Author: Ben Huff

There is enormous potential for intellectual life and intellectual culture within Mormonism. What can we do to bring this potential to fruition? What we see actually happening today are only tiny sprouts by comparison with what is possible, and what we must bring into being if the gospel is to fulfill its purpose as the…

This summer Richard Bushman and Terryl Givens will lead a seminar on “The Gold Plates as Cultural Artifact” (applications are due February 15th). What have the gold plates meant for you? For me, one of the amazing things about the gold plates is just how powerfully they convey the transcendent value of the scriptures written…

I recently received an email asking “if the LDS Church has an official (or unofficial) Social Doctrine, similarly to other churches”. In this and many areas, the Church has little in the way of an official position, and this wisely allows for a rich and diverse discussion among Mormons about how the Gospel should shape…

The sense of many today that faith is antithetical to reason grows partly out of the Reformation and Enlightenment, in which people on both sides found they could not intellectually reconcile the conclusions of faith and reason. Just as importantly, faith and reason each came to represent a different moral ideal. As I see them,…

SUMMER SEMINAR ON JOSEPH SMITH “The Foundations of Mormon Theology: The Nature of God and the Human” Brigham Young University June 1-July 9, 2010 In the summer of 2010, Brigham Young University, with the generous support of the Mormon Scholars Foundation, will sponsor a summer seminar for graduate students and advanced undergraduates on the theme of…

Out of the Best Books Introducing the Mormon Review by Richard Lyman Bushman Inscribed in steel letters in the stairwell of the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU is the scripture that begins: “And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the…

With the theme, “Upon All Nations—Religious Pluralism,” the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology’s Sixth Annual Meeting begins this Thursday at 9am. SMPT’s largest conference program yet includes discussions of theological pluralism and interreligious dialogue; comparisons of Mormonism with Buddhism, Catholicism, and other strands of Christianity; and

Terryl L. Givens, James A. Bostwick Professor of English at the University of Richmond will give the Eighth Annual Eugene England Lecture at 7pm next Thursday, April 2nd in the Lakeview Room of the UVU Library

Richard and Claudia Bushman, Jana Riess, Terryl Givens, and Michael Paulson are among the speakers at Utah Valley University’s conference next Thursday and Friday (April 2-3) on “Mormonism in the Public Mind,” addressing public perceptions of Mormonism and LDS efforts to shape those public perceptions.

Richard Turley, Will Bagley, and Forrest Cuch will present a panel discussion this coming Thursday (March 5) at Utah Valley University. These panelists have very, very different perspectives on the events at Mountain Meadows, so bringing them together should make for an exciting conversation.

Next Thursday, February 19th, David Hall of Harvard Divinity School will be giving a free public lecture at the Claremont School of Religion. Below is the text of the announcement; you may also download a color PDF version of the event flyer.

Deadlines are approaching for paper submissions to the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology 2009 Annual Meeting (due February 13th), and for applications to the Summer Seminar on Orson and Parley Pratt with Terryl Givens and Matt Grow (due February 15th).

It’s not too late to send in a proposal for this year’s Mormon Scholars in the Humanities conference, May 8-9 at Aspen Grove and BYU, Provo, UT. Speaker John Caputo and individualized scholarly mentoring opportunities are special highlights this year.

In Fuchuu, Japan, I taught a young woman who had attended a Christian school and church for some years, but had become a bit turned off. She asked us why we were out trying to teach the gospel.

Element: The Journal of the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology is publishing a special issue dedicated to student articles.

This past Friday and Saturday I attended a very enjoyable conference at Southern Virginia University, co-sponsored by Mormon Scholars in the Humanities and the Mormon Scholars Foundation.

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.

Should a psychologically healthy person be happy, cheerful, carefree? If you are not cheerful is there something wrong with you? Let’s see what Mormon scripture has to say.

SMPT is meeting at the University of Utah on March 27-29, and the conference program is now posted on the web. Featured speakers include Stephen T. Davis of Claremont McKenna College and Jad Hatem of Saint Joseph University, Beirut. The conference is free and open to the public. Davis will also deliver a Tanner-McMurrin Lecture…