By ChristopherFebruary 3, 2011
This is a reminder that the deadline for submitting an entry for any of the annual awards from the Mormon History Association is fast approaching (submissions for each category must be received by February 15, 2011 at the respective email addresses indicated in the linked post).
For those students out there, please do submit your work for consideration in the Juanita Brooks Undergraduate and Graduate Paper Awards—someone needs to dethrone Matt Bowman.
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By ChristopherJanuary 12, 2011
I recently opined on the benefits of situating the rise of Mormonism within the larger historical context of the (late) early modern Atlantic world. I would like now to briefly outline one example of what such an approach might look like.
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By ChristopherJanuary 11, 2011
The Mormon History Association is pleased to announce the following award competitions, including the new Silver Award for Mormon Women’s History. Submissions for each category must be received by February 15, 2011 at the respective email addresses indicated below.
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By ChristopherJanuary 10, 2011
I recently finished reading Protestant Empire, Carla Pestana’s rich survey of the role religion played in the establishment and development of the British Atlantic world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
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By ChristopherDecember 17, 2010
The Provo Tabernacle caught fire this morning at 2:45 am (Mountain Time) and is still currently up in flames. The major newspapers aren’t reporting on the fire yet, and the cause of the fire is still unknown at this point.
According to abc4.com, “Provo Fire Battalion Chief Lynn Scofield says the part of the roof has collapsed, and the fire has spread to most of the building. He says there’s a chance that the building will be a total loss.”
This makes me sick, as the Tabernacle is a really beautiful building with significant historical meaning. Construction began in 1883, and although it was not completed until 1898, the Church’s General Conference was held in the building in 1886 and 1887. Attending Stake Conference there and driving by on a daily basis stand out among the many good memories from the six years I spent living in Provo.
[I rushed to get this post up this morning before leaving the house. I see now that Ardis also posted on this early this morning at Keepapitchinin and her post contains links to the several news organizations reporting on it now.]
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 ChristopherSeptember 24, 2010
For those of you like me who reside outside of the Mormon corridor and were unable to make it to Logan for last night’s annual Leonard J. Arrington lecture, head on over to Life on Gold Plates for Blair Hodges’s notes on the presentation from Susan Arrington Madsen and Carl Arrington. Here’s a preview to entice you:
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By ChristopherAugust 29, 2010
Last year in a post here at JI, I explored the worship patterns of Latter-day Saints living in the American South at the turn of the twentieth century. I suggested that often times these ungathered Mormons, left to wade the waters of Mormonism on their own, without an ordained priesthood holder and consequently any real semblance of standard church organization and a regular meeting schedule, would often “supplement their Mormon worship by attending other denominations? worship meetings in between visits from the itinerant elders.” Some Mormons thus attended Methodist camp meetings and Baptist church services on any given Sunday, though they retained their belief in the Mormon message and their membership as Latter-day Saints.
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By ChristopherAugust 23, 2010
(This CFP was previously posted here in June. This is a reminder as the deadline quickly approaches)
Call for Papers
War and Peace in Our Time:
Mormon Perspectives
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By ChristopherAugust 13, 2010
I recently came across a comment—made in passing and surely intended as nothing more than a kind compliment—that a young graduate student, not a Latter Day Saint (in any of its denominational manifestations) whose research focuses in part on Mormonism, was “the next Jan Shipps.” Such high praise got me thinking exactly what such a statement might mean, and (while it was indeed a compliment to this graduate student) whether Mormon Studies needs or wants another Jan Shipps. Let me explain.
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