Philip Barlow on Mormon Studies in Relation to the Liberal Arts

By September 14, 2009


Philip Barlow is the Leonard Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University. Dr. Barlow has written Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion (Oxford Univ. Press, 1991); as well as the New Historical Atlas of Religion in America (Oxford, 2000, co-authored with Edwin Scott Gaustad); and with Mark Silk co-edited Religion and Public Life in the Midwest: America’s Common Denominator? (Alta Mira Press, 2004). He is past president of the Mormon History Association, 2005-2006. On September 8, 2009 at the University of Utah, an informal discussion was held about the place of Mormon Studies in the larger field of Religious Studies. See this announcement. We’d like to thank Dr. Barlow, who has been kind enough to share his prepared remarks for that discussion here at the Juvenile Instructor.

Continue Reading


Book review: Reid L. Neilson and Terryl Givens, eds., Joseph Smith, Jr., Reappraisals after two centuries. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009)

By September 10, 2009


This review, originally appearing in a slightly different version in Mormon Historical Studies 10:1, is reprinted here with the kind permission of Alex Baugh and Jacob Olmstead, editor and book reviews editor, respectively.

It is a mark of the fascination that Joseph Smith inspires in students of religion and religious history (the present author not excepted) to the present day that, despite the plentitude of biographies, specialized studies, movies, hymns, visual art and all the rest that his life has evoked even only in the past sixty years, this volume is still welcome.

Continue Reading


Mormon Historical Studies 10:1 (Spring 2009), Part 2

By September 9, 2009


Continued from Part 1.

Continue Reading


Perspectives on Parley Pratt’s Autobiography: Series Wrap-up

By September 8, 2009


This post wraps up the series on Parley Pratt’s influential autobiography. As a review, and also a reference, here are all of the intelligent and insightful contributions:

Continue Reading


Conference Announcement: Latter-day Saint Readings of Revelation 21-22

By September 8, 2009


From Joseph Spencer:

A conference, “Latter-day Saint Readings of Revelation 21-22,” will be
held on September 25th on the UT-Austin campus, in the Theater in the
Texas Union (Room 2.228).

Continue Reading


Mormon Historical Studies 10:1 (Spring 2009), Part 1

By September 6, 2009


scan0001

Continue Reading


Noah’s Nakedness and the Curse of Canaan (Gen. 9:18-27)

By September 5, 2009


18 ΒΆ And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

Continue Reading


The Journal of Mormon History 35:3 (Summer 2009), Part 2

By September 5, 2009


Continued from Part 1.

JMH Summer 2009 Cover

Continue Reading


On Being a Dilettante

By September 4, 2009


The need of specialization has the drawback of limiting the scope of one’s work. As I’ve stumbled through the study of history, this has often been a frustration; the academic study of history is quite focussed. This is needed to gain the expertise one needs in historical writing, but as Richard Fletcher says in preface to his The Barbarian Conversion “Professional historians today are expected to know more and more about less and less.”

Continue Reading


Book Review: Terryl Givens, The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction

By September 4, 2009


Terryl L. Givens, The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford?s Very Short Introduction Series (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 125 pp + appendixes and index.

If you are looking for a book that focuses on the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, what it tells us about antebellum religious culture, or even how it shaped (or was shaped by) Joseph Smith?s mind, then this is not the book for you.

Continue Reading

 Newer Posts | Older Posts 

Series

Recent Comments

Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”


Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”


Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “Large civilizations leave behind evidence of their existence. For instance, I just read that scholars estimate the kingdom of Judah to have been around 110,000…”


Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “I have always understood the key to issues with Nephite archeology to be language. Besides the fact that there is vastly more to Mesoamerican…”


Steven Borup on In Memoriam: James B.: “Bro Allen was the lead coordinator in 1980 for the BYU Washington, DC Seminar and added valuable insights into American history as we also toured…”


David G. on In Memoriam: James B.: “Jim was a legend who impacted so many through his scholarship and kind mentoring. He'll be missed.”

Topics


juvenileinstructor.org