By ChristopherOctober 7, 2009
Robert Orsi. The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950, Second Edition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002 (original edition 1985). xlix + 287 pp.
I recently finished reading Robert Orsi’s 1985 classic, The Madonna of 115th Street, for a readings course on religion, immigration, and transnationalism. Throughout it, I considered some of the possibilities such an approach to Mormonism might yield. What follows is a review of the book (for those who haven’t read it), and then some of my meandering thoughts on how a similar approach might be useful in studying various aspects of the Mormon experience. I apologize for the length of this post, and encourage any so inclined to simply skim (or skip, if you’re already familiar with Orsi’s book) the post and skip to the final few paragraphs dealing with Mormonism.
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By matt b.October 6, 2009
Given our blog’s audience, this year’s theme and location seems oddly appropriate. Feel free to use the thread to assemble panels.
Call for Papers for SHEAR 2010
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By ElizabethOctober 4, 2009
Two brief notes on Elder Scott’s Saturday morning talk. I was grateful for his denunciation of pornography. Viewing pornography has profound personal theological implications, as Elder Scott notes. It “degrades the mind and heart,” which directly influences our ability to feel the Spirit.
However, he did not adequately complete the central theological argument,
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By Ben PSeptember 30, 2009
No, this post is not meant to address Mormon history myths promulgated in Seminary or Sunday School, but rather the possible historical misconceptions that are accepted and presented among the academy.
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By Jared TSeptember 29, 2009
This was announced last week, and I thought I’d post this as a reminder. It should be a great time.
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By Jared TSeptember 25, 2009
My battery is almost dead and my power cord is not working, so unfortunately, no notes will be taken tomorrow, and I won’t be able to follow up on this until Saturday evening, so if I made a mistake on these awards (doing them from memory), please leave a comment so one of my cobloggers can correct it. Tonight at the awards banquet, the following awards were given (see past award recipients here):
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By ChristopherSeptember 23, 2009
What follows are some thoughts I’ve been tossing around for awhile now, but are offered pretty much off-the-cuff this evening. The subject of those thoughts is well-worn and exceedingly vague—Mormon studies.
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By Ben PSeptember 22, 2009
The more I look at the development of Mormon thought, the more I’m convinced that the development of materialism drastically shaped late Nauvoo and early Utah (and beyond) theology.
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By David G.September 19, 2009
In preparing my priesthood lesson on baptisms for the dead for tomorrow (lesson 41), I’ve been going through the omissions from the text. As JNS pointed out awhile back, some of these omissions are pretty interesting. Here’s the text of Joseph Smith’s October 1841 speech on baptisms for the dead
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By Jared TSeptember 18, 2009
George U. Hubbard. When the Saints Came Marching In: A History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denton, Texas 1958-2008. Denton, Texas: Tattersall Publishing, 2009. x + 326 pp. $15.00. Hardback, ISBN: 978-0-9679775-3-9.
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