May Swenson, Utah-born poet of Swedish Mormon immigrant parents, whom critic John Hollander calls “one of our few unquestionably major poets,” was within a few days of her thirty-sixth birthday when she met Pearl Schwartz. A woman of Mediterranean descent just past twenty-six, Schwartz was an attendant at a contagious disease hospital. Swenson would soon …
Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2004
SATANIC SYMBOL ON THE NAUVOO TEMPLE?
This illustrated lecture takes as its subject a superficially documented and misunderstood feature of Mormon iconography, the pentagram. This symbol, as it appears on Mormon temples, takes two forms: one pointing up, and one down. The latter type is referred to as the star of Mendes and is often simplistically interpreted by detractors to have …
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON MY WAY TO THE TEMPLE: A STORY ABOUT MORMONS AND JEWS, AND BECOMING BOTH, PART ONE: BEING MORMON
During his many years as one of Mormonism’s and Utah’s best-loved poets, essayists, and columnists, Clifton Jolley was unfailingly interesting. Blessed with piercing intelligence, a wry sense of humor, and a radar always tuned to finding life’s wonderful ironies, Clifton has never been afraid to share what’s on his mind. In this session, he will …
BLACK AND MORMON: HOW ARE THINGS ON THE GROUND AFTER THE 1978 PRIESTHOOD BAN?
Panelists will discuss the twenty-fifth anniversary of the LDS priesthood ban that excluded black members from full Church participation. Several of the panelists contributed a compelling chapter to the forthcoming University of Illinois book, Black and Mormon, scheduled for release in October 2004. The articles examine the mechanisms that marginalize blacks, motives behind the original …
MOTHER EARTH, FATHER PATRIARCHY: EMBRACING A MYTHOLOGY OF RESPECT, EQUALITY, AND HARMONY
Deep within human consciousness and throughout mythology, we observe the earth symbolizing the feminine energy of the cosmos. In much of the world, human beings have inherited a mythology that promotes men’s authority and dominance over the earth and over women. This core belief has left a legacy in which women are subjugated and our …
PROPHETS AND PROPHECY IN THE MORMON TRADITION
A work in progress, an exploration of the place of prophets and the function of prophecy in Mormonism, this paper will point both to differences across time—in early versus recent years—and to variations in the role of prophets and the function of prophecy in alternative forms of Mormonism. Jan Shipps, Ron Romig, J. Bonner Ritchie
DOES IT MATTER HOW WE REMEMBER THE ABANDONMENT OF PLURAL MARRIAGE?
Twenty years ago, Michael Quinn demonstrated that plural marriage had been actively practiced within the Church after the 1890 Manifesto. Kathleen Flake’s recent book tries to explain why that was and what finally motivated the Church to abandon the practice between 1905 and 1910 in the context of the seating of Apostle Reed Smoot in …
JOHN W. AND LORIN C. WOOLLEY: ARCHANGELS BETWEEN NINETEENTH-CENTURY POLYGAMY AND TWENTIETH-CENTURY MORMON FUNDAMENTALISM
A large majority of today’s Fundamentalist Mormons believe authority to perform plural marriages outside the Church originated in1886 when LDS Church President John Taylor received a revelation regarding plural marriage as well as a personal visitation from Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ. They believe President Taylor ordained a few trusted men with apostolic authority and …
THE SECRETS OF NIM’S: WHEN THE BOOK OF MORMON WAS DICTATED, WERE THERE “OTHERS” IN IT?
In 1992, John Sorenson published his article “When Lehi’s Party Arrived in the Land, Did They Find Others There?” Sorenson urges that they did, and that the Book of Mormon should be read as containing references to these “others” who had to have been present, but are not expressly mentioned. Indeed, Sorenson’s “Others” hypothesis is …
FILM. EMBRACING OUR HOMOSEXUAL CHILDREN
The 50-minute documentary, Embracing Our Homosexual Children, focuses on the Horstmanshoff family of Salt Lake City. John and Ilse are the parents of eleven children including three gay sons and a lesbian daughter. As their children first came out and then later as they found same-sex partners, these parents provided a nurturing and loving environment. …