By March 12, 2008
The historian of American history loves to quote Tocqueville, and the historian of U.S. religious history is no different. Even historians of Mormonism find him helpful.[1] Yet what place does Tocqueville’s work have in helping us understand early nineteenth century American religion?
By March 12, 2008
This morning, Elder Oaks presided at a Family and Church History Department meeting at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square where it was announced that the department will be split into The Family History Department and the Church History Department. Elder Marlin K. Jensen will remain as Church Historian and Recorder. Richard Turley was released as managing director of the Family and Church History Department and is now the Assistant Church Historian and Recorder. These changes have been immediately effective with the split occuring in April.
More details should be forthcoming as they are made available. I think I speak for a great deal of people when I say that I have a great appreciation and admiration for both Elder Jensen and Richard Turley, and I am very happy they will be serving (continuing to serve) in these capacities.
By March 12, 2008
Before I get into the meat of my first post, I would like to offer a few explanations for offering up a bit of personal and family history. First, I feel like it is essential for a historian to reveal his own positionality so that readers can understand the context for the rest of his work. Second, many of my motives for becoming a historian and much of my work involve a search to understand my own identity. And finally, I think that Mormon historicity has more connection to the self and family than other types of historical inquiry.
By March 12, 2008
In recent months we’ve had our threads improved upon by the comments of Joel, a fellow academic in training. He’s accepted our invitation to spend some time with us and share some of his insights. Incidently, this past week Joel served as a commentator on the JI’s Stanley Thayne’s paper given at a conference on sexuality and gender (although Stan’s paper was on a celibate twentieth-century female prophet, his session also contained papers on transgenderism). Anyway, here is Joel’s autobiographical act:
Although I was born outside the Jello belt in Cortez, Colorado, my family’s ancestral home has always been in Rexburg, Idaho where my parents continue to live to this day. I served in the Trujillo, Peru Mission and spent four months in Cajamarca near the plaza where Pizarro infamously encountered the Incan leader Atahualpa. I have a B.S. in History from BYU-Idaho and an MA from USU. My Masters thesis explored the lives of
By March 11, 2008
Thanks to BHodges for taking the time to transcribe Bushman’s talk and provide footnotes. Enjoy!
“Rough Stone Rolling and the Intellectual Prospects for Mormonism”
Richard L. Bushman
Weber State University, Ogden, Utah
March 5, 2008
Well it’s wonderful to be back at Weber State, it’s getting to be habit. I spoke here two years ago and gave a commencement address when Paul Nelson was President so every year I get an invitation to the commencement asking for my measurements for the cap and gown and I feel like I’m really part of the community here. We’re now in Californ
By March 11, 2008
In addition to the annual conference of the Mormon History Association coming up in May (discussed by Justin at Mormon Wasp here), other notable conference dealing with Mormon Studies are scheduled for this Spring. For those interested, here is a brief rundown of those conferences:
By March 11, 2008
If you are looking for a post that explores the rich theological possibilities of theodicy, this post is not it. While I find the topic interesting, I don’t want to address the questions associated with it here. Rather, I want to use the topic of theodicy as a starting point for a discussion on how we use Joseph’s teachings.
By March 9, 2008
Such, more or less, was Darius Gray’s summary of his initial reaction to the 1978 revelation.
Today was the Ogden screening of Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons. I along with Christopher, Ben, and our female companions drove up from Provo to support Margaret and Darius. Margaret told us afterward that we couldn’t use such words as amazing or incredible to describe this documentary, but such words do indeed fit. But I’ll humor her and give a more substantial response to the film.
By March 8, 2008
In reading through Phil Barlow’s ground breaking work on Mormons and the Bible, I came across this soundbite from page xvii of the introduction:
If God works through imperfect human beings, one danger among others is that human, culturally defined allegiances and perceptions will displace God’s work. Whether or not one is a believer, the good faith attempt to critically examine human tendencies ought not induce defensiveness. The historical task can and should be essentially a constructive work for humanity, possibly having as one of his positive goals the distinguishing of moral, spiritual, and intellectual wheat from chaff.
By March 7, 2008
In hopes of living up to the recent declaration that the Juvenile Instructor is a “big LDS blog,” we’re pleased to announce that Jordan W. will be joining the team here at JI as a permablogger. Jordan’s posts as a guest blogger were well received (well, mostly well received, see comment #11!!!!!!!), and we look forward to his future contributions. Please help us welcome Jordan as the newest full-time blogger at the Juvenile Instructor.
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