By March 20, 2010
During General Conference this April, the Church History Library will be displaying treasures of the Library’s collection. This event will occur on Friday, 2 April from 5-9 pm and Saturday, 3 April from 12-2 pm and 4-9 pm. It will be a great foray into Church historical sources, and especially for those who will be on Temple Square for General Conference
By March 18, 2010
First, thanks to Kristine and Matt for their kind invitation to join you folks. Second thanks to all members of JI for your kind welcome.
For my first (trepidation filled) post for your august community, I want to briefly share my fresh experience having lectured this past week on Mormonism for a Harvard College undergrad course on American religious history (led by Prof. Marie Griffith, formerly of Princeton).
By March 11, 2010
We are tickled to hear from Sheila Taylor, who is currently finishing a doctorate in systematic theology at Graduate Theological Union. Sheila shares her journey from studying history to studying theology and reflects on what it is like to be a female scholar in a male-dominated field.
Name:
Sheila Taylor.
Education:
B.A., History, BYU; M.A., History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; MTS, Theology, University of Notre Dame; PhD candidate, Systematic Theology, Graduate Theological Union.
How did you become interested in your area (s) of expertise/specialization?
By March 9, 2010
This week is the BYU Studies 50th Anniversary Symposium. The Conference takes place on the 12-13 and there are also lectures Wed. evening, the 10th. I was originally slated to present, but will be unable to attend due to an incredible scheduling oversight on my part. See the program.
Also, for those unable to attend, there will be blog reports of each presentation accessible from the BYU Studies homepage. Buen provecho!
By March 8, 2010
An exciting event approaches. From March 22 to 27, a group of Mormon women writers (both accomplished and budding) will be traveling to universities from California to Utah. On this literary tour, they will showcase their creative work on what it means to be Mormon women in the 21st century.
By March 7, 2010
BYU Studies 48:4 (2009)
This issue, recently arrived, is a special issue on Thomas L. Kane and the Mormons, 1846-1883 and is edited by David J. Whittaker. From the preface and the BYU Studies website:
By March 2, 2010
Editors of the SSRC (Social Science Research Council) blog The Immanent Frame have produced a report on the blogosphere and religion. It is presented with this introduction:
Blogs have given occasion to a whole new set of conversations about religion in public life. They represent a tremendous opportunity for publication, discussion, cross-fertilization, and critique of a kind never seen before. In principle, at least, the Internet offers an opportunity to break down old barriers and engender new communities. While the promise is vast, the actuality is only what those taking part happen to make of it.
This report surveys nearly 100 of the most influential blogs that contribute to an online discussion about religion in the public sphere and the academy. It places this religion blogosphere in the context of the blogosphere as a whole, maps out its contours, and presents the voices of some of the bloggers themselves.
Alas, by some oversight the Juvenile Instructor was not among the 100 “most influential blogs” surveyed, but what might the survey imply for the presence of Mormonism in online presentation and dialogue? How does the digital engagement of Mormonism and Mormon history line up with that of that other aspects of religion, from Catholic gossip to church-state activism? Interested parties can investigate here.
By February 28, 2010
We’re pleased to welcome a distinguished and honorable new guest blogger to the fold. Put your hands together for Max.
Max Perry Mueller is a PhD candidate in American religious history at Harvard University, focusing on nineteenth century Mormonism and African American religious history. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School (M.T.S.) and Carleton College. His current research project involves early black Mormon pioneers to Salt Lake. He is excited to find interlocutors on all things Mormon, especially issues of race in the Restored Church (to which, quoting Booker T. Washington following his own 1913 visit to Utah, he has “not yet converted”).
By February 26, 2010
As always, this is not a transcript, but my own notes, typed as fast as I can, edited, and reformulated for clarity. I will have notes forthcoming this weekend from five other presentations: Casey Griffiths, “Joseph F. Merrill and the Transformation of the Church Educational System”; John P. Livingston on “N. Eldon Tanner and LDS Church Administration”; Matthew Heiss, “The Annual History: The Origins of Local Unit Record Keeping”; William G. Hartley & Theodore Moore, “Our Churches and Hoes Shall Be Beautiful: The LDS Church’s beautification movement, 1938-47”; and Mark L. Grover, “The Beginning of the Church Construction Program in South America.” In addition, BHodges will have notes from a number of the presentations he attended (different from mine–we tired to coordinate on this) at his blog, Life on Gold Plates.
By February 26, 2010
For a recent project, I was doing some research and came across a brief summary of Elijah Abel, a man who has fascinated me since I first read about him a few years ago. As most of you already know, Abel was a close friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith who received the partial endowment in the Kirtland Temple and was ordained a Seventy during the Prophet’s time. He served several missions, returning from his last mission immediately previous to his death in Salt Lake on 25 December 1884 (you can check out his obituary here). There’s been a fair amount of research done on Elijah Abel and his life, but as I was reading an article about the new grave marker that the Church had placed on his grave in 2002, I came across someone I had not heard of before: Mary Ann Abel.
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