By J StuartSeptember 28, 2016
“Mormonism Confronts the World”
How the LDS Church Has Responded to Developments in Science, Culture, and Religion
Brigham Young University
June 26-August 3, 2017
In the summer of 2017, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute at Brigham Young University, with support from the Mormon Scholars Foundation, will sponsor a summer seminar for graduate students on the topic, “MORMONISM CONFRONTS THE WORLD: How the LDS Church Has Responded to Developments in Science, Culture, and Religion.” The seminar will be held on the BYU campus in Provo, Utah, from June 26 to August 3, 2017. Admitted participants will receive a stipend of $3,000 in addition to a housing accommodation subsidy if needed. International participants will also receive some transportation assistance, the amount to be determined by availability of funding. (We are hoping to cover most airfares for international participants.)
Continue Reading
By B KimeSeptember 27, 2016
This is a fantastic, convincing book. It was a real pleasure to read. I think it has a few problems but I want to start with Simpson?s cogent thesis and compelling story.
Simpson?s thesis, stated baldly, is that ?modern Mormonism was born in the American university? (1?2). By American university he means the archipelago of research and graduate education institutions that emerged mainly between the upper Midwest and the Northeast after the Civil War. By modern Mormonism, he means a Mormonism with ?a genuine, passionate sense of belonging in America? (2). In some important senses, Mormons moved from outsider to insider status between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and Simpson sees the American university as the most important facilitator of that transition. Between 1867 and 1940, university settings were uniquely irenic spaces where Mormons could ?rehearse for American citizenship? and imagine themselves as both American and Mormon (2). So Simpson joins the significant historiographical minority?from Thomas O?Dea to Grant Underwood, Kathleen Flake, Steven Taysom, and recent graduates like Christopher Blythe?who have placed the makings of modern Mormonism long before and long after the 1890s.
Continue Reading
By David G.September 21, 2016
Nicholas J. Frederick is an assistant professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University. He holds a Ph.D in the History of Christianity with an emphasis in Mormon Studies from Claremont Graduate University. Nick is the author of The Bible, Mormon Scripture, and the Rhetoric of Allusivity (FDU Press, 2016). He has agreed to participate in the JI’s semi-regular series, Scholarly Inquiry, by answering questions about his book.
What led you to write The Bible, Mormon Scripture, and the Rhetoric of Allusivity?
While working on my Ph.D at Claremont Graduate University, I started getting into Intertextuality, in particular the intertextuality between the New Testament and Mormon Scripture. I was fascinated by the questions that were raised when the Book of Mormon or the D&C would quote or allude to the writings of John or Paul or Matthew.
Continue Reading
By J StuartSeptember 21, 2016
Tom Simpson visited BYU, the Tanner Humanities Center, and Sam Weller’s this week. Here are the storied tweets from his visit to the THC. Many thanks to Colleen McDannell and Bob Goldberg for making it possible!
By J StuartSeptember 20, 2016
This week, the Joseph Smith Papers Project released The Council of Fifty Minutes. These long-awaited meeting minutes cover the period of March 1844-January 1846, the last three months of Joseph Smith’s life and the twenty months thereafter. Because many readers of this blog will not be familiar with the Council of Fifty, I’ve organized this post along the following lines:
What is the Council of Fifty?
Why are the minutes so highly anticipated?
What history is contained in the papers?
Q&A from the blogger event
News and resources from the blogger event
Where to sign up for the monthly newsletter from the Joseph Smith Papers Project
Continue Reading
By J StuartSeptember 19, 2016
This year’s meetings of the Communal Studies Association will be held in Salt Lake City, UT from October 5-8, 2016. Several of the papers address Mormon topics (you can see the full program here). Hope to see many of you there!
Friday, October 5
OPENING PLENARY SESSION: “Apocalyptic Anticipations: Mormon Millenarianism in the Early Years,” Grant Underwood
Continue Reading
By David G.September 12, 2016
October 1, 2016
That’s the deadline for proposals for next year’s Mormon History Association annual conference in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s three weeks away. It is, as they say, looming.
Continue Reading
By B KimeSeptember 1, 2016
It?s been a good year for top-notch journal articles on early Mormonism. Religion and American Culture added another one to the mix this past month: ?Ordering Antinomy: An Analysis of Early Mormonism?s Priestly Offices, Councils, and Kinship? Religion and American Culture 26 (Winter 2016): 139?183, by Kathleen Flake, Bushman Chair of Mormon Studies at the University of Virginia. Flake?s article approaches a pair of perennial questions. Was early Mormonism populist? And to the extent that it was, how did its prophetic center hold?
Continue Reading
Recent Comments
Christopher on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “Blake, I get a kick out of your poor reading comprehension skills. If your comment is directed to Joseph, who posted this description, please understand that…”
Eric Nielson on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “Matt, I have signed up with a friend account, but when I try to open the file I am told that I do not have…”
Terry H on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “I mean, I know its in the link, but just curious.”
Terry H on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “Perhaps I missed something, but when and where is it?”
Matt Witten on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “This one? https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/157453”
Eric Nielson on LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY &: “I would like to read Paulsen's dissertation. Does anyone have some link or way to access it?”