Mormon studies

Mormon studies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of those known by the term Mormon and denominations belonging to the Latter Day Saint movement whose members do not generally go by the term "Mormon". The Latter Day Saint movement includes not only The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) but also the Community of Christ (CC) and other groups, as well as those falling under the umbrella of Fundamentalist Mormonism.

Mormon studies is predominantly historical and a branch of American studies—yet, because of growth trends, more than half of the movement's adherents live outside the U.S., making it a subset of Latin American studies, Pacific studies, Canadian studies, and European studies, as well. In addition to general historians, scholars with expertise in such fields as social anthropology and women's studies contribute or concentrate in Mormon studies as well. Mormon studies academics often present their researches not only at standard academic forums but at more broadly popular gatherings—whether devotional, socially activist, or of some other nature. Likewise, some who are not trained academically in history or another social science, conduct and present Mormon-studies research of note.

Although some scholars' studies of Mormonism are primarily apologetic, either pro- or counter- Latter Day Saint faith claims, those whose work best characterize the field stand apart from claims in either direction and, even if they analyze Latter Day Saint beliefs or theology from a personal standpoints of Mormon-belief, of another religious belief, or of no religious beliefs at all, they couch their views in terms of encouraging cross-faiths and Mormon–"secular" understanding.

Among prestigious awards in the field are the Leonard J. Arrington Award, presented by the Mormon History Association for "distinguished and meritorious service to Mormon history" and its Woodward Award for outstanding International Mormon history. Whereas many scholars drawn to the field share a background in the religion itself, the MHA's Thomas L. Kane Award is presented each year usually to a non-Mormon historian in recognition of work seen as building bridges between Mormons and other communities.^[1]

Academic programs

Independent

• Utah State University's Program of Religious Studies

Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture, est. 2007

• Claremont Graduate University's School of Religion

Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies, est. 2008

• Utah Valley University
• University of Wyoming

Denominationally affiliated

• Brigham Young University Religious Education (Provo, Utah; Rexburg, Idaho; Laie, Hawaii campuses; and also the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies)

For LDS religious instruction. (Advanced historical research is conducted instead at the LDS Church History Library, which institution, incidentally—along with places such as BYU's Harold B. Lee Library and the Huntington Library—holds historical materials important to Mormon studies.)

For more details on this religious school's parochial-versus-liberal tensions, see Academic freedom at Brigham Young University.

• Fuller Theological Seminary's School of Intercultural Studies

Department at multi-denominational Protestant Christian seminary that has occasionally held seminars on Evangelical–Latter-day Saint dialogue and comparative theology

• Graceland University

Non-denominational university affiliated with the Community of Christ. Teaches religion classes and is connected with the denomination's seminary.

• Latter-day Saint Institutes of Religion

Offers religious instruction to LDS students, often at locations adjacent to institutions of higher learning

• Southern Virginia University

Small liberal arts academic institution operated by members of the LDS Church

Other institutions

• Association for Mormon Letters
• Church History Department of the LDS Church
• European Mormon Studies Association^[2]
• Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research
• John Whitmer Historical Association
• Mormon Historic Sites Foundation
• Mormon History Association
• Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology
• Sunstone Education Foundation

Print resources

Multi-volume document compilations

• History of the Church

7 volumes, published 1902–1912; B.H. Roberts, editor (affil., LDS)

• The Joseph Smith Papers

Multi-volume, published 2008–on (jointly affil., LDS / US National Historical Publications and Records Commission)

• Journal of Discourses

26 volumes of LDS sermons, published 1854–1886 (affil., LDS; non-"canonical")

Brief reference works

• Encyclopedia of Mormonism (1992)
• Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (2000)
• Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia (2010)

Journals

• BYU Studies (affil., LDS)
• The Claremont Journal of Mormon Studies
• Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
• Element: a Journal of Mormon Philosophy and Theology
• Exponent II — Quarterly feminist magazine
• International Journal of Mormon Studies
• Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture (affil., LDS)
• The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal

Latter Day Saint movement history journal, founded by CC members

• Journal of Mormon History
• Mormon Historic Sites Foundation's Mormon Historical Studies
• Mormon Studies Review (affil., LDS)
• Restoration Studies — CC history journal (jointly affil., CC / John Whitmer Historical Association)
• Sunstone: Mormon Experience, Scholarship, Issues & Art

Publishers

• Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University Press

Brigham Young University Studies

Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS)

Religious Studies Center

• Deseret Book (affil., LDS)

Additional imprints: Bookcraft and Covenant

• Foundation for [LDS] Apologetic Information & Research
• Herald House (affil., CC)
• John Whitmer Books
• Signature Books
• Utah Lighthouse [Evangelical] Ministry (independent, Christian "anti-Mormon" research ministry)
• CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions) (Centro studi sulle nuove religioni)
• Christian Research Institute
• University of Utah Press

Apologetics ministry founded by Walter Ralston Martin, "father of the Christian Counter-cult Movement"

Selected list of past scholars

See also: Latter Day Saint historians

Individuals from a variety of cultural or philosophical standpoints produced prolific Mormon-themed research, scholarship, or their popularization, in an era now past. Then, beginning in the decade of the 2000s, Mormon studies finally came into its own as an independent field of study when the sub-discipline became featured by then at a few academic institutions in the Western United States.

Some of the individuals with recognized expertise in the field are listed below.

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Note: In consideration of space, do not include members of LDS movement denominations' overall leadership. (Dallin H. Oaks is listed for work he published prior his becoming a member of the LDS Quorum of the Twelve.)

19th-century compilers of Mormon histories or essays

• Thomas Bullock (1816–1885)
• William Clayton (1814–1879)
• Appleton Milo Harmon (1820–1877)
• Edward Tullidge (1829–1894)
• L. John Nuttall (1834–1905)
• Edward H. Anderson (1858–1928)

Journalist. Biographer of Brigham Young

• Nephi Anderson (1865–1923)

Mormon author of fiction and non-fiction

Opening "modern," 20th-century field

• Andrew Jenson (1850–1941)

Assistant [LDS] Church Historian

• B. H. Roberts (1857–1933)

Assistant Church Historian of the LDS Church 1902–1933. Made first attempts to shift from apologetics to a professional historical approach.

• John Henry Evans (1872–1947) Latter-day Saints University

Biographer, various early LDS leaders

• LeRoy R. Hafen (1893–1985) – University of Denver; Brigham Young
• Bernard DeVoto (1897–1955) – Northwestern; Harvard

Preeminent writer-historian of the American West sometimes writing on Mormon subjects

• Juanita Brooks (1898–1989)

Independent. Also served as a dean at Dixie Junior College

• Paul Dayton Bailey (1906–1987)

Journalist. Author of histories of about Mormon pioneers

• Samuel W. Taylor (1907–1997)

Novelist and screenwriter who authored the Mormon-themed humorous novel Heaven Knows Why! in 1979

• Lowell L. Bennion (1908–1996) – Salt Lake City's LDS Institute of Religion

Sociology of religion. Ecumenical outreach, practical philosophy

• Wallace Stegner (1909–1993) – University of Wisconsin; Harvard

Writer-historian called "The Dean of Western Writers," sometimes writing on Mormon topics

• Ivan J. Barrett (1910–1999) – Brigham Young
• Hugh Nibley (1910–2005) – Brigham Young

Known as the father of LDS Apologetics

• W. Cleon Skousen (1913–2006)

BYU religion professor, 1967–1978.^[3] Prolific popularizer^[4] among LDS of its theology. (Also an influential, conservative American Constitutionalist and faith-based political theorist)

• Brigham D. Madsen (1914–2010) – University of Utah

Historian

• Dale Morgan (1914–1971)

Influential independent Utah historian

• Fawn Brodie (1915–1981)

Critical, psychobiographer of Joseph Smith. Became UCLA professor

• Leonard J. Arrington (1917–1999) – Utah State Agricultural College; BYU; LDS Church Historian, 1972–1982

Economist. Known as the "Dean of Mormon History"^[5] and "the Father of Mormon History."^[6]

• Richard D. Poll (1918–1994) – Brigham Young; Western Illinois University
• Paul R. Cheesman (1921–1991) – Brigham Young

Archeologist

• Stanley B. Kimball (1926–2003) – Southern Illinois University

Scholar of Eastern European history and also of Utah pioneer history

• Truman G. Madsen (1926–2009) — Brigham Young

Homiletic biographer of Joseph Smith, Jr.

• Harold Schindler (1929–1998)

Utah journalist. Biographer of Orrin Porter Rockwell

• Carlfred Broderick (1932–1999) – University of Southern California

Psychologist, family therapist and popular author. Also wrote a handful of pieces in publications intended for an LDS audience

• Helen B. Andelin (1932–2006) – LDS Relief Society

Popular author. Studied home economics at BYU. Taught women's classes in her local LDS Church, expanding materials prepared for this purpose into Fascinating Womanhood (1963)

• Eugene England (1933–2001) — Brigham Young

Founder, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought

• Valeen Tippetts Avery (1936–2006) – Northern Arizona University

Historian specializing in women's studies. Biographer of Emma Hale Smith

• Jerald Tanner (1938–2006)

Independent, Evangelical pamphleteer and provocateur that, with his wife Sandra (born 1941), documented such things as what he believed to be historical LDS doctrinal changes

Selected list of current scholars

See also: Latter Day Saint historians

Of preeminence

• Thomas G. Alexander – Brigham Young

Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr. Professor of Western History

• James B. Allen – BYU; Assistant [LDS] Church Historian

Co-founder, Mormon History Association

• Philip Barlow – Utah State University
• Richard Bushman – Claremont Graduate University; Columbia
• Ronald K. Esplin – Brigham Young; LDS Church History Library

Director, The Joseph Smith Papers project

• Terryl Givens – University of Richmond
• Marlin K. Jensen – LDS Church Historian
• Armand Mauss – Washington State University; Claremont Graduate University
• D. Michael Quinn – Brigham Young; after 1988, independent
• Jan Shipps – Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

By interdisciplines

International Mormonism

• R. Lanier Britsch – Brigham Young University

Historian of LDS missionary work, especially in the South Pacific

English professors, successful local or national authors, journalists

• Will Bagley

Independent historian of Utah history

• Orson Scott Card – Southern Virginia University

Prolific, popular author (science fiction, fantasy, and biblical historical fiction novels; non-fiction books on creating fictional characters; polical commentary). Professor of creative writing. Columnist at Mormon Times on LDS-theme subjects

• John Dehlin

Author of blog and video-weblog popularizing Mormon studies

• Richard Dutcher

Filmmaker on predominantly LDS topics

• John C. Hamer – Independent historian

Journal editor. Co-author, books about Community of Christ history and about LDS movement schisms. Blogger about Latter Day Saint movement topics

• Robert Kirby

Salt Lake City newspaper columnist (the Tribune) who comments in a humorous vein often on LDS subjects

• Jon Krakauer

Popular non-fiction author. Wrote Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

• William P. MacKinnon – Independent historian

Businessman. Historian of the Utah War

• Grant H. Palmer

LDS high school level religious instructor; after 1988, ecumenical prison chaplain. Popularizer of Mormon studies

• Ardis E. Parshall – Independent historian

History blogger and Salt Lake City newspaper columnist. Co-editor of Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia (2010)

• Boyd Jay Petersen – Brigham Young

Biographer of Hugh Nibley

• Levi S. Peterson – Weber State University

Novelist–memoirist. Biographer of Juanita Brooks

• Gregory A. Prince – Independent historian

Medical pathologist. Biographer of David O. McKay

• Robert A. Rees – University of California-Los Angeles

Book of Mormon studies

• Jana Riess

Religion reporter and publishing house editor

• Peggy Fletcher Stack

Religious studies, with her undergraduate degree in family science. Salt Lake City religion reporter (the Tribune)

• Jonathan A. Stapley – Independent historian

Chemist and businessman

• Terry Tempest Williams – University of Utah

Author of works with localized ecological and Mormon ethnological features

• Margaret Blair Young – Brigham Young

Mormon African American history

• Wm. Robert Wright

Lawyer. Biographer of David O. McKay

• Brady Udall

Novelist often using Latter Day Saint movement themes

Trained historians

• Mark Ashurst-McGee – Brigham Young; LDS Church History Department
• Alexander L. Baugh – Brigham Young

Expert on the Mormon Missouri War of 1838

• John L. Brooke – Ohio State University

Author of The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844

• Stanford Cazier – California State University, Chico; Utah State University
• Richard O. Cowan – Brigham Young
• Reed C. Durham – LDS Institutes of Religion
• Jessie L. Embry – Brigham Young

Oral historian

• Scott H. Faulring – Brigham Young
• Arnold K. Garr – Brigham Young

Lead editor, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (2000)

• Grant Hardy – University of North Carolina Asheville

Book of Mormon studies

• William G. Hartley – LDS Church History Department: Brigham Young
• Andrew H. Hedges – Brigham Young
• Marvin S. Hill – Brigham Young; Yale
• Daniel Walker Howe – Oxford; University of California, Los Angeles

Author of What Hath God Wrought: the Transformation of America, 1815–1848 (2007)

• Richard L. Jensen – Brigham Young; LDS Church History Department

19th-century European Mormonism; LDS converts' immigration to U.S.

• Dean C. Jessee – LDS Church History Department; Brigham Young
• Glen M. Leonard – Brigham Young; Utah State University
• L. Jackson Newell – University of Utah; Deep Springs College
• Robert V. Remini – University of Illinois at Chicago

Biographer of a number of notable Americans, including Joseph Smith, Jr.

• Richard E. Turley, Jr. – Assistant [LDS] Church Historian
• Grant Underwood – Brigham Young
• Dan Vogel – Independent historian

Biographer of Joseph Smith, Jr.

• David J. Whittaker – Brigham Young; LDS Church History Department

Specialists in women's studies

See also: Women and Mormonism

• Lavina Fielding Anderson – Independent historian

Feminist. Among scholars involved in a 1993 LDS controversy

For a more comprehensive list, see September Six.

• Claudia Bushman – Columbia; Claremont Graduate University

Historian

• Kathryn M. Daynes – Brigham Young

Historical Mormon polygamy

• Jill Mulvay Derr – Brigham Young
• Kristine Haglund

Mormon-themed blogger. Editor since 2009 of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought

• Carol Cornwall Madsen – Brigham Young
• Margaret Merrill Toscano – University of Utah
• Laurel Thatcher Ulrich – Harvard

Preeminent historian of early American women's history. Also, occasional essayist on the topic of LDS feminism

Other specialists

• David H. Bailey – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Mathematician. Editor, Science Meets Religion website

• Robert H. Briggs

Lawyer. Violence in pioneer Utah

• John E. Clark – Brigham Young

Archaeologist. Book of Mormon studies

• Robert S. Clark

Lawyer. Co-author, Journal of the Trail

• Todd M. Compton

Trained classicist; independent Mormon historian

• Steve Evans

Lawyer and specialist in new media. Mormon-themed blogger and essayist

• James E. Faulconer – Brigham Young

Philosopher; holds BYU's Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding

• Russell Arben Fox – Friends University

Political scientist. Blogger and essayist on LDS-related themes

• Avraham Gileadi – Brigham Young; after 1993, independent

Hebraist. LDS apologtics, theological research

• Darius Gray – Independent historian

African-American studies

• Danny Jorgensen – University of South Florida

Religious studies

• Bradley H. Kramer

LDS-themed blogger seeking socio-cultural anthropology doctoral degree

• Louis C. Midgley – Brigham Young

Political scientist. Active in LDS apologetics

• Dallin H. Oaks – University of Chicago; Brigham Young (later, LDS Apostle)

Lawyer. American legal history pertaining to Joseph Smith, Jr.

• Nathan B. Oman – William & Mary

Law. Early LDS ecclesiastical jurisprudence

• Steven L. Peck – Brigham Young

Biologist. Author-essayist on various Mormon-themed subjects

• Daniel C. Peterson – Brigham Young

Near Eastern studies. Book of Mormon studies

• Julie Marie Smith – Austin, Texas, LDS Institute of Religion

LDS-themed blogger; biblical theologian

• John W. Welch – Brigham Young

Law. Editor since 1991 of BYU Studies

• Kaimipono D. Wenger – Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Law. LDS-themed blogger

See also

• Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
• Bloggernacle
• Kirtland Egyptian papers authorship controversy
• LDS fiction
• Linguistics and the Book of Mormon
• Mormon apologetics
• Mormonism and history
• Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia
• New Mormon history
• The Mormons (PBS documentary)

References

1. ^ "MHA Awards". MHAHome.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2010. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:r_aEPqwCNZUJ:www.mhahome.org/awards/index.php+%22Mormon+History+Association+Awards+Summary%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari. Retrieved August 24, 2010. 
2. ^ Jensen, Emily W. (October 28, 2009). "Today in the Bloggernacle: a fun, creative Halloween". Mormon Times. http://www.mormontimes.com/article/6137/Today-in-the-Bloggernacle-a-fun-creative-Halloween. 
3. ^ "Biography". Skousen2000.com. http://www.skousen2000.com/biography.htm. Retrieved August 27, 2010. 
4. ^ Israelsen-Hartley, Sara (December 5, 2009). "BYU professors: Glenn Beck doesn't speak for all Mormons". Deseret News. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705349270/BYU-professors-Glenn-Beck-doesnt-speak-for-all-Mormons.html. 
5. ^ "Biography". Leonard J. Arrington Papers. Utah State University Libraries. http://library.usu.edu/Specol/manuscript/Arrington/LJAHA1/bio.html. Retrieved 2008-06-30. 
6. ^ "2002 Lifetime Achievement Award". John Whitmer Historical Association. 2002. http://www.jwha.info/awards/2002lifetime.asp. Retrieved 2008-07-14. 

Further reading

News articles

• Golden, Daniel (6 April 2006). "In Religion Studies, Universities Bend To Views of Faithful: Scholar of Mormon History, Expelled From Church, Hits a Wall in Job Search Trying to Avoid 'Minefields'". Wall Street Journal. http://mormon-chronicles.blogspot.com/2006/10/wall-street-journal-front-page-on.html. 
• McBride, Kelly (3 June 2008). "Everyday Ethics: How One Reporter Challenged the Official Story on Texas Polygamy". Poynter Institute. http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=67&aid=144620. 
• Hales, Brian (9 August 2010). "The Future of Mormon Fundamentalism". Patheos. http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/The-Future-of-Mormon-Fundamentalism.html. 

Books

• Quinn, D. Michael, ed (1992). The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Mormon Past. Signature Books. ISBN 156085-011-6. http://signaturebookslibrary.org/?p=745. 
• Vogel, Dan (1988). Religious Seekers and the Advent of Mormonism. Signature Books. ISBN 0-941214-64-8. http://signaturebookslibrary.org/?p=4764. 

Online journals

• Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. ISSN 1554-9399. http://dialoguejournal.com/. 
• International Journal of Mormon studies. ISSN 1757-5540. http://www.ijmsonline.org. 
• Mormon Studies Online Journal. http://www.autobahnsoftware.net/Autobahn/MS2.htm. 

External links

Programs, organizations, and events

• Claremont Graduate University's School of Religion: Mormon Studies
• BYU Harold B. Lee Library: Mormon Studies Resources
• Brigham Young University: Religious Education: Church History and Doctrine
• Mormon Studies at Utah Valley University
• University of Wyoming: Program of Religious Studies' "Latter-day Saints & Their World" Series
• Utah State University: Program in Reglious Studies
• John Whitmer Historical Association: Annual Meetings
• MormonConferences.org, a calendar for Mormon Studies events