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Socrates and the Afterlife: A Critique of Bart Ehrman’s Time Magazine Blurb

This morning while scrolling through Yahoo’s newsfeed I came across the article “What Jesus Really Said About Heaven and Hell,” a blurb from Bart Ehrman’s new book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife. In the burb, Ehrman argues that the the popular notion notion among Christians of heaven and hell is wrong because Jesus and the Jews didn’t teach it. Instead, Ehrman argues, Jesus taught that the wicked would be totally destroyed while the righteous would be resurrected and live on earth. But Jesus and the Jews did not believe in a soul that that could live apart from the body. That was a Greek idea.

I leave aside the legitimacy of Ehrman’s argument–not surprisingly, a whole lot of people took exception in the comments–and I’ll only note that Ehrman’s idea was argued by a number of Anabaptist and other radicals in the early modern period (called psychopannychism, mortalism, or soul sleep, see N. T. Burns, Christian Mortalism from Tyldale to Milton [1972]). It’s currently taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

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Call for Manuscripts to Restoration Studies Journal

From friend-of-JI Katherine Pollock. Thanks, Katherine!

About: Restoration Studies is an annual publication combined with the Fall/Winter John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) Journal. Restoration Studies focuses on theology, religious, and cultural studies in Latter Day Saint Movements.

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Liturgical Texts: Female Ritual Healing

It is April 28th. On this day in 1842, Joseph Smith attended the meeting of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo and delivered a powerful sermon that included a revelation that women were to lay hands on the sick, anoint with oil, and bless. It just so happens that I was talking to a close friend about this a couple of days ago, and I realized that I had never written up a bit of material on the topic.

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Review: Lot Smith: Mormon Pioneer and American Frontiersman

Lot Smith: Mormon Pioneer and American Frontiersman written by Carmen R. Smith and Talana Hooper covers the life of Lot Smith and his large family including eight wives and over fifty children. The book’s subtitle Mormon Pioneer and American Frontiersman are fitting umbrella terms that acknowledge many of Lot Smith’s roles on the Mormon Colonial Frontier. This is a comprehensive examination of Smith’s life from his involvement in Utah frontier wars to his lifelong defense of and dedication to the Mormon church and leadership. Smith exhibited a  devotion to the church that propelled his military action. Known as a hero in the church during the Utah War of 1857 where he engaged in risky acts like burning the supply wagon of federal soldiers, he also served in the Union Army during the Civil War protecting and rebuilding the US telegraph lines and mail lines to guarantee open communication between Utah and the Northern US. 

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MWHIT Research Grant: Due May 1, 2020

From our friends at the Mormon Women’s History Initiative Team

We sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy, and that you have found things that bring you joy in these uncertain times. Creating a meaningful goal can be one of the best ways to invigorate life and look ahead with hope. And we have a boost to help you get there.

MWHIT is thrilled to offer two research grants annually to forward work in Mormon women’s history, one for a student and one for an independent scholar. In reviewing academic articles and books about Mormon history from 2019, we noted a serious lack of contribution from women authors. This year we would like to focus these funds to help women scholars submit their work for publication. Whether these funds are devoted to childcare to allow blocks of time to finish writing, travel for a final research trip, editing assistance to help dissolve anxiety–use these funds for whatever that last hurdle is that has been stopping you from sending your work to academic journals and presses for publication. The work of women scholars desperately needs to be shared, and that means YOU or someone you know! Forward this email to a friend who may also be interested. The deadline to apply for an MWHIT research grant is Friday, May 1, 2020. 

Click here for details on the Student Grant and here for details on the Independent Scholar grant.

Thank you to all who have supported our bazaars and other fundraising efforts to bring this goal to fruition!

A Comprehensive Exam List in Mormon History

In 2011 and 2014, our own Ben P. set out a theoretical Mormon history “canon” or “comprehensive exams list.” Here’s what he wrote in 2014: “It is designed as a template for a grad student’s theoretical comprehensive exam list (though I should again emphasize that I’d think it’d be a stupid idea for a grad student to dedicate a portion of a comprehensive exam merely to Mormonism). Thus, books need to cover a broad swath of topics, chronologies, and approaches in order to be inclusive, but they should also match a particular level of quality.”

With all of this indoor time and time to finish long-thought-of-but-not-written blog posts, I decided to try my hand at it. While Ben stuck to naming 25 books to orient one to the field, I went to 42 and wrote a list for those studying American history. I plan to write one for religious studies, but we will see what time I have to do that in future months.  

IMPORTANT: This reflects my own interests and biases. It is not definitive. If I didn’t include your book or your cousin’s best friend’s bowling coach’s book that doesn’t mean that I don’t like it. These are introductory books that set the table for future study in American history. Other titles may appear on other lists.

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Call for Contributions to the Wilson Archive at BYU Special Collections

The William A. Wilson Folklore Archive at Brigham Young University’s L. Tom Perry Special Collections is collecting the stories of Latter-day Saint missionaries who have served during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you or someone you know may be interested in sharing their story, please contact the curator, Christine Blythe at Christine_blythe [at] byu [dot] edu. The interviews will become a part of a broader collection of Latter-day Saint experiences with COVID-19. Please help us document this unique era in world and Latter-day Saint history.

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Latter-day Saints around the world gathering for conference offers perspective on what global citizenship could really mean

This post was written by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland and an historian with Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. An affordable paperback edition of her China and the True Jesus will be released next month.

On Sunday, 29 March, Russell M. Nelson, president of the 16-million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, released a video from Salt Lake City calling on church members everywhere to join in a fast “to pray for relief from the physical, emotional, and economic effects of this global pandemic.”

Some 71 years before, on 6 April 1949, members of the True Jesus Church around the world responded to the call of their leader, Wei Yisa to fast and “pray for peace.” Communist forces were advancing on the city of Nanjing, where the church headquarters was located. Shortages were severe and prices were skyrocketing.

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“Called Home”: Missionaries and Prophecy in the Latter Day Saint Tradition

By Christopher James Blythe, friend of JI and author of the forthcoming Terrible Revolution: Latter-day Saints and the American Apocalypse.    

On March 20, 2020, the First Presidency and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles announced that “substantial numbers of missionaries will likely need to be returned to their home nations to continue their service.”

The mass return of missionaries to Utah made headlines on March 22 hundreds of friends and family members piled into the Salt Lake Airport to greet their returning loved ones despite directions to maintain social distancing protocols. This was certainly an unfortunate incident but there is another conversation occurring in relation to the returning missionaries that has nothing to do with their controversial homecomings (which fortunately seem to have become more creative than dangerous since the 22^nd.) Latter-day Saints have long believed that one of the major events preceding the Second Coming will be when missionaries are “called home.” My purpose in writing this post is to provide background for a conversation many Latter-day Saints are having and many scholars have been asked to weigh in on.

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