My introduction to Mormon Studies came in graduate school. I am quite embarrassed to say that before this time I had not seriously read Mormon Studies and my impressions of Dialogue and Sunstone were, if anything, somewhat negative (How can any publication the Tanner’s cite be of any value?).
Continue reading “Overcoming Correlation or Mormon Studies and Pastoral Care” »
Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Sorrowing Old Man’ (At Eternity’s Gate)
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.
- C.S. Lewis [1]
My sister Nicole was born with a ventricular septal defect. Being the late 1970s, corrective surgery at the time had to wait until the child was large enough to undergo it (usually around 4 years old). The closer Nicole got to the prescribed age, the smaller the hole appeared to be getting. Shortly after her fourth birthday, my sister caught some sort of cold. The infection went to her heart, causing her to develop myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle). This infection left extensive damage, resulting in life-threatening episodes of atrial fibrillation (irregular heart beat). By the age of fourteen, Nicole had been diagnosed with one of the rarest forms of cardiomyopathy (heart disease). The prognosis was about 18 months of deteriorating life and eventual death. Yet, Nicole continued to get stronger to the surprise of both my family and doctors. One doctor consistently commented that if he were unaware of her heart’s condition, he would assume she was a normal, healthy teenage girl. After graduating high school, Nicole was accepted into BYU. Eager to get started, she moved to Utah and began attending summer classes. Then, while walking the campus on August 4, 1997, Nicole‘s heart stopped and she collapsed on a patch of grass near the Harris Fine Arts Center. Those who came to her aid could not revive her. My 18-year-old sister had died.[2]
Continue reading “Mourn With Those Who Mourn: The Weeping God and Me” »
A couple summers ago, I romped through the Utah archives for six weeks as part of a research seminar on the cultural history of the Book of Mormon plates at BYU. This six-week archival adventure ended up being one of the best experiences of my life. I learned the art of document-mining, made a dozen lifelong friends, and got paid to do what I love.
If that sounds good to you, you might be interested to know that the seminar I attended was just one of many annual summer Mormon Studies seminars held at BYU, and the February 15 application deadline for summer 2013 is fast approaching. If you’re a graduate student or junior professor and you’ve never participated in the seminar before, hurry up and apply! I can’t recommend the experience highly enough.
Richard Bushman poses with participants and interested observers of the 2012 summer seminar on Mormon culture
Anyway, this last summer I happened to be in town again during the seminar, so I sat in on a few of the sessions. This not only brought back a flood of wonderful memories, but also caused me to reflect a bit on the seminars’ historical significance. As I watched the latest batch of participants learn, grow, and get plugged into the Mormon Studies world, it suddenly struck me that I was witnessing something momentous. Not quite sure what that “something” was, I sat down with Richard Bushman—the seminars’ founder—and grilled him about it over lunch. I’d like to think that as the scores of brilliant young scholars who have passed through the seminars mature into grizzled intellectual giants, the edited transcript of this interview will become a valuable primary source for the intellectual history of Mormonism.
Continue reading “A Conversation with Richard Bushman on the History and Significance of the BYU Summer Seminars” »
The Occupation of Newport, Rhode Island, December 1776. By Cleverley, Robert (1749-1809). National Maritime Museum. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
One of the tragedies of historical study is that there are many items in private collections that we historians simply do not have access to. A few years ago, the Spink Shreve Galleries sold off a large collection of important Mormon documents and fortunately put some images and excerpts online. This offers a rare glimpse of some documents we otherwise might not know existed. Among the items sold is a July 6, 1849 letter from Ursula B. Hascall to her sister Ophelia. The letter says in part,
I call upon you to repent of your sins and flee … I call upon you thus that you may rise up and say Ursulia you knew all this … Ophelia did I not spew the profhecy spoken by Joseph Smith by the authority of Jesus Christ concerning the overthrow of the United States – the destruction of the states as a nation is just as sure as the sun will ever rise and set – it is near at hand, it is all ready to burst upon it.
Continue reading “Joseph Smith’s Prophecies of the Overthrow of the United States” »
Quite a bit of attention has been given as of late to the role of women in LDS society, and rightfully so. I’ll simply share that as an LDS Father raising three daughters, I can’t help but feel a sense of concern regarding this important matter.
As soon as President Monson made the announcement last October regarding a change in missionary age requirements for young women, I knew immediately how my 18-year-old daughter would respond. Now, as a Mormon Male Feminist, I am very grateful for the fact that she and other LDS women like her have been given the opportunity to make the decision, if they feel so inclined, to serve a full-time mission at almost the same age as young men. As her Dad, however, I feel a strange sense of pride and concern at the prospect of watching my little girl go out into the world to share a message about love, families, and Jesus Christ.
Continue reading “Pants, Prayers, and Women, ‘Oh My!’ The Role of Women in Early Christianity” »
I recently read through the short book (114 pages of text, plus notes) LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture (Baylor Univ. Press, 2012; publisher’s page). The authors are non-LDS academics who have some familiarity with Mormonism, Lee Trepanier from living in Utah for four years and Lynita Newswander from a dissertation on Mormonism in the Jackson era. Each chapter reviews the intersection between Mormonism and one facet of American culture: popular culture, family, politics, religion, and “the American narrative.” For those who read Mormon books, this one covers mostly familiar ground, but it’s a fun read nonetheless. I will just make a few comments on why I found the book so enjoyable.
Continue reading “Comments on <i>LDS in the USA</i>” »