Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2010

SL10162: Whose Wife Will She Be? Marriage, Embodiment, and Salvation

The relationship between faith and works provides the framework for much theological reflection on the Christian doctrine of salvation. Although Mormon writers address salvation from this perspective, they usually do so in dialogue with the larger Christian community. Within contemporary Mormonism, discourse about salvation tends to focus on teachings about eternal marriage and the eternal …

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SL10273: Panel: Persistence of Polygamy: A Mormon Anthology

This session discusses the forthcoming volume Persistence of Polygamy: A Mormon Anthology edited by Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster. The book’s 20 essays explore various aspects of Mormon polygamy from its beginnings in the nineteenth century to today. Contributing authors will present summaries of their respective chapters and take questions from the audience. …

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SL10364: Oliver Cowdery’s Rod of Nature

Masonic, magic, and religious lore regarding the rod of Aaron simmered in the burned-over district during the Second Great Awakening. Oliver Cowdery had already received revelations through a rod before meeting Joseph Smith, who revealed that Oliver would translate ancient texts just as Joseph had with seer stones. When the Joseph Smith Papers Project published …

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SL10122: Authors meet the Critic

This discussion brings together scholars and thinkers to discuss two books: Gary Topping’s Leonard J. Arrington: A Historian’s Life and Polly Aird’s book about Peter McAuslan entitled Mormon Convert, Mormon Defector: A Scottish Immigrant in the American West, 1848-1861. Through the publication of his groundbreaking Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints …

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SL10163: Maturity, Meaning, and Mormonism

In adulthood, our priorities shift from “making our way in the world” to “making sense of our mortal journey.” To aid our efforts to understand the meaning of life, Carl Jung suggests that as we mature, we should focus on becoming more conscious, more creative, and more receptive. This presentation examines the principles and doctrines …

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SL10223: Spaceship Earth

Shortly before our 40th wedding anniversary, I realized that Valerie had been cleaning our toilets for 40 years—and that I had let her. I felt that I should not have, and I resolved to do it from then on. From that realization sprang the observation at the heart of this talk: one of the marks …

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SL10274: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty in the Mormon Community

The work of political economist Albert Hirschman suggests a nuanced approach to public dissatisfaction with an organization. Dissatisfied members of an organization, business, or nation have a variety of choices available, including both exit (simply leaving) and voice (discussing their dissatisfaction). As Hirschman notes, greater loyalty to the organization can correspond to greater use of …

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