Juvenile Instructor » 2009

Mormonism in The Western Historical Quarterly, Spring 2009

By David G.April 30, 2009

Likely because the 2008 meeting of the Western History Association was held in SLC, the Spring 2009 issue of the Western Historical Quarterly contains two solid articles on Mormons and Mormonism.

Virginia Scharff, “What’s Love Got to Do with It? A New Turner Thesis” (5-22)

Virginia Scharff is a major historian of gender and women in the West at the University of New Mexico. In her presidential address, Scharff asks why historians tend to write small and safe books, when we should be pursuing interesting topics that matter historically. In answer to her question, Scharff presents a new Turner thesis, one that is perhaps less bold than the original, yet equally as relevant for young scholars seeking inspiration in the field. Rather

Turning the World Upside Down: Baconian Logic, Scottish Common-Sense Realism, and Parley Pratt

By Ben PApril 26, 2009

To begin his preface to A Discourse of the Baconian Philosophy, conservative Calvinist Samuel Tyler quoted approvingly Francis Bacon’s famous statement that had by then became the mantra for American religious discourse: “It ought to be eternally resolved and settled, that the understanding cannot be decide[d] otherwise, than by Induction, and by a legitimate form of it.”[1]

“Rap about Wrapping”: Environmentalism in the New Era, 1991

By ChristopherApril 22, 2009

I came across this a few months ago, and have been waiting until Earth Day to post it. Since last year’s Earth Day post at the JI looked at a quote from 19th century Mormonism on the environment, I thought it would be appropriate to do something from the 20th century this year. In July 1991, the New Era included a brief article entitled “Planet Pleasing” in the “FYI: For Your Information” section of the teenage-oriented periodical. In addition to the sound and practical advice of the article, I’m intrigued by the author’s effort to connect with her teenage audience. Such lines as “It’s cool to save fuel” and “Gee … Try a Tree” (such profound poetry) suggest a conscious effort to make environmentalism sound cool to young readers (and check out the name of the fictional letter writer within the article … how clever).

Joseph Smith and the Body, some thoughts

By Ben PApril 20, 2009

I have been dealving into Nauvoo-era theology recently–a task not for the faint of heart. There are plenty of un-touched topics there just waiting to be analyzed, but one of the themes that has stood out to me the most, however, is Joseph Smith’s reconception of the state of the body–its nature, its potential, and even its inherent power. These are some preliminary thoughts on the topic; preliminary, because it only relies on sermons reproduced in Ehat and Cook’s Words of Joseph Smith (and only those before summer of ’43 at that), and engages very limited contemporary and secondary sources. (Also, since we have been getting quite a bit of discussion on Joseph Smith’s view of spirits lately, I thought we should even it out by also engaging his view of the body.)

The Value of Mormon History Research Collections

By Brett D.April 16, 2009

Over the past few years I have gone through a few large Mormon history research collections, including the Kenney Collection at BYU, the Stanley Ivins Collection at the Utah State Historical Society, and the D. Michael Quinn Collection at Yale. All of these collections have yielded immense amounts of information that I probably would not have come across elsewhere. The Kenney Collection contains boxes of notes from the First Presidency Papers, General Auxiliary Organization Board Minutes, and other materials that are restricted at the Church Archives. While the Ivins Collection does not contain as much information from restricted collections at the Church Archives, it is an important collection of notes from diaries and books written by people who visited Utah during the nineteenth century, many of which are obscure. And the Quinn Papers contain what is perhaps the gold mine of information from restricted Mormon archival materials, with notes from General Authority diaries, Quorum of the Twelve and Seventies Minutes, and notes from a vast number of other important Mormon sources.

“The Science of Anti-Mormon Suckerology”: Parley P. Pratt and Early Mormon Apologetics

By ChristopherApril 14, 2009

I came across the following article while looking for something else in Samuel Brannan’s The Prophet yesterday. It was authored by Parley P. Pratt and published in May 1845. I had never heard of it or come across it anywhere else [1], and thought readers might find it useful (or at least entertaining).

So much depends/ upon/ the prayer of/ a young/ farm boy/ alone/ in a grove/ of trees.

By ElizabethApril 12, 2009

?That idea has not yet been resolved within your heart and is tormenting it.? [1]

One of my inaugural posts for JI was a spiritual autobiographical account of entering the world of the academic study of religion. And I feel as though a continuation of that autobiography is important and necessary, if only for my own sake.

Kristine Haglund-Arrested Development: Mormon Independent Publishing in the Age of the Blog

By GuestApril 9, 2009

Kristine Haglund is a stay-in-the-minivan mother of three kids, and the current editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. She blames her interest in Mormon history on her father, who gave her a copy of _Mormon Sisters_ when she was 9 years old, and then asked her to give a sacrament meeting talk about Ellis Shipp and Patty Sessions. She blogs full-time, of course, at By Common Consent. Kristine presented these remarks at the Mormonism in the Public Mind conference at UVU on Friday, April 3, 2009.

I am more than a little bit surprised to find myself on a panel with “new media” and “pop culture” in the session title-I grew up mostly without a TV and am inflicting the same deprivation on my children; I’m old enough to have taken a typewriter with me when I went to college; and I grew up in a home where “contemporary” music meant anything post-Mahler, like maybe Copland.

From the Archives: An 1825 Letter Possibly Mentioning Joseph Smith

By Ben PApril 8, 2009

…and don’t worry, it doesn’t mention any salamanders.

BYU Easter Conference

By ChristopherApril 7, 2009

BYU News Press Release:

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