Parley and Orson Pratt and Nineteenth-Century Mormon Thought

Public Symposium at Brigham Young University

Sponsored by the Mormon Scholars Foundation

July 2, 2009

B092 of the Joseph F. Smith Building at BYU

In the tradition of Richard Bushman?s summer seminars on Joseph Smith and early Mormonism, eight graduate students, under the direction of Terryl Givens and Matthew Grow, have studied the writings of Orson and Parley Pratt and will be presenting their research at this symposium. The seminar has been hosted by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.

10:00 Terryl Givens, University of Richmond, Introduction

10:10 Ryan Tobler, University of Chicago, ?Parley Pratt and Evolving Views of the American Republic in Early Mormonism?

10:40 Jordan Watkins, University of Nevada-Las Vegas: ??All of One Species?: Parley P. Pratt and the Evolution of Early Mormon Conceptions of Theosis?

11:10 Christopher Blythe, Utah State University: ?Spiritual Gifts and Mormon Identity in the Nineteenth Century?

11:40 Loyd Ericson, Claremont Graduate School: “?The Great Grand Executor?: The Development of the Holy Spirit in the Thought of Orson and Parley Pratt?
Intermission for Lunch

1:30 Musical Interlude: Songs of Parley P. Pratt, Liz and Katie Davis (descendants of Parley Pratt and accomplished cellist and fiddler with the folk musical group FiddleSticks)

1:45 Adriane Rodrigues, University of Minas Gerais: ?Parley Pratt’s ?Mighty Pen? and Satire?

2:15 Benjamin Park, University of Edinburgh: “?Here was an End of Mysticism?: Divine Embodiment, Human Corporality, and the Pratt Brothers?

2:45 Joseph Spencer, San Jose State University: “?A Wellcome Messenger?: The Development of Parley P. Pratt’s Theology of Death?

3:15 Trevan Hatch, Baltimore Hebrew University: ?Remembering the Chosen: The Gathering of the Jews and the Tribes of Israel in the Minds of Parley and Orson Pratt?