By March 22, 2010
So when David G. was introducing his “academic friends” (his words) to his new wife at their reception, he gave her a little summation of everybody’s research. When he got to me he simply said “I can’t really explain what he does.” I know I’ve brought this predicament on myself, so to try to remedy this little problem I have, I decided to post a little write-up I did for my medieval professor.
By March 20, 2010
During General Conference this April, the Church History Library will be displaying treasures of the Library’s collection. This event will occur on Friday, 2 April from 5-9 pm and Saturday, 3 April from 12-2 pm and 4-9 pm. It will be a great foray into Church historical sources, and especially for those who will be on Temple Square for General Conference
By March 18, 2010
First, thanks to Kristine and Matt for their kind invitation to join you folks. Second thanks to all members of JI for your kind welcome.
For my first (trepidation filled) post for your august community, I want to briefly share my fresh experience having lectured this past week on Mormonism for a Harvard College undergrad course on American religious history (led by Prof. Marie Griffith, formerly of Princeton).
By March 14, 2010
Wilby, Emma. Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic. Brighton, UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2005.
The amount of scholarship on early modern witchcraft is huge, but Wilby?s book represents an interesting trend.
By March 12, 2010
Look, in lots of ways, Glenn Beck is a loon. A loon poorly informed by history, at that. But plowing through the veritable scads of secondary material on my dissertation topic (Protestant fundamentalism) has driven one particular truth pretty well home to me: there’s nothing so destructive to a piece of academic writing as a slightly concealed sneer on an author’s face. Concluding that any particular individual or group is so hopelessly drenched in wingnuttery or disappointing political positions or slavish and bewildering adherence to the blindingly goofy that they are no longer worthy of intelligent analysis is to abdicate the responsibility to understand ourselves that the humanities as a discipline lays upon us. Heck, even for activists (as opposed to scholars), to malign and snarl and taunt the representatives of a cause one finds objectionable is to make the classic mistake of treating the symptom as the disease. Which is why I was not terribly impressed with Jim Wallis’s response to Glenn Beck’s by now blaringly well covered advice to Christians: that they should investigate their faith for the dread and dire words “social justice,” (aka, “Progressivism” (Beck’s definition); aka collectiivsm; aka fascism; aka hurting puppies) and if that mark of the beast should be located, flee for the hills.
By March 11, 2010
We are tickled to hear from Sheila Taylor, who is currently finishing a doctorate in systematic theology at Graduate Theological Union. Sheila shares her journey from studying history to studying theology and reflects on what it is like to be a female scholar in a male-dominated field.
Name:
Sheila Taylor.
Education:
B.A., History, BYU; M.A., History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; MTS, Theology, University of Notre Dame; PhD candidate, Systematic Theology, Graduate Theological Union.
How did you become interested in your area (s) of expertise/specialization?
By March 9, 2010
This week is the BYU Studies 50th Anniversary Symposium. The Conference takes place on the 12-13 and there are also lectures Wed. evening, the 10th. I was originally slated to present, but will be unable to attend due to an incredible scheduling oversight on my part. See the program.
Also, for those unable to attend, there will be blog reports of each presentation accessible from the BYU Studies homepage. Buen provecho!
By March 8, 2010
An exciting event approaches. From March 22 to 27, a group of Mormon women writers (both accomplished and budding) will be traveling to universities from California to Utah. On this literary tour, they will showcase their creative work on what it means to be Mormon women in the 21st century.
By March 7, 2010
Stuart Clark. Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
So I though I’d post a summary of a few really great books I’ve read recently that I see as being useful to those studying Mormonism.
Thinking with Demons focusses on what intellectuals said about witchcraft and demons during the witch-hunt era (1400-1700). In some ways the topic is much bigger than witchcraft since demons were central to how early modern people saw the world operating generally.
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