On the arrow of time:

It seems that Mormonism posits two trajectories for time and ordering. One the one hand, the Kingdom of God (the second coming has already begun with Elijah coming to the Temple) is growing and becoming stronger; in a sense, progressing and becoming increasingly ordered. On the other hand, the world is unraveling creation by turning it into chaos. This seems to occur primarily at the site of moral degeneration. This latter part seems to be very much a part of a previous generation's romantic construction of their own past, and perhaps this is what all generations do as they are displaced: they wax nostalgic about the "good old days" when people were good and so forth. The oldest documents complain that children don't respect their parents anymore! So in Mormonism we combine a sense of nostalgia for a past purity with a future eschatological purity. The ordering principle hear seems to be morality, and this is the message of all apocalypse.

For secular society, it seems that the ordering principle is replaced by things like wealth and other quantifiable successes. How does this engage the issue of prospertiy and sin?

I am very intrigued by the Scientist's deconstructionist reading of the BoM on the point of prosperity. I think I will use that in the future. It definitely seems to set a paradox...the blessings of God sow the seeds of their own destruction. More needs to be done on this "cycle of prosperity" than just identifying it. Rather, I think we need to explain it in the BoM's own terms, that is in providential ordering. In what way is this cycle useful for God's ultimate purposes? I also think that the distinction being made between individual and communal prosperity is important, but I am not sure exactly how yet. (or maybe we just leave it deconstructed and rejoice in the paradox itself... that sounds like religion to me!)

I do think it is important to note that politics/economics and religion can never be seperated really, especially when dealing with ancient religion. My question is how explicit should we make this, and how dogmatic should we be about it?

Concerning the deuteronomic promise of the BoM... I not only think that there is a connection, but a very very close connection. I hope to publish this sort of thing some day, so for now just the highlights. Consider that Jeremiah, a close personal friend of Lehi's family, is one of the most likely authors of Deuteronomy! His prophetic book is very similar lexically and is being produced the exact same time that Josiah "finds" the Torah in the Temple. To me, it seems that this sort of message is not just a theodicy of poverty, but also of foreign domination under the Assyrians and later Babylonians. Lehi looses hope in this promise ever being fulfilled in Israel, so there is a new exodus/creation in order for the promise to be fulfilled.