Trailing Clouds of Glory and Lifting the Veil: A Pre-mortal/Past-life Primer The LDS church is one of the few Christian religions that teaches the doctrine of premortal learning experiences (D&C 138:56). Anecdotal evidence for pre-birth learning experiences is increasing in the fields of psychology and psychiatry. Remarkably, many of these learning experiences are reported to …
Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2001
Does an ‘Open Forum’ Mean an ‘Open Microphone’?: The Controversy at Sunstone West
Does an ‘Open Forum’ Mean an ‘Open Microphone’?: The Controversy at Sunstone West This April, a controversy erupted surrounding the program for the 2001 Sunstone West Symposium. The event involved the paper proposal, ‘The Hidden Nazi Mentality in the Proclamation on the Family,” by Cindy LeFevre, which was first accepted but then removed from the …
Pursuing the Historical Roots of Mormon Black Priesthood Denial: Personal Reflections and a Progress Report
Pursuing the Historical Roots of Mormon Black Priesthood Denial: Personal Reflections and a Progress Report Involved in this panel discussion are three scholars, each of whom has written and published extensively on the issue of blacks of African ancestry and their changing place within Mormonism over the past 170 years. They will focus on two …
Seeking a Truce with the Mormon Deity: Remaking Myself as a Mormon during the Early 1980s
Seeking a Truce with the Mormon Deity: Remaking Myself as a Mormon during the Early 1980s The protagonist of my story, ‘The Canyons of Grace,” published in 1982, symbolically kills the Christian God and steps forward into a mortal world full of wild grace. The price of traditional faith, she says, is your integrity. The …
The Experiences of LDS Women and How Their Culture Influences Manifestations of Their Sexuality
The Experiences of LDS Women and How Their Culture Influences Manifestations of Their Sexuality This presentation is a progress report on the data I have collected so far in my research on the sexuality of Mormon women, ages thirty through fifty. It contains both quantitative and qualitative analyses, and I will include several findings that …
Mormon Publishing in the 1990’s: From the Silly to the Sublime
Mormon Publishing in the 90’s: From the Silly to the Sublime This paper and slide presentation will show some of the oddities, absurdities, trends, and triumphs of the Mormon publishing world of the 1990s. Some of the items are rare and obscure and have been seen by only a handful of people. Brian Romriell, Curt …
‘A Most Outrageously Ambitious Project’: A History of the Sunstone Review, 1981-84
‘A Most Outrageously Ambitious Project’: A History of the Sunstone Review, 1981-84 Designed to make money, expand ‘Sunstone’s’ influence and readership, and open up a new area of journalistic investigation, the ‘Sunstone Review’ lasted just three years. While it proved to be a financial failure, the ‘Review,’ in the words of Elbert Peck ‘grandly stretched …
What Really Happened (A new play by Eric Samuelsen)
What Really Happened (A new play by Eric Samuelsen) This will be a staged reading of Eric Samuelsen’s newest play, ‘What Really Happened.” A young couple moves to the big city. THE READING TAKES 1 HOUR AND 20 MINUTES. PLEASE PLAN AHEAD OF TIME TO EAT YOUR LUNCH IN THE SESSION ROOM. Eric R. Samuelson
The Use and Abuse of Chiasmus in Book of Mormon Studies
The Use and Abuse of Chiasmus in Book of Mormon Studies This paper will demonstrate that simple Hebraic-type chiasmus does not exist in the Book of Mormon except in rare instances, but that there is a natural explanation for these occurrences. This paper will also examine longer, more complex chiasms. Applying the criteria of a …
Devotional. Emma Smith, A Prophet’s Partner
Devotional. Emma Smith, A Prophet’s Partner In Doctrine and Covenants 25, a revelation from the Lord to Emma Smith through her husband Joseph, Emma is: designated an ‘elect lady”; advised to be united with her husband; admonished to study and expound on the scriptures; instructed to select sacred hymns; counseled against murmuring. How did she …