Past Newsletters

September 18-19, 2009 

	Kristine Haglund, the recently appointed editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, will examine the relationships between long-established traditions in Mormon scholarship and new directions in contemporary Mormon Studies projects, as well as the interplay between "dead tree" publications like Dialogue, the Journal of Mormon History, BYU Studies, and Sunstone and the lively conversations about all things Mormon currently taking place on blogs and in online magazines.  She will also consider the evolving response of the Church to new media and information technology and to increased interest in Mormon Studies among non-Mormon academics.
ABOUT THE TOPIC:	Kristine Haglund, the recently appointed editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, will examine the relationships between long-established traditions in Mormon scholarship and new directions in contemporary Mormon Studies projects, as well as the interplay between "dead tree" publications like Dialogue, the Journal of Mormon History, BYU Studies, and Sunstone and the lively conversations about all things Mormon currently taking place on blogs and in online magazines.  She will also consider the evolving response of the Church to new media and information technology and to increased interest in Mormon Studies among non-Mormon academics.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:	Kristine Haglund, Editor, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Kristine is editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and a blogger at By Common Consent (bycommonconsent.com) and (until 2007) at Times and Seasons.  Her academic background is in German Studies, and she holds degrees from Harvard and the University of Michigan. Her most recent research interests include anthropologies of religion  and  women’s and children’s history, particularly religious pedagogy in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th-century. She expects to return to graduate school upon completion of her current major pedagogical project–the civilizing of her three children, with whom she lives in Belmont, Massachusetts. Molly Bennion has written about Kristine: Kristine is deeply committed to finding and speaking the truth– a truth, she believes, we can only speak in love. She is comfortable slogging through doubt, anger and disagreement, if necessary, to “find a way through to what is true and lovely.” Her enthusiasm for the life of the heart and mind is palpable. She wrote us that “I have read almost every issue of the journal, which makes me quite annoying in Sunday School…It…gives me a profound sense of wonder and appreciation for the kind of intellectual work that has gone on over the last several decades, and the faith that has informed and sustained it.” We think her intellectual skill, faith and energy, coupled with a most winning appreciation for people and ideas, position her well to continue that work. We also think she is a leader uniquely suited to connect us with a wide circle of intellectual resources. She understands the opportunities presented by the explosions in Mormon studies and interest in Mormonism and has a clear vision of Dialogue’s role as the premier journal of Mormon thought. We are honored that she has accepted our offer.

June 19-20, 2009

	Thomas L. Kane (1822–1883), a crusader for antislavery, women’s rights, and the downtrodden, rose to prominence in his day as the most ardent and persuasive defender of Mormons’ religious liberty. Though not a Mormon, Kane sought to defend the much-reviled group from the “Holy War” waged against them by evangelical America. His courageous personal intervention averted a potentially catastrophic bloody conflict between federal troops and Mormon settlers in the now nearly forgotten Utah War of 1857–58.
Subject: Thomas L. Kane and  the Latter-day Saints.	Speaker:  Matthew J. Grow is assistant professor of history and director of the Center for Communal Studies, University of Southern Indiana.
Orange County	Friday, June 19, 2009  Morris and Dawn Thurston 9752 Crestview Cir., Villa Park, CA 92861 714-974-1878
Los Angeles County	Saturday,June 20, 2009 Russ & Christie Frandsen 4357 Chevy Chase Dr. La Canada Flintridge, CA 91011 (818) 790-5491; rfrandsen@charter.net
Time:	Program: 7:30 PM

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:  

Drawing on extensive, Prof. Matthew J. Grow will tell the full story of Thomas L. Kane’s extraordinary life. Hi will describe his powerful Philadelphia family, his personal life and eccentricities, his reform achievements, his place in Mormon history, and his career as a Civil War general. He will show how Kane and likeminded others fused Democratic Party ideology, anti-evangelicalism, and romanticism. 

"With graceful prose and mastery of the primary sources, Matthew J. Grow illuminates the story of Thomas L. Kane, one of the most complex and intense social reformers to hurdle into the wilderness of the American West. Grow's superb account of Kane's messianic mission to mediate the Utah War of 1857-58 alone warrants acquiring 'Liberty to the Downtrodden.'"—Howard R. Lamar, editor of The New Encyclopedia of the American West 

"Using the vast new trove of Kane materials, Matthew Grow offers a compelling full-length portrait of this entrancing figure."—Richard Lyman Bushman, Columbia University 

“This terrific biography by a talented young scholar reveals a complicated and narcissistic man, whose reformist impulses and personal bravery were tangled with selfishness and hypochondria.  Kane’s obscurity as well as his friendship with the Latter-Day Saints make this a fresh and intriguing story.”—Sarah Barringer Gordon, author of The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America 

"This is an important book not simply from the perspective of Mormon history but also because it opens to view the extraordinary length and breadth of reform in 19th-century America."—Jan Shipps, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis 

"This is an engrossing tale of an independent nineteenth-century reformer. It places our understanding of the relationship among party politics, reform, and evangelical impulses in a refreshing new light."—Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

April 17-18, 2009 

Next Meeting:	April 17-18, 2009
	Grant Underwood, Professor of History, Brigham Young University  Grant Underwood is well known to Mormon history buffs for his path-breaking study, The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism.  He is editor of the first two volumes of documents of the Joseph Smith Papers which includes the texts of the newly released manuscript of the early revelations.
Subject:	Original manuscript from which W. W. Phelps compiled the Book of Commandments.
	A facsimile of the Title Page of the Book of Commandments published in 1833 in Independence, Missouri. The Book of Commandments is among the most rare and valuable books in American history because the original printing was almost entirely destroyed by a mob. The book holds special significance for groups in the Latter Day Saint movement (such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The Book of Commandments is the earliest published volume to contain the revelations of Joseph Smith Jr. Text published in the Book of Commandments is now considered scripture by Latter-day Saints as part of the larger Doctrine and Covenants. On July 20, 1833 an anti-Mormon and pro-slavery mob destroyed the press. The mob, purportedly frightened of Mormon political power, was incensed by an editorial in Phelps' Evening and Morning Star perceived to be abolitionist. Breaking down the door, they razed Phelps' home and business in less than an hour. At that point, 65 revelations of the Book of Commandments, about two thirds the total, were already printed. Totaling 160 pages, most of the uncut and unbound sheets were destroyed in the ensuing fire. However, some neighbors including teenage sister
Orange County	Friday, April 17, 2009  Morris and Dawn Thurston 9752 Crestview Cir., Villa Park, CA 92861 714-974-1878
Los Angeles County	Saturday,April 18, 2009 Russ & Christie Frandsen 4357 Chevy Chase Dr. La Canada Flintridge, CA 91011 (818) 790-5491; rfrandsen@charter.net
Time:	Program: 7:30 PM

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:  

“The Joseph Smith Papers – A Summary of Revelations and Translations, Volume 1: Manuscript Revelations Books” describes the existence of the “Book of Commandments and Revelations” (BCR), a 200+ page manuscript that has long been preserved in the First Presidency’s “vault.” The BCR is nothing less than the actual manuscript collection from which the Book of Commandments was printed in Missouri in 1833. The BCR includes several items not previously known to exist, including the much-debated “Canada revelation,” but its chief contribution is that it contains the earliest extant versions of many of the revelations received by Joseph Smith. Had the BCR contained only one such “earliest version,” it would be newsworthy, but it contains dozens, and for this reason it is a remarkable resource that both gets us very close to the wording of the revelations as originally dictated (virtually no dictation copies of the revelations have survived) and allows us to see the earliest revisions that were made. In short, the BCR will do for textual studies of the revelations what the “discovery” at St. Katherine’s monastery 150 years ago of the Codex Sinaiticus has done for textual studies of the Greek New Testament.

            While the existence of the BCR (or something like it) had long been postulated, its survival and whereabouts were publicly unknown until Elder Jensen posted an article on the Church’s website. As part of the Church’s commitment to comprehensiveness in the Joseph Smith Papers project, in 2005, the First Presidency allowed the vault to be inventoried. After commissioning a transcription and reviewing the results, the Presidency released the compilation for inclusion in the Joseph Smith Papers. The handful of scholars authorized to work with this document were instructed to keep their labors confidential until such time as the Church chose to announce its existence. For the past two and a half years we have done so. On Monday, December 1, Ronald K. Esplin, Managing Director of the Joseph Smith Papers, wrote to us as follows regarding the Jensen article: “This is such an understated, low key announcement that I hesitate to call it an announcement. But the good news is there nonetheless: We can now talk about the BCR!”

            The Joseph Smith Papers volume containing a transcript of the BCR will be published next summer and the following year the volume containing detailed analysis of its contents will appear.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC: 

THE AME AND LDS CHURCHES. The AME Church is unique in that it rejected, from its very beginning, “the negative theological interpretations which rendered persons of African descent second class citizens…. The church was born in protest against slavery - against dehumanization of African people, brought to the American continent as labor.” (AME Website) The LDS and AME Churches in Southern California have an interesting history. One of the founders of the First AME Church of Los Angeles was Biddy Mason, born a slave and brought to Utah during Brigham Young’s time by her Mormon owner. When they moved to San Bernardino, she petitioned for her freedom and eventually became a landowner in Los Angeles, saving her money and accumulating a fortune. She was a generous supporter of charitable causes and, together with her son-in-law, financed the First AME Church of Los Angeles.

More than a century later, during the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots in 1992, the AME Church was doing what it could to help feed, clothe and house those in South Central who were left homeless. Local LDS leaders in Los Angeles and Palos Verdes launched a campaign to help in the relief effort. “While much of the city was still smoldering, a series of Mormon car and truck caravans began delivering food and other supplies to the First AME and Mount Zion churches…. This episode established an ongoing religious and social relationship between the First AME Church and the local LDS stakes.” A decade later an LDS apostle was invited to attend a special AME service and to receive its Love-joy Award in recognition of our outreach efforts. (Bringhurst and Smith, Black and Mormon, p. 89.) During Mitt Romney’s presidential run, Prof. Cecil “Chip” Murray of the First AME Church (LA) became one of the few evangelical Christian leaders to publically endorse Mitt Romney for president.

I requested that Prof. Murray and Rev. Whitlock speak on one or more of the following topics:
A. Your views on the affinities and the differences between the religious African American Community and the Latter-day Saints, in terms of doctrine, faith, practice and culture.
B. Your views on how the Latter-day Saints and the African American communities can work together to evangelize urban America and spread the benefits of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
C. Your views on how the Latter-day Saints and the African American communities can work to solve problems in urban America.
D. Your views on how African Americans perceive The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and what particular lessons and contributions can African American churches and the Latter-day Saints bring to each other.
E. The future of the African American Christian churches and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in contemporary secular America.
F. Your personal journey of faith and service.

I am sure you will be tantalized by these topics. Come and find out what they will say!
 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Prof. Cecil “Chip” Murray

The Rev. Cecil (Chip) Murray is the religious leader every spiritually-conscious person would like to follow. A man of exceptional integrity, he heads a church whose congregants have included Dionne Warwick and Arsenio Hall, a church supported by an annual budget of tens of millions of dollars, which is nevertheless a church that takes loving care of the less fortunate in Los Angeles' inner-city black community. He is a tireless campaigner for jobs and training programs, never turns anyone in need away from his door, and somehow has also found the time to spearhead the construction of low-income housing projects, start drug rehabilitation programs, and organize funds for college scholarships. He is a truly focused man, whose life is his work, and whose work is his life.

Born on September 26, 1929, in Lakeland, FL; son of Edward W. and Minnie Lee Murray; married Bernadine Cousin, 1958; children: Drew David. Education: Florida A & M University, BA, 1951; School of Theology at Claremont, Doctor of Religion, 1964. Military Service: US Air Force, captain, Jet Raider interceptor and navigator; US Air Force Reserves, 1951-61.

Career: First African Methodist Episcopal Church, minister; religious posts in Los Angeles, Seattle, Kansas City, and Pomona.

Memberships: African Methodist Episcopal Church, general board, 1972-92; National Council of Churches, general board, 1972-92; NAACP; SCLC; Urban League; United Nations Association of the USA; National Council on Aging, general board, 1988-93.

Awards: Soldiers' Medal for Heroism, 1958; William Nelson Cromwell Award, 1977; Ralph Bunche Peace Prize, 1992; AME Church Daniel Alexander Payne Award, 1992; NAACP, Los Angeles Community Achievement Award, 1986; National Association of University Women, Outstanding Role Model, 1992.

Reb. Mark E. Whitlock II

Rev. Mark E. Whitlock II, CEO and pastor of Christ Our Redeemer AME Church, has committed his life to serving God and the Church. As a minister and the economic development officer for the Fifth District of the AME Church, Rev. Mark is the Chief Executive Officer of Nehemiah Ministries, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) funding vehicle that offers mortgage loans, transportation services, health programs, training and technical assistance, and legal services.

Rev. Whitlock is the pastor of Christ Our Redeemer AME Church in Irvine, CA. Christ Our Redeemer started with five members on the UCI Campus and under Rev. Mark's leadership has grown to a worshiping congregation of eight hundred souls. 

Before his full-time call to the ministry, Mark served as the founder and executive director of FAME Renaissance, the economic development arm of First AME Church, Los Angeles. As the executive director Mark raised over one hundred million dollars in grants, loans, and contracted service initiatives that created over four thousand jobs with South Los Angeles. The FAME Renaissance Venture Capital Fund and Commercial Loan programs funded over one hundred small businesses. FAME Renaissance’s Home Loan Program has created over two hundred new home owners and has trained over two thousand home loan candidates. Rev. Mark is a member of several Boards of Directors including the Harvard Divinity School's Summer Leadership Institute, the Walt Disney Goals, Operation Hope, Wells Fargo Bank's Community Board, Genesis Los Angeles, and he also serves as the Executive Director of Churches United for Economic Development.  

He continues to lecture at the Harvard University School of Divinity, University of Kentucky, Indiana University, USC, UCLA Anderson School of Business, California State University Los Angeles, many high schools and churches. Rev. Mark has also lectured at President Clinton and Bush's national Faith-Based Conferences. President Bush applauded the work of Rev. Mark at FAME Renaissance by visiting the historic FAME Renaissance Center. Rev. Whitlock is completing a book on Faith-based community development.  

Rev. Whitlock has completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Laverne with a major in religion. He is currently enrolled at Claremont School of Theology. He received an honorary doctorate from American International University in Humanities. He is happily married to Attorney Hermia Shegog Whitlock for twenty years. They have two sons, Mark and Devin.

January 16- 17, 2009 

 ABOUT THE TOPIC: 

From 1857 to 1858, the Buchanan administration sought to quell what it perceived to be a rebellion in Utah Territory while the Mormons, fearful that the large federal army dispatched to the region had been sent to annihilate them, blocked the army's entrance into the Salt Lake Valley. While the confrontation between the Mormon militia, called the Nauvoo Legion, and the U.S. Army involved some destruction of property and a few brief skirmishes in what is today southwestern Wyoming, no actual battles occurred between the contending military forces.

Despite this, the confrontation was not bloodless. At the height of the conflict, on September 11, 1857, more than 120 California-bound settlers from Arkansas, including unarmed men, women and children,[2] were killed in remote southwestern Utah by a group of local Mormon militiamen. This tragedy was later called the Mountain Meadows massacre. While this incident was undoubtedly connected to the hysteria surrounding the approaching federal army which pervaded Utah in 1857, some historians conclude that the killings were an anomaly instigated by geographically isolated and deeply paranoid local leadership acting without the knowledge of the LDS hierarchy in Salt Lake City, some maintain the existence of a larger conspiracy, while others claim the massacre occurred for plunder.[3] Also during this period was the Aiken Massacre. Six wealthy Californians traveling through the territory were arrested as spies, released, and then murdered.[4]

Other incidents of violence can also be linked to the Expedition, such as an Indian attack on the Latter-day Saint mission of Fort Limhi in eastern Oregon Territory which killed two Mormons and wounded several others. Historian Brigham Madsen relates that "the responsibility for the [Fort Limhi raid] lay mainly with the Bannock. Above and beyond any influence exerted by trader, soldier, or missionary, a situation existed in February 1858 which gave the Bannock an almost unrivaled opportunity to indulge in their age-old customs of horse stealing and war."[5] Nevertheless, David Bigler concludes that the raid was probably instigated by members of the Utah Expedition who were trying to replenish their stores of livestock.[6] Taking all incidents into account, MacKinnon estimates that approximately 150 people died as a direct result of the year long Utah War, including the 120 killed at Mountain Meadows. He points out that this is roughly equivalent to those killed during the seven year contemporaneous struggle in "Bleeding Kansas."[7]

In the end, negotiations between the United States and the Latter-day Saint hierarchy resulted in a full pardon for the Mormons, the transfer of Utah's governorship from church President Brigham Young to non-Mormon Alfred Cumming, and the peaceful entrance of the army into Utah. [Wikipedia]

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

William P. MacKinnon is an historian, management consultant, and community volunteer who grew up in Schenectady, New York and Fort Wayne, Indiana. He lives in the village of Montecito, California in Santa Barbara County.  

MacKinnon is an alumnus of the Mount Hermon (Massachusetts) School and in 1960 earned a B.A. degree magna cum laude from Yale University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He is a past Chairman of the Yale Library Associates and an Associate Fellow of Yale's Davenport College. In 1962 MacKinnon received an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.  

As an independent historian MacKinnon's articles, essays, and book reviews on the American West have appeared in more than thirty journals and encyclopedias since 1963. The first volume of his two-volume study of the Utah War of 1857-1858 (At Sword’s Point) was published in 2008 by The Arthur H. Clark Company, an imprint of the University of Oklahoma Press. MacKinnon is an honorary life member of the Utah State Historical Society and the recipient of its Dale L. Morgan Award. He is also a member of the Western Historical Society, the Organization of American Historians, the Oregon-California Trails Association, and the Mormon History Association, which has honored him with its Thomas L. Kane Award and J. Talmage Jones Award.

November 14 & 15, 2008

  ABOUT THE TOPIC: 

Barack Obama and the Latter-day Saints have a lot in common:

v  Both appear somewhat exotic.

v  Both appear mainstream.

v  Both have polygamy in their immediate backgrounds.

v  Both have model families and cute kids.

v  Both struggle with stereotyping.

v  Both have many beliefs apparently out of the mainstream.

v  Both have histories of associating with controversial religious figures.

v  Both have been accused of radicalism.

v  Both present the face of non-threatening next-door neighborliness.

v  Both want you to change your life fundamentally.

v  Both will demand a large share of your income.

v  Both want you to feel uncomfortable with society as it is.

One may believe that these superficial similarities mask deep differences. Yet the Latter-day Saints, with their world-wide mission will have to pursue that world-wide mission within the (probable – at least according to the current polls) context of an Obama administration for the next 4-8 years. Will this confluence give rise to conflict or opportunity? Come and participate in a stimulating discussion with one of the savviest political minds in California, Dr. Gary Lawrence. He will touch on key insights into the just concluded presidential campaign, how Americans perceive Mormons, and what an Obama presidency will mean for Latter-day Saints. [If John McCain wins, we’ll still have a great discussion.]

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Dr. Gary Lawrence has been a political pollster and market researcher for 35 years and has conducted public opinion research for candidates at every political level and for a wide variety of corporate clients. 

Lawrence graduated from BYU in political science and then earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University in a communication program that emphasized the study of attitudes – how they are formed, how they are measured, and how they are changed.  He started his own polling firm in 1986 and prior to that was vice president of the research company that did all of Ronald Reagan’s survey research. 

In the next few weeks, Dr. Lawrence will release the findings of his national survey of 1000 Americans conducted last February in a book titled “How Americans View Mormonism; Seven Steps to Improve Our Image.”  It will be available at howamericansviewmormonism.com. 

Lawrence has served in many callings in the Church: missionary to South Germany, early morning seminary teacher, bishop, and ordinance worker in the Newport Beach temple.  He resides in Orange County with his wife, Jan.  They are the parents of four children and have four grandchildren.

October 17-18, 2008

 ABOUT THE TOPIC: 

“The Mormon Quest for the Presidency fills a historical need, especially evident this election year. Readers will be surprised at how many Mormons, ex-Mormons or about-to-be Mormons tried for the highest office in the land.  The research and characters sketches are uniformly excellent, but the Joseph Smith, George Romney and Mitt Romney candidacies stand out as the most insightful and the most interesting.” – Dennis Lythgoe, Deseret News

September 19-20, 2008

 ABOUT THE TOPIC: 

Wikipedia provides the following summary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Do you agree with the description? Will Ron Walker agree with the description? Will Ron Walker agree with the brief summary provide by Publishers Weekly excerpted above?

The Mountain Meadows massacre involved a mass slaughter of the Fancher-Baker emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows in the Utah Territory by the local Mormon militia in September 1857. It began as an attack, quickly turned into a siege, and eventually culminated on September 11, 1857, in the execution of the unarmed emigrants after their surrender.

The Arkansas emigrants were traveling to California shortly before the Utah War started. Mormons throughout the Utah Territory had been mustered to fight the United States Army, which they believed was intending to destroy them as a people. During this period of tension, rumors among the Mormons also linked the Fancher-Baker train with enemies who had participated in previous persecutions of Mormons or more recent malicious acts.

The emigrants stopped to rest and regroup their approximately 800 head of cattle at Mountain Meadows, a valley within the Iron County Military District of the Nauvoo Legion (the popular designation for the militia of the Utah Territory).

Initially intending to orchestrate an Indian massacre,[citation needed] two men with leadership roles in local military, church and government organizations,[citation needed] Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee, conspired to lead militiamen disguised as Native Americans along with a contingent of Paiute tribesmen in an attack. The emigrants fought back and a siege ensued. Intending to leave no witnesses of Mormon complicity in the siege and also intending to prevent reprisals that would complicate the Utah War, militiamen induced the emigrants to surrender and give up their weapons. After escorting the emigrants out of their fortification, the militiamen and their tribesmen auxiliaries executed approximately 120 men, women and children. Seventeen younger children were spared.

Investigations, interrupted by the U.S. Civil War, resulted in nine indictments in 1874. Only John D. Lee was ever tried, and after two trials, he was convicted. On March 23, 1877 a firing squad executed Lee at the massacre site.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Hugh Hewitt 

Ronald W. Walker 

Ron Walker is one of the true luminaries in Mormon History and Mormon Studies. He has served many years in the Church History Department, on the faculty of BYU, and as part of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History.  No one knows more about 19^th Century Church History than Ron Walker. Don’t miss a rare opportunity.

July 11, 2008

 ABOUT THE TOPIC: 

On February 7, 1844, a strong-willed and charismatic young man of strong will and powerful intellect sat with his brother and other close associates to plan for an upcoming presidential campaign. They had just finished crafting a platform for their new political party and the basis for their campaign.  He published the platform shortly thereafter. He soon recruited a number of men and sent them out to all parts of the United States to electioneer.  The campaign ended a mere three and a half months later in a bloody volley of shots fired through the doors and windows of a jail in Carthage, Illinois.  That night, in Nauvoo, however, they contemplated how the leaders of a misunderstood faith could promulgate their progressive views and win the trust of the American electorate. He reported, “In the evening I met with my brother Hyrum and the Twelve Apostles in my office, at their request, to devise means to promote the interests of the General Government. I completed and signed my "Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States – Joseph Smith," which I here insert:  ‘Born in a land of liberty, and breathing an air uncorrupted with the sirocco of barbarous climes, I ever feel a double anxiety for the happiness of all men, both in time and in eternity. * * *’ 

Since that time in 1844, Latter-day Saints have struggled with the intersection of politics and religious commitments. Across 164 years, the shadow of Joseph Smith cast by the harsh spotlight of presidential politics still obscures the prospects of Latter-day Saints in 2008.  Is it Joseph Smith, in particular? Does it affect Harry Reid as it affects Mitt Romney? Does the shadow fall on other conservative faiths? On other liberal faiths? Come and explore these issues with Hugh Hewitt. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Hugh Hewitt 

Professor Hugh Hewitt is a law professor and broadcast journalist whose nationally syndicated radio show is heard in more than 120 cities across the United States every weekday afternoon.  Professor Hewitt is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, and has been teaching Constitutional Law at Chapman University Law School since it opened in 1995.  Professor Hewitt is a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News Network, and MSNBC, and has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times.  He has received three Emmys for his work as co-host of the ground-breaking Life & Times program, a nightly news and public affairs program that aired on the Los Angeles PBS affiliate, KCET, from 1992 until 2007.  Professor Hewitt also conceived and hosted the 1996 PBS series, Searching for God in America.  He is the author of eight books, including two New York Times best-sellers.  His most recent books are Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That is Changing Your World and A Mormon in the White House?   

Professor Hewitt is best known as the host of his radio show, which has an audience estimated at more than 2 million listeners every week.  Since its debut in July of 2000, Professor Hewitt has conducted groundbreaking interviews with government officials from both parties and widely respected analysts, authors and pundits.  In a 2006 profile of Hewitt for The New Yorker, the dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism told his readers that Hewitt was “the most influential conservative you have never heard of.” 

Hewitt writes daily for his blog, HughHewitt.com, which is among the most visited political blogs in the U.S.  He is also the Executive Editor of Townhall.com.

Professor Hewitt served for nearly six years in the Reagan Administration in a variety of posts, including Assistant Counsel in the White House and Special Assistant to two Attorneys General.  Since returning to California in 1989 to oversee the construction of the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Hewitt has served as a member of the California Arts Council, the South Coast Air management District, and the Orange County Children and Families Commission.  He and his wife live in Orange County.

Hewitt’s passions are the Cleveland Browns and Indians, Ohio State and Notre Dame college football and running. 

June 20-21, 2008

 ABOUT THE TOPIC: 

Have you hesitated to write your personal history because your life doesn’t seem interesting enough?  Do you feel ill-equipped to write a lively memoir because you weren’t an English major in college?  Would you like your children and grandchildren to know what your life was like when you were young ?  If so, you won’t want to miss our next Miller-Eccles Study Group (June 20, 21), when we will have Dawn and Morris Thurston as our speakers. 

The Thurstons will talk about the difference between writing a story that draws readers into your life and one that makes them yawn after the first few pages.  They will discuss how to bring to life the people in your story, how to re-create the times in which you lived, and how to “show” events from your life rather than just “telling” about them. They will also discuss controversial issues, such as the use of dialogue in a memoir and whether one can or should tell “the whole truth.” 

If you have any friends or family members who need to begin writing their life story, this would be a good meeting for them.  The Thurstons’ book, Breathe Life into Your Life Story: How to Write a Story People Will Want to Read, has been one of Signature Books’ best-selling titles in the first year of its publication and is now entering into its second printing.  

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Dawn Thurston, a graduate of UCLA and Cal State Fullerton, teaches life story writing at Santiago Canyon College and the University of Utah.  Recently Dawn was awarded the 2008 Faculty Excellence Award at Santiago Canyon College. Over the years, many of her students have received numerous writing honors.  She has published a history of her own Scottish grandparents, and her articles have appeared in various publications. 

Morris Thurston, a graduate of BYU and Harvard Law School, is a retired senior partner in the law firm of Latham & Watkins. He is currently an adjunct professor at BYU Law School, a volume co-editor for the Joseph Smith Papers Project and lectures on Joseph Smith and the law.  His biography of a great-great-grandfather, Tora Thurston: The History of a Norwegian Pioneer, won the Dallas Genealogical Society’s biography award. 

The Thurstons, whose book about life story writing was published last year, frequently lecture on life story writing at various venues, including BYU Education Week. They are also members of the Miller Eccles Study Group board of directors and host the Orange County meetings of the group. 

May 16th & 17th, 2008

In March 1836 Elijah Abel was ordained an Elder in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The evidence suggests he was ordained by Joseph Smith. In December of the same year he was ordained a Seventy and became a "duly licensed minister of the Gospel" for missionary work in Ohio. He also served missions in New York and Canada.  On February 8, 1852, Brigham Young stood before the Utah Territorial Legislature as it approved a statute establishing slavery in the Territory of Utah and declared that, “Any man having one drop of the seed of Cain in him cannot hold the Priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spake it before I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ.” Br. Brigham was right on one point, “no other Prophet ever spake it before”. Brigham’s policy remained in force for 126 and 1/2 years before the Church repudiated it.  The Church’s Priesthood policy before 1978 and the pre-1978 justifications that continue to linger today are stumbling blocks for many, particularly African Americans. What can we do to heal the wounds and dispel the lingering effects of a tragic policy? Marvin Perkins will present his perspective on these issues.

ABOUT THE TOPIC:

On February 8, 1852, Brigham Young stood before the Utah Territorial Legislature as it approved a statute establishing slavery in the Territory of Utah.  He said, "The Lord said I will not kill Cain, but I will put a mark upon him and it is seen in the face of every Negro on earth. And it is the degree of God that that mark shall remain upon the seed of Cain and the Curse until all the seed of Abel should be redeemed and Cain will not receive the priesthood or salvation until all the seed of Abel are redeemed. Any man having one drop of the seed of Cain in him cannot hold the Priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spake it before I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ." (Journal of Wilford Woodruff 4:97)  How did this egregious old trope originating in Europe and particularly prevalent among Southern Christians (Baptists, in particular) in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries (and continuing into the 20^th Century) become embedded into Church doctrine? Joseph Smith had an open policy without discrimination, yet Brigham Young reversed the policy. Today, when the preferred descriptor for African Americans is “black” rather than “negro”, we and others often read the word “black”  in the scriptures when associated with a people or culture as a descriptor of race or skin color. Is this correct? The Church’s Priesthood policy before 1978 and the pre-1978 justifications that continue to linger today are stumbling blocks for many, particularly African Americans. What can we do to heal the wounds and dispel the lingering effects of a tragic policy? Marvin Perkins will present his perspective on these issues

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Marvin Perkins 

Marvin Perkins, of Valencia, CA, is a 19-year convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Born and raised in Niagara Falls, NY, just 90 miles west of Palmyra, he had never heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints, or Mormons.  Marvin is also an accomplished vocal recording artist.  When one of his business associates wanted to come out to see him perform, this desire set off the missionary experience that would lead to his Baptism into the LDS Church, 3 months later. 

He currently serves as Co-Chair for Genesis Public Affairs.  This is a calling out of Salt Lake City, though living in Southern California. He teaches throughout the country on the Black and LDS issues.  He also serves as a Temple Worker in the Los Angeles, CA Temple, and has represented the Church on numerous television and radio programs. 

Past service includes: Director of African American Relations on the Southern California Public Affairs Council, Gospel Doctrine and Seminary instructor.  He is married to the former Ani Crespo.  They have three children, Marvin Jr., Asia Delia, and Milan Milagros.  Marvin is a successful sales executive for the Bureau of National Affairs. 

Marvin is also the recipient of the 2004 Humanitarian award by the National Council of Community and Justice and in October 2007, co-authored with Darius Gray the groundbreaking set of DVDs entitled Blacks in the Scriptures that details the biblical and LDS doctrine on people of color, curses and the priesthood.

April 18 & 19, 2008

Facsimile No. Three from the Book of Abraham portrays Abraham sitting on Pharaoh’s throne with the crown of the Priesthood on his head and holding the scepter of justice and judgment. Dr. John Gee will discuss our current understanding of the Egyptian parchments currently in the Church’s possession, our current understanding of ancient Egyptian literature, and the relationships with the Pearl of Great Price. Dr. Gee has debunked the commonly held notion that Facsimile 3 in the Book of Abraham represents the judgment scene from the Book of the Dead. He explained that many of the elements that the Egyptians thought were essential to the judgment scene are missing from Facsimile 3. He also demonstrated that Facsimiles 1 and 3 are not vignettes from the Book of Breathings.The 11th Chapter of Isaiah describing the coming peaceable Kingdom of God has inspired many artists, writers, theologians, and even political theorists. Will Van Wagenen takes a distinctive Mormon look at the theme of the Peaceable Kingdom from a quasi-leftist point of view. Mormonism has always had its radicals. For those of us on the generally conservative side of matters (although some of us say we are conservative radicals), we should be open to inspiration even from the left radical side of the Mormon community. Come prepared to be challenged, and to state your own challenges.

ABOUT THE TOPIC:

Wikipedia contains the following in its entry on the Book of Abraham:

The Book of Abraham is a scriptural text for some denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. According to Joseph Smith, Jr., the movement's founder, it is "a translation of some ancient records....purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus".^[1] The work was originally published in 1842 in the Latter Day Saint movement newspaper Times and Seasons[1] together with facsimiles of vignettes from the papyrus and Smith's explanations of them. In 1851, it was republished in England as part of the Pearl of Great Price, which has been included in the canon of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1880.^[2] For many years the original papyri were thought to have been lost. In 1966 eleven fragments of the papyri were found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and are now designated the Joseph Smith Papyri. Both Mormon and non-Mormon Egyptologists examined the fragments and concluded that they are portions of common funerary texts, dating to about the first century BC, and contain no reference to Abraham, bearing little resemblance of Smith's interpretation. As such, their discovery amplified the long standing dispute concerning the authenticity of the Book of Abraham.

Is this description from Wikipedia accurate? Does it really express the views of the latest LDS scholarship on the issues? What are the different lines of thinking about the Book of Abraham today? Do the Latter-day Saint Egyptologists who have studied the Book of Abraham most intently agree with this summary? (Hint: See the side bar next to Facsimile no. 3, above.)     

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Dr. John Gee

John Gee (Ph.D. in Egyptology, Yale University) is William "Bill" Gay Assistant Research Professor of Egyptology at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, where he is a series editor for Studies in the Book of Abraham and a member of the editorial board of the Eastern Christian Texts series. He is also on the board of directors for the Aziz S. Atiya Fund for Coptic Studies at the University of Utah.

March 21 & 22, 2008

The 11th Chapter of Isaiah describing the coming peaceable Kingdom of God has inspired many artists, writers, theologians, and even political theorists. Will Van Wagenen takes a distinctive Mormon look at the theme of the Peaceable Kingdom from a quasi-leftist point of view. Mormonism has always had its radicals. For those of us on the generally conservative side of matters (although some of us say we are conservative radicals), we should be open to inspiration even from the left radical side of the Mormon community. Come prepared to be challenged, and to state your own challenges.

ABOUT THE TOPIC:

“The Mormon Worker is an independent newspaper/journal devoted to promoting Mormonism, Anarchism, and Pacifism. The founders of the Mormon Worker feel that Mormon theology is not only compatible with, but genuinely supportive of, Anarchist political philosophy and pacifism, and are therefore interested in exposing fellow members of the Mormon Church to these political viewpoints. The Mormon Worker is not devoted to criticizing the institution and leadership of the Mormon Church, but rather to informing its members of the virtually forgotten radical elements of their religious tradition, as well as to providing Mormons with radical religious commentary on current political and economic events.” –About The Mormon Worker from www.themormonworker.org.

Will Van Wagan has written that “the consistent application of the principles expounded in Mormon scripture should lead a person to become an anarchist. In other words, every Mormon should look forward to the abolition of government and the building of a socialist society based on free association and mutual cooperation.” Will acknowledges that, “attempting to argue such a case may seem perplexing, given the generally pro-capitalist, pro-government, pro-war stance of many American Mormons today.” Come prepared for a fun evening of challenge, controversy, inspiration, introspection and good will.

If you would like a head start on the evening, you may link to an article Will wrote giving an introduction to Mormonism and Anarchism. You can take a quick look at it if you are wondering where he is coming from politically. http://www.themormonworker.org/articles/issue1/an_introduction_to_mormon_anarchism.php 

Our focus will be on historical, religious, economic and philosophic issues primarily. Will Van Wagenen will speak first about Anarchism/Socialism (which necessitates some discussion of capitalism) and how it relates to Mormonism, then he will talk about Pacifism/anti-Militarism and how that relates to Mormonism. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

William Van Wagenen

William Van Wagenen served an LDS mission to Frankfurt, Germany. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in German, and took a Master's Degree from Harvard University in Theology. Will studied Arabic in Occupied Palestine for one semester in 2003, and lived in Iraq for seven months doing human rights work in 2005 and 2006, surviving a harrowing captivity by Al Queda. He is one of the founders of The Mormon Worker, a newspaper devoted to Mormonism, Anarchism, and Pacifism. 

February 22, 2008

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:      “Mormon Women in History,” promises to be interesting and stimulating. She will explore questions such as: Does Mormon history look different when seen through the eyes of women? Do women’s lives make a difference in the big picture? Her talk will point to ways the study of individual women may be used to reconstruct the history of the Church.
 

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:               

Dr. Bushman is a historian by training, and has taught at Columbia University for many years. She is the author of many books and articles, including: “Mormon Sisters: Women of Early Utah” and “Mormon Domestic Life in the 1870s: Pandemonium or Acadia.“  She was one of the founders of Exponent II, then a Boston-based publication focused on feminism and women’s issues within Mormonism. She was also one of the contributors to the now famous “Pink Issue” of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought — a seminal work on Mormon women’s issues.

Claudia will teach at the Claremont Graduate University beginning in the fall of 2008 in the Howard W. Hunter Mormon Studies program.  While living in New York, she had many Church callings, particularly in public affairs. She chaired many special projects, such as the Harlem Bridge Building Committee, the New York Stake living nativity scene, and the reenactment of the sailing of the Ship Brooklyn.  She produced the Mormon Oratorio Chorus concert in Carnegie Hall and the Temple Youth Jubilee in Radio City Music Hall.  She chaired the installation of an eight foot statue of Joseph Smith in downtown Manhattan in honor of his 200th birthday.  She has six children, expects her twentieth grandchild in April, and was New York’s Mother of the Year in 2002.  She is in Pasadena this academic year as a reader at the Huntington Library where she is annotating the “Family History” of Margaret Elizabeth Schutt Gordon, known as Pansy, to be published in the Utah State University Press series of the life writings of pioneer women.                                                                                                                                                         

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:      Mormonism and Christian Thought is more category than topic. The category embraces the comparison and intersection of Christianity and classical philosophy, Christian social teachings, and particularly Catholic Social Teachings, Christianity and ethics. With his scholarly interest in philosophy of religion and ethics, Prof. Birch is highly qualified to draw from the riches of Christian thought and to compare various topics with the Mormon experience and assess what contributions the Mormon experience may make to Christian thought. As Mormonism is engaged by a much wider community, our understanding of the context this intersection will further enable us to be part of the engagement. You will enjoy this evening immensely.

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

You may read an interview with Prof. Birch at

 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2005/02/interview-dr-brian-birch/.

Brian D. Birch

Director, Religious Studies Program

Associate Professor of Philosophy

November 16, 17, 2007

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

In response to our invitation to speak at Miller-Eccles, Ken Verdoia sent me a delightful response. I liked it so much I am including it here:

Russ:

* * *

I am giving some thought to the theme. So many worthy directions and substantive themes to explore.

Was there one that prompted your invitation in the first place?

Many of my invitations these days are tied to my role in the PBS documentary series The Mormons. And many are driven by an essential question: Who IS that guy?

 I am not a theologian. More the journalist who believes past is prologue to all human endeavor, and context is critical. I try to be honest. I most certainly am blunt. Descriptive. Passionate. I follow paper trails. Quote from the record. My two favorite people in 19th Century North American History are Abraham Lincoln and Brigham Young….in that order. No small coincidence that they had less than a handful of years of formal schooling between them. Character….vision…and living definitions of indefatigable. And both had horrible blind spots. I believe the LDS Church moves through powerful eras… changes….and struggles with defining those eras when they are predicated on changing values and environments, while honoring continuity.

I believe the average LDS Church member has an amazing personal testimony….but has difficulty triangulating events and their substantive relevance in Church history over the past 150 years. The Utah War was NOT insignificant. The Battle of Bear River was not a battle, but a wanton slaughter, and calls into question all relationships between settlers and American Indians, even though soldiers pulled the trigger. The United Order was Christian Utopian Socialism of the first order. Polygamy cannot be swept under the carpet, unless you want to keep tripping over the body every time we enter the room of history. I spent a year living in the plural marriage subculture. I still get Christmas cards from very nice families I met, and I have received death threats from some very not-nice people I met. Warren Jeffs is a bad man, and not the true face of plural marriage. I think Mountain Meadows is horrid… and horribly over-drawn, and is never told in context….but always with the sound of somebody grinding an axe in the background. John D. Lee was set-up as a scapegoat, but he still deserved the firing squad. September Dawn should be seen just so you can tell your grandkids that you saw the worst movie ever made.

I believe David O. McKay gets the credit…but J. Reuben Clark did all of the heavy lifting in the first half of the 20th Century, and in the process redefined what it meant to be LDS from a 19th Century Zion-centric model to an international, in place faith. Spencer W. Kimball was a great man…not for the revelation on blacks in the priesthood (still 30 years past due when it was issued)….but for the incredibly relevant admonition to “lengthen your stride.” I am convinced the Church steps too hard on those members who do not color between the lines…but is showing signs of progress. I think I know why people are asking Mitt Romney what a “Mormon” believes…when they never asked his dad the same question. Mitt: better in business and those settings (2002 Olympics) that permit true leadership than in the political process with checks and balances and the need to court constituencies. President Gordon B. Hinckley is the best thing since sliced bread. How do you distinguish a Utah Latter Day Saint from any other Latter Day Saint? (Actually…the answers from LDS members to that question are far better than mine.)

I do not take up certain themes. Divinity of inspiration. Credibility of events when people, other than I, bear witness to the miraculous. I do not comment on the Koran, Torah, Bible, or Book of Mormon…though I have studied each. I run in abject terror from questions relating to FARMS and any contention of whether anything in Central America from Mayan ruins to discarded Coke cans prove any theory of migration. I believe politics is, unfortunately, like so much of religion in 21st Century America…we spend too much time bragging about what we “believe”, rather than putting it in practice in our lives. It wouldn’t hurt to listen every once-in-a-while. My voting record proves, without a doubt, that I am a muddled, unaligned, small-i independent who never misses a chance to vote…and doesn’t have a horse in the race for President this year. Yet cares passionately about the outcome, since one will lead our nation at a time of extraordinary world dis-order. I respect, but I do not revere. I honor, I do not genuflect. I turn the other cheek, but acknowledge my mean streak. I will defend your ability to practice your faith, as long as you afford me the opportunity to express my opinion. I do not believe that “non-LDS” is the same thing as “anti-LDS”…and hold little regard for people who do. I am not LDS. But my kids still like me. And that matters a lot. Because I consider them a personal gift from God.

And…yes…I will tell people what I really think of the PBS documentary series The Mormons. (Hint: Not too much.)

When it is all said and done, I love The Church and the amazing collection that Brigham called “this people”….I understand and admire its role in defining the American Experience…I appreciate so many members who have let me take their pulse over 30+ years. Best of all, I am non-fattening…seek not to build a political following…and will not ask anyone for a donation to a single cause during my visit. 

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

October 26, 27 2007

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

"Where Do We Stand?  Intellectual Prospects for Mormonism."  The Bushmans will attempt to assess how the position of Mormonism has changed over the last twenty years and what lies ahead. In the U.S., the prominence of Harry Reid and Mitt Romney on the political scene has generated unprecedented examination of the Latter-day Saints, their legacy, the place of Joseph Smith and his teachings, and how Mormonism can be part of the 21st century. The Bushmans’ presentation will provide important foundation pieces for this examination. In recent years, academic conferences on Mormonism have been held at Harvard, Yale, the Library of Congress, and the Claremont Graduate University. Articles have appeared in First Things, multiple cover stories in Time and Newsweek, and long treatments in on-line publications such as the Pew Charitable Foundation and Salon. 

Dr. Bushman will also provide an update on the progress of the Howard W. Hunter Foundation that is raising an endowment to support the Claremont program.  Russ Frandsen will present a short video on the Foundation. 

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

August 18, 2007

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Steve Eccles at steve_eccles@verizon.net and he will add them to the email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

Dr. Smith has written a very comprehensive article on Polygamy that is published on the Fair LDS website (www.fairlds.org).

In his extensive article about polygamy, Smith identifies and discusses six areas where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is attacked by its critics over the issue of polygamy. The issues identified by Smith are: 1) Irreligious - polygamy is inconsistent with Christianity; 2) Illegal - the Church and the Saints acted contrary to law; 3) Lying - the Church and its leaders lied about the practice; 4) Lascivious - polygamy stemmed from base motives of LDS leaders; 5) Implementation - polygamy as practiced was harmful; 6) Hiding history - the Church has tried to hide or rewrite history. Smith goes into great detail in each of these areas. The length of the paper is 65 pages, which includes a table of contents, three pages of additional reading resources, and 362 endnotes. Smith's faithful, deep, and honest look into this complex subject led him to say, "I have come to see polygamy as a vital, even indispensable, part of the Restoration, practiced at the behest of the Lord and ultimately discontinued through proper priesthood authorization."

Our meeting will provide an overview of the practice of polygamy and will allow ample opportunity for questions and answer

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

Dr. Gregory Smith attended the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta Canada where he received his Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Medical Science and in 2002, he was awarded his Medical Doctorate.  He was awarded the Gold Star Clerkship Teaching Award for Family Medicine awarded by medical class of University of Calgary for excellence in clinical teaching in 2006 and 2007. 

He has lectured on Mental Health and the Gospel on five occasions in Alberta to youth groups and Stake Relief Society presentations. 

He is a member of Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) from Summer 2005 to present and is the FAIR-Wiki managing editor from November 2006 to present. 

Dr. Smith served in the Paris, France mission from 1991 – 1993 and is currently Elders Quorum President.

NO RECORDING

To assure an open and frank discussion, we request that our meetings not be recorded. 

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

Beginning with the dedication of a large granite shaft at the birthplace of Joseph Smith at Sharon, Vermont, over 100 years ago, the Church has assiduously acquired LDS historical sites and in many cases restored them to resemble the sites as they might have appeared at the time the significant historical occurrences associated with them. From Sharon, to Palmyra, Kirtland, Independence, Far West, Nauvoo, Winter Quarters, Martin’s Cove, various sites in Utah (Salt Lake City, Cove Fort, Mountain Meadows, St. George, etc.) and San Diego, the Church has invested large resources into preserving LDS historical sites and artifacts and making them accessible to visitors. Dr. Steven L. Olsen, manager of operations at the Museum of Church History, has spent much of his professional career working with Church historical sites. He is one of the most qualified scholars in the Church to present and describe the Church and its historical sites. He will present pictures, charts, maps and a cornucopia of rich detail and interesting facts to make a fascinating evening.  

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

March 23 & 24, 2007

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

Why is Margaret Barker important to the Latter-day Saints? Read on to find out! 

Margaret Barker has recently been nominated for the prestigious Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing administered by the Archbishop of Canterbury in England for her book Temple Theology . How was it that early Christian reflection on Jesus emerged so rapidly and with such a high degree of definition? What patterns of interpretation, already known in late second temple Palestine, crystallized around the person of Jesus Christ and his work?

Margaret Barker believes that Christian theology matured quickly because it was the return to a far older faith. Those who preserved the ancient tradition rejected the second temple, and longed for the restoration of the original, true temple and the faith of Abraham and Melchizedek, the first priest-king. In this fascinating discussion, the author refutes the scholarly assumption that crucial Christian concepts, such as the Trinity, the earth as a reflection of heaven, and the cosmic nature of the atonement, are informed by Greek culture. Rather, she argues, they are drawn from the eclipsed faith of the first temple. 

What did “Son of God,” “Messiah,” and “Lord” mean to the first Christians when they used these words to describe their beliefs about Jesus? Margaret Barker explores the possibility that in the expectations and traditions of first-century Palestine they belonged together, and that the first Christians fit Jesus’ identity into an existing pattern of belief. Barker claims that pre-Christian Judaism was not monotheistic and that the roots of Christian Trinitarian theology lie in a pre-Christian Palestinian belief about the angels – a belief derived from the ancient religion of Israel in which there was a High God and several Sons of God. Yahweh was a Son of God, manifested on earth in human form as an angel or in the David King. Jesus was a manifestation of Yahweh, acknowledged as Son of God, Messiah, and Lord. 

Margaret Barker is a teacher at Ockbrook School in England. She is a member of the Society for Old Testament Study and author of twelve books so far. She has served as the President of the Society for Old Testament Study and internationally acknowledged as one of the foremost authorities on the symbolism of the Temple. Margaret Barker has developed an approach to Biblical Studies now known as Temple Theology. She read theology at the University of Cambridge, England, and went on to pursue her research independently.

She states that "it has been my ambition to redraw the map of biblical studies. Her works exhibit exhaustive readings of both primary and secondary sources, thinking that is both rigorous and imaginative, and impressive mastery of these materials in terms of both the overall picture and in the significance of small details. She demonstrates bold vision in suggesting hypotheses and challenging preconceptions, and she displays an uncanny ability to trace thematic connections between texts. She shows familiarity with original languages and textual variants for key passages and occasionally suggests plausible explanations and alternate readings for those variations based on underlying Hebrew or Aramaic. As I read her books, I get a sense of immense learning and a continuing progression, with each book growing from and building on the foundation of the earlier ones.

In her work Barker writes not as a dispassionate scholar but as one deeply involved and committed not just to understanding but to living Christianity and persuading others to commitment and action. Her faith commitments do not handicap a notable ability to think outside the boxes of both Christian and secular orthodoxy and to make startling suggestions based on rigorous reading.

Barker's work has already attracted notice among several LDS scholars. Most notably, her fourth book, The Great Angel: A Study of Israel's Second God, has been quoted in two significant discussions of Book of Mormon Christology in the FARMS Review of Books. Additionally, Barry Bickmore's Restoring the Ancient Church quotes her when he compares early Christian teachings to Mormonism, and an essay on his Web site relies on The Great Angel to illuminate ancient traditions that identify the Angel of the Lord's Presence as Jehovah, as reflected in the Book of Abraham 1:15–16. Barker has also been cited for her expertise on the Hebrew wisdom traditions in Daniel Peterson's important essay "Nephi and His Asherah" and by John Tvedtnes in the FARMS Review of Books. Peterson also refers to her work in his study of the "ye are gods" passages in John 10 and Psalm 82:10. Mark Thomas makes a passing reference to a journal essay of hers on "The Secret Tradition" by way of explaining the Gnostic phenomenon. William Hamblin refers to her book, The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and Its Influence on Christianity, in the syllabus for his course on celestial ascent traditions in the Ancient Near East at Brigham Young University. Beyond these references in publications, there is a growing word-of-mouth awareness. Still, if anything, her work has been underused in LDS circles. While her works make fascinating reading for anyone interested in Christian origins, I find it remarkable that all of her writings, indeed her overall paradigm, burst with information and insight of peculiar interest to Mormons.

Since 1997, she has been part of the symposium Religion, Science and the Environment. This work has led her to develop the practical implications of temple theology as the basis for a Christian environment theology. Margaret Barker is a mother and grandmother, a Methodist Preacher. 

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

February 23, 2007

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Russ Frandsen and he will add them to a separate email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

With the sesquicentennial of the Utah War, including the Mountain Meadows Massacre, there will be considerable attention focused on this chapter of LDS history. The Utah war, its causes and its long-term consequences on the Latter-day Saints are not well-appreciated.

Historian Ardis Parshall indicates disagreement has long existed over whether Mormons or federal officials deserved most blame for the war. "The truth probably falls somewhere between the two extremes, and every Utah War scholar will produce his own catalog of 'whys,"' Parshall said. "From the federal perspective, the people of Utah were out of control and required the strong hand of discipline to bring them into subjugation." She said the general U.S. public perceived Mormons as being more loyal to Brigham Young than to the government and courts. The public also detested the then-church policy of polygamy as threatening to families. . . . The Mormons, on the other hand, saw their treatment by the federal government as outrageous." They viewed federal appointees in the territory as corrupt political hacks who meddled in the social and religious affairs of Utah. They said such officials slandered them in false reports purporting rebellion.

As debate over the war's roots renews, our speaker, David Bigler has said, "The story of the Utah War must be a faithful account of its causes and outcome, not an illusory rendering that encourages complacency and false pride. ... It must be as fair and balanced and, above all, as honest as admittedly flawed historians can make it." David Bigler is a renowned historian of the west and an authoritative expert on the Utah War.

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

January 26 & 27, 2007

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Russ Frandsen and he will add them to a separate email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

Joseph Smith carried out his ministry under intense and unrelenting adversity. He was constantly under siege by many persistent legal prosecutions. Anyone who has been through even one lawsuit knows how all-consuming it can be. It can demand your time, assets, body and mind. Morris Thurston will follow-up the October 2006 presentation by Joseph Bentley on the lawsuit against Joseph Smith by focusing on the Nauvoo period, and particularly the extradition demands of the State of Missouri. These extradition writs put tremendous pressure on Joseph Smith, forcing him into hiding several times, and disrupting his ministry and the functioning of the Church and Nauvoo. The writs were an important contributing factor leading to the martyrdom of the Prophet. Morris Thurston is an expert in the Missouri period, and particularly with respect to the writs of extradition.

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Russ Frandsen and he will add them to a separate email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

Which Alfred Hitchcock film contains a long passage from the Book of Mormon, and how and why did it get into the film? What Mormon actors have starred in Hitchcock films? What Mormon artist created the largest work of art featured in any of Hitchcock’s films? What Mormon screenwriter wrote several episodes of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series? What did Hitchcock think of Mormonism? In attempting to answer these questions, John Williams  will also explore some aspects of contemporary film theory and ask what it means, in turn, for the pinnacle of Mormon religious expression to involve the watching of a film. Hitchcock’s films, he argues, have something to teach us about what it means to be a Mormon in an age of mechanical reproduction.

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

October 27 & 28, 2006

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Russ Frandsen and he will add them to a separate email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

Joseph Smith carried out his ministry under intense and unrelenting adversity. He was constantly under siege by many persistent legal prosecutions. Anyone who has been through even one lawsuit knows how all-consuming it can be. It can demand your time, assets, body and mind. So far Joseph Bentley and his colleagues have found about 175 total suits involving Joseph Smith — whether as a defendant, plaintiff, witness or judge. (Yes, as Mayor of Nauvoo, he was also a Justice of the Peace and Chief Justice of the Nauvoo Municipal Court.) That makes an average of 12-½ cases per year. It appears that he had at least one lawsuit burdening his time, energy and assets during most of the time of his ministry. Brigham Young said that he had to defend himself in 48 criminal cases, including many personally involving Brigham—but that Joseph was never convicted in any of them. Joseph Bentley believes that this count of criminal cases against him is quite accurate. This presentation will focus mainly on some criminal charges that took his liberty, his assets and ultimately his life.

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

September 23, 2006

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Steve Eccles at steve_eccles@verizon.net and he will add them to the email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

Ordained as an apostle in 1906, David O. McKay served as president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1951 until his death in 1970.  Under his leadership, the Church experienced unparalleled growth, nearly tripling in total membership in becoming a significant presence throughout the world.  During some of the most turbulent times in American and world history, President McKay navigated the Church through uncharted waters as it faced the challenges of worldwide growth in an age of communism, the civil rights movement, and ecumenism. President McKay became the internationally recognized symbol of Mormonism, the man who transformed a parochial Great Basin organization into a respected worldwide religion. 

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

Gregory A Prince is the author of David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism and Power from on High: the Development of the Mormon Priesthood.  He is a Board member of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought and the Journal of Mormon History.  He is the president and CEO of Virion Systems, Inc., a Maryland medical research company.  He lives with his family in Potomac, Maryland. Jan Shipps described Greg’s book on Pres. McKay as a “phenomenal work”. She said it is “a remarkable combination of biographical narrative and historical analysis that is destined to function as a scaffolding on which to hang the still virtually untold story of the latter-day Saints in the middle of the 20^th century.”  

September 5, 6, 2006

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Russ Frandsen and he will add them to a separate email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

Full Name: Eliza Roxcy Snow
Born: January 21, 1804
Birthplace: Becket, Massachusetts
When Eliza was four years old her family moved to the heavily wooded frontier of Mantua, Ohio.

Father: Oliver Snow
Mother:  Rosetta Pettibone Snow
Siblings: Leonora, Percy, Melissa, Lorenzo, Lucius, and Samuel

She walked not in the borrowed light of others, but faced the morning unafraid and invincible.

Joseph F. Smith

Called To Serve

On March 17, 1842, the Relief Society was organized under the direction of Joseph Smith and Eliza R. Snow was called to be the secretary. Her duties included keeping minutes and making sure the meetings started and ended on time. 

After the death of Joseph Smith the Saints were forced to travel West and the Relief Society was disbanded. It wasn't until December 18, 1867, years after the Saints had settled in the Salt Lake Valley, that the Relief Society was reorganized under the direction of Brigham Young and Eliza was called as the second General Relief Society President of the Church.

Eliza's first important job as president was to rekindle the spirit of the Relief Society, which she had loved and nurtured for twenty-three years, and to reestablish its place in the Church. Her primary goal continued to be to establish the organization after the pattern set in Nauvoo by the Prophet Joseph Smith. As she traveled to the various wards, she told the Saints about that original Relief Society and bore her testimony of Joseph as a prophet of God. 

As Relief Society president, Eliza also echoed the priorities that her mother had taught her in her childhood. "Let your first business be to perform your duties at home," she said. "Inasmuch as you are wise stewards, you will find time for social duties, because these are incumbent upon us as daughters and mothers in Zion. By seeking to perform every duty, you will find that your capacity will increase, and you will be astonished at what you can accomplish." 

Elect Ladies, p. 36 - 37

A Prophet's Wife

First Husband: Joseph Smith
Married: June 29, 1842

From Eliza's diary we read, "I was sealed to the prophet, Joseph Smith, for time and eternity in accordance with the celestial law of marriage which God had revealed.... This, one of the most important events of my life, I have never had cause to regret."

Throughout her life Eliza referred to Joseph as "her first and only love . . . the choice of her heart and the crown of her life." and when Joseph was martyred in 1844 she was so overcome by grief that she could not eat or sleep and even pled with the Lord to allow her to die. It was during this time of grieving that Joseph appeared to her in vision and told her that she must not desire to die. He then explained that her mission on earth was not yet completed and counseled her to be of good cheer and service to those around her.

Second Husband: Brigham Young
Married: 1844

Though this marriage was one of convenience and respect, it provided Eliza with security after the death of Joseph. When Eliza arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, Brigham arranged for her to live in a log cabin with Clara Decker, one of his other plural wives. Then, in 1856, he moved Eliza into the Lion House which he had built to house many of his wives and children. Brigham highly respected Eliza's intellect and valued her opinion. She always sat on his right side at the dinner table and during family prayer.

Physical Appearance

Eliza's meticulous and precise approach to everything she did carried over into her appearance. She loved elegant yet feminine clothes. She put extra yards of material into her dresses and trimmed them elaborately, which complemented her slender build and above average height and added to her graceful, lofty carriage. A high forehead and large, deep-set eyes gave her a regal countenance. Her speech was eloquent and dynamic.

Elect Ladies, p. 26

She was slight and fragile and always immaculate in dress. I see her now in her full-skirted, lace-trimmed caps and a gold chain around her neck, looking for all the world like a piece of Dresden china.

Clarissa Young Spencer 

[Eliza was] dignified, reserved, and rather cold, so much so that one would hesitate to approach her or to assume any familiarity whatever. She was so powerful and able, however, that she impressed people, even children, with her superior intelligence, wisdom, vision, and leadership, and won their admiration and confidence.

Amy Brown Lyman

Zion's Poetess

Throughout her life, Eliza often expressed her feelings and ideas in writing, especially poetry. Once, as a child, she even wrote a school assignment in verse. In 1826, following the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, Eliza wrote a requiem for which she recieved wide recognition. After her coversion and baptism in the spring of 1835, Eliza began to use her talents to write poetry for the purpose of cheering and edifying the Saints. Over time she came to be known as "Zion's Poetess", a name given to her by Joseph Smith. Eliza's poetry and songs inspired the early Saints with a hope in the Savior and in eternity as they endured the trials and persecutions of their day. Today the Saints continue to be uplifted as they sing the words to such hymns as God of our Fathers; Behold the Great Redeemer Die; How Great the Wisdom and the Love; and O My Father.

Pioneer

Eliza and her family left Kirtland, Ohio in the spring of 1838 in hopes of finding refuge in Missouri. Along the way Lorenzo became very ill and Eliza held his head in her arms to absorb the shocks as the wagon jolted over the rough roads. When the family arrived in Far West, Missouri Lorenzo was still ill and Eliza stayed with him for two weeks while the rest of the family went ahead to Adam-ondi-Ahman.

In the cold winter months of 1839, Eliza's family followed the Saints to Nauvoo, Illinois leaving behind many of  their possessions including two homes. During this journey, Eliza walked beside the wagon to keep warm and to keep her feet from freezing. After a short stay in Quincy, Illinois, Eliza finally arrived in Nauvoo. 

I will go forward. I will smile at the rage of the tempest, and ride fearlessly and triumphantly across the boisterous ocean of circumstance. 

In February 1846, after the Saints were ordered out of Nauvoo, Eliza travelled with the Markham family across the frozen Mississippi River and began the long journey westward with the Saints. It was during this time that she learned to drive a team of oxen. Of the experience she wrote:

Had it been a horse-team I should have been amply qualified, but driving oxen was entirely a new business; however, I took the whip and very soon learned to 'haw and gee,' driving most of the way to Winter Quarters.

At Winter Quarters Eliza became ill with "a slow fever that terminated in chills and fever."

She wrote: "Sometimes wet nearly from head to foot, I realized that I was near the gate of death; but my trust was in God, and his power preserved me.

Once she recovered from her illness, Eliza spent her days preparing for the trek west and attending meetings where she shared testimony and spiritual gifts. In the summer of 1847, Eliza began her journey to the Salt Lake Valley with the Robert Pierce famly. Before she left she used her last bit of money to buy a bottle of ink which she would use to write inspiring songs, letters, and personal journal entries.

Her Testimony

I will go forward. I will smile at the rage of the tempest, and ride fearlessly and triumphantly across the boisterous ocean of circumstance... and 'the testimony of Jesus' will light up a lamp that will guide my vision through the portals of immortality, and communicate to my understanding the glories of the Celestial kingdom.

Eliza R. Snow

A Peaceful Parting

Eliza died on December 5, 1887 and was buried on a hillside near the Lion House in President Brigham Young's private cemetery. Eliza had arranged all the details of her funeral before she died and requested that the choir sing, "O My Father", a hymn she wrote which speaks of returning to live with her heavenly parents. She also requested that the Assembly Hall be draped in white and filled with white flowers as a symbol of hope.

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

Autobiographical Information from Prof. Derr:

History was my minor when I graduated from the University of Utah in 1970. My first love was literature. I hoped to teach English—to acquaint students with the novels and poetry of writers I had come to love through fine professors such as Jack H. Adamson, Dorothy Snow, and William Mulder. Born and reared in Salt Lake City, in 1969 I spent my first summer away from home working in Boston and decided I wanted to do graduate work there. I began work on a master's in teaching at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education in the summer of 1970. The program provided a wonderful opportunity to combine education courses and teaching experience with course work in literature. In the wake of the Civil Rights movement, I wanted my teaching to impact the students hardest hit by poverty and prejudice. I studied what was then known as Black literature and completed my student teaching at the Martin Luther King Middle School in Roxbury, Massachusetts. I struggled with the combination of coarseness and brightness, hopelessness and hope that marks the lives of ghetto youth. After I received my MAT in June 1971, I taught in the Boston Public Schools for two years.

Ironically, I was so taken with my new profession that I was largely oblivious to many of the people and ideas that would have such an impact on my later life. A single student, I knew Richard L. Bushman as a beloved bishop, not as a historian. In June 1970, his wife Claudia Lauper Bushman and other women had begun a discussion group on Mormon women's lives and history which resulted in publication of the summer 1971 women's issue of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought and an invitation in the spring of 1973 to Maureen Ursenbach to speak to interested Boston women on the life of Eliza R. Snow. I had not been part of the discussion group, but I attended the lecture. I was fascinated and a bit piqued. Why did I know Eliza Snow only as a writer of hymns and not as a powerful leader of Mormon women?

In the summer of 1973, I returned to Utah. Unable to find a teaching job, I applied to be a research fellow where Maureen Ursenbach worked: at the new History Division of the LDS Church Historical Department, under the direction of Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington. I welcomed the task he assigned me: to find and catalogue the poetry of Eliza R. Snow. I loved reading the Woman's Exponent (1872–1914) page by page and becoming acquainted with dozens of Latter-day Saint women whose lives gradually unfolded before me. My three-month fellowship was extended to a year and then continued. As I began writing my own articles about Mormon women, I had superb coaching from Maureen Ursenbach [Beecher] and from Leonard J. Arrington and his two assistants Davis Bitton and James B. Allen. These and other History Division colleagues became dear friends, and we worked together over the years, united in our purpose to write scholarly, faithful history.

In the fall of 1977, I married C. Brooklyn Derr, moved with him to Alpine, Utah, and began mothering his three children—Bentley, Danielle, and Yvette. Our son Zachary was born in 1979. I left the History Division in order to give most of my energy to the family, but my husband and colleagues supported me in keeping my hand in history. A History Division book I co-edited with Kenneth W. and Audrey M. Godfrey, Women's Voices: An Untold History of the Latter-day Saints was published by Deseret Book in 1982. Brooke and I and our children lived in Fontainebleau, France, for eight months in 1985 while he taught courses at an international business school there. He had a similar teaching assignment which planted us near Lausanne, Switzerland, from 1989 to 1991. These interludes provided occasions to sharpen my French, learn about the Church outside Utah, and work on some long-term historical projects, including histories of LDS Social Services and the Relief Society. The History Division moved to Brigham Young University in 1980, becoming the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for LDS History, and I formally reconnected with colleagues there in 1987. With the support of the Institute, and in collaboration with Janath R. Cannon and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, I completed Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society in 1992.

I continue to pursue the work that served as my entree into Mormon history, the poetry of Eliza R. Snow. Karen Lynn Davidson and I are currently co-editing for publication nearly five hundred of Eliza's poems, and my major work in progress is a biography of Eliza R. Snow. 

July 14, 15 2006

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Russ Frandsen and he will add them to a separate email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:         

We have asked Prof. David H. Bailey to speak on Latter-day Saints and the scientific outlook. In particular, we suggested that he address the topic of intelligent design as it relates to the LDS community. (I am certainly distinguishing between “young earth” and “intelligent design”. You are probably aware of the national controversies over “intelligent design” in school curricula.) Although his expertise is computational mathematics, with his work at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, he will have much to say on the challenge of integrating (or not) science (and math) and a faithful life. Intelligent design may be a fruitful foil for this discussion. (I personally wish more biologists had a quantitative and physics background (particularly statistical physics) to integrate into their works.) As the scientific and biotech sectors continue to make astounding progress in describing the conception and development of life, with ever greater understanding of (and realization of the extent of what is not known) of the genetic and DNA make-up of life, the intersection of traditional or conventional beliefs and these new descriptions and theories will thrust upon us evermore interesting and challenging ideas and concepts. 

Do Latter-day Saints have particular insights and approaches to these issues? How do we personally respond to these challenges? How will today’s generation of students and young scholars respond? 

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   

David H. Bailey is the Chief Technologist, Computational Research Dept., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He received his B.S. in 1972 in Mathematics at Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. in 1976 in Mathematics from Stanford University. 

He is a member of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS), and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). 

His major awards include 1. The Sidney Fernbach Award (1993). The Chauvenet Prize (1993); The Merten Hasse Prize (1993); The H. Julian Allen Award (1995); CSE “Algorithms of the Century (2000);” BYU Honored Alumnus, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (2001); and Nominee for $100,000 “Edge of Computation”Prize (2006). 

In high performance computing, he has written numerous papers on numerical algorithms and performance analyses of scientific computer systems. One of these is “The NAS Parallel Benchmarks,” which has been widely used to measure scientific computer performance.  

In computational and experimental mathematics, he has written numerous papers on the usage of modern computer technology in mathematical research. His best-known result in this area (with Peter Borwein and Simon Plouffe) is a new formula for the mathematical constant pi, which was found in 1996 using one of his computer programs. This formula has the remarkable property that it permits one to directly calculate the n-th digit in the binary or hexadecimal expansion of pi. 

In his teaching and other work, he taught the U. C. Berkeley graduate course “Applications in Parallel Computing”. He has organized several workshops, jointly with the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, that include Minorities in Applied Mathematics (1998), Parallel Symbolic Computation (1998), Algorithmic Number Theory (2000), Supercomputer Benchmarking (2001) and Experimental Math (2004).  

Dr. Bailey has authored three books and 90 technical papers, and his given numerous lecture presentations. 

The number of results for Google search with search key “David H Bailey”: “about 43,400” (approximately 96% of these are valid references). Number of results for Google search with search key “D H Bailey”: “about 26,100” (approximately 85% of these are valid references). 

Besides, someone whose motto is “computo ergo sum” has to have something worthwhile to say.

March 24, 25, 2006

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Russ Frandsen and he will add them to a separate email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:  

        Prof. Karen Torjesen’s area of expertise is early Christian history. We asked her to address the following topics: the nature, organization, practices, and leadership of early Christian congregations; comparisons and contrasts of Latter-day Saint doctrine and teachings with early Christianity particularly with respect to the Godhead and Christology; the evolution of Christology from the earliest Christian congregations through the life of Constantine; the place of Mormonism in the mosaic of Christian belief and practices. Of course we suggested that she also address related topics that she feels will be interesting and informative to our group. 

            We also requested a five-minute update on the progress on the Chair of Mormon Studies at the Claremont Graduate School. 

             Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

           Karen Torjesen, Dean:  History of Christianity; Women's Studies in Religion. Professor Torjesen's research interests include constructions of gender in early Christianity, authority and institutionalization in the early churches, hermeneutics and rhetoric in late antiquity, and comparative study of Greek and Latin patristic traditions. During her tenure as assistant professor of patristic theology at the University of Goettingen (Germany), her book Hermeneutical Procedure and Theological Structure in Origen's Exegesis was published by de Gruyter. Her most recent book is When Women Were Priests: Women's Leadership in the Early Church and the Scandal of their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity.

March 24, 25, 2006

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 ABOUT THE TOPIC:  

        We invited several well-known bloggers to speak on the topic of LDS blog sites and blogging. We suggested some ideas of interest for discussion would be: 1) How did you get started? 2) Who conceived the idea of the blog? 3) How many people did it take to start it? 4) What editorial decisions and policies did you adopt? 5) How did you divide responsibilities? 6) Who monitors the posts? 7) How much time do you spend at it? 8) How many people visit the blogs? 9) What does it take to make a successful blog? 9) How do you recruit the regular bloggers who post the topics? 10) What kind of burn-out do you have? 11) What is the range of LDS-themed blogs? 12) How many LDS-themed blogs exist? 12) How do LDS-themed blogs complement the official publications of the Church? 13) How do LDS-themed blogs complement other LDS-themed publications such as Sunstone, Dialogue, Journal of Mormon History, Exponent II, LDS-themed popular magazines, etc.? 14) How do LDS-themed blogs compete with items listed in 12. and 13.? 15) How can we observe or measure the impact on the Church membership in general of LDS-themed blogs? 16) How can we observe or measure the impact on local leadership and general Church leadership of LDS-themed blogs? 17) What has been the impact to date of LDS-themed blogs on the groups described in 15. and 16.? 18) What kind of response, if any, have you had from local and general church leaders in their non-official capacities? 19) What kind of response, if any, have you had from local and general church leaders in their official capacities? 20) What is the future of LDS-themed blogs? 21) What influence or interaction have the sympathetic LDS-themed blogs experienced with the unsympathetic LDS-themed blogs? 22) What impact on the family life of bloggers and readers of blogs have you observed ? Are there blogger widows and widowers? Our panelists will undoubtedly add to and subtract from these ideas. 

       Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

            Kaimi David Wenger is a permanent blogger at Times and Seasons. Kaimi was born in 1974 and grew up in a variety of places, including Germany, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Hawaii. (He is part Hawaiian, and his name, Kaimipono, means “Seeking for Righteousness” in Hawaiian.) He served in the Guatemala Quetzaltenango mission. He married Mardell Louise Jones. He attended Columbia Law School and served as a law clerk to Judge Jack B. Weinstein in the Eastern District of New York, after which he worked as a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York. In July 2005 joined the faculty at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. He currently lives in San Diego and attends the San Diego 12th Ward.

Nate Oman is a permanent blogger at Times and Seasons. Nate grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and attended Brigham Young University from 1993 to 1999. He served in the Korea Pusan Mission. While at BYU, he studied political science and philosophy. He also took just enough economics to get into trouble. After graduation, he married (as Nate describes his wife) the fabulous and incredible Heather Bennett and worked on Capitol Hill for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky). He attended Harvard Law School. He currently works for a large law firm in Washington, DC. 

            Caroline Kline is a regular contributor and founder of Exponent II Blog. Caroline describes herself as a 28 year old part-time high school Latin teacher and library science graduate student. She always grew up with major career ambitions, but she finds herself at this point with her professional future somewhat up in the air. “I guess life - partially in the form of my fantastic and overachieving professor husband Mike - interfered.” If she could do anything or go anywhere without her current geographical limitations, she would be a graduate student in women's studies. Currently, she has two beautiful rescued pugs and she is expecting her first baby this summer.

February 24, 25, 2006

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Russ Frandsen and he will add them to a separate email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:  

Citizen militias are foreign to Americans in the 21^st Century.  But not in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries. Latter-day Saints are often mystified by Zion ’s Camp, by the militias in Missouri , by the Danites, by the Nauvoo Legion, and by militias in the early Utah period. Yet these aspects of Mormon history have their counterparts in American society at large. Dr. Bennett’s studies will shed light on these topics and perhaps provide a framework for a fuller understanding of Mt. Meadows . Dr. Bennett writes, “I am just finishing my part of a collaborative study soon to be submitted for publication on early American militias, Mormon military activities in Missouri , and the Nauvoo Legion in particular. We are carefully addressing the charge of Mormon militancy in the early days of the Church.”

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Dr. Richard E. Bennett is Professor of Church History and Doctrine, Department of Religious Education, Brigham Young University . He received his B. A. Brigham Young University , Provo , Utah , 1972. (English Literature/History), M. A. Brigham Young University , Provo , Utah , 1976. ( U.S. Intellectual and Western Frontier History); (Title of Thesis: "A Study of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

Saints in Upper Canada , 1830-1850"); Ph D. Wayne State University , Detroit , Michigan , 1984. (U.S. History with a minor in Archival Science and special training in paper conservation at the

Dearborn/Greenfield Museum, Dearborn , Michigan .) (Title of Dissertation: "Mormons at the Missouri: A History of the Latter-day Saints at Winter Quarters and at Kanesville, 1846-52: A Study in American Overland Trail Migration"). Dr. Bennett has written several well-received books, including, Mormons at the Missouri , 1846-1852 - And Should We Die (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987), 347 p. We’ll Find the Place - The Mormon Exodus 1846-1848 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997), 428 p. A City of Refuge : Quincy , Illinois , Susan Easton Black and Richard E. Bennett, Editors. ( Salt Lake City : Millennial Press, 2000. 352p. 

Please forward this to your family and friends who would be interested in hearing about Mormon History, Culture and Society and its larger intellectual and social context. They are welcome to attend. You may send their email addresses to Russ Frandsen and he will add them to a separate email list.

 ABOUT THE TOPIC:  

Ordained as an apostle in 1906, David O. McKay served as president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1951 until his death in 1970.  Under his leadership, the Church experienced unparalleled growth, nearly tripling in total membership in becoming a significant presence throughout the world.  During some of the most turbulent times in American and world history, President McKay navigated the Church through uncharted waters as it faced the challenges of worldwide growth in an age of communism, the civil rights movement, and ecumenism. President McKay became the internationally recognized symbol of Mormonism, the man who transformed a parochial Great Basin organization into a respected worldwide religion.  

Don’t miss this stimulating evening!

 ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Gregory A Prince is the author of David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism and Power from on High: the Development of the Mormon Priesthood.  He is a Board member of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought and the Journal of Mormon History.  He is the president and CEO of Virion Systems, Inc., a Maryland medical research company.  He lives with his family in Potomac, Maryland. Jan Shipps described Greg’s book on Pres. McKay as a “phenomenal work”. She said it is “a remarkable combination of biographical narrative and historical analysis that is destined to function as a scaffolding on which to hang the still virtually untold story of the latter-day Saints in the middle of the 20^th century.”