This illustrated lecture demonstrates how the study of things and spaces sheds light on the religious experiences of the people in the pew. During the past half-century, an important shift occurred in the study of history. Influenced by the Civil Rights and the Women’s Liberation movements, scholars moved beyond simply studying the written documents of …
Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2011
Theologizing In The Presence Of Burning Children: Mormon Theology And The Absurd
Alma 14 in the Book of Mormon narrates a tale that appears patently absurd if not utterly atrocious: a prophet has power from God to stop the burning of defenseless women and children but is explicitly told by God not to intervene to save them. Mormons normally offer trite explanations for this story or dismiss …
The Contested Meaning Of Democracy In Early Mormonism And Methodism
In The Democratization of American Christianity, Nathan O. Hatch documents the rise of an array of populist religious sects, including the Mormons and the Methodists. However, it is a mistake to equate all democratic religion with populist religion, as Hatch does. Dissenters from the Mormons and Methodists used the populists’ own democratic rhetoric against them, …
Something Wiki This Way Comes: An Analysis Of The Mormon Content On Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a web-based encyclopedia project offering free access to more than 18 million articles in a variety of languages written and edited collaboratively by volunteers world-wide. With 365 million readers, it is arguably the largest and most popular internet reference site. Perhaps its most significant feature is that new entries can be added and/or …
From Diversity To Unity: The Transition Of LDS Meetinghouses From Beautiful To Functional
The fate of LDS meetinghouses has followed the fate of design and construction in America with a move to the suburbs and standardization. Cost and functional requirements now trump aesthetic and spatial concerns in these packaged products sent to wards and stakes worldwide. The presentation will show distinctive features of LDS meetinghouses around the world, …
What’s It Like To Be Homosexual & Mormon Today?
Find out about the feature-length documentary Far Between, currently in production from empathy First Initiative (EFI) which explores the question, “What is it like to be homosexual and Mormon?” learn about other programs sponsored by EFI that will enable you to engage in constructive dialogue with friends and family on this often divisive topic and …
Devotional. Dare We Question Scripture?
In this devotional, we will consider 2 Nephi 5:30 (CofC) / 2 Nephi 6:12 (LDS) and focus on a responsible interpretation of this significantly prejudicial text in the Book of Mormon. Dale E. Luffman
“I Am A Mormon” And “I Am A Scientologist”: Recent Marketing Efforts In Mormonism And Scientology
In addition to being uniquely american religious movements, the lDS Church and Church of Scientology were founded by individuals who perceived themselves as offering a unique theological or spiritual corrective. Joseph Smith re-established the one true Christian church, and l. Ron Hubbard’s techniques of dianetics and Scientology put forth a spiritual view of humans that …
Sister Wives Go To Court
In 2003, the US Supreme Court struck down laws criminalizing sex between gay and lesbian individuals, finding that those laws violated the individuals’ rights to privacy and intimate association. Could the same logic apply to anti-polygamy laws? a recent lawsuit, Brown V. Herbert, argues just that. What are the legal claims in the Brown lawsuit, …
Mormon Epic: A Poetic Tribute To Joseph Smith And The Restoration
The Restoration of Primitive Christianity and the emergence of Mormonism as a world religion is a story worthy of an epic poem. Now Mormon poet Ron Wilcox has written the first books of such an epic, with Joseph Smith as the latter-day odysseus-achilles hero at the center. Wilcox’s poem captures Joseph’s soul and the beginnings …