Mormonism and the Republican Party

I’ve written previously on ways Mormon historians can transcend the 1890 rupture and begin to conceptualize and integrate the twentieth century into narratives of Mormon history. I suggested that one way to do this is to historicize contemporary issues, such as those surrounding race, gender, and sexuality, and show how the past can illuminate the present. Some may protest that this approach is overly-presentist, but I would argue that all history is presentist to one degree or another, and as historians we should be writing histories that are useful and useable.

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History ?thrown into divinity? ? some thoughts on faith, the past, and the historical profession

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One of Max Weber?s more evocative phrases is the ?disenchantment of the world.? I like it because it does not refer only to the numbing birth of bloodless bureaucracy, to humans in increasingly rationalized aggregate, but also to us as individuals of mind and creativity. The lucid organization of the world as a place human comprehension might master changed our vision, our psyche, and our imagination. The Enlightenment was thus a revolution of the aesthetic and the numinous as much as of knowledge and epistemology.

I want to talk a little bit about how this applies to history, by which I mean not only the sort of narratives and analyses of the past that humans accept as authoritative, but the extent to which we ascribe existential meaning and use to them. We today expect history to be constructed according to a certain set of principles, ways of running the wiring and cranking the engine that we learned from the Enlightenment. But here, I want to float the notion that history may not be a car in the first place.

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Joseph Smith Papers Job Opening!

I ran into Reid Neilson earlier this week and he mentioned that a job would be opening up at the JSPP. He recently emailed me the job description to post here for all interested.  Good luck to all applicants!

Historian/Documentary Editor, Joseph Smith Papers Project-0900581

E. Dale LeBaron, Former BYU Religion Professor, Killed in an Auto-Pedestrian Accident

E. Dale Lebaron, former BYU Professor and president of the South African Mission when the Priesthood ban was rescinded died on Thursday, Dec. 3 from injuries sustained in an auto-pedestrian accident near his home. See this story in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Lebaron was known as an avid student of the history of the Church in Africa and devoted much time collecting oral histories and other documentation. He gave multiple presentations and authored a book on African conversions, All Are Alike Unto God.

I must admit that I’m not very familiar with his work, but feel it appropriate to make mention of this tragic circumstance that befell a collector and documenter of African Mormon history. His decades long involvment with the Church in Africa both before and after the 1978 revelation makes me hope that he was himself interviewed about his activites and/or that he kept a journal of his doings. LeBaron was 75.

SLMSSA Lecture Reminder, Plus Dinner with Kristine Haglund!

Tomorrow at 7 pm Kristine Haglund will be delivering the first Salt Lake Mormon Studies Student Association lecture. See the organizer’s site for details.  I hope to see you there!

Plus, at 5 pm at Hector’s Miramar [Mexican food] Kristine herself will be having dinner, and we’d love for those who can to come on down and join her for an informal dinner and conversation. The address is 342 West 1300 South in Salt Lake City. Going west on 1300 S. toward I-15, it’s on the north side of the street just before you hit the freeway. Here is a google map just in case. Come on down, after all, it’s not every day that we get these sophisticated Easterners out here in the boondocks! Hope to see you.

On Christ, the advent of belief

With the Advent season upon us, I feel constrained to praise God for the gift of the Son. I glory in Jesus Christ and hope you do as well. I do not offer this as a definitive piece of theology;

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2009 in Retrospect: A Glance at Important Books and Articles from the Last 12 Months

Along with Jared T’s list of recently published and forthcoming book in Mormon history, I thought I would put up my own perspective on the past scholarly year. Not only does this allow me to mention some of the articles that caught my eye in the last twelve months, but it also provides a way to discuss major themes of recent scholarship.

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