The Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology’s 2009 conference will be held at Claremont Graduate University, May 21-23, in cooperation with the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies and the Claremont Mormon Studies Student Association. Here is the text of their call for papers.
Call for Papers: “Upon All Nations – Religious Pluralism”
The Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology invites papers on any aspect of Mormon belief, including its philosophical ramifications. We particularly encourage submissions on this year’s theme.
While claiming exclusive authority, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also takes a strikingly inclusive view of other religious traditions as loci of revealed truth and of God’s work. For example, in 2 Nephi 29:7 God says, “I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all nations of the earth.” We will explore the contours and implications of distinctively Mormon views of pluralism, as well as the particular questions for pluralism raised by the LDS church.
Possible topics falling under this theme include:
- The Holy Spirit’s work in differing spiritual traditions
- Cooperation between religious groups
- Interreligious dialogue
- The place of pluralism within the church
- Missionary work and respect for other faiths
- Differences in teaching and/or practice within or among distinct historical dispensations (e.g. Adamic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Lehitic)
- The relationship of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to other Christian denominations
- Comparative theology
- Analysis of LDS texts on religious pluralism—e.g. Jacob 5, 2 Nephi 29, and Alma 29
- Implications of continuing revelation for religious pluralism
- The role of religion in public life
Authors may submit either (a) a full paper, or (b) a précis:
(a) Papers should be suitable for a reading time of 25–30 minutes (3500 words maximum). Longer papers may be submitted in full, with the understanding that they will be revised for presentation.
(b) A précis should be about 1000 words in length, and summarize the argument of the paper.
Please send submissions by email attachment in RTF, PDF, or MS Word format to Benjamin Huff at [email protected]. Include author’s full name, contact information, title, and word count for the paper or précis.
The Society welcomes submissions by students. At least one program slot is set aside for an outstanding student paper. Students should indicate student status.
Submission deadline: 13 February 2009
Authors will be notified of acceptance by 5 March 2009
The call is also listed on the SMPT website, with a link to a
printable flyer in PDF.
To be kept up to date on announcements of other conferences and calls for papers like this, or to publicize your Mormon Studies event, visit MormonConferences.org.
It’s a shame the conference is the same weekend as MHA; otherwise, I would totally be there.
Yeah, that was a difficult call for us. Obviously there is some overlap between our audiences. However, there were a number of other events we were also planning around, and in the end we thought this would be the best weekend all things considered. There are a number of other Mormon Studies events at Claremont and on the Wasatch Front in the spring, for example, including other events that SMPT members will be involved with, and then the Bushman/Givens/Grow summer seminar starts the week following, etc. We do keep an eye on MHA and usually are able to avoid conflicting with it.
Yeah, good thing there is a calendar which lets you know what is going on in Mormon Studies so that you can avoid double booking. :) Thanks for plugging MormonConferences.org Ben!