By April 22, 2011
The end of the semester typically means a dearth of posts here at JI, as many of us are busy with exams, term papers, and other end-of-the-year activities. However, there is, as usual, no dearth of Mormon studies news, so consider this a catch-all of recent updates that deserve attention. And please feel free to add more in the comments.
By April 19, 2011
Historian/Documentary Editor, Joseph Smith Papers
Job Description
The Joseph Smith Papers seeks a full-time historian/documentary editor with the appropriate
academic training, research and writing skills to edit Joseph Smith?s papers. The Joseph
Smith Papers is producing a comprehensive edition of Smith?s documents featuring complete
and accurate transcripts with both textual and contextual annotation. The scope of the project
includes Smith?s correspondence, revelations, journals, historical writings, sermons, legal papers,
and other documents. Besides providing the most comprehensive record of early Latter-day
Saint history they will also provide insight into the broader religious landscape of the early
American republic.
Duties will include document analysis (research regarding textual and documentary intention,
production, transmission, and reception); composition of source notes and historical
introductions; writing of annotation to provide appropriate context and to clarify or explain
passages that are unclear or challenging; regular participation in team meetings and project
committees; and professional development.
Qualifications
PhD or doctoral candidate in history, religious studies, or related discipline. Experience in
one or more of the following areas is desirable: documentary editing, archival management,
antebellum American history, American religious history, early Mormon history. Demonstration
of excellent writing and research skills required. As the highest professional standards of
documentary editing are expected of the position, including a rigorous production schedule,
the applicant must exhibit attention to detail, efficiency, flexibility, good interpersonal
communications, and the ability to work in an academic environment that requires personal
initiative and collaborative competence. Competitive salary based on experience.
Please send letter of application, vita, writing sample, and three letters of recommendation to
Joseph Smith Papers Search, c/o Viola Knecht, Church History Library, 15 E. North Temple St.,
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-1600. Applicants must also complete on-line application found at
www.ldschurch.jobs, posting 61884. Applications due by May 20.
By April 16, 2011
Historian/Writer, Church History Department
Purpose and Responsibilities
The Church History Department announces an opening for a historian/writer with an emphasis on women?s history within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Duties will include researching and writing, in collaboration with others, documentary and narrative histories on the experience of Latter-day Saint women.
Qualifications
PhD (or doctoral candidate) in history, religious studies, or related discipline, with demonstrated competence in women?s history. Excellent writing skills and the ability to work in an academic environment that requires personal initiative and collaborative competence. Professional and personal integrity required to maintain the trust and confidence of professional colleagues, department supervisors, and archivists working in other public and private repositories. Must be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, currently temple worthy.
Please send letter of application, vita, writing sample, and three letters of recommendation to Women?s History Search, c/o Viola Knecht, Church History Library, 15 E. North Temple St., Salt Lake City, UT 84150-1600. Applicants must also complete on-line application found at www.ldschurch.jobs, posting 61660. Applications due by May 20.
By April 11, 2011
Adolf von Harnock asserted the famous paradigm that early Christianity was corrupted by Greek philosophy. He pointed to the Gnostics as the extreme form of that corruption but asserted that Christianity as a whole was tainted. The way he described the effects of Plato on Christianity would have been (and indeed was) appealing to Mormons.
By April 11, 2011
Every once and a while I?ll read a book or article that in no way deals with Mormon history but still either sheds light on Mormonism?s cultural surroundings or demonstrates a methodological approach that may be useful for Mormon studies. (For instance, an example of the former is here, and an example of the latter is here.) In Eran Shaley?s ??A Republic Amidst the Stars?: Political Astronomy and the Intellectual Origins of the Stars and Stripes,? published in the most recent issue of Journal of the Early Republic, I found an example of both.[1]
By April 7, 2011
Kris W. contributed to our Women’s History at JI series last month, and we liked her post so well we asked her to be a permanent contributor. As stated on the other post, Kris has a M.A. in History from The University of Western Ontario and she has co-authored three articles with Jonathan Stapley on Mormon healing rituals. An emeritus permablogger at BCC, Kris brings much needed expertise in healing rituals, women, gender, and material religion. Please join us in welcoming Kris!
By April 1, 2011
Publications Internship-Church History Department
The Church History Department announces an opening for an internship during summer 2011 in the Publications Division. This will be a full time temporary position beginning in May.
Duties will involve research in nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint history and assisting the director of publications.
Qualifications:
Bachelor?s degree in history, religious studies, or related discipline, with preference given to master?s or doctoral students. In addition, the candidate should possess excellent writing and research skills as well as the ability to work in an academic environment that requires personal initiative and collaborative competence. Please attach your vita and a writing sample with your application.
To apply:
Click on this link, go to ?browse jobs,? sign in with your LDS Account number, and fill out the on-line application.
By March 31, 2011
This wraps up our un-official series for Women’s History Month here at JI. Thanks to all the contributors and readers for their comments! –David G.
Throughout the history of Christianity, prophets and revelators have overwhelmingly been women. Though few such figures are found in the scriptures, David Potter argues that the very act of canonization is a routinization of charisma and a suppression of female prophecy. ?In the primary canon,” argues Potter “accepted prophets had to look like the authority figures of the church: they had to be men; they also had to be dead so that they could not confuse the situation by offering their own views on what it was that they were saying. In this, the early church was blessed by its Jewish heritage, from which it inherited the idea of sacred canon, male prophecy, and prophetic interpretation through the exegesis of texts.? [1]
By March 30, 2011
Cynthia has a Ph.D. in Computer Science (2009). She currently works as an independent researcher on projects in Computer Science pedagogy, and occasionally teaches undergraduate courses. She blogs about Mormon life and its intersections with pop culture and feminist issues at ByCommonConsent.
By March 29, 2011
Todd Compton’s name should be familiar to most serious students of Mormon history. For those unfamiliar with his work, see here.
While my book In Sacred Loneliness: the Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Signature 1997) looks carefully at Joseph Smith’s plural wives in Nauvoo, most of the book deals with their lives before and after their marriage to Joseph. Many themes emerged as I wrote those biographies–the experience of living in polygamy in Utah, feminine sisterhood, feminine ritual administration (a theme recently treated in Jonathan Stapley and Kristine Wright’s magnificent paper in the latest Journal of Mormon History), widowhood, mother-daughter relationships, mother-son relationships. In this post I would like to look at one theme from In Sacred Loneliness that really haunted me: loss of a child or children.
© 2026 – Juvenile Instructor
Recent Comments
Mark Staker on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Jenny was always generous in sharing her knowledge. She was not only an exceptional educator (who also taught her colleagues along the way), but she…”
Gary Bergera on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Jenny's great. Thanks for posting this.”
Kathy Cardon on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “I worked in the Church's Historical department when Jenny was in the Museum. I always enjoyed our interactions. Reading this article has been a real…”
Don Tate on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “Very well done and richly deserved! I am most proud of Jenny and how far she has come with her life, her scholarship, and her…”
Ben P on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “My favorite former boss and respected current historian!”
Hannah J on Legacies in Mormon Studies: “I really enjoyed this! Going to be thinking about playing the long game for a while. Thanks Amy and Jenny.”