Two Awesome Books on Magic (or the lack thereof)

Randall Styers. Making Magic: Religion, Magic, and Science in the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Naomi Janowitz. Magic in the Roman World: Pagans, Jews and Christians. London: Routledge, 2001.

Syters begins his book with a quote from Bruno Latour: “Do not trust those who analyze magic. They are usually magicians in search of revenge.” The Pasteurization of France, (Harvard 1988), 212. I’m not sure what that then says about Styers or myself, but fun to think about nonetheless.

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Call For Papers: Mormonism in Cultural Context, in Honor of Richard Bushman’s 80th Birthday

CALL FOR PAPERS

For a conference on

“Mormonism in Cultural Context?

The friends and former students of Professor Richard Lyman Bushman invite submissions for a conference, on the occasion of his 80^th birthday, to be held June 18, 2011, at the Springville Art Museum in Springville, Utah.

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?The Mystery of Iniquity?: John Wesley?s View of the Apostasy

Continuing on this theme, I wanted to give a little summary of John Wesley?s view of the apostasy. Wesley, whose Methodist movement was highly influential on Mormonism, was very interested in ?the mystery of iniquity? or how Christianity had become corrupted. His speech by that name covers his views on the issue (Wesley?s Works vol. 3, Sermon 61) and offers additional, useful ways to look at the apostasy.

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Blair’s notes on the 2010 Arrington Lecture

For those of you like me who reside outside of the Mormon corridor and were unable to make it to Logan for last night’s annual Leonard J. Arrington lecture, head on over to Life on Gold Plates for Blair Hodges’s notes on the presentation from Susan Arrington Madsen and Carl Arrington. Here’s a preview to entice you:

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The “Complete” Discourses of Brigham Young is Out of Print

Innocent III and the Papal Monarchy: Church and State in the Middle Ages

Continuing my theme of rethinking our metanarrative of apostasy to resotration, I wanted to talk a little more about the Middle Ages.

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Welcome, Max

We’re pleased to announce that Max Mueller has agreed to join the permanent cast of the Juvenile Instructor. His name shall soon materialize on the sidebar. Again, with new and improved plaudits and laud, his bio:

Max Perry Mueller is a PhD candidate in American religious history at Harvard University, focusing on nineteenth century Mormonism and African American religious history. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School (M.T.S.) and Carleton College. His current research project involves early black Mormon pioneers to Salt Lake. He is excited to find interlocutors on all things Mormon, especially issues of race in the Restored Church (to which, quoting Booker T. Washington following his own 1913 visit to Utah, he has ?not yet converted?).

Mormonism as hierarchical and democratic–requesting help with sources!

In preparation for a dissertation prospectus on race in Mormon history, I’m working on a project that takes a look at a particular late-nineteenth century relief society. I’m hoping to study how members of this society access and practice power. My understanding of Mormonism’s power structures (and by “power structures” I intend both ecclesiastical power structures and more theoretical, Foucault-inspired understanding of the term) is that power is distributed mostly vertically (through the hierarchy) but also horizontally (through the “universal” priesthood). Thus, put overly simply there exists a tension (even a dialectic) between Mormonism as a democratic organization and a hierarchical one. A perfect example of this is the ritual sustaining of the new Church president, with each successive rung of the church hierarchy rising to stand as a symbol of their support for his elevation (from the Quorum of the Twelve all the way down to the entire Church community). Yes, ostensibly each member has a say but each vote is not equal.

This is obviously complicated for a women who do not have direct access to the power of the priesthood. My understanding so far of this particular relief society (and something that is common–at least this non-Mormon thinks it is–throughout Mormonism) is that these women derive their relative political standing in the women’s community through their husbands’  relative standing within the hierarchy (i.e. it’s easier for a bishop’s wife to become a local rs president). This precedent of course is set at the top with Emma Hale Smith being the first RS president and Eliza R. Snow, then Zina D. H. Young etc.

My questions for the JI community are:

1. Am I right about the Relief Society, that the wives of high ranking men have an easier time being set apart for leadership office? (This isn’t a uniquely Mormon thing of course…Hillary Clinton’s elevation was at least facilitated by her husband’s place in the White House). I’m more curious if you all know of this being true in the nineteenth century than more recently, and if so if you could point me to some research on this.

2. And more importantly, do we know of any good sources that take up this idea of the Church existing as both a hierarchy and democracy (Has anyone taken up the question of “sustaining” votes for the leadership at General Conference or in local communities as an example of practicing “democracy”? )? Any good theoretical work on Mormonism’s hierarchy in general?

Any thoughts would help!

The 16th Annual Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture–and The Arrington Award

Let me just say, I’m VERY excited to hear more about what sounds like an incredible personal record.

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Spend An Evening With An Author at Benchmark Books–James V. D’Arc, When Hollywood Came to Town: A History of Moviemaking in Utah

For any who may be interested–

BENCHMARK BOOKS

3269 So. Main Street, Suite 250

Salt Lake City, UT  84115

Phone: 800-486-3112, (801) 486-3111

Email: benchmarkbooks@integra.net

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