$10 Virtual Tour of the Kirtland Temple

Don’t overthink this. Spend $10. Help keep the temple open to the public. Learn a lot. Give more if you can.

https://www.kirtlandtemple.org/onlinetour

White temple clothes and not asking obvious questions

My mom has been reading Saints, volume 2. And as we are wont, she called me with a fun fact. She had read that Wilford Woodruff was the first person to wear white clothing to officiate in at the temple [n1]. I responded that indeed, not only that but it was a suit made of deer skin. My mom was somewhat incredulous.

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Brigham Young’s Birthday Song, 1876

I found this in the Journal of Charles L. Walker. I hope that others will point me to Latter-day Saint songs we haven’t heard before.

JOURNAL: St. George–June 1st. Dry and warm. Went with the choir to Pres. Young’s house to pay our respects on this anniverary of his birthday. The choir sand a song on teh north porch and were then invited into the hall and theer sang several songs appropriate to the occasion. The following one I composed for the choir, who did credit to it by the animated style in which they sang.

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Communal Studies Association: Virtual Conference

Friend of JI Matt Grow passed this on to us. Dr. Grow is the President of the Communal Studies Association for 2020. Here is a LINK to the original.

Dear Communal Studies Association Members,

The CSA board met this past week to consider how best to hold a conference this fall. Given the uncertain situation with the COVID-19 pandemic—including the potential health challenges of traveling and meeting together, as well as budget cuts and travel restrictions at many institutions—we decided that it would be best to hold a “virtual” conference. Our conference will occur on the same dates, October 1-3, and have the same theme, “Foundations and Futures.” But rather than meet at the Historic Ephrata Cloister in Pennsylvania, we will meet on-line to hear the latest scholarship and perspectives in the field of communal studies.

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MHA’s 2020 Conference Goes Digital, or, Two Reasons to Invest in an MHA Membership

Members of the Mormon History Association received an email in the past few days about the digital conference the organization will offer from June 6-12, 2020 (some presentations will be on the website for longer). There is no registration cost for MHA members; MHA membership is the only requirement for participation. You will receive a password to log in to mormonhistoryassociation.org to view the programming.

As conference co-chairs, Anne Berryhill and I have been blown away by how many people are anxious to help MHA put together programming for a digital conference. Teamwork, truly, makes the dream work. You can see the organization’s email HERE (LINK). The program is also available at the bottom of this post.

The only cost for the 2020 conference is membership in MHA. Digital membership is only $40, and student memberships are only $35, though if you’re like me, you’d prefer to have a physical copy of the journal ($70). You can join HERE. Here are two reasons you should join MHA for 2020 (and beyond!):

1. Investment in MHA is an investment in the academic study of Mormon history.

Frankly, these are tough economic times. I know that and live that, and the academic job markets I’m entering this fall bear witness to this reality. My $70 is fair and reasonable for access to the Journal of Mormon History and membership in MHA. It’s also my small way of saying, “I want MHA and Mormon history to survive and thrive.” If you’ve let your membership lapse, this would be a great time to re-join. Friends at first are friends again at last, etc.  

Please renew your commitment to the academic study of Mormon history. Or, if you prefer, Latter-day Saint and Mormon history. I am an academic because of the skills I learned researching Mormonism and presenting at MHA. Every student, scholar, and consumer of Mormon history deserves the same opportunity that I and hundreds of others have had because of their participation in MHA.

• MHA will make decisions on digital programming on future conferences based upon how 2020 goes.

If MHA 2020 goes well as a digital conference, it gives the organization the go-ahead to think about how we can have digital offerings at every conference. For those who face adverse health conditions, have economic constraints, or other reasons they cannot travel, this provides an option to participate online.

You may think to yourself, “I attend MHA every year, what does it matter to me if there are online offerings?”

I don’t think that digital programming will never replace face-to-face meetings. But, frankly, MHA members like me can examine our good fortune that institutions sponsor our travel or that we can find odd jobs to pay for travel, find friends to lodge with and scrimp to be able to pay for meals at conferences. Money, far too often, keeps people from participating at MHA. Digital programming allows more people to participate. More participation means more and better scholarship.

If we aren’t accessible to our membership and can’t allow folks who don’t have institutional affiliations or independent wealth to participate in MHA, then MHA will actively suffer for it. YOU can make a difference in making things better for all the many scholars and enthusiasts MHA hopes to reach by joining MHA. As an academic non-profit, digital options must make financial sense. If more folks join, the 2021 co-chairs can go to the Board and ask for the flexibility and funds to provide more content for MHA’s members.

So please. Join now. Support the academic study of Mormon history. Help MHA make history by pulling off a digital conference that is economically viable.

MHA Enrollment LINK

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

Job Ad: LDS Church History Library

Church History Consultant Assistant (Contract Employee)  

ORIGINAL LINK

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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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