Global Mormon Studies 2024 Conference (English, Español, Português)

“Go Thy Way”

Mexico City, Mexico; 23rd-25th May 2024

From friend-of-JI Valeska Griswold:

 Registrations close May 1^st due to requirements from the venue as the venues are government buildings and we have to submit a list of participants to them and this will also remove any entrance fees at those locations.

The tours will meet at 5:30 am and return around 9 pm on May 26th. The meeting location is TBD. Those who signed up for the tour on the registration form will get meeting details emailed directly to them in the next week or so.

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Job Ad: Assistant Director, Center for Family History and Genealogy (BYU)

LINK TO AD HERE

MUST HAVE GENEALOGICAL CREDENTIAL

Assistant Director, Center for Family History and Genealogy (CFHG)

The Center for Family History and Genealogy (CFHG) provides both free quality online research and resources for public use as well as extraordinary mentored-learning experiences for students learning the science and methods of family history research. We are now seeking an enthusiastic and dedicated Assistant Director to collaborate with the Center director and play a vital role in student mentoring, center projects, and community outreach. Your commitment to the Center’s mission and your ability to foster excellence will contribute greatly to the experience of our students and make a difference in the important area of family history.

What you’ll do in this position: 

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Symbola Salvatoris: Rethinking Devotional Art

We welcome this guest post from Jenny Champoux, Director of the Book of Mormon Art Catalog. You can see much of the work discussed here at https://meganknoblochgeilman.com/about.

A recent insightful article highlighted Megan Knobloch Geilman’s artwork as epitomizing a movement the author labeled “Weird Mormon Art.”^[1] Geilman, while fully embracing the strangeness of her art, prefers the term “theological realism.” Her phrase nicely evokes the literary and art style of magical realism, which places fantastical objects or events in a real-world setting. Yet, an important distinction must be made because although Geilman’s work relies on meticulously arranged quotidian objects to create theologically rich scenes, there is nothing fantastic about it. While much of “Weird Mormon Art” is characterized by a kind of tongue-in-cheek playfulness, Geilman’s art is gravely serious. Her work is not peculiar simply for the sake of quirkiness or for anti-status-quo positioning, but instead strives for something more.

Geilman tackles the most fundamental human questions head-on. Her art is informed, questioning, and thoughtful—and always deeply devotional. In this vein, her Symbola Salvatoris series considers the relationship between human beings and God. Each of the eight pieces not only includes a symbol of the Savior but also asks viewers to consider how they can come to know God through their own experiences and devotional practice.

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LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY & DIVINE FINITUDE: SCRIPTURE, REVELATION, THE PROBLEM OF EVIL & SOCIAL JUSTICE

Register at this link

The Latter-day Saint tradition maintains a finite conception of God that challenges key tenets of classical Christian theism. God is understood to have a literal body of flesh and bone (D&C 130:22) and to relate to human beings in exceptionally passable and interactive ways (Jacob 5:7 & Moses 7:29). God is said to have created human beings in the divine likeness such that it is possible for humanity to become divine (Moses 1:39). God’s design for humanity is to create the conditions for spiritual growth and to labor with them toward the glorification of both (Jacob 5:72). This conference will explore divine finitude in the Latter-day Saint tradition and seeks to examine and build on the theological writings of thinkers such as B. H. Roberts, David Paulsen, Truman Madsen, Eugene England, Lowell Bennion, Sterling McMurrin, Margaret Toscano, and Fiona & Terryl Givens, among others.  

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Study and Faith, 4: Adjusting Beliefs

I had an experience on my mission of feeling like one of our biblical proof texts got called into question, praying about it, and then feeling like I came to a larger understanding of that particular concept. I can’t remember the exact details, but I did find my take away orienting. What was wrong, I felt, was my more limited understanding of a certain point. The concept still worked with a greater more complex understanding, and I needed to be open to that larger view.

I tried to apply that procedure in my decades of historical study: be open to what the data suggests and then make adjustments to my believing framework based on what I’d learned. I tried to avoid holding doggedly to preconceived notions and insist the data fit those.

Over time, made quite a few adjustments to my beliefs, and though some confusion at times, always felt like I would come around to the believer’s position.

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Call for Applicants: Church History Department Research Grants

The Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
invites applications for grants to conduct research in its archival, art, and artifact
collections in Salt Lake City, Utah. These grants are intended to offset travel and
research expenses for performing research at the Church History Library and/or
Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah. We hope the grants will stimulate the examination of
underrepresented groups and topics in Latter-day Saint history, such as women, youth,
children, individuals outside the United States, immigrant groups, the globalization of
the Church, and twentieth and twenty-first century history. We encourage all scholars
who are interested in Latter-day Saint history, Latter-day Saint art history, or Latter-day
Saint studies to apply, regardless of their affiliation with the Church or previous
experience in researching Latter-day Saint history.

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