This paper explores stories about William Law, Joseph Smith’s one-time second counselor who became co-editor of the Nauvoo Expositor. These sometimes dubious narratives, such as those found among the descendants of Charles Stoddard, serve to elevate the family’s status by disparaging Law who quickly became a villain after the death of the Prophet. This audio …
Location: American
I Took This To Mean Poetry S Communal Moment And The Virtues Of Textual Intimacy
This presentation is a reflection on my encounters with Latter-day Saint sexual mores through Mormon theology’s expansive view of embodiment, procreation, and desire. I weigh these encounters against my readerly desires, my family relationships, and my experience with specific poems by American poets Lucille Clifton, Sharon Olds, Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, and Javen Tanner. The …
Decolonizing Mormonism
Notwithstanding its immense cross-cultural missionary workforce that spans the world, Mormonism still behaves like a white, conservative, American, patriarchal religion, dragging around American cultural trappings, expectations, and processes wherever it goes. Though much has been said about American imperialism, little has been said about American religious imperialism. This presentation makes a case for thinking about …
The New Western History and Mormon History
The leading historians of the “New Western History”—Patricia Limerick, Richard White, Don Worster and William Cronon—have dismantled Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis that the American character was shaped by pioneers coming to virgin land. According to Limerick et al., pioneers came west to a land already occupied, by Indians, conquered them, then marginalized them. In this …
Mormon Muscle: Shifting Understandings of Masculinity from Polygamy to Monogamy
Dr. Sara Patterson will explore the shifting gender expectations for med during the transition from a polygamous to a monogamous system. Examining how gender expectations were created and reinforced, she will investigate how sexual roles were and are tied to gender and religious beliefs in Mormonism. As she does so she will compare the gender …
A PEOPLE’S HISTORY? RECENT MORMON AND SCIENTOLOGY ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS
In addition to being uniquely American religious movements, the LDS Church and Church of Scientology were founded by individuals who perceived themselves as offering unique theological or spiritual corrective. This presentation offers a comparative analysis and critique of recent marketing efforts by both churches to introduce the public to ordinary Mormons and Scientologists via the …
ALWAYS ON STAGE
When Dialogue editor Kristine Haglund discussed Mormonism on a March 2012 installment of CSPAN’s “Religion and American Politics,” she suggested Mormons “learn very early on that Mormonism is something to be constantly performed.” She said that many Mormons have “this sense that [they’re] always on stage, . . . always showing people how good Mormonism …
ANTI-MORMONISM IN THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Anti-Mormonism has been called one of the last acceptable prejudices in American culture. The popularity of HBO’s Big Love, the success of The Book of Mormon musical, LDS involvement in Proposition 8, and Mitt Romney’s quest for the US presidency have placed The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints front and center in American …
AUTHOR MEETS CRITICS: THE MORMON PEOPLE: THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN FAITH
This panel discussion brings together readers, scholars, and thinkers familiar with Matthew Bowman’s recent book, The Mormon People: The Making of An American Faith. Please join the book’s author and a panel of careful readers in a vigorous exchange about this book and the overview of Mormonism it provides. Adam Jacobsen, Janet Rogers, Russell Arben …
THE SWORD OF CHRIST: THE HUNGER GAMES AND THE PARABLES OF JUDGMENT
The parable is to human life what the mathematical equation is to the physical world. It abstracts certain features and enables us to see hidden realities. In her popular trilogy, The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins gives us a parable that reveals the hidden face of evil. This paper will compare The Hunger Games to Jesus’ …