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Mormon Studies This Week

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This is a big week for Mormon Studies on the Wasatch Front, with events at the University of Utah, Utah Valley State College, Westminster College, and BYU.

The Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology is holding its fifth Annual Meeting at the University of Utah Thursday afternoon, Friday all day, and Saturday until 5pm. Featured speakers include Jad Hatem of Saint Joseph University, Beirut and Stephen T. Davis of Claremont McKenna College. See the SMPT website for details of the (updated) schedule. Yes, Steve Davis is giving one talk at Westminster Thursday and a different talk at the U Friday. Jad Hatem is also speaking at BYU tomorrow in the HBLL auditorium under the title, “Pure Love in Islam and Christianity: Itinerary of a Catholic Scholar.”

Westminster College is hosting the Tanner-McMurrin Lecture by Stephen Davis of Claremont-McKenna College, entitled “God as Present and God as Absent,” Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Vieve Gore Concert Hall, Emma Eccles Jones Conservatory. Flyer (PDF)

Utah Valley State College is hosting its Eighth Annual Mormon Studies Conference on the topic of “Restoration Christianity: Commonality and Divergence in Latter Day Saint Movements,” on Tuesday, April 1st in the Student Center, room 206a. Speakers will include Sarah Barringer Gordon of the Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School and Steven L. Shields of the Community of Christ. For a more detailed description and schedule, see the UVSC conference page.

All these events are free and open to the public.

7 comments for “Mormon Studies This Week”

  1. Hi Ben. One more related event. The series begins at UVSC Thursday Morning at 10:00 with the Religion and the Humanities Conference :Edges of Transnational Religion” in Computer Science room 404. Four prominent anthropologists, three of whom have written on Mormonism, will be here. At 10:00 am Joel Robbins of UCSD will speak on “Is the Trans- in Transnational the Trans- in Transcendent? On Alterity and the Sacred in the Age of Globalization.” At 11:30 am, Fenella Cannell of the London School of Economics will address “The Anthropology of Christianity and the Christianity of Anthropology”. She will be followed at 1:00 pm by Patricia Fortuny of CIESAS in Mexico who will discuss ““Religious Paths Among Mexican Immigrants.” The event will close at 2:30 with the presentation of Henri Gooren on “The Churches in Nicaragua: Inter-Religious Competition, Conversion, and Leadership” The public is invited. It will be an amazing five days in Utah for religious studies.

  2. Hi David, thanks for letting us know! I wish I could see Fenella Cannell; I’ll have my hands full prepping for the SMPT events, alas.

  3. Your views on here seem more worldly than spiritual. Are you trying to take an Ecclesiastes viewpoint of the scriptures? In my mind, there should be a limit to this. Instead of focusing on the \”tenants\”, remember the basic principles of the gospel. They are the one\’s which are going to lead us to salvation. A high councilman of my stake was told by, I believe Pres. Eyring, the following, after asking him deep, unimportant questions: (Paraphrase) \”Brother, I am still working on faith myself.\” Yes, it is interesting to talk on tenants. But, we should better remember the simplicity of it. The Pharisees made the gospel hard to understand, \”looking beyond the mark.\” This is sad. Members lose their membership from this exact sort of thing. I hope you guys just listen. The gospel is basic. Ask any church leader. Stop trying to over-explain it, or explain it to the world. Only the Spirit can convert. I only hope this was of help and that this site isn\’t actually run by excommunicated members (really sounds like it). Even Hugh Nibley did not lose sight of the basics of the gospel. I am only a youth (priest), and I see this as a bad road to take. I hope I am not too late.

  7. Frog, you might be surprised. Try attending one of these events, then see what you think.

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