By David G.September 21, 2016
Nicholas J. Frederick is an assistant professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University. He holds a Ph.D in the History of Christianity with an emphasis in Mormon Studies from Claremont Graduate University. Nick is the author of The Bible, Mormon Scripture, and the Rhetoric of Allusivity (FDU Press, 2016). He has agreed to participate in the JI’s semi-regular series, Scholarly Inquiry, by answering questions about his book.
What led you to write The Bible, Mormon Scripture, and the Rhetoric of Allusivity?
While working on my Ph.D at Claremont Graduate University, I started getting into Intertextuality, in particular the intertextuality between the New Testament and Mormon Scripture. I was fascinated by the questions that were raised when the Book of Mormon or the D&C would quote or allude to the writings of John or Paul or Matthew.
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By J StuartSeptember 21, 2016
Tom Simpson visited BYU, the Tanner Humanities Center, and Sam Weller’s this week. Here are the storied tweets from his visit to the THC. Many thanks to Colleen McDannell and Bob Goldberg for making it possible!
By J StuartSeptember 20, 2016
This week, the Joseph Smith Papers Project released The Council of Fifty Minutes. These long-awaited meeting minutes cover the period of March 1844-January 1846, the last three months of Joseph Smith’s life and the twenty months thereafter. Because many readers of this blog will not be familiar with the Council of Fifty, I’ve organized this post along the following lines:
What is the Council of Fifty?
Why are the minutes so highly anticipated?
What history is contained in the papers?
Q&A from the blogger event
News and resources from the blogger event
Where to sign up for the monthly newsletter from the Joseph Smith Papers Project
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By J StuartSeptember 19, 2016
This year’s meetings of the Communal Studies Association will be held in Salt Lake City, UT from October 5-8, 2016. Several of the papers address Mormon topics (you can see the full program here). Hope to see many of you there!
Friday, October 5
OPENING PLENARY SESSION: “Apocalyptic Anticipations: Mormon Millenarianism in the Early Years,” Grant Underwood
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By David G.September 12, 2016
October 1, 2016
That’s the deadline for proposals for next year’s Mormon History Association annual conference in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s three weeks away. It is, as they say, looming.
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By B KimeSeptember 1, 2016
It?s been a good year for top-notch journal articles on early Mormonism. Religion and American Culture added another one to the mix this past month: ?Ordering Antinomy: An Analysis of Early Mormonism?s Priestly Offices, Councils, and Kinship? Religion and American Culture 26 (Winter 2016): 139?183, by Kathleen Flake, Bushman Chair of Mormon Studies at the University of Virginia. Flake?s article approaches a pair of perennial questions. Was early Mormonism populist? And to the extent that it was, how did its prophetic center hold?
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By August 30, 2016
[We are pleased to cross-publish this post from Bruce Crow, a friend of JI. While you are free to comment here, we suggestion most conversation to take place over at Bruce’s blog.]
A while back we did a post where we tried to match the names of missionaries on the back of a photo to the faces of the missionaries on the front. Well, today we are going to try that again. Only this time it will be a little harder. We can thank Quincy D. Newell, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Hamilton College for her interest in this photo.
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By J StuartAugust 29, 2016
When we highlighted the creation of a new course at the University of Utah sponsored by the Tanner Humanities Center, we reached out to the course professor and Marlin K. Jensen Scholar and Artist in Residence of the Tanner Center, Brian Birch, with a few questions. He has generously responded to them below.
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By matt b.August 23, 2016
History enrollments are on the decline nationwide. There are a number of possible explanations for this. At my institution, the popular explanations number two, one a broader assumption that’s difficult to document and the other the result of internal campus politics. The first is that the economic slump has made students increasingly hard-nosed and career-focused when they think about what they’re going to do with their education. The second is that another department began a program that has sucked away a number of students who once majored in history with an eye toward law school.
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By J StuartAugust 22, 2016
I am a compulsive planner. Therefore, most of the work that I do in getting ready for the semester is planning out which readings and assignments will take the most effort and concentration throughout the semester, the next term, and the following summer. I firmly believe that if you fail to plan you plan to fail. A good spring semester starts with planning. A good spring builds on a good fall. And a good summer builds on top of a great school year.
While reading this post, it’s also important to keep in mind that I am constantly thinking about how to be a good husband and father while doing everything I need to do with school and work. Every person needs to figure out his or her own work/family balance. However, for me, I know I will have primary care for my daughter on Mondays and part of Fridays and will be with my family for most Saturdays and Sundays. My wife works part time as a CPA (which means full-time during busy season). It takes a lot of planning and flexibility, but it’s worked well for my family situation (so far). However, it’s taken a lot of trial, error, and help from friends and family.
[I wrote this before Amanda’s intro to the series, and I wanted to add something: GET OUT AND FIND SOME MENTORS. You may be waiting for that perfect professor to come along that will take you under their wing. I’ve been lucky enough to have supportive and kind mentors at every level of my education, but I’ve benefited just as much, if not more, from “horizontal mentoring.” Ask questions to the people at your level, just ahead, or just below. Make academic friends on Facebook/Twitter/anywhere you go. You’ll learn and teach more effectively if you’re learning from and teaching those around you, too.]
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