Utah Valley University will be hosting its 2018 Mormon Studies conference, “Between Heaven and Earth,” on the 22nd and 23rd of February in room 511 of the Classroom Building. Find the schedule of events here. Our own Steven Peck will be delivering the Eugene England Lecture. For those of you not near Orem, a livestream will be available at the link above.

In conjunction with the new Festschrift, To Be Learned is Good: Essays on Faith and Scholarship in Honor of Richard Lyman Bushman, edited by Spencer Fluhman, Kathleen Flake, and Jed Woodworth, Benchmark Books in Salt Lake City will be hosting an evening with Bushman and several of the editors and contributors to the volume. This event will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 17. Find more information at Benchmark’s website, or at the Facebook event page.

A brief seminar brings the disciplines of sound studies and media studies to Mormonism.

Media studies scholarship, broadly conceived, and Mormonism intersect more and more, as is evident by John Durham Peters’ article, “Recording beyond the Grave: Joseph Smith’s Celestial Bookkeeping” in Critical Inquiry (2016), or J. B. Haws’ The Mormon Image in the American Mind: Fifty Years of Public Perception (2013). Much of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’sA House Full of Females (2017) makes use of media prominent in Mormon culture such as the diary and the quilt. Tona Hangen and Julie Allen consistently focus their work on media technologies as well. [Read more…]

We’re pleased to announce that Jared Cook (aka JKC) has joined BCC as our newest permablogger. Go revisit his great “Endowment and Eucharist” series, check out his author page, and then bid him a hearty welcome in the comments!

We’re pleased to announce this talk by Dr. Matthew C. Godfrey, General Editor and Managing Historian of the Joseph Smith Papers, in the Assembly Hall at 7pm on Thursday, 23 June. Here is Dr. Godfrey’s description of his talk:

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have had a complicated relationship with the Camp of Israel expedition, more commonly known as Zion’s Camp. On its face, the expedition appears to have failed in its goals—that of redeeming Zion, or helping the Saints regain their Jackson County, Missouri, lands. Therefore, church members have often looked for ways to depict the expedition as a success. The lands may not have been obtained, some say, but it was a proving ground for future leaders. The group may have been disbanded without ever entering Jackson County, others state, but the entire expedition gave Joseph Smith an opportunity to showcase his leadership skills to individuals who had never met him before or who had only a casual acquaintance with him.

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We are excited to pass along the following announcement from Benchmark Books in Salt Lake City:

EVENING WITH THE EDITORS

We are excited to announce that Andrew H. Hedges, Alex D. Smith, and Brent Rogers will be at Benchmark Books, 3269 S. Main St., Ste. 250, Salt Lake City, UT 84115 on Thursday, December 3, to discuss the latest volume of the Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Volume 3: May 1843–June 1844 (published by the Church Historian’s Press). They will be here from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.—speaking at 6:00—and will answer questions and sign books before and after that time. We hope you will be able to make that night but, if not, we can mail signed copies or hold them here at the store for pick-up. [Read more…]

2013 has thus far been one of introspection for the By Common Consent permabloggers. We’re deep into discussions about the direction of the blog (editorially and otherwise), and are thinking of how we can best edify and grow the bloggernacle community.

Please help us by filling out a short survey. It’s only six questions, and is completely anonymous and confidential (and you can skip any you don’t feel comfortable answering). Be as specific or as general with your responses as you like.

The survey is here. Thanks so much!

Kate Holbrook and Matt Bowman have organized what looks to be a fantastic conference on women and the LDS Church for this August. The keynote will be the inimitable Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

The Tanner Humanities Center website has the details.

Conference is open to the public, no pre-registration required. You might want to get there early, as I suspect it will be packed.

For those in the Boston area needing a spiritual boost before the traditional Saturday evening water inspection this weekend, I will be delivering a devotional fireside at the Cambridge Stake building at 6pm, called “The Faith of a Reader.”[1]

View the flier
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