Claremont Mormon Studies - CGU Research Centers

Claremont Mormon Studiesj n e w s l e t t e r ifall 2009 t IssueImpressions of ClaremontbyRichard L. BushmanHoward W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies, Claremont Graduate UniversityClaudia and I came to Claremontprimarily for adventure, andwe have not been disappointed. Forall the heavy lifting in researchingand writing, preparing classes, andcriticizing students’ work, there isa strong element of play. It is funto talk aboutimponderable questions likethe natureof religion.It is entertainingto workthroughthereligiousdeliberations ofpeople longsince dead. What is more exhilarating than a seminar discussion thattakes off?We like the feel of the buildingsand the campus. The dappling ofsunshine and shade playing on thewalls gives everything a cool, inviting demeanor. Our office is lightand airy, the way we would like ourteaching to be. We like the students,everyone with a story and a sharplyetched personality. All are strivingPage 1for something just out of reach butdesirable.Our only regret is that our adventure costs the students so much. Ittakes a miracle everyday to pay thehuge cost of tuition and support notjust one life, but in many cases twoor more. Thereis somethingpositively medieval aboutthe asceticismattached tothe study ofreligion atClaremont.I hope thatthe combination of learning and hardship will formus into a band ofbrothers and sisters. Learning in theLatter-day Saint tradition is meant tobe fraternal. We pledge ourselves toeach other as well as to our studies.We teach one another out of the bestbooks.Claudia and I feel privileged tobe part of this grand enterprise, andour association with this collectionof striving scholars is the part welike most of all. thttp://religion.cgu.edu t http://rsc.cgu.edu/cmssano.1iin this issueThe Year Aheadpage 2kWomen’s Oral Historypage 3kPast Eventspage 4kKaren Torjesen onMormon Studies atClaremontpage 4kIn the Lifeboat with aTigerpage 6CGU MormonStudies oniTunes UkClaremont Graduate University andthe School of Religion have addedlectures and other presentationsto iTunes U. Some of our MormonStudies events are now available inthis collection. Visithttp://bit.ly/cgu-on-itunesto subscribe and download audiotracks.

Claremont Mormon Studies Newsletter t Fall 2009The Year AheadThe response to last year’s Mormon Studies lecture and conference series hasencouraged the program to line up another group of eminent speakers. No single themehas dictated the selection; the governing principle has been to get the best we couldfind.—R. BushmanSeptember 24Daniel Walker Howe"Joseph Smith's America"Edwards Papers and a member of the National AdvisoryBoard for the Joseph Smith Papers. He is uniquelyqualified to compare these two giants of Americanreligious history.kDaniel Howe is author of the Pulitzer Prize winninghistory, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation ofAmerica, 1815-1848, and Professor of History Emeritus atUCLA. He was Rhodes Professor of American History atOxford University from 1992 to 2002. Howe was born inOgden, Utah, and knows Mormons well.kOctober 22Father Alexei Smith andRobert L. MilletCatholic–Dialogue onPriesthood and SacramentsFebruary 18Grant Hardy"Reading the Book of Mormon"Grant Hardy, Associate Professor of History at theUniversity of North Carolina Asheville, is best known toMormons for The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition,but he soon will be better known for his structuralanalysis of the Book of Mormon coming out with OxfordUniversity Press next year. Hardy explains how thethree major historians in the book, Nephi, Mormon, andMoroni constructed their narratives differently, makingeach of these writers a distinctive presence in the book.kFather Alexei Smith, the priest in charge of interfaith dialogue for the Los Angeles diocese will representCatholicism, and representatives of the LDS communitywill speak for Mormonism. There will be an informalafternoon conversation and a formal lecture and responsein the evening.March 18Daniel C. Peterson"The State of the Debate overthe Book of Mormon"kNovember 12Harry S. Stout"Joseph Smith and Jonathan Edwards"Harry S. Stout is Professor of History, ReligiousStudies, and American Studies at Yale University andJonathan Edwards Professor of American Christianity,Yale Divinity School. He is general editor of the JonathanPage 2Daniel Peterson, Professor of Islamic Studies andArabic at Brigham Young University, is best known inthe academic world as an expert on Islam. As editor ofthe FARMS Review of Books for many years, however, heis well informed on the controversies surrounding thehistoricity of the Book of Mormon. In his talk, he willreport on the debate as it stands right now.http://religion.cgu.edu t http://rsc.cgu.edu/cmssak(continued on page 3)

Claremont Mormon Studies Newsletter t Fall 2009(continued from page 2)Women’s Oral HistoryApril 15Martha Bradley Evans“The Fundamentalists Today”Martha Evans, Professor of Architecture at theUniversity of Utah, also directs the Honors Program.She has written on the Utah controversy over the ERAand a joint biography of four Mormon women entitledFour Zinas : A Story of Mothers and Daughters on theMormon Frontier. She gained insight into Fundamentalistpolygamous communities doing research for her bookKidnapped from that Land: The Government Raids on theShort Creek Polygamists.kMay 21–22Association of Mormon Scholarsin the HumanitiesThe Family and HumanRelationships in History, Literature,Art, and Philosophy ConferenceThe Association is now soliciting papers for theconference. Every story, it is said, is a family story. Yetin stressing the freedom and self-sufficiency of theindividual, modern culture de-emphasizes the degreeto which people are born in dependency, of specificparents, and develop in and through relationships withothers, most closely in the family. By considering thefamily, family history, and human relationships, thisconference will invite inquiry into changes in the cultureof the family over time, inquiries into family memory,depictions of the family and the individual in art andliterature, and philosophical investigations of the role offamily, friends, and mentors in personal development.The Howard W. Hunter Program for MormonStudies announces an ongoing oral history projectto begin this fall. Women in three areas, Claremont,Pasadena, and Newport Beach will begin interviewsto flesh out the “lived history” of LDS women inthe 20th century primarily in Southern California,to document and categorize experiences otherwiseunrecorded. Work will begin in those three areasto locate candidates for interviews, to transcribe,edit, and index the interviews, and to work toward aconceptualization of Mormon women’s experience.The project will be undertaken in connectionwith the class “Mormon Women in the TwentiethCentury” REL 313 to be offered in the school ofreligion this fall. Nominations for people to beinterviewed and offers to become involved in theprogram, from students or from the community,will be welcomed. Write Dr. Claudia Bushman atthe School of Religion, 831 N. Dartmouth Avenue,Claremont, California, or at claudia.bushman@benikana.com. tQ&A with visiting scholarskUnder the sponsorship of CMSSA, each lecturer in thisyear’s series meets with graduate students for informaldiscussions about current issues in the field and usefulstrategies in pursuing a career in scholarship. CMSSAmembers and other graduate students are invited toattend these discussions which are usually held a couple ofhours before the evening lecture. For more information onthese student events, visit the student association’s websiteat http://rsc.cgu.edu/cmssa or sign up with the CMSSAmailing list by emailing mormonstudies@gmail.com.kThe lectures are given on Thursdays at 8 p.m. in theMudd Auditorium, Claremont School of Theology, andare free and open to the public. thttp://religion.cgu.edu t http://rsc.cgu.edu/cmssaPage 3

Claremont Mormon Studies Newsletter t Fall 2009On Mormon Studies at ClaremontbyKaren TorjesenFormer Dean of the School of Religion, Claremont Graduate UniversityMormon Studies at Claremontis a significant contributor toreligious pluralism at Claremont. Foryears we have outstanding Mormonstudents in Philosophy of Religion,Theology, History of Christianity,Biblical Studies, and more recentlyWomen’s Studies in Religion. Theymastered their fields of study,contributed interesting research,and went on to teaching positionsacross the country, but their presence had little impact on the studyof religion, nor did their perspectiveas Mormons generate new questions,nor did their classmates learn muchfrom them about the fascinatinghistory and complex of practices ofMormonism. Now that has changed.It reminds me of the process ofdeveloping women’s studies atClaremont. For many years womenstudents were working on the side tolearn what they could about women’sissues. Their perspectives required anew way of looking at things, different questions,even differentepistemologies,but there was nospace for thesein the way thestudy of religionwas constituted.When women’sstudies courses and programs wereintroduced an inevitable transformation began to take place. Whenwomen scholars of religion wereinvited to have a voice, to raise theirown questions, the study of religionbegan to change. New content leadto new methodologies, new methodologies lead to new epistemologies.Mormon Studiesat Claremont willdo somethingsimilar for thestudy of Christianity and willhelp us rethinkthe categories ofwhat constitutesa religion. Religious pluralismwill mean that we (all of us) will allbe impacted, our field of vision willbecome larger and our understanding of religion more complex. t“Mormon Studies atClaremont will help us rethink thecategories of whatconstitutes a religion.”Past EventsThe School of Religion at CGU has sponsored events in Mormon Studies since 2000.The following outline lists conferences, lectures, and courses which have comprised theMormon Studies program at CGU since its inception.Armand MaussCoursesRichard BushmanThe Mormon Theological TraditionFall 2008The Mormon Experience: Sociological Perspectives (withArmand Mauss)SPR 2009Claudia BushmanMormonism Through the Eyes of WomenWomen’s Religious AutobiographiesFall 2008Spr 2009Mormons in the History of the American WestSpr 2005Mormons in Sociological PerspectiveSpr 2006Mormons in the History of the American WestSpr 2007The Mormon Experience: Sociological Perspectives (withRichard Bushman)Spr 2009Brian BirchMormonism and Christian TheologySpr 2008(continued on page 5)Page 4http://religion.cgu.edu t http://rsc.cgu.edu/cmssa