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 …
Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2001
Trailing Clouds of Glory and Lifting the Veil: A Pre-mortal/Past-life Primer
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 …
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 …
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 …
J. Golden Kimball and the Financial Panic of 1893
J. Golden Kimball and the Financial Panic of 1893 This paper examines in some detail the far-reaching impact of the Panic of 1893, both on the Church and the personal resources of one of its most prominent leaders, J. Golden Kimball. I will present this material in two sections. The first examines how the Panic …
‘Re-establishing the Restoration’
‘Re-establishing the Restoration’ Far from solving the Church’s problems, the Manifesto introduced another set of difficulties which came to head in the early twentieth century. I will discuss these problems in terms of two crises. First, the Church’s negative reputation was inhibiting its ability to accomplish its objectives at home and abroad. Second, the internal …
The Making of the Easy-to-Read Doctrine and Covenants
The Making of the Easy-to-Read Doctrine and Covenants At the 1995 Sunstone Symposium, I heard Lynn Matthews Anderson, author of the Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon, give a presentation in which she explained why she didn’t feel it was feasible to write an Easy-to-Read Doctrine and Covenants. ‘Hmm” I thought. Six years later, the Easy-to-Read Doctrine …
‘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