By Mees TielensMay 6, 2013
While doing some background research on global Mormonism, I came across two Dialogue articles: Michael J. Cleverely’s “Mormonism on the Big Mac Standard” by and James B. Allen’s “On Becoming a Universal Church: Some Historical Perspectives.”[1] Discussing “America’s role as a catalyst in the spread of Mormonism” (Allen 19) can be tricky, but whatever conclusion you reach on that regard, it is not hard to see American terms in the transmission of the gospel. Allen describes one cultural misunderstanding,
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By Edje JeterMay 5, 2013
Music played a significant role in missionary efforts in the Southwestern States Mission. In this post I briefly list some of the ways missionaries used music.
[Also: I have divided the footnotes: letters indicate comment or explanation, numbers have only examples.]
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By Ben PMay 3, 2013
[Based on the success of previous themed months (February as Black History Month, and March as Women’s History Month), as well as the month-long series of posts on John Turner’s Brigham Young biography last October and November, we at the JI have decided to run a thematic series of posts every month. There will, of course, always be posts not related to that month’s theme, but this approach allows a more efficient stream of content and excuse to invite more guest posts. Future months include themes like “International Mormonism,” “Mormonism and Politics,” “Mormonism Post-WWII,” and even “Mormonism and Childhood.” Each month is directed by two JIers and includes most other permabloggers as well as a slew of guests. This month’s theme, led by Cristine Hutchison-Jones and yours truly, focuses on images of Mormonism both at home and abroad.]
Did someone say something about a ?Mormon Moment??
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By Edje JeterMay 2, 2013
Two weeks ago I posted an excerpt from GQ Cannon?s announcement of the decision to formally call female missionaries. Today I look at the response in The Young Woman?s Journal (YWJ). [1] The first official, female, Mormon missionary, Harriet Nye, was set apart on 1898 March 27; Inez Knight and Jennie Brimhall followed on April 1 and Cannon?s speech was on April 6. I looked for references to the call of the first sister missionaries in Volume 9 of the YWJ, which ran January to December 1898 and was edited by Susa Young Gates. [2]
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By AmandaMay 1, 2013
I first encountered Twilight when my then fourteen-year-old sister became obsessed with it. Every Facebook status she posted was about the new film that was coming out or how excited she was to read the next book series. One of my friends, who has a PhD in Women?s Studies and History and will beginning her first tenure track job in the fall, told me that she personally enjoyed the books but warned me that they had some troubling gender politics. As people have pointed out in review after review of Twilight, Bella is a weak character whose identity is bound up entirely in her relationship with Edward. She is constantly bleeding, twisted from accidents that prove that she isn?t able to take care of herself and would simply die if Edward didn?t protect her. I tried to read the books but couldn?t get past Book Two where Bella dismisses a boy who loves her and would have provided her with stability and continues to pine after Edward. Book Four is even worse: When Bella and Edward consummate their marriage, Edward is unable to contain his strength and leaves Bella covered in bruises. My sister?s response: He shouldn?t have felt bad because it wasn?t his fault.
About a week ago, I decided to look for books written by Mormon Polynesian authors.
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By Ben PApril 30, 2013
A couple months ago, BYU and the LDS Church History Department put on a fascinating conference titled, “Approaching Antiquity: Joseph Smith’s Study of the Ancient World.” Thanks to the wonders of technology, most of the presentations are now available as youtube videos, which you will find below.
While there are many papers that I strongly recommend, those given by Bushman, MacKay, Heal, Wright, Holland, Bowman, and Grey were some of the highlights for me.
(Note: in the first four sessions, the last paper of each session is combined with the panel’s responder.)
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By Edje JeterApril 28, 2013
Southwestern States missionaries carried hymn books and sang often [1] but distinguished Mormon and non-Mormon songs: ?After supper we talked, and sang them some of our songs. They in turn sang some of theirs.? [2] Missionaries also referred to ?the songs of Zion.? [3] Despite the distinction, missionaries sold hymn books—even to those unlikely to convert—and copied hymns for appreciative listeners. [4]
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By AmandaApril 26, 2013
I recently returned from my vacation to Tahiti. While I was there, I discovered a set of playing cards where each of the cards was a different person from Tahitian history from the reign of Queen Pomare. Iotete, a Tahitian chief who signed a document requesting that the French annex the islands, appears on a blue card wearing a feathered headdress and a red European-style coat. The card also shows him as being heavily tattooed and wearing a grim expression. Another card depicts Constance Gordon-Cumming, a Scottish travel writer who traveled to Tahiti in the 1870s and wrote extensively about her travels. She appears as a young woman, dressed in a stylish red hat and yellow ribbons. Although the Mormon missionaries Addison Pratt, Benjamin F. Grouard, and James Brown had their own corner (complete with facsimiles of their journals) in the Musee de Tahiti, they didn’t make the cut for the playing cards.
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By Ben PApril 23, 2013
Though the weather refuses to acknowledge it, at least here in New England, spring has arrived. Among other things, this typically means new issues from academic journals. And since we are your trusted friends and colleagues here at the JI, and we hate to see you get bogged down and fall behind the ever-proceeding deluge of Mormon historical scholarship, we have a roundup of recent articles that deserve your attention.
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By Edje JeterApril 22, 2013
In my last few posts I have looked at discourse around early female Mormon missionaries. Below is the text of ?Lady Missionaries,? published in The Young Woman’s Journal in 1904, six-and-a-half years after the first Sister Missionary was set apart. The author is Joseph W McMurrin, one of the Seven Presidents of the Seventy, and thus one of the chief administrators in the Church’s missionary program. Note, however, that only about a third of the 1,500+ words come from McMurrin; the balance are from mission presidents. Since the article quotes four of the six US mission presidents, I think the article gives a reliable snap-shot of the leadership view at the time.
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