By ChristopherSeptember 5, 2008
The Juvenile Instructor is pleased to announce that Brett D. has agreed to allow blogging to take up even more of his time by becoming JI’s newest permablogger. His guest posts on Emma Smith’s historiographical past and future, the possibilities of 20th century Mormon history, and the Religious Class program of turn-of-century Mormonism generated insightful discussion, and we look forward to his future contributions.
Please join us in welcoming Brett at the latest addition to the Juvenile Instructor.
By Brett D.September 3, 2008
Through my work as a researcher for the Education in Zion Project at BYU, I have become acquainted with one of the lesser known auxiliaries of the Church called the Religion Class program. To date, the only substantial work on the classes was an article written by Michael Quinn for the Utah Historical Quarterly in 1975. Other authors like Thomas Alexander (Mormonism in Transition) and Scott Esplin (Education in Transition, Ph.D. Dissertation 2006) have briefly dealt with the classes, but their treatments of the subject have remained limited. Considering the fact that the Religion Classes were an important auxiliary of the Church for nearly 40 years (1890 to 1929), this whole in our history seems quite remarkable. In my research for BYU and my thesis research, I have found the classes to play an important role in transition era Mormonism and turn-of-the-century Utah. Hence, I thought I would provide you all with a brief overview of some of the important aspects of this interesting auxiliary.
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By StanAugust 21, 2008
I’ve been going through Joseph F. Smith’s letter correspondence from his first mission to Hawaii of late and have come across several references to the Mormon Reformation, which reached its zenith, according to most accounts, during 1856-1857. These letters surprised me for several reasons.
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By ChristopherAugust 14, 2008
The Juvenile Instructor is pleased to announce our latest guest blogger, Brett D. Brett describes himself as follows:
I am an MA student in History at BYU hoping to graduate in either April or August of 2009 and with plans of going on for a PhD in American history. I have worked for two years for BYU’s Education in Zion exhibit as a researcher. I am also currently working as a researcher for Ron Walker’s forthcoming biography of Brigham Young. I am writing my thesis on the progressive era elements of the Church’s educational programs from 1885 to 1935. A registered menace to society, I occupy my time watching BYU sports, particularly football.
Please join us here at the JI in welcoming Brett.
By ChristopherAugust 6, 2008
Yesterday over at Religion in U.S. History, Paul Harvey posted a map of “Leading Church Bodies, 2000,” taken from Mark Silk and Andrew Walsh’s fantastic Religion by Region series, and rhetorically asks, “Is the South still a cultural region?”
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By HeidiJuly 30, 2008
There are quite a few reasons I have not been the best of perma-bloggers here at JI during the past six months. And, I know it has caused my fellow bloggers at least a tiny bit of grief (and perhaps even full-blown frustration?), and I do apologize. I really do.
But, as I was talking to Ben at work this morning, and finding myself a bit embarrassed at yet another good-natured question about my JI sabbatical, I felt that it would be a good time to come clean. So, here’s my confession:
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By ChristopherJuly 30, 2008
In his dissertation on the popular historical consciousness of Mormons in the American West, Eric Eliason suggested that the “commemoration of the cooperative and purposeful Mormon pioneer migration has achieved a particularly well-developed form” among modern Mormons — “the July 24th Days of ’47 celebration in Salt Lake City . . . [and] similar Pioneer Day events [that] claim the public space of Main Street in over 80 Western communities.”
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By Steve FlemingJuly 27, 2008
By Steve Fleming
I spent a chunk of my time in this year’s Bushman seminar insisting that I would not make any attempts at an empirical case about the subjects I was writing on (Swedenborg and DC 76 and Joseph Smith and magic). I would simply state how I saw the issue as a believer. In fact, that’s sort of how I’ve approached my scholarship: I’ve published articles with “academic” language in academic journals (Church History, RAC) and articles with “confessional” language in confessional journals (the Religious Educator). Though the academic articles come across as more sophisticated they are easier to write since in academic journals one does not speak of absolute truth but in confessional journals one does.
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By Steve FlemingJuly 24, 2008
Stephen J. Fleming is a PhD. candidate at UC Santa Barbara in Religious Studies and a 2008 Bushman fellow. Steve received his B.A. in history from BYU and his M.A. from UC Stanislaus, also in history. He has been published in Church History and Religion and American Culture, as well as various Mormon journals. Steve has been gracious enough to share his thoughts on this year’s Bushman Seminar.
What is our obligation?
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By ChristopherJuly 23, 2008
I just received word that the next issue (47:2) of BYU Studies “will be a special issue of important documents about the Mountain Meadows Massacre, some never before seen.”
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