Co-editor Newell G. Bringhurst presents an overview of this forthcoming anthology of 20 never-before-published articles about polygamy. Essays cover Joseph Smith and the beginnings of polygamy, polygamy in Utah after Joseph Smith and reactions to the practice from other restoration groups, and the perpetuation of polygamy among Mormon fundamentalists that emerged in the late nineteenth …
Speaker: Todd Compton
SL10264: The Big Fan: Joseph Smith and the Danites in Missouri
In 1838 Missouri, certain Mormons organized in a secret paramilitary organization called the Danites, led by Sampson Avard, who later left the Church. Many Mormons then disavowed the Danite movement, portraying it as lies concocted by Avard. When Leland Gentry wrote his groundbreaking 1965 thesis about the 1838 Mormon War, however, he reported that irrefutable …
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. …
SW09003: Teen Marriage Age in Mormon Polygamy and in American Culture: What Was the Norm?
The raid on the Folds compound in Texas has brought polygamy to national attention and in particular the Folds tendency for older men to marry young teens as polygamous wives. This has caused some non-Mormon observers to point out that in his mid-thirties, Joseph smith married teenage girls, including a 14-year-old. Conservative Mormons responded that …
SW07001: OBEDIENCE CULTURE: HOW CHURCH-STATE PROXIMITY HAS COMPROMISED AMERICA’S MORAL LEADERSHIP
“Obedience culture,” in distilled, simplified form, values conformity over competence, unflinching faith over critical thinking, and institutional loyalty over human dignity. Using principles from the field of complexity science, this paper argues that obedience culture fosters approaches increasingly prone to failure in complex, challenging, dynamic situations. It examines the ascendancy of obedience culture among certain …
Old and New Projects: Catching Up with Todd Compton
Old and New Projects: Catching Up with Todd Compton questions about) the writing of his groundbreaking study, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, as well as tease us with insights and the flavor of his new book-under-construction, ‘Victim of the Muses.’ It will be great fun interacting with this favorite Mormon son …
PANEL. SPIRITUALITY IN MUSIC, OR THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PETER, PAUL, AND MARY
Music, and the lyrics connected with it, can express many emotions, moods, and spiritual depths and heights. One part of this session will look at what creates spirituality in music and it will also look at how varied music we define as spiritual can be, from towering peaks of Western classical music to hymns, spirituals, …
Joseph Smith and the Gnostic Restoration & Joseph Smith’s Lesser-Known Wives
The discovery of the Nag Hammadi third-century Gnostic Library has awakened interest in this very early form of Christianity. My proposal is that if Joseph Smith restored true Christianity, then it should share many similarities with Gnosticism. Indeed, there are many strong parallels between these two theologies, starting with a shared sense that humans are …
PANEL. SPIRITUALITY IN MUSIC, OR THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PETER, PAUL, AND MARY
Music, and the lyrics connected with it, can express many emotions, moods, and spiritual depths and heights. One part of this session will look at what creates spirituality in music and it will also look at how varied music we define as spiritual can be, from towering peaks of Western classical music to hymns, spirituals, …
JOSEPH SMITH AND THE GNOSTIC RESTORATION – & – MY “POSSIBLE” CATEGORY: JOSEPH SMITH’S LESSER-KNOW WIVES?
The discovery of the Nag Hamada third-century Gnostic Library has awakened interest in this very early form of Christianity. My proposal is that if Joseph Smith restored true Christianity, then it should share many similarities with Gnosticism. Indeed, there are many strong parallels between these two theologies, starting with a shared sense that humans are …