By September 22, 2008
I recently spent some time going through nineteenth century newspaper accounts of the death of Brigham Young. One thing that I found shocking was that many of these eastern newspapers, in telling about Polygamy, wrote that Brigham had come up with the idea after he became the leader of the Church and had then attributed it to Joseph Smith.
By September 18, 2008
Last year, Peggy Fletcher Stack ran an article in the Salt Lake Tribune highlighting two important changes in the 2006 Doubleday Edition of The Book of Mormon. Those changes were discussed at length thoughout the bloggernacle. Well, it looks like there were even more changes made—over a hundred more, in fact. I have heard rumors that the latest printing of The Book of Mormon by the Church includes these changes as well, although no printings newer that those issued in 8/2007 were available in the BYU Bookstore when I checked today.
By September 9, 2008
So I decided to save my textual analysis of The Backslider for next time and write about my current experience instead.
As I said in my bio, I’m a first-year student at Yale Divinity School. And this life-move came as much of a surprise to me. I never planned to go to divinity school and even now it seems extraordinary that I am here, where Jonathan Edwards was the “Dean of Discipline” in his day and counseled against “unseasonable and evil night walkings” (what?); where there is a room in the Sterling Divinity Quadrangle called the Revised Standard Version room, not as a polite homage but as a dedication to the work that actually took place there; where chapel is not a sedate occasion but a wonderfully planned liturgical event, combining hymn traditions from around the world with group prayers and divine scripture readings and sermons.
By September 8, 2008
Over at Religion in U.S. History, Kelly Baker highlights the recently-released Guitar Praise, the Christian alternative to Activision’s hit Guitar Hero. Baker summarizes the game’s purpose, noting that
Now, folks who are offended by secular rock music can rock out, in a wholesome way, to songs by Relient K, dc talk, and Caedmons Call among others. One can groove with a plastic guitar and praise at the same time. Digital Praise wants to combine interactive media with effective worship.
By September 5, 2008
With Brett agreeing to come on full-time to the JI, we would like to announce of advent of the Juvenile Instructor’s latest guest blogger, Elizabeth. Here is her self-introduction:
By September 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 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.
By August 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.
By August 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 August 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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