the stigma of early return the stigma of early return - Sunstone ...

S U N S T O N E
BYU-based programs—the Institute for the Study and
Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, the Richard L. Evans
Chair for Religious Understanding, and the Joseph Fielding
Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History—as well as
Signature Books and the Smith-Pettit Foundation. The conference
also boasted a “Who’s Who” of presenters ranging from
Latter-day Saints Richard L. Bushman, Truman G. Madsen,
Kathleen Flake, Jill Mulvay Derr, and David L. Paulsen, to notable
thinkers such as Yale’s Marilyn Adams and Nicholas
Wolterstorff and distinguished non-LDS “Mormon watchers,”
Douglas Davies, Lawrence Foster, and Jan Shipps. All conference
papers, with the exception of Shipps’s, featured a Mormon
presenter and a non-LDS respondent. Two panels, one on
Mormon polygamy, and the other on the future of Mormon
studies, featured a mix of LDS and non-LDS panelists. Paper
topics ranged from Joseph Smith’s visions, to the atheological
character of Mormonism, to its uses of the Bible, to doctrinal
themes in the Book of Mormon, to LDS views of God.
According to conference presenter Philip Barlow, “the respondents
were formidable minds
and able scholars, but few
were students of Mormonism.
As such, they regularly spoke
of the non-uniqueness of
Mormon doctrines and practices.
That’s one reason why
Jan Shipps’s closing address
was significant. Even though
Organizer Kenneth West
introduces a speaker
at the Yale conference
Mormonism contains approaches
and themes in
common with other traditions,
Shipps properly noted that it
adds them up in such a way as to be sharply distinctive.”
In hallway conversations, some attendees, especially those attuned
to the internal politics of events of this kind, expressed
feelings that while the conference was an important step toward
vigorous academic exchange on LDS ideas, it felt in some ways
like a “BYU road show,” and that perhaps the influence of their
sponsorship created a conference structure (with only LDS presenters,
Shipps excepted) that allowed Mormon ideas to be
blessed by the glow of an ivy league setting without really having
to be subjected to rigorous give-and-take.
Nonetheless, as Barlow reflected, “While we should tone
down the hyperbole that has been attached to this conference,
for it did have conceptual, logistical, and political problems, Ken
West, Yale, the other sponsors, and all who helped stage the
event still deserve congratulations. The conference was significant
as a gathering and for several of the ideas presented, but
perhaps mostly as a symbol of the growing maturity of
Mormonism and the scholarly scrutiny of it.”
New Society Formed
IN A SHORT meeting that followed the conference’s Friday sessions,
a new Mormon scholarly organization, the Society for
Mormon Philosophy and Theology (SMPT), was formed. The
idea for the group emerged from discussions between members
of Utah Valley State College’s philosophy department and others
from BYU and elsewhere. During the short formation meeting, attended
by some twenty individuals, an organizing committee
was nominated and charged with developing a constitution and
governing bylaws. And Benjamin Huff, a doctoral candidate in
philosophy at Notre Dame, was installed as secretary. BYU philosophy
professor James Faulconer has subsequently been
named as chair of the organizing committee.
For inquiries, or to add your name to the society’s contact list,
email Huff at . The society plans to
hold an annual conference and to publish a journal, and it has
now issued a call for papers for its first conference to be held at
Utah Valley State College 19–20 March 2004. Paper proposals
are due 1 September 2003. For more information, or to submit a
proposal, please email conference organizer Dennis Potter at
.
Mormon studies chairs in the offing?
OVERHEARD AT THE conference, and confirmed since by
SUNSTONE, is the exciting news that two schools, Utah State
University in Logan, Utah, and Claremont Graduate University
in Claremont, California, are actively working toward developing
Mormon-related courses and establishing Mormon
studies professorships. Utah State plans to establish a full religious
studies program of which Mormon studies will be a part.
USU philosophy professor Richard Sherlock reports the school
has begun raising money for a chair in religious studies, which it
hopes to establish within the next two years, and also for a
Leonard J. Arrington chair in Mormon history to follow shortly
thereafter. As part of the continuing development of its religious
studies program, Utah State then plans to establish chairs for
scholars of other world religions.
As part of an outreach program to various faith communities,
Claremont has established several “councils” composed of members
of various faith traditions and led by a Claremont faculty
member. Council members serve as advisors to the religion program
while also acting as CGU ambassadors to the community.
According to dean of religion, Karen Jo Torgesen, CGU has established
a “Council on the Study of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints” and has begun plans and fundraising for an
eventual Mormon studies chair. CGU has already begun hosting
lectures on Mormonism and plans to put on a conference on
Mormonism, likely during fall semester, 2004. The university
will then create visiting professorships to teach courses on
Mormonism and eventually establish a Mormon studies chair in
perpetuity. “We’re taking a cautious approach, primarily because
of the challenges of fundraising,” Torgesen says. “If we had the
endowment monies in place today, we’d move directly to the establishment
of the permanent chair.”
At present, Utah Valley State College has the only active religious
studies program in Utah, offering a religious studies emphasis
as part of its integrated studies major. UVSC eventually
plans a full-fledged religious studies major. The college also
presently offers several Mormon-related courses and hosts an annual
Mormon studies conference and at least one Eugene
England religious studies lecture.
MAY 2003 PAGE 77