We’d like to give Mark Staker a big thank you for participating. He elected to answer all the questions posed in the solicitation. Here we go:

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Thank you for the questions. They are all good questions and I’ve elected to give a stab at trying to answer them all.

Question 1

Many people assume that Joseph Smith basically took a back seat behind Sidney Rigdon during the first decade of the Church; that it wasn’t until after Liberty Jail and in the Nauvoo period that he really took the prominent public position as the face of the movement. By this, I mean being the chief expositor, giving many of the important public discourses, etc. Does your research on Kirtland confirm or challenge this idea? (more…)

This strikes me as an especially pregnant time in the intellectual history of Mormonism. Mormon Studies is emerging as a solid field. Students are pursuing Mormon-themed scholarship, tracing intersections among fields with a well-established history, such as literature, history, and biblical studies, and exploring nascent fields such as theology. What is most interesting to me about Mormon Studies is the existence of a community of students gaining similar methodological tools for the study of religion in similar educational environments. (more…)

Since Ardis Parshall said JI needed more posts like Jared’s…

Once when a member asked the typical question of what I wanted to study when I got home from my mission, my companion interjected, “He’ll say he doesn’t know, but if you really press him, he’ll say he wants to be a historian.” (more…)

I apologize in advance for the overly long and personal post. It’s probably more for me than for anyone else, but I’m happy to share if you’ll indulge me for just a moment.

Living in South Texas, there were no LDS bookstores within a thousand miles. But we traveled. A lot. And long before I came along, my dad had traveled–to Church history sites. As early as I can remember, we had a closet full of books, most of which, as a young child, looked so boring (that white softback Comprehensive History of the Church set exuded boredom). I came around, though. I discovered most of these books were Church books, gradually collected during our yearly family vacations. I learned to love that collection, and it provided a space for intellectual expansion that otherwise did not seem to exist (unless you counted blind speculation–and yes, plenty of that went on too!). (more…)

The JI is pleased to welcome Mark Staker as the newest participant in the Scholarly Inquiry series. Mark, of course, is the author of the recently released Hearken O Ye People: The Historical Setting for Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations published by Kofford Books (see the table of contents and section overviews at Mark’s Hearken O Ye People blog).

(more…)

Perhaps perpetuating a horrible stereotype about historians (stuck in the past, not up on the cutting edge of technology), the JI is finally on Facebook (I guess you can search for “Juvenile Instructor” and it’ll come up) and Twitter (@MormonHistoryJI). So take a second to  become a Fan or to follow us.

So when David G. was introducing his “academic friends” (his words) to his new wife at their reception, he gave her a little summation of everybody’s research. When he got to me he simply said “I can’t really explain what he does.” I know I’ve brought this predicament on myself, so to try to remedy this little problem I have, I decided to post a little write-up I did for my medieval professor. (more…)

See this flyer: (more…)

During General Conference this April, the Church History Library will be displaying treasures of the Library’s collection. This event will occur on Friday, 2 April from 5-9 pm and Saturday, 3 April from 12-2 pm and 4-9 pm. It will be a great foray into Church historical sources, and especially for those who will be on Temple Square for General Conference (more…)

First, thanks to Kristine and Matt for their kind invitation to join you folks. Second thanks to all members of JI for your kind welcome.

For my first (trepidation filled) post for your august community, I want to briefly share my fresh experience having lectured this past week on Mormonism for a Harvard College undergrad course on American religious history (led by Prof. Marie Griffith, formerly of Princeton). (more…)

Wilby, Emma. Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic. Brighton, UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2005.

The amount of scholarship on early modern witchcraft is huge, but Wilby’s book represents an interesting trend. (more…)

Look, in lots of ways, Glenn Beck is a loon. A loon poorly informed by history, at that. But plowing through the veritable scads of secondary material on my dissertation topic (Protestant fundamentalism) has driven one particular truth pretty well home to me: there’s nothing so destructive to a piece of academic writing as a slightly concealed sneer on an author’s face. Concluding that any particular individual or group is so hopelessly drenched in wingnuttery or disappointing political positions or slavish and bewildering adherence to the blindingly goofy that they are no longer worthy of intelligent analysis is to abdicate the responsibility to understand ourselves that the humanities as a discipline lays upon us. Heck, even for activists (as opposed to scholars), to malign and snarl and taunt the representatives of a cause one finds objectionable is to make the classic mistake of treating the symptom as the disease. Which is why I was not terribly impressed with Jim Wallis’s response to Glenn Beck’s by now blaringly well covered advice to Christians: that they should investigate their faith for the dread and dire words “social justice,” (aka, “Progressivism” (Beck’s definition); aka collectiivsm; aka fascism; aka hurting puppies) and if that mark of the beast should be located, flee for the hills. (more…)

We are tickled to hear from Sheila Taylor, who is currently finishing a doctorate in systematic theology at Graduate Theological Union. Sheila shares her journey from studying history to studying theology and reflects on what it is like to be a female scholar in a male-dominated field. (more…)

This week is the BYU Studies 50th Anniversary Symposium. The Conference takes place on the 12-13 and there are also lectures Wed. evening, the 10th.  I was originally slated to present, but will be unable to attend due to an incredible scheduling oversight on my part. See the program.

Also, for those unable to attend, there will be blog reports of each presentation accessible from the BYU Studies homepage. Buen provecho!

An exciting event approaches. From March 22 to 27, a group of Mormon women writers (both accomplished and budding) will be traveling to universities from California to Utah. On this literary tour, they will showcase their creative work on what it means to be Mormon women in the 21st century. (more…)

Stuart Clark. Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

So I though I’d post a summary of a few really great books I’ve read recently that I see as being useful to those studying Mormonism.

Thinking with Demons focusses on what intellectuals said about witchcraft and demons during the witch-hunt era (1400-1700). In some ways the topic is much bigger than witchcraft since demons were central to how early modern people saw the world operating generally. (more…)

BYU Studies 48:4 (2009)

This issue, recently arrived, is a special issue on Thomas L. Kane and the Mormons, 1846-1883 and is edited by David J. Whittaker. From the preface and the BYU Studies website: (more…)

I put up a link earlier this week on the sideblog to an article by Nate Oman* entitled “Natural Law and the Rhetoric of Empire: Reynolds v. United States, Polygamy, and Imperialism” (available at SSRN here). Because Nate is shopping the article around to law journals and it thus might not catch the attention of historians (attention it definitely deserves), I thought I’d post the abstract here for anyone who missed the sideblog link and/or the discussion on it over at Times & Seasons). (more…)

Taken from here. Looks like a great time.

2010 Restoration Studies Symposium

Thursday, April 8

All Thursday events will take place at the Graceland University/Independence Campus, 1401 West Truman Rd., in Independence, Missouri.

(1) 7:00 – 8:30 pm — Welcome and Wallace B. Smith Lecture, Plenary Session

“Who is a Christian? The Perspective of Ecumenical Christianity.”

Presenter: Don Compier

(2) 8:30 – 10:00 pm — Opening Reception, First Floor Lobby

You are invited to attend an opening reception with refreshments in honor of the publication of Volume XI of Restoration Studies.

(more…)

This review, in a slightly different format, will appear in an upcoming issue of The Journal of Mormon History. Grateful acknowledgment to Boyd Petersen, that publication’s book review editor, for permission to publish here is hereby pronounced.

Mitch Horowitz has written an often gleefully fascinating book. (more…)

Editors of the SSRC (Social Science Research Council) blog The Immanent Frame have produced a report on the blogosphere and religion. It is presented with this introduction:

Blogs have given occasion to a whole new set of conversations about religion in public life. They represent a tremendous opportunity for publication, discussion, cross-fertilization, and critique of a kind never seen before. In principle, at least, the Internet offers an opportunity to break down old barriers and engender new communities. While the promise is vast, the actuality is only what those taking part happen to make of it.

This report surveys nearly 100 of the most influential blogs that contribute to an online discussion about religion in the public sphere and the academy. It places this religion blogosphere in the context of the blogosphere as a whole, maps out its contours, and presents the voices of some of the bloggers themselves.

Alas, by some oversight the Juvenile Instructor was not among the 100 “most influential blogs” surveyed, but what might the survey imply for the presence of Mormonism in online presentation and dialogue? How does the digital engagement of Mormonism and Mormon history line up with that of that other aspects of religion, from Catholic gossip to church-state activism? Interested parties can investigate here.