Event: Arizona Symposium 2006

‘THERE WERE NO CONTENTIONS AND DISPUTATIONS’: OVERCOMING INSTITUTIONAL RACISM TOWARD INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

‘THERE WERE NO CONTENTIONS AND DISPUTATIONS’: OVERCOMING INSTITUTIONAL RACISM TOWARD INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere and Mormons are inextricably connected by the Book of Mormon and western American History. In many attitudes and cultural representations, however, Mormons tend to replicate patterns of paternalism and racism from general American society. Conquering racism, even …

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HISTORY’S APPRENTICE: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON B. H. ROBERTS

HISTORY’S APPRENTICE: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON B. H. ROBERTS Though he has been dead for more than seventy years, B. H. Roberts remains a significant Mormon historian and theologian, and he’s considered one of the Church’s premier intellectuals. This presentation draws on my experience as the editor of his journals covering the period from 1880–1898, a …

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MORMON CINEMA AT FIVE: A HEALTH REPORT

MORMON CINEMA AT FIVE: A HEALTH REPORT Although Mormons have been a topic for films as early as 1905, and LDS filmmakers have been telling quintessential Mormon stories since the 1930s, Richard Dutcher’s films God’s Army (2000) and Brigham City (2001) mark what some consider to be the birth of “Mormon Cinema”, feature-length fiction films …

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MORMONISM AND BLACKS: TAKING A CURRENT PULSE

MORMONISM AND BLACKS: TAKING A CURRENT PULSE Approaching the issue of Mormonism and race through multiple disciplines, panelists will offer a progress report on how far Mormonism has come in realizing the Book of Mormon ideal of all people being treated “alike unto God,” especially black Americans. Where have LDS efforts succeeded? What areas must …

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TRANSLATING MORMONISM ABROAD: A CHURCH WITH MANY FACES

AZ06013, TRANSLATING MORMONISM ABROAD: A CHURCH WITH MANY FACES The LDS Church has grown beyond American borders so that now more of its members reside outside the U.S. than within. It is clear that, despite institutional centralization, variation of international LDS attitudes and practices is inexorably tied to a country’s national and political history. This …

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BIOGRAPHERS AND THE MORMON “PROPHET PUZZLE”: 1974 TO 2004

BIOGRAPHERS AND THE MORMON “PROPHET PUZZLE”: 1974 TO 2004 It has been thirty-one years since Jan Shipps issued a challenge in her essay, “The Prophet Puzzle,” for writers to develop thorough portraits of Joseph Smith that show the “whole man.” This presentation examines the strengths and weaknesses of nine post-1974 biographies of the founding Mormon …

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CONSTRUCTING JOSEPH SMITH’S LIFE AND TIMES: A CONVERSATION

CONSTRUCTING JOSEPH SMITH’S LIFE AND TIMES: A CONVERSATION This presentation compares and contrasts two important works on Joseph Smith published within the past three months: Richard L. Bushman’s Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling and H. Michael Marquardt’s The Rise of Mormonism, 1816-1844. The latter work, while not a biography, focuses on Smith and the controversies …

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ARE MORMONS POLYTHEISTS?

ARE MORMONS POLYTHEISTS? A common feature of academic scholarship written on Mormonism has been to highlight its unique theology in which God the Father not only possesses a physical body but we, as his children, have the potential to progress and become as he is: Gods and Goddesses. Some of these scholars have used this …

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A PORTER OF PAIN AND PROGRESS

A PORTER OF PAIN AND PROGRESS This study examines the interplay between fantasy and revelation as interpretive practices in the most influential American fantasia in recent memory, Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. Very little Angels scholarship has focused on religion and, in particular, the play’s engagement with revelation in a Mormon context. This presentation seeks …

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WHEN CULTURES COLLIDE: MORMONISM IN CONTEXT OF ONGOING DISCUSSIONS OF COLONIALISM, CONVERSION, AND GLOBALIZED RELIGION

WHEN CULTURES COLLIDE: MORMONISM IN CONTEXT OF ONGOING DISCUSSIONS OF COLONIALISM, CONVERSION, AND GLOBALIZED RELIGION Mormonism is famous for its missionary zeal, driven by its self-understanding as being the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the desire to fulfill the biblical prophecy of Christ’s gospel being taken to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Informed …

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