Author-Meets-Critics Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency Of Spencer W Kimball Edward L. Kimball’s highly anticipated study of the landmark Church presidency of Spencer W. Kimball arrived late last year with far less fanfare than it deserved. According to the book’s preface, the author and publisher Deseret Book “[did] not agree on the interpretations or weight …
Speaker: Respondent
Are Boys More Important Than Girls? The Conflict Between Gender Difference And Equality In Mormonism
Are Boys More Important Than Girls? The Conflict Between Gender Difference And Equality In Mormonism This presentation examines three sets of related inquiries to the question, “Are boys more important than girls?” (1) What kind of equality does God’s justice demand to fulfill the scriptural exhortation that we are all “alike unto God”? Can gender …
Marketing Research And The Book Of Mormon
Marketing Research And The Book Of Mormon This presentation reports the results of a means/end market research survey concerning the Book of Mormon. What did the survey reveal to be the underlying values Latter-day Saints bring to their reading of the Book of Mormon? What are the “product features” in the Book of Mormon that …
Boys, Boys, Spies? Mormon Missionaries As Suspected American Agents In Finland
Boys, Boys, Spies? Mormon Missionaries As Suspected American Agents In Finland This presentation tells the story of the suspicions in some Finnish political circles that during the Cold War, Latter-day Saint missionaries gathered information on the Finns’ political thoughts and perhaps even forwarded them to U.S. government intelligence. The resulting public scare, though limited, was …
My Mormon Dream Bible
My Mormon Dream Bible The Mormon Bible I will describe would be produced by Mormons for use by Mormons. It would have helpful features that facilitate the study of the biblical text (best original-language manuscript readings, paragraph layout, versification, poetic form, footnotes, cross-references, textual variants, modern language pronunciation guide). It would also lead to more …
Exploring The Mind Of Joseph Smith On LDS Diversity
Exploring The Mind Of Joseph Smith On LDS Diversity Joseph Smith was deeply committed to unifying the Latter-day Saints in their basic beliefs and cooperative efforts to build the kingdom of God. Yet he frequently explained, endorsed, defended, and expected considerable, even startling, diversity in doctrine and theology. Regarding doctrine, Joseph Smith saw the Church …
The Flight From Reason: The Dynamics Of Faith And Rationality
The Flight From Reason: The Dynamics Of Faith And Rationality Latter-day Saints often appeal to the mantra, “Seek learning, even by study and also by faith,” to explain the appropriate relationship between faith, reason, and revelation in our tradition. But what about cases where faith and reason conflict? What do these conflicts tells us about …
A Testimony Of Motherhood: LDS Response To Changing Women’s Roles, 1940-2006
A Testimony Of Motherhood: LDS Response To Changing Women’s Roles, 1940-2006 Most conservative religions objected to the movement of women out of the household in the 1960s, but doctrines linked to the practice of polygamy made changing gender roles particularly challenging for the LDS Church. To understand Church responses to this crisis, I analyzed all …
Women’s Prophetic Drumming Tradition
Women’s Prophetic Drumming Tradition Through a combination of newly excavated artifacts and biblical textual evidence, scholars are reconstructing an ancient tradition of women’s spirituality known as “drum, dance, and song.” Mormon women are heirs to a tradition that stretches from the Bee Priestesses of Neolithic Anatolia and Crete, to the later Bee Priestesses of ancient …
‘Faithful Scholarship’ And The Mainstreaming Of Mormon Studies
‘Faithful Scholarship’ And The Mainstreaming Of Mormon Studies As Mormon studies emerges at non-LDS institutions of higher education (Utah Valley State College, Utah State University, Claremont Graduate University), it will be shaped by negotiation among various interests. The most important set of LDS interests is represented by “faithful scholarship,” which has come to set the …