Juvenile Instructor » 2009

2009 Summer Seminar Symposium: Schedule

By Ben PJune 25, 2009

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

Public Screening of “Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons” at Benchmark Books

By Jared TJune 24, 2009

I received the following in my email. I’ll post it since it’s a great documentary as well as being a great Mormon book store.

The JI reviews the Church History Library and Archives

By matt b.June 23, 2009

Over the past week, four contributors to the Juvenile Instructor have toured, given tours, researched in, peered through the windows of, and otherwise participated in the opening of the new LDS Church History Library and Archives. Their experiences, ruminations, and ponderables are below.

Revisiting: Mormonism in Transition: a history of the Latter-day Saints, 1890-1930

By matt b.June 18, 2009

This post inaugurates a new series at the Juvenile Instructor, featuring brief conversations reassessing the significance of major works of Mormon history.

The Pratt Brothers, the Holy Spirit, and Navigating Materialist Theology

By Ben PJune 16, 2009

For early Mormon writers, their growing materialist theology brought several theological problems for their rationalistic minds to solve. Placing God within a physical body that takes up physical place perceivably posed threats to God?s omnipotence, omniscience, and, especially, omnipresence. Thus, many were left to determine how a godhead composed of three personages could be everywhere at the same time and have power over everything in the universe. The answer, at least for the Pratt brothers, was a redefinition of the Holy Ghost.

Guest Post: Charles L. Cohen on Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

By GuestJune 16, 2009

Charles L. Cohen is Professor of History and Religious Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Director of the Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions. He is the author of God’s Caress: The Psychology of Puritan Religious Experience (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986) and the editor, with Paul S. Boyer, of Religion and the Culture of Print in Modern America (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008). Dr. Cohen was the 2005 Tanner Lecturer at the annual meeting of the Mormon History Association, and his lecture was published as “The Construction of the Mormon People,” Journal of Mormon History 32 (2006): 25-64. He is also the author of “No Man Knows My Psychology: Fawn Brodie, Joseph Smith, and Psychoanalysis,” BYU Studies 44 (2005): 55-78. Additionally, he advised Spencer Fluhman’s 2006 PhD dissertation (“Anti-Mormonism and the Making of Religion in Antebellum America”), and is currently mentoring Jed Woodworth’s graduate studies at UW-Madison.

Brigham Young, Temple Capacity, and the Millennium

By Edje JeterJune 15, 2009

Apropos of nothing: some numbers about millennial temples. To justify its place at JI, let’s call it an exercise in evaluating an agent’s perspective.

Guest Post: Jeanne Halgren Kilde on Sacred Space at BYU

By GuestJune 15, 2009

Jeanne Halgren Kilde is the Director of the Religious Studies program at the University of Minnesota, where she earned her PhD. She is the author of two immensely important books: When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America, and more recently Sacred Power, Sacred Space: an introduction to Christian architecture and worship, and of several articles. The value of her work is only enhanced by her graciousness as a scholar and mentor. We’re immensely honored to have her offer her thoughts here on the recent BYU Sacred Space seminar, at which she participated.

Thank you to Matt for inviting me to contribute a few words to this blog. And thank you to everyone involved in the Sacred Space symposium, including the audience members. Everyone I met was enormously hospitable and generous.

Notes from the CESNUR Conference: Rick Phillips, “Mormon Religiousness and the Enduring Significance of ‘Gathered’ Communities”

By Jared TJune 15, 2009

Rick Phillips, “Mormon Religiousness and the Enduring Significance of ‘Gathered’ Communities.” Phillips argued that having a dense population of Mormons contributes to religiousness and church activity and sees statistical evidence for decreased religousness among LDS in the Mormon Culture Region (Utah, Idaho, etc.) as LDS population density has decreased. Don’t miss notes from Massimo Introvigne on Mormonism and Twilight in Italy, Michael Homer on Oriana Fallaci and Anti-Mormonism, and Elder Robert S. Wood, and Iain Irving on Mormonism and Postmodernism/Modernism.

Utah has been characterized as the Mormon homeland where it dominates politics, etc. In July 2005, a Salt Lake Tribune article presented statistics that said the proportion of Utah’s citizens that were Mormon began declining in the 1980s. In a series following, the Tribune took time to follow up on this trend.

Notes from the CESNUR Conference: Iain Irving, “Modernity, Postmodernity, and Mormonism”

By Jared TJune 15, 2009

Ian Irving, “Modernity, Postmodernity, and Mormonism.” Ian was present, but feeling ill, so Armand Mauss read his paper. Irving argues, in essence, that the LDS Church has modernist and postmodernist elements that keep it relevant to people of both philosophical persuasions. Don’t miss notes from Massimo Introvigne on Mormonism and Twilight in Italy, Michael Homer on Oriana Fallaci and Anti-Mormonism, and Elder Robert S. Wood.

Why has the LDS Church retained appeal through the current cultural shift? By appealing to modernist and postmodernist groups.

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