Section

Miscellaneous

“Reconciliations and Reformulations”–Call for Papers

By July 21, 2008


(Just in case you didn’t already read about this here, here, or here).

CALL FOR PAPERS

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Mormon Tracting

By July 21, 2008


As I understand it, when a Mormon speaks of tracting, they mean, “to travel from door to door attempting to present a message.” The OED lists ten variations for the verb tract, none of which match the Mormon version. (The one that says “to lengthen out, prolong, protract (time)…” seems related, however.) What gives? It’s not like Mormons invented the art or are the only ones currently practicing it.

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Poll: The Pew Forum and a Personal God

By July 17, 2008


Last night, a few bloggers from the JI, along with some other friends, informally gathered for some good food (chips and Jared T.’s homemade salsa … mmm) and good conversation.

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“What an Excellent Day for an Exorcism” Part 1

By July 11, 2008


David O. McKay performed his first exorcism when he was 25. It was, he wrote in his journal, a day “long to be remembered.”

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“Theosoph[ies] and Mormonism” Part Deux: Christian Science, mainly

By July 7, 2008


Continued from Part I

Nelson begins his discussion of “occultism in general” by addressing some of the “very old ‘sciences,’ (if I may abuse this long-suffering word a little more in my dire extremity  for a generalazation)” that modern Americans knew simply as “superstition,” namely, witchcraft, necromancy, astrology, and alchemy. Labeling the first two as “black magic” and comparing them to the secret combinations of the Book of Mormon, Nelson warns

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It Does Not Die?: The Mountain Meadows Massacre

By July 1, 2008


Admin: Janiece (or JJ as we like to call her), is a PhD student at the University of Utah where her she is completing dissertation work in part on the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

In It Does Not Die, Maitreyi Devi wrote a “she said” to Mircea Elidae’s Bengal Nights, the “he said” semi-autobiographical account of his time in 1930s Calcutta and his relationship with Devi.[1] Unsurprisingly, Devi offered a very different version of events in her narrative. Academia (and even Oprah thanks to James Frey) has long debated the definition of memoir and its highly subjective nature. A comparison of It Does Not Die and Bengal Nights provides many aspects for analysis of events personally subjective and emotive while grounded in history. Can scholarship ever overcome personal opinion or reaction in highly emotionally charged historical events?

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AML at RMMLA in Reno rescue call for papers

By June 30, 2008


Bruce Jorgensen is looking for submissions for this year’s Mormon Letters session at RMMLA-a great opportunity to present at a conference, especially for anyone doing stuff in Mormon literature or film. I’ve posted Jorgensen’s CFP and submission details below:

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The Juvenile Instructor, guest starring Janiece Johnson

By June 30, 2008


We at the JI are honored to host the esteemable Janiece Johnson for the next couple of weeks.

In her own words, Janiece’s biography relevant to this blog can be measured out in “BYU, BYU, Vandy, the U,” corresponding roughly to “poli-sci, history, theology, history.”   She’s currently PhD’ing in the University of Utah’s history department and writing a dissertation that will resolve everybody’s questions about the Mountain Meadows Massacre in a satisfying and logical way.  If we are all particularly lucky, perhaps she will have something further to say about that.

Welcome, Janiece!


On Numbers, or Women Speak Too Often in General Conference

By June 30, 2008


Thank goodness for laptops and wireless internet. For this post I had to dress my young, whippersnapping self as a black stew-pot and climb onto a very high horse. Balancing a desktop would have been nigh impossible, especially with all the kettles watching. This pot is stewing a rant (with a soupçon of rave) on some basic number sense

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“Theosoph[ies] and Mormonism,” etc.

By June 28, 2008


Tradition has it that Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, co-founder of the well-known Theosophical Society, had wanted to travel to Nauvoo to see the Mormons but was unable to do so due to their expulsion from the state of Illinois shortly before she arrived in the U.S. [1]. Though such a visit unfortunately never materialized (it could have been an encounter to rival Joseph Smith’s interview with the prophet Matthias in its historical delectability), tradition also has it that she did pass through Salt Lake City in the early 1850s,

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