Q&A with Terryl Givens and Matthew Grow on Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism, Part I

[We are honored that Terryl Givens and Matthew Grow have agreed to participate in this Q&A about their recent volume, Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). These questions are a composite of those solicited in a previous thread. Part I includes the first six responses; Part II, which will be posted tomorrow, includes the last six.]

1. First, let?s start with the book?s subtitle: ?The Apostle Paul of Mormonism.? One of the reasons for this descriptor, you write in the introduction, was that Pratt helped systematize and popularize Mormonism?s beliefs. Could you elaborate more on this? How has Pratt?s influence lasted long since his death, even after many of his theological tracts are forgotten?

We may not read Pratt?s tracts today, but they gave shape to many core Mormon doctrines directly and indirectly. His views on spirit birth influenced Orson, who was quoted by Young, who has been quoted by prophets and primary songs ever since. He was first to formulate many of the Articles of Faith in rough form. He boldly taught theosis six years before Joseph Smith?s King Follett sermon, and we describe other such examples in the biography. His works were considered on a par with the standard works by the 19th century church, were studied in Utah Sunday Schools generations before the Book of Mormon was, and were Mormonism?s most widely used proselytizing texts all the way into the 20th century.

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Scholarship as “Intellectual Kinship”: Richard Bushman’s Vision for the Academic Community

In order for the “Mormon Moment” (however you define it) to be successful, there must be able explicators. In the last half-dozen years, there have been few better faces of Mormonism than Richard Bushman. (See, for instance, the recent write-up here.) Whether the topic is Joseph Smith, religious fanaticism, or even the “Book of Mormon” musical, Bushman has been a go-to voice for reporters, and his insights are often poignant and insightful. He is the perfect blend of approachability, reasonable credentials (many of the highest academic awards, prestigious chair at an Ivy League institution), and brilliance. What makes him so likable in the public sphere is not just what he says, but how he says it.

Importantly, that is also one of the things that makes him so likable in academia.

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Call for Questions: Terryl Givens and Matthew Grow, Parley Parker Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism

This past week, the long-overdue biography of Parley P. Pratt was finally delivered. And boy was it delivered. Authored by two of the top stars in Mormon history, Terryl Givens (personal website here) and Matthew Grow (bio found on this page), Parley Parker Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism (New York: Oxford University Press) weighs in at 500 pages—and it could not have been one page less. In their introduction, Givens and Grow write that “the narrative of [Pratt’s] life could have formed the basis of a page-turning novel. By 1853, he had already become, after Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the most influential figure in shaping early Mormon history, culture, and theology. Pratt exerted that influence across an astounding spectrum, excelling as a missionary, explorer, hymnist, pamphleteer, autobiographer, historian, and theologian” (3-4). It would be difficult to keep a narrative of such a life to any page count!

Givens and Grow give three reasons for calling Pratt the “Apostle Paul of Mormonism.” First is the fact that Pratt’s writings “served the same function in early Mormonism” as Paul’s (or the author of Paul’s) did in early Christianity: it helped systematize and popularize the movement’s ideas (5). Second is Pratt’s Paul-like missionary career, travelling all across America, the Atlantic, and even South America. And third, “like Paul, Pratt reveled in opposition and Persecution, and in his own eyes and the beliefs of the Latter-day Saints, met a martyr’s death” (8). In total, it is a phenomenal volume, and should not only garner much praise but encourage even more dialogue. (Personally, I found chapter 12, Parley and Mrs. Pratt(s), and examination of Pratt’s family dynamics, to be one of the most compelling chapters of recent Mormon historiography.)

We’ll eventually have a full review of the book. In the meantime, we are pleased to announce that both of the book’s authors have agreed to do a Q&A post with Juvenile Instructor. Thus, we solicit your help: please provide below the questions you would like Givens and Grow to answer about their newly-released biography.

Ask away!

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BH Roberts’s Documentary History of the Church, 1903-2011: R.I.P.

There was once time when historians of LDS history were forced to rely on BH Roberts’s Documentary History of the Church—commonly known today as History of the Church (hereafter referred to as HC). Put crudely, the HC is a heavily-edited and problematic documentary history of a heavily-edited and problematic documentary history. This 7-volume series—the first volume printed in 1903—has been very significant. They are probably amongst the most read and referenced history texts read by Latter-day Saints, they are largely influential in Church curriculum (just note their presence in D&C section headers), and they have even been foundational for many scholarly monographs. This was especially the case before the Church opened up it’s numerous archival sources, as even Fawn Brodie based much of her Joseph Smith narrative on these books.

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Conference Etiquette at Mormon Symposia

The scholar/blogger Historiann (if you are a young Mormon scholar interested in academia, you should really read her blog) has a new post on the ethics of conference participating. Partly because I am lazy, and partly because I think we can generate a good discussion, I’d like to bring part of that debate over here.

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?The Cultural History of the Gold Plates?: Notes from the 2011 Bushman/Givens Seminar, Part II

Continued from Part I.

Sarah Reed, “Fantasy, Fraud, and Freud: The Uncanny Gold Plates in 19th Century Newspaper Accounts.” Sarah, a graduate student in German studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had the honor of bringing Freud to the party. Specifically, she explored the debates surrounding the Gold Plates through the lens of Freud’s “uncanny,” the idea that a thing or concept can be both familiar and foreign at the same time. Sarah examined how newspaper accounts presented Joseph Smith’s narrative—which in itself possessed many home-grown or native elements—in a way that repressed the familiar and emphasized the exotic. Attackers often contrasted JS’s message with Enlightenment ideals, thereby creating a safe distance between the Mormons and the audience. Fun stuff.

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“The Cultural History of the Gold Plates”: Notes from the 2011 Bushman/Givens Seminar, Part I

The Mormon Scholars Foundation Summer Seminar, founded by Richard Bushman and recently co-directed with Terryl Givens, has a tradition of gathering the brightest young Mormon scholars for six weeks to research, engage, and present on specific themes or periods. This year’s group was no exception. A dozen participants ranging from an undergraduate majoring in engineering to an Assistant Professor in Religious Studies (our own SC Taysom!) gathered together to explore the theme, “The Cultural History of the Gold Plates.” I had the great privilege to attend their presentations today, and what follows is my brief recap, broken into two parts.

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Quantifying Polygamy

This last week, FAIR went live with their Mormon Defense League website.[1] Among the “false claims” the website seeks to debunk concern the LDS Church’s current relationship to polygamy. In an effort to distinguish the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from polygamous groups in the western United States, the MDL emphasized that plural marriage was a limited practice that had been officially stopped over a century ago. (Including perpetuating the unfortunate rhetorical battle over the label “Mormon”–a battle of deep irony when considering our frustration of others refusing us the label “Christian.”) To answer the question of the number of Mormons who practiced polygamy, it replied that “modern estimates of LDS members practicing polygamy prior to 1904 range between 2% and 20%.” While the website does admit that it is tough to get an accurate number, and that it depends on who you count within the statistics, their final number (2% to 20%) is unfortunate in that it is not only false but misleading.

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Job Opening: Curator for the LDS Museums & Historic Sites Division

We received the following from our good friends at Historic Sites Committee. A few of us JIers (both past and present) have interned with Historic Sites and can attest to the fantastic environment, wonderful people, and important work involved in their projects.

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Purposes: The Church History Department is currently looking for candidates for the position of Historic Sites Curator in the Museums & Historic Sites Division. This individual will assist in identifying, researching, preserving, restoring, and interpreting historic sites significant to the history of the Church.

Work will include: intensive historical research, master planning, large-scale collaborative development projects, interpretive message and exhibit design, interpretive curriculum development, websites, and global outreach. Much of the Historic Sites Curator?s work will bear the imprimatur of the Church and must be of the highest quality and integrity.

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Pioneer Day, The Sweetwater Rescue, and the Role of History in Mormonism

While I generally like to challenge–if not completely burst–historical myths, both in and outside the classroom, I sincerely hesitated to write and publish this post on Pioneer Day. I don’t like being an iconoclast for iconoclasm’s sake. But in hearing the story discussed below several times over the last week (including in the ward I am currently attending, in the classroom, in the Ensign, and even on the internet), I thought this was an issue that needed to be addressed. Thus, I hope that the discussion is more sophisticated than merely degenerating into “average Mormons don’t know diddley squat about history.” That would, indeed, be missing the point.

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