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!):
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lot Smith: Mormon Pioneer and American Frontiersmanwritten 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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Steve Fleming on BH Roberts on Plato: “Interesting, Jack. But just to reiterate, I think JS saw the SUPPRESSION of Platonic ideas as creating the loss of truth and not the addition.…”
Jack on BH Roberts on Plato: “Thanks for your insights--you've really got me thinking.
I can't get away from the notion that the formation of the Great and Abominable church was an…”
Steve Fleming on BH Roberts on Plato: “In the intro to DC 76 in JS's 1838 history, JS said, "From sundry revelations which had been received, it was apparent that many important…”
Jack on BH Roberts on Plato: “"I’ve argued that God’s corporality isn’t that clear in the NT, so it seems to me that asserting that claims of God’s immateriality happened AFTER…”
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”
Recent Comments
Steve Fleming on BH Roberts on Plato: “Interesting, Jack. But just to reiterate, I think JS saw the SUPPRESSION of Platonic ideas as creating the loss of truth and not the addition.…”
Jack on BH Roberts on Plato: “Thanks for your insights--you've really got me thinking. I can't get away from the notion that the formation of the Great and Abominable church was an…”
Steve Fleming on BH Roberts on Plato: “In the intro to DC 76 in JS's 1838 history, JS said, "From sundry revelations which had been received, it was apparent that many important…”
Jack on BH Roberts on Plato: “"I’ve argued that God’s corporality isn’t that clear in the NT, so it seems to me that asserting that claims of God’s immateriality happened AFTER…”
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”