By October 27, 2010
We’re pleased to host a book review by Amanda5245 of Scholaristas: A Women’s Religious History Blog.
Roger P. Minert. In Harm’s Way: East German Latter-day Saints in World War II. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2009. 545 pp. $29.95. Hardback, ISBN: 978-0-8425-2746-0.
In 1974, Roger Minert began to explore the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany. Leafing through the pages of Der Stern, an LDS magazine published in Germany, he began to ask questions about the everyday experiences of the men and women who had lived through the war and had participated in the Church?s branch meetings and Relief Societies. He wondered how destruction from Allied bombing affected the ways in which German Saints worshipped and how many of members had lost their homes. He soon discovered that these were questions that had no easy answers. The research simply had not been done. The Church was uncertain of how many members had died during the war.
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By ChristopherOctober 22, 2010
Stephen C. Taysom. Shakers, Mormons, and Religious Worlds: Conflicting Visions, Contested Boundaries. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010. xvi + 263 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $34.95. Cloth.
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By Ben POctober 18, 2010
I am likely behind the times, but I just noticed that the American Society of Church History released a preliminary program for their 2011 meeting in Boston (which can be found here). While there are many panels that promise to be not only fascinating but relevant to frequenters of JI, I thought I would point out three sessions that are likely of particular interest.
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By Steve FlemingOctober 15, 2010
Eamon Duffy sets up his monumental Stripping of the Altars as a challenge to three books: A. G. Dickens The English Reformation, Jean Delumeau Catholicism between Luther and Voltaire and Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (Duffy xx). Duffy?s critique of Dickens is related to what I describe in this post (Dickens described the English Reformation as a popular movement while Duffy said it was not; most scholars agree with Duffy now) and the critiques of Delumeau are described in my write up on the Dechristianization of Europe.
Duffy?s critique of Thomas is more complex, however.
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By David G.October 11, 2010
Although the Book of Mormon never explicitly names Christopher Columbus, many readers have supposed that 1 Nephi 13:12 refers to he who ?sailed the ocean blue? in 1492. The chapter also seems to provide a theological justification for the European conquest of the Americas that followed in the wake of Columbus’ voyage (vv. 14-15; compare 2 Nephi 1:11; Mormon 5:19; 3 Nephi 16:9; see also 16:8; 2 Nephi 26:15). In this, the Book of Mormon does not vary that drastically from ideas then prevalent in the broader American society that justified the expansion of European settler societies across the continent, the concomitant decline of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and their absorption into white society.
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By Steve FlemingOctober 7, 2010
Randall Styers. Making Magic: Religion, Magic, and Science in the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Naomi Janowitz. Magic in the Roman World: Pagans, Jews and Christians. London: Routledge, 2001.
Syters begins his book with a quote from Bruno Latour: “Do not trust those who analyze magic. They are usually magicians in search of revenge.” The Pasteurization of France, (Harvard 1988), 212. I’m not sure what that then says about Styers or myself, but fun to think about nonetheless.
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By Jared TOctober 4, 2010
CALL FOR PAPERS
For a conference on
“Mormonism in Cultural Context?
The friends and former students of Professor Richard Lyman Bushman invite submissions for a conference, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, to be held June 18, 2011, at the Springville Art Museum in Springville, Utah.
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By Steve FlemingOctober 4, 2010
Continuing on this theme, I wanted to give a little summary of John Wesley?s view of the apostasy. Wesley, whose Methodist movement was highly influential on Mormonism, was very interested in ?the mystery of iniquity? or how Christianity had become corrupted. His speech by that name covers his views on the issue (Wesley?s Works vol. 3, Sermon 61) and offers additional, useful ways to look at the apostasy.
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