adam S. Miller

February 22, 2018 03:56 PM MST

The gospel isn’t a celebration of God’s power to work with flawless people. The gospel is a celebration of God’s willingness to work today, in our world, in our lives, with people who clearly aren’t. To demand that church leaders, past and present, show us only a mask of angelic pseudo-perfection is to deny the gospel’s most basic claim: that God’s grace works through our weakness.

5 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

A Letter All Mormons Need to Read Before (and After) Entering the Temple

By Adam S. Miller

February 14, 2018 10:48 PM MST

Unveiling the mysteries of the kingdom, the temple will initiate you into what you do not know. It will acquaint you with your own ignorance. It will, with little explanation, commend to your care a series of undeciphered stories and symbols that you must neither dismiss nor explain but keep.

6 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

A powerful letter to young adults about sex and what they need to understand

By Adam S. Miller

February 02, 2018 10:27 PM MST

The following is an excerpt from Letters to a Young Mormon, a series of letters written by philosophy professor Adam S. Miller that distills the knowledge he wants his own children and young members of the Church to know.

8 Min Read

Defending the Family Means Defending Women and Rooting Out Misogyny

By Adam S. Miller

January 23, 2018 07:17 PM MST

As “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” warns, if we fail to defend the family, “the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”

4 Min Read

Why We Need to Begin Thinking of Defending Mormonism in the Future

By Adam S. Miller

January 13, 2018 12:38 PM MST

As a scholar, I study philosophy. As a disciple of Christ, I study how to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). As a disciple-scholar, my work is to practice philosophy as an unceasing form of prayer.

3 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

How Silence Made Saying My Prayers More Meaningful

By Adam S. Miller

January 10, 2018 10:00 PM MST

In prayer, you can practice remembering God in one of two ways. You can practice by remembering what you were saying or you can practice by remembering to listen. The first way is important, the second way is imperative.

3 Min Read

Mormonism Is Never About Mormonism

By Adam S. Miller

January 09, 2018 01:28 PM MST

As a scholar, an author, and a Mormon, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to think about Mormonism. And it seems to me that, as a general rule, it’s a mistake to think that Mormonism is about Mormonism.

3 Min Read