By March 30, 2009
Glenn Beck, noted right-wing political pundit and Mormon convert, has recently been dubbed “Fox News’s Mad, Apocalyptic, Tearful Rising Star” by Brian Stelter and Bill Carter of the NY Times (ht: Paul Harvey). Casting him as a conservative “revivalist in a troubled land,” the writers note that Beck’s rhetoric is often more akin to a preacher than a reporter.
By March 18, 2009
Let me begin with two disclaimers:
1) I do not want to rehash the debates regarding the (in)appropriateness or offensive nature of HBO’s recent portrayal of portions of the endowment ceremony on Big Love. Please take any comments regarding such matters elsewhere.
2) Others who participate on this blog know much more than I do about Latter-day Saint narratives of persecution. If my analysis seems oversimplified and unsophisticated, that’s probably because it is. Hopefully others with more understanding than I will offer their thoughts.
By March 11, 2009
I recently completed reading Curtis J. Evans’s excellent new book, The Burden of Black Religion. In his book, Evans examines the various ways that African American religion and religiosity has been thought of and characterized from the early 19th century through the mid-20th century.
By February 26, 2009
In an effort to perpetuate the juvenile nature of our blog, we’ve invited Ryan T., the unusually bright undergraduate who contributed a couple of insightful guest posts here recently, to blog at the JI on a more permanent basis. He has graciously accepted. Please join us in welcoming him.
By February 25, 2009
From the Religious Studies Center, and as a follow-up to an earlier post, here is the finalized schedule for the “Preserving Latter-day Saint History” symposium to be held this Friday, February 27.
By February 6, 2009
Please join us in welcoming the latest guest blogger here at the Juvenile Instructor. Ryan T. describes himself thus:
Hello Juvenile Instructor! I?m Ryan Tobler, an undergrad just winding up my degree in English/History at BYU and nursing ulcers while I wait to hear back on my applications to grad programs in religious and Transatlantic studies. My areas of interest are still crystallizing, but broadly I study British and American 18th and 19th century intellectual history (generally with a Transatlantic paradigm). More specifically I?m interested in literature and literary figures as public intellectuals, secularization, and cosmopolitanism, especially as all these bear upon religion. These issues typically put me on the more ?liberal? and learned fringe of the religion of that period: Unitarians, Universalists, and so on. I enjoy travel and languages, cross-country skiing, ?canyoneering,? and play soccer at every available opportunity.
Thanks for having me aboard.
By January 26, 2009
The Fourth Annual Brigham Young University Church History symposium will be held on Friday, February 27, 2009 in the Conference Center at Brigham Young University. The conference, sponsored by the BYU Religious Studies Center in cooperation with the Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, takes as its theme this year, “Preserving the History of the Latter-day Saints: Church Historians, the Church Historian’s Office, and the Recording and Publication of the Latter-day Saint Past.” Below is a preliminary schedule:
By January 13, 2009
I picked up the latest issue of Fides et Historia last week and was pleased to find an article by JI’s own Matt Bowman. The paper, entitled “The Crisis of Mormon Christology: History, Progress, and Protestantism, 1880-1930,” is an expansion of what Matt initially presented at the 2007 Summer Seminar, and examines “how Mormon visions of Christ changed during a period in which their experience of culture was simultaneously destructive and creative: the tumultuous years around the turn of the century, which witnessed both the destruction of polygamy (and the utopian society it represented) and a forcible reconciliation with the United States.”[1]
By December 18, 2008
James Twitchell. Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From in Your Heart to In Your Face. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. 324 pp.
James Twitchell, professor of English and Advertising at The University of Florida, explains on his website that his research interests include the effort to “interpret American culture in terms of commercialism.”
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