Juvenile Instructor » 2014

The Secret Tradition, Part 7: Plato

By Steve FlemingJuly 30, 2014

The apostles, said Origen ?saw better than Plato ? what things were to be committed to writing, and how this was to be done, and what was by no means to be written to the multitude, and what was to be expressed in words, and what was not to be so conveyed.?[1] With this statement, Origen seemed to suggest that Christ?s secret teachings had things in common with Platonism. Platonism was linked to both the apocalypses and the mysteries. Martha Himmelfarb describes 2 Enoch?s creation description as ?a blend of biblical creation and popular Platonism.?[2] Of the apocalypses, John Turner says, ?One can scarcely think of a more apt Jewish equivalent to Plato?s description of the intense light of the ultimate Goodness and Beauty awaiting anyone who would risk the ascent out of the cave of illusion.?[3]

MSWR – July 27

By Tod R.July 27, 2014

TWEAH

LDS Church’s PCC to house new Polynesian Football Hall of Fame

This article is a few months old, but the recently founded Polynesian Football Hall of Fame has found a home at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) in Hawai’i. “PFHF honors the sport?s greatest players, coaches and contributors from Polynesia.” This is an interesting development considering the history of the PCC and Mormonism throughout the region.

Pioneer Ancestors ? FamilySearch.org

Primarily targeted at pioneer stock Mormons, this microsite “is FamilySearch’s attempt at comparing the list of pioneer companies to those listed in your Family Tree. We recognize that it may not be comprehensive or completely accurate historically. We hope you enjoy this information.” I’ve included a screen grab of my results for those who likely won’t have many connections:

“Marmans!”

The Secret Tradition, Part 6: The Greek Mysteries

By Steve FlemingJuly 25, 2014

The secret tradition may have been connected to Judeo-Christian apocalypses and the rites described in those texts, but Clement?s Letter to Theodore made numerous allusions to Greek mystery rites, the Eleusinian mysteries in particular. There were a number of Greek mystery cults that allowed individual to be initiated in the hopes of attaining a better afterlife, the most famous of which was at Eleusis a few miles from Athens. In the fall, Greeks could perform rites at Eleusis that, according to Cicero, taught people ?how to live in joy, and how to die with better hopes.?[1]

Pioneer Day: Recommended Reading from JI’s archives

By ChristopherJuly 24, 2014

Happy Pioneer Day, readers! Thank you for your patience with us lately — we know things have been slow around here (they tend to get that way during the summer), but we have some exciting things planned moving forward and hope you’ll keep checking in, reading, and commenting moving forward.

In recognition of Pioneer Day, I’ve culled from the Juvenile Instructor’s archives links to several previous posts treating Mormon Pioneers in one sense or another. In hopes that they’ll prove interesting to those who missed them the first time around (and to those, like me, interested in revisiting them), here we go:

MSWR – July 20

By Mees TielensJuly 20, 2014

For your Sunday perusal:

Our own Amanda Hendrix-Komoto writes about the excommunication of Kate Kelly (and Mormon feminism?) on the Nursing Clio blog.

Pauline Kelly Harline writes about female Mormon bloggers and the long tradition of writing that exists in Mormon culture.

Joseph Spencer recaps the Mormon Theology Symposium that recently wrapped up in London here.

A whole host of qualified people (including JI-ers Andrea Radke-Moss and Rachael Givens) weigh in on the question of equality, gender, and priesthood here on a panel at Patheos.

Is the Mormon moment finally over? Find out here.

On the complexities of Mormon identities, being a gay Mormon, and going from being a missionary to playing one on a stage.

On the intersection of politics and religion when it comes to popular opinion.

Emmeline Wells is highlighted by the National Women’s History Museum here.

The Deseret News reports on the third new temple film to come into rotation in the span of twelve or so months.

And finally, the Annual Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture is holding its symposium on July 22, 23, and 25. The program can be found here. In the neighborhood? Come listen to Natalie Rose on Tuesday!

Anything we missed? Leave your contributions in the comments!

The Secret Tradition, Part 5: Judeo-Christian Apocalypses

By Steve FlemingJuly 16, 2014

Morton Smith argued that secret Mark suggested an initiation ritual that was an ascent to heaven and that Jesus had undergone the same process. Knowing exactly what secret things Jesus might have done is highly speculative, but there is evidence for some kind of secret teaching or ritual in early Christianity. Smith argued that the context for the ascent were the Enochian apocalypses particularly 1 and 2 Enoch in which Enoch ascends to heaven and in 2 Enoch he becomes an angel.[1] 1 and 2 Enoch also described Enoch undergoing a heavenly temple liturgy. Says 2 Enoch,

And the Lord said to Michael: Go and take Enoch from out of his earthly garments, and anoint him with my sweet ointment, and put him into the garments of My glory. And Michael did thus, as the Lord told him. He anointed me, and dressed me, and the appearance of that ointment is more than the great light, and his ointment is like sweet dew, and its smell mild, shining like the sun?s ray, and I looked at myself, and I was like one of his glorious ones.

After this transformation, God then tells Enoch, ?Hear, Enoch, and take in these my words, for not to My angels have I told my secret, and I have not told them their rise, nor my endless realm, nor have they understood my creating, which I tell you today.? God then proceeds to show Enoch the creation.[2]

CFP: 2015 Faith & Knowledge Conference

By July 16, 2014

We’re pleased to announce the Fifth Biennial Faith & Knowledge Conference, to be held at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville on February 27 and 28, 2015, and to post the Call for Papers below. Please note that, unlike previous years, the conference is now officially open to LDS graduate students and early career scholars in religious studies and related academic disciplines interested in the intersections of scholarship and religious faith. Three members of this year’s committee (Rachael Givens Johnson, Joseph Stuart, and Christopher Jones) are all bloggers here at the Juvenile Instructor; please contact us if you have any questions.

_______________________

THE FIFTH BIENNIAL FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE CONFERENCE

University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA
February 27-28, 2015

Opening at the Joseph Smith Papers project

By July 11, 2014

The Joseph Smith Papers project is in search of a research assistant. See here for the full details:

Scholarly Inquiry: Dan Belnap on Ritual, Pt. 2

By Ryan T.July 10, 2014

The stirring conclusion of our conversation with Dan Belnap on ritual in Mormon Studies. For those new to the conversation, refer to Part 1.

One of the challenges faced by theorists of practice and ritual is defining precisely what these categories are and what they encompass. Do you have any opinions on the scope of Mormon ritual studies or, for that matter, on the boundaries of Mormon liturgy?

The Secret Tradition, Part 4: Evidence of a Ritual

By Steve FlemingJuly 9, 2014

Both Clement?s language in his letter to Theodore and the text of secret Mark that he cites suggest some kind of ritual. Secret Mark?s reference to waiting six days, coming at night, being naked under a linen cloth, and being taught ?the mystery of the Kingdom of God? all suggests a ritual initiation. Clement?s language also suggests a ritual including statement that secret Mark ?would, as a mystagogue, lead the hearers into the innermost sanctuary of that truth hidden by seven veils.? A mystagogue was a person who oversaw Greek mystery rites, a point I?ll discuss in a later post. Clement?s declaration that secret Mark is ?most carefully guarded? in Alexandria ?being read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries,? is a pretty explicit reference to ritual language. Clement?s statement about how Mark ?did not divulge the things not to be uttered, nor did he write down the hierophantic teaching of the Lord? also has ritual language: a hierophant was like a mystagogue.

Morton Smith, who found the document and wrote the first book about it, argued that secret Mark suggested that Jesus ?developed his spiritual gift into a technique by which he was able to ascend to the heavens and also to give others the same experience and similar spiritual powers.?

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