Rational Supernaturalism, Part I: Joseph Smith, Emanuel Swedenborg, and Angels
By August 17, 2008
Enlightenment thought brought many threats to eighteenth and nineteenth century religious movements.
By August 17, 2008
Enlightenment thought brought many threats to eighteenth and nineteenth century religious movements.
By August 15, 2008
About a year ago, I was talking with a friend about the state of Mormon history. He mentioned that he felt that one of the problems with Mormon history was that so many historians emphasized nineteenth century Mormonism, with a particular emphasis upon the Joseph Smith years. He then told me that he thought that the future of Mormon history would be in the field of twentieth century Mormon history.
By August 14, 2008
The Juvenile Instructor is pleased to announce our latest guest blogger, Brett D. Brett describes himself as follows:
I am an MA student in History at BYU hoping to graduate in either April or August of 2009 and with plans of going on for a PhD in American history. I have worked for two years for BYU’s Education in Zion exhibit as a researcher. I am also currently working as a researcher for Ron Walker’s forthcoming biography of Brigham Young. I am writing my thesis on the progressive era elements of the Church’s educational programs from 1885 to 1935. A registered menace to society, I occupy my time watching BYU sports, particularly football.
Please join us here at the JI in welcoming Brett.
By August 13, 2008
David Whitmer was a powerful figure in the early Mormon Church. Besides being one of the Book of Mormon Witnesses, he was in the Missouri Presidency and (some believed) ordained to be Joseph Smith’s successor in 1834. He was released from his Missouri position in 1837 and was excommunicated from the Church in 1838.
By August 6, 2008
Yesterday over at Religion in U.S. History, Paul Harvey posted a map of “Leading Church Bodies, 2000,” taken from Mark Silk and Andrew Walsh’s fantastic Religion by Region series, and rhetorically asks, “Is the South still a cultural region?”
By August 4, 2008
Limiting the time-frame of when Joseph Smith was visited by Peter, James, and John to a specific period has been problematic for Mormon historians. This mostly results from Joseph’s (almost) complete silence regarding the event. His statements on it are both very rare and quite ambiguous. Here, I will give a brief outline of the debate, a couple of the most relevant arguments, and then leave it open for discussion on some important questions.
By August 2, 2008
Recently (and weirdly) the Holy Eucharist has been in the news.
By July 31, 2008
I am taking a very laid-back readings seminar this summer at the UI revolving around the question of race and the city. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when the discussion turned to questions relevant to those who frequent this blog. I thought I might offer a short narrative, in part to let those who have never had the “privilege” of a attending a graduate seminar know how random they can be, and also to present some questions raised in my mind as a result of the discussion.The topic for this particular session focused on the racial and class dynamics inherent in the conception and reality of the suburb. One of the books that we read by Dolores Hayden talked about recently planned communities like Seaside, Florida where the Truman Show was filmed. For those of you who didn’t know, the city where Truman lived actually exists as an idealized upper-class community by the ocean. The book also talks about Disney’s idyllic residential development in Florida named Celebration where people can live in sanitized bliss. As we spoke about the class and racial implications involved in the creation of such planned communities, my Professor mentioned the Florida town of Ave Maria of which I had never heard.
By July 30, 2008
There are quite a few reasons I have not been the best of perma-bloggers here at JI during the past six months. And, I know it has caused my fellow bloggers at least a tiny bit of grief (and perhaps even full-blown frustration?), and I do apologize. I really do.
But, as I was talking to Ben at work this morning, and finding myself a bit embarrassed at yet another good-natured question about my JI sabbatical, I felt that it would be a good time to come clean. So, here’s my confession:
By July 30, 2008
In his dissertation on the popular historical consciousness of Mormons in the American West, Eric Eliason suggested that the “commemoration of the cooperative and purposeful Mormon pioneer migration has achieved a particularly well-developed form” among modern Mormons — “the July 24th Days of ’47 celebration in Salt Lake City . . . [and] similar Pioneer Day events [that] claim the public space of Main Street in over 80 Western communities.”
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