By ChristopherOctober 26, 2009
It has now been two years since that fateful day at J-Dawgs in Provo, Utah, where a group of four BYU students collectively decided to start a blog devoted to the academic study of Mormon history. It’s been an enjoyable couple of years, and the JI has grown—both in terms of readership and in the number of bloggers. We have also spread out. No longer limited to Provo, only two of our bloggers remain year-round residents of the Beehive State (and they will each very likely be on their way out within the next year).[1]
We wanted to take the time, though, to re-introduce ourselves and catch up anyone interested on our current activities, favorite JI posts, etc. So, without further ado:
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By SC TaysomOctober 25, 2009
I read lots of Reformation sermons for my forthcoming book, but I had no way to use this extract from Heber C. Kimball’s 9 November 1856 address. I found it so wonderfully strange that I felt compelled to share it.
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By Ryan T.October 20, 2009
As one of the assigned texts for my course this quarter in ?Christianity and Slavery in America, 1619-1865?, I?ve engaged David Brion Davis? latest work on American slavery, Inhuman Bondage. [1] Davis, for those unacquainted with the scholarship on American slavery, has held a prominent place in groundbreaking discussion in the field for many years. This latest work presents something of synthesis of the most recent relevant scholarship in a sweeping effort to see American slavery as part of a global practice and, most especially, to articulate its transatlantic contexts.
A small part of Davis? purpose (and a central component of the course in general) is to understand how the practice and ideology of slavery became integrated to Christianity, and to understand the way it influenced both the development of Christian theology and the course of Christian practice. Although Davis? work does not have a particularly religious orientation (he seems, here at least, to focus on the secular social), his work is comprehensive enough to give a summary overview of slavery in Christian thought.
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By Jared TOctober 14, 2009
The latest UHQ came recently. There’s not a lot of overtly Mormon content, but most of the articles do look interesting. From the “In This Issue” section:
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By Jared TOctober 13, 2009
I noticed that I never got to putting up the run down on this issue. In the interest of doing it, I will need to be brief and only comment more on items dealing directly with Mormon history.
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By ChristopherOctober 12, 2009
It is easy, as a historian, to get caught up in your efforts to prove a point. This is especially true for graduate students, who seemingly have to strive to make a unique contribution to their chosen field. In sorting and sifting through evidence found in sometimes obscure primary source material, I often find myself straining to relate it to larger issues; issues that others will care about, issues that will change the way the field approaches a particular subject.
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By ChristopherOctober 7, 2009
Adam Reilly of the Boston Phoenix has written an article (“Latter day Taint: How Glenn Beck is driven by Mormonism ? and why his fellow faithful (including Mitt Romney) should be worried”) further teasing out the relationship between Glenn Beck’s politics and Mormonism (following up what was originally posted here at the JI and more recently, Alexander Zaitchik’s take on Cleon Skousen and Glenn Beck at Salon).
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By ChristopherOctober 7, 2009
Robert Orsi. The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950, Second Edition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002 (original edition 1985). xlix + 287 pp.
I recently finished reading Robert Orsi’s 1985 classic, The Madonna of 115th Street, for a readings course on religion, immigration, and transnationalism. Throughout it, I considered some of the possibilities such an approach to Mormonism might yield. What follows is a review of the book (for those who haven’t read it), and then some of my meandering thoughts on how a similar approach might be useful in studying various aspects of the Mormon experience. I apologize for the length of this post, and encourage any so inclined to simply skim (or skip, if you’re already familiar with Orsi’s book) the post and skip to the final few paragraphs dealing with Mormonism.
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By ElizabethOctober 4, 2009
Two brief notes on Elder Scott’s Saturday morning talk. I was grateful for his denunciation of pornography. Viewing pornography has profound personal theological implications, as Elder Scott notes. It “degrades the mind and heart,” which directly influences our ability to feel the Spirit.
However, he did not adequately complete the central theological argument,
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By Jared TSeptember 29, 2009
This was announced last week, and I thought I’d post this as a reminder. It should be a great time.
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