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…)

Taken from here. (the link is found on the left.)

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

9:00–10:00 A.M.
Opening
SPE AKER
Richard Lyman Bushman Joseph Smith and the Routinization of Charisma (more…)

If our New Year’s resolution had been to add another extraordinarily gifted blogger, then we would have already achieved our goal. Ardis S. has been providing fascinating details of a heretofore neglected topic (LDS perceptions of the Civil Rights Movement) for nearly a year now (see here archive here). Her innovative research and scholarly wit have left us no choice but to make her attachment to the blog more permanent—plus, whenever you have a chance to associate with a Cambridge-bound historian, you gotta do it. On a personal note, I’ve had the privilege of knowing Ardis not only as a budding historian but also as a wonderful friend and engaging Latter-day Saint; we were both students during the last semester of the Joseph Smith Academy in Nauvoo, Illinois (a now-defunct BYU study program).

Here is how Ardis describes herself:

I recently graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor of arts in History. This fall, I will attend the University of Cambridge, where I will study British perceptions of the US civil rights movement. I am currently an intern at the Church History Library. My research interests include the intersections between race, gender, and social history, and within LDS history I am particularly interested in race and the LDS Church.

Please join us in giving a hearty welcome to Ardis S.!

[While I sit in the Pisa Airport finishing my Sunday School Lesson for tomorrow, I couldn't help but share a point of convergence between the lesson and my recent scholarly research (I am currently working on the Christian response to Thomas Paine in the 1790s). What follows is not a fully drawn-out, or perhaps even thought-out, post, but rather a half-baked idea worthy of nothing more than a footnote for tomorrow's SS class.]

The 1790s represented drastic change for western civilization. On one side of the Atlantic, the early American republic was beginning to forge into a stable nation; on the other side, an early-embraced revolution was evolving into dangerous anarchy in France. (more…)

[Continued from Part I]

I sincerely appreciate the three respondents participating in this forum. I’m sure all the readers will agree that all three portions are well-written and enlightening.

Although these  three are well-known around the bloggernacle, here are brief introductions: Robin Jensen is an editor for the Joseph Smith Papers Project, recently received his second master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and his name can be found on the cover of the recent Revelations and Translations vol. 1. Samuel Brown is currently an Assistant Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Division Associate, Medical Ethics and Humanities, University of Utah. Jordan Watkins, theoretically a contributor here at JI, is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. (more…)

While JI has not done one recently, we have from time to time written a “From the Archives” post where we pluck from the historical archives an interesting document as a way to highlight an important theme, offer a new interpretation, or merely start an enlightening discussion. This post is aimed to do all of the above, only perhaps even more so because of the interesting nature of this particular document. It offers so many possibilities for interpretation, in fact, that I have asked three knowledgeable historians to give their take on it from their individual backgrounds and expertise. (more…)

Building off of Christopher’s recent review of Robert Orsi’s The Madonna of 115th Street, I though I would post a recent review I’ve written on an important historical text that, while not directly addressing Mormonism, offers intriguing questions and approaches that we can apply to Mormon history. The first section is my review of Howe’s fascinating volume, while the second section provides a few paragraphs on how we can relate it to Mormon studies. (more…)

Along with Jared T’s list of recently published and forthcoming book in Mormon history, I thought I would put up my own perspective on the past scholarly year. Not only does this allow me to mention some of the articles that caught my eye in the last twelve months, but it also provides a way to discuss major themes of recent scholarship. (more…)

From Matt Grow:

CALL FOR PAPERS
for the Annual Conference of
The Communal Studies Association

Hosted by
Historic New Harmony & The Center for Communal Studies
University of Southern Indiana
New Harmony, Indiana
Conference Dates: September 30-October 2, 2010 (more…)

I’ve recently been researching the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, a late 18th- early 19th-century thinker who represented the transition between German enlightenment and Romantic thought. Schleiermacher, long recognized as an important sage in German culture, has only recently been given due attention in the English-speaking world. Thus, the literature on his theology is somewhat scant in the American academy (save for his demonization by 20th-century neo-conservatives like Karl Barth), especially when compared to someone like Joseph Smith who has long been scrutinized, praised, or overall engaged by scholars both within and without the Mormon tradition. Because of the relative newness of the topic, however, the narrative and frameworks in which to understand Schleiermacher’s thought is still being developed. Several important questions are just now beginning to be asked—questions which, surprisingly, still have relevance to Mormon history today. (more…)

The following is courtesy of Loyd Ericson. This has been a popular topic on our blog, see here, here, and here. (more…)

From Matt Grow:

The Center for Communal Studies at the University of Southern Indiana announces its annual paper prize competition for the best undergraduate and graduate student paper on historic or contemporary communal groups, intentional communities, and utopias. The author of the best graduate paper or thesis or dissertation chapter will receive $500. The author of the best undergraduate paper or thesis will receive $250. Submission deadline is January 15, 2010.

To apply, send an electronic copy to communalcenter@usi.edu, or send two paper copies to Matthew Grow, Center for Communal Studies, University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712.

Recent tangential comments on JI lately have briefly touched on the development of Joseph Smith’s theology, the correct context in which to place it in, and determining what influence(s) led to what came to be his Nauvoo doctrinal system. These, as well as other topics, are among those that, in my opinion, were not handled well in the new Mormon history. (more…)

No, this post is not meant to address Mormon history myths promulgated in Seminary or Sunday School, but rather the possible historical misconceptions that are accepted and presented among the academy. (more…)

The more I look at the development of Mormon thought, the more I’m convinced that the development of materialism drastically shaped late Nauvoo and early Utah (and beyond) theology. (more…)

This post wraps up the series on Parley Pratt’s influential autobiography. As a review, and also a reference, here are all of the intelligent and insightful contributions: (more…)

From Joseph Spencer:

A conference, “Latter-day Saint Readings of Revelation 21-22,” will be
held on September 25th on the UT-Austin campus, in the Theater in the
Texas Union (Room 2.228). (more…)

Terryl L. Givens, The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford’s Very Short Introduction Series (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 125 pp + appendixes and index.

If you are looking for a book that focuses on the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, what it tells us about antebellum religious culture, or even how it shaped (or was shaped by) Joseph Smith’s mind, then this is not the book for you. (more…)

[Yet another post in the Perspectives on Parley Pratt's Autobiography series. Joe recently received a MLS degree from San Jose State University, but has decided to turn from the practical back to the abstract and will be applying to PhD programs in philosophy this fall. He is active in the Society of Mormon Philosophy and Theology, Mormon Scholars in the Humanities, and the Mormon Theology Seminar, and is well-known in the bloggernacle for his Priesthood/RS lesson posts over at Feast Upon the Word blog. Joe is married with a  handful of kids, and his only flaw is his belief that continental philosophy can solve all the world's problems.]

Parley P. Pratt is still well known for his poetry, didactic and pedestrian as it often enough is. (more…)

[This is another installment of the Perspectives on Parley Pratt's Autobiography series. BiV is a legend around the 'nacle, blogging at Hieing to Kolob and Mormon Matters, and a common contributor to JI.]

Searching the Parley P. Pratt autobiography for clues about his love and marital experiences is a fascinating enterprise, both because of what he includes, and what he purposely leaves out. (more…)