Call for Papers

The Fifth Annual Meeting of

The Book of Mormon Studies Association

October 7–9, 2021

Utah State University

The Book of Mormon Studies Association (BoMSA) is pleased to announce its fifth annual meeting, to be held in person on October 7–9, 2021, at Utah State University. The event is sponsored by USU’s Department of Religious Studies and with thanks to Patrick Mason, the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture.

This annual event gathers a variety of scholars invested in serious academic study of the Book of Mormon. It has no particular theme but instead invites papers on any subject related to the Book of Mormon from any viable academic angle. This year’s two plenary guests will be Terryl Givens (Maxwell Institute) and Laurie Maffly-Kipp (Washington University). We plan to begin this year’s conference on Thursday evening by participating in the Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture offered by Dr. Maffly-Kipp, who will then be involved in a special plenary session the next day at the BoMSA meeting. We anticipate that this adjustment to our traditional schedule will give attendees the opportunity to participate in the Arrington lecture while also creating space for more sociality over the course of the BoMSA conference weekend.

We therefore invite the submission of papers and proposals for inclusion in the 2021 conference program. Note that newcomers to the organization are required to submit a full paper for consideration, while those who have presented at any of the previous conferences are free to submit a proposal or a paper. Papers submitted should be no longer than 4000 words, while proposals should be between 500 and 750 words.

The submission deadline is June 1, 2021. All submissions should be sent to bookofmormonsa@gmail.com. Be sure to include “Conference Submission” in the subject line of the submission email.

We particularly encourage the participation of graduate students. To that end, BoMSA will continue to host a special lunch for graduate students in attendance, free of charge, in the hopes of creating networking opportunities.

Hotel space for the conference has already been secured at a reduced rate at the USU Campus Inn. Once acceptance letters have been sent out in June, rooms can be booked online through the “Conference” page at www.bomsa.org.

PLENARY GUESTS: Terryl Givens (Maxwell Institute) + Laurie Maffly-Kipp (Washington University)

DATE: October 7–9, 2021

LOCATION: Utah State University, Inn and Conference Center

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: June 1, 2021

SUBMISSION EMAIL: bookofmormonsa@gmail.com