JWHA 2011 Call For Papers

2011 JWHA Annual Meeting Call for Papers

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The Lamanite “Great Reversal”: A Reception History of 3 Nephi 20:15-16*

Last Columbus Day, I wrote a post on Mark Ashurst-McGee’s dissertation and the radical and subversive nature of the Book of Mormon.

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Methodism, Mormonism, and the Atlantic World

I recently opined on the benefits of situating the rise of Mormonism within the larger historical context of the (late) early modern Atlantic world. I would like now to briefly outline one example of what such an approach might look like. 

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Announcement: 2011 Mormon History Association Awards

The Mormon History Association is pleased to announce the following award competitions, including the new Silver Award for Mormon Women’s History. Submissions for each category must be received by February 15, 2011 at the respective email addresses indicated below.

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“One especially dramatic example”: Mormonism and Religion in the Atlantic World

I recently finished reading Protestant Empire, Carla Pestana’s rich survey of the role religion played in the establishment and development of the British Atlantic world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

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[Updated] Recently Published and Forthcoming Books in Mormon History, 2010 Edition

*Updates in comments 7, 11, 25, 27, 30 and 32. Also, in the Signature Books section I’ve added anticipated release dates for forthcoming publications provided by the publisher.*

Last year I put together, with help from a number of publishers, booksellers, and friends, a list of forthcoming and recently published books on Mormon history.  Most of those books highlighted last year have indeed found a place on bookshelves, so it?s about time to do it again.  There are some exciting books that have recently come off the press and which are still forthcoming. Ben did a good job last week of mentioning some highlights from recent publications, so I’m going a bit light on the “recently published” aspect of this list. Generally speaking, the books that were on last years list and have been published I will not list here.  As always, I?m sure I missed some titles, so if you know of others or have heard rumors of other forthcoming books/projects, please leave a comment and I?ll add it to the list.

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Some Thoughts on the Mormon Kingdom of God, circa 1840s

[As a heads-up, this post does not attempt to make any claims or arguments. It’s just a few half-baked thoughts concerning early Mormon notions of the Kingdom of God and how it related to Americanism, specifically during the 1840s. I hope it generates some discussion–or, at least–encourages some thought on what I think may be an under-utilized approach to early Mormon history.]

It’s almost considered a common trope nowadays to describe Mormonism as “the quintessential American religion”–or something in those regards. Harold Bloom may be most famous for recently making such a claim, but the sentiment has been around a long time. An American-born prophet, an American-located Garden of Eden, a canonized revelation extolling the American Constitution, an American-centered headquarters–you get the idea. The question of how Mormons in the nineteenth century understood their relationship with the United States has received a lot of attention in recent decades, with good reason. It is a fascinating story of how Mormons both rejected America—by becoming fed up with persecution and mobocracy and moving West—while still holding the pure “ideal” of America and merely equating their contemporary nation as experiencing an apostasy akin to modern-day Christianity. Mormon scriptures both placed America the location at the center of future divine events while also prophesying the downfall of America the government as a necessary apocalyptic sign paving the way for the millennium. The paradoxical positioning of both rejecting and embracing the American image was at the center of the Mormon sense of self during the late-Nauvoo and early-Utah periods.

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Wilford Woodruff’s Nauvoo Home–A Photograph

Taken summer 2010.

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Joseph Smith and the Persistence of Late Neoplatonism; Or, a Possible Source for ?Telestial?

As I mentioned in the prospectus I posted, I see both striking resemblances between Mormonism and late Neoplatonism and important influences of late Neoplatonism on the history of Christianity that need to be explored. My committee balked at linking Mormonism to late Neoplatonism and wanted further proof. So I?ve been doing some research.

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I Was Born in Sharon, Vermont

On December 23, 1805, Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont. As David observed a few years ago, Joseph asserted his identity as a New Englander in petitioning for redress for the Missouri persecutions:

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