I promised to provide a few more highlights from Sunstone West, so here goes. Friday evening's plenary session was the panel on the Mormon women's oral history project. All the panelists were good, but I particularly enjoyed Lauren Kennard's discussion on "Defining the Relationship", which was full of humorous gems. One woman, at fifteen, accepted a marriage proposal from a missionary whose name she didn't even know. Another woman was unimpressed with some guy she dated until she met his parents, and then she fell in love... with him, of course. ;-) Another panelist described how when a Stake President in Hawaii decided that the Relief Society bank account would be incorporated into the stake's general fund, the women complied... but not before spending all their excess funds on a large, fancy dinner for all the women!
I got 2 hours of sleep Friday night because I was revising my paper for oral presentation. Suffice to say, Saturday was a long day.
Saturday morning I chaired Jacob Rennaker's session, in which he discussed the Qumran community's use of scriptural texts as a starting point for receiving new scripture and new revelation, and compared this to Joseph Smith's revision of the King James Version of the Bible. It was a fascinating presentation and discussion. Perhaps we should start a Qumran-style revelation-Bible-study group here on campus.
Saturday afternoon I had lunch with Don Bradley. Don is frighteningly brilliant. When he publishes all the things he's working on, there won't be any discoveries left to make. Then I'll be out of a job and I'll have to find another discipline.
Don was part of another standout session that afternoon, the book panel for Persistence of Polygamy: A Mormon Anthology. Among other things, Don argued that Joseph Smith's relationship with Fanny Alger was sexual, but also was a formal marriage. The full book, when published, will be a collection of essays from top-flight historians, covering everything from Joseph's Kirtland-era polygamy to polygamous Community of Christ converts in present-day India.
My own sessions went well. I presented on American Indian delegations to Nauvoo in a dual session with Bryan Cottle. Most of the delegations were composed of traditionalist Indians who had been allied with Britain against the US until the War of 1812, after which Britain gave up its New World ambitions and left the Indians hanging out to dry. The Indian delegates to Nauvoo were apparently looking to Joseph Smith and the Mormons to fill the political vacuum left after the British pullout, and to serve as their white patrons and military allies against the US. Joseph declined the offers of military alliance for public relations reasons, but his words and actions during the period suggest that his refusal may have been intended as a temporary deferral rather than a long-term commitment.
Saturday evening I participated in the panel on CGU's Mormon Studies program. It is enough to say that great work is being done at CGU. One thing we didn't talk about in the panel is the school's present financial trouble, which recently resulted in at least one controversial layoff and some other cutbacks. The school isn't at risk of closure or anything, but like other institutions, it has suffered greatly due to the economic downturn.
2 comments:
I really do enjoy your posts and great insight to the LDS culture and scholarship. Although I have left the LDS church and its beliefs, I am very much interested in following the church's evolution.
I wonder though about a future specialized in Mormon studies. Is there a large enough interest to sustain a career in what basically about 4 million US residents believe?
I think of Dr. Michael Quinn, who I believe is one of the great LDS historians ever, and see his inability to find meaningful employment after having angered Mormon leadership.
Is the LDS church and its culture significant enough to allow meaningful scholastic employment?
And I get this is probably a difficult question so ignore if you want.
Hi Odell,
You raise a very good question, and one about which I've done a lot of soul-searching. The answer is no, Mormon Studies isn't really enough to sustain a career. However, my degree is going to be in Religions in North America. I'm hoping that will be enough to sustain a career, especially if I branch out a little. That's why I've broadened my dissertation topic to include American Indians, and I'm trying to do some writing on subjects other than Mormonism, while also keeping Mormonism as my primary interest. I'll let you know if it works. If not, then it's probably Starbucks for me. ;)
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