By February 20, 2009
A great patron of Mormon history has passed on today, Larry Miller. He is perhaps best known for owning the Utah Jazz and several car dealerships in the state. But to me and many of my blogmates, his generosity is what made five of the best years of my life possible.
By February 19, 2009
I am past deadline on several papers and should be working on homework due in the next hour, but I couldn’t help but put up a post and hopefully stimulate some discussion.
By February 18, 2009
This post is loosely a continuation of my previous one (regarding Mormonism and Anglo-American cultural conflict); both are part of an effort to examine the dialogic relationship between early Mormonism and larger elements of early American culture.
The primary impetus for this post was my recent reading in Daniel Walker Howe?s ?What God Hath Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848,? where Howe makes a claim that Mormons of that period ?embraced a particularly extreme version of American exceptionalism.?[1] The claim is striking to me because it seems to casually (and perhaps uncritically) connect Mormon attitudes to the much larger and longer tradition of American claims to divine favor.
By February 16, 2009
This is continued from my other “Woodruff as Historian” posts.
According to Howard C. Searle, whose dissertation on Early Mormon Historiography is by far the best work on the subject, Wilford Woodruff?s work on the short biographies of the Quorum of the Twelve is one of his two most important contributions to 19th century Church history.[1]
While the writing of Joseph Smith?s history was coming to a close in 1856, attention was understandably turning to the next historical project. Logically, they decided to start working on the history of Brigham Young, though this involved going back in history and covering his birth through August 8, 1844, when the Twelve took leadership of the Church. Beyond a history of just Brigham, Wilford wanted a detailed history of the entire Young family. To Phineas Young, Brigham?s brother, Woodruff wrote,
By February 13, 2009
Word leaked out on January 23 that the Obama administration was vetting BYU law professor Larry EchoHawk for a potential nomination as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. Echohawk is well-known in Indian Country for his advocacy for various tribal groups, and has served as an Idaho State Representative and Idaho Attorney General. EchoHawk’s relative, John, was one of the founders of the Native American Rights Fund, a major Indian law firm. If appointed, EchoHawk would not be the first Mormon Assistant Secretary of the Interior (H. Rex Lee served in the position in the 1950s), but he would likely be the highest-ranking American Indian Latter-day Saint in government service.
By February 12, 2009
It seems every once and a while we get a development in Mormon Studies that is really groundbreaking; to me, this is one of those instances.
By February 12, 2009
(Matt is apparently too busy guest-blogging at Big Brown to have remembered to send this our way, but I’ve cribbed this announcement from H-Net, which may be of interest to our readers doing comparative research on communalism.)
The Center for Communal Studies at the University of Southern Indiana
invites applications for a travel grant to fund research at the Communal
Studies Collection at USI’s David L. Rice Library. The Communal Studies
By February 10, 2009
I’m teaching a course this semester called “Prophecy in American History.” We’re examining particularly the interaction between prophetic figures and the society around them. How did they use religion to critique, affirm, or offer alternatives to the world they lived in? In what ways does religion shape what it means to be an American, and vice versa? After an introductory class in which we read Max Weber, Rodney Stark, Anthony Wallace, and Walter Brueggemann on the nature of prophecy, we have turned our attention to a series of American prophets. We began with Anne Hutchinson; next week we’ll discuss Nat Turner.
The week following, we’ll visit Joseph Smith.
What I’ve reproduced below is the blog entry that I’ll post the night after the Nat Turner course, introducing the students to the readings they will do for Smith.
By February 9, 2009
The prevailing “special relationship” between Britain and the United States is of fairly recent vintage (1). It has grown out the close cooperation of the two nations during the World Wars and other political engagements since. Previous to this, there was much political jockeying and often animosity that has now been lost from public memory. The American Revolution (or The American Rebellion, I suppose) was, of course, not a time of harmony; the War of 1812 ensured that the separation between the two nations was permanent and reaffirmed their differences.
By February 8, 2009
Although this is noted at MormonConferences.org, Dr. Bushman asked that I use the JI to advertise this interesting conference on Mormon thought and engineering to be held in March at Claremont Graduate University. So, here’s the info…
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Recent Comments
Steve Fleming on BH Roberts on Plato: “Interesting, Jack. But just to reiterate, I think JS saw the SUPPRESSION of Platonic ideas as creating the loss of truth and not the addition.…”
Jack on BH Roberts on Plato: “Thanks for your insights--you've really got me thinking. I can't get away from the notion that the formation of the Great and Abominable church was an…”
Steve Fleming on BH Roberts on Plato: “In the intro to DC 76 in JS's 1838 history, JS said, "From sundry revelations which had been received, it was apparent that many important…”
Jack on BH Roberts on Plato: “"I’ve argued that God’s corporality isn’t that clear in the NT, so it seems to me that asserting that claims of God’s immateriality happened AFTER…”
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”