By Mary Ellen Robertson I’ve been involved with Sunstone in one capacity or another for 22 years—essentially all of my adult life. During those two-plus decades, I went from being an attendee to being a presenter to being a board member and finally to being on the Sunstone staff as Executive Director and Director of …
Search for c. jess groesbeck - 21 results found
Mapping Book of Mormon Historicity Debates: A Guide for the Overwhelmed–Part II
Continued from Part I III. Mapping the Positions Thus far this article has summarized the historicity question as if it were a two-party debate: arguments for versus arguments against. But in fact, writers have adopted a wide array of positions around this issue. William Hamblin (1994) organizes views on historicity into five categories: evangelical, …
SL09365 “Initiation Into Goddess-hood With Exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom”—an Archetypal Journey for Women Seeking Their Life’s Quest
This paper will describe the fivefold stages for women’s initiation. Eve as the mother of all living, is first. Second, Sarah, Abraham’s wife presents the second challenge with her marriage and family relationships. Third is Mary the Mother of Jesus. Mary Magdalene is the fourth challenge in what she represents. Finally, Zion as the mother …
Book of Mormon Historicity Discussion in Sunstone
The past eight issues of Sunstone (March 2004 through November 2005) have hosted a spirited discussion about Book of Mormon historicity. Our decision to put together a Sunstone issue with several views on the subject was prompted by notoriety over DNA findings challenging Mormon assumptions about Amerindian origins that was enjoying a renewed news cycle …
How Reliable Are Our Memories? Memory Creation And Retrieval In Relation To Martha Beck’s ‘Leaving The Saints’
Martha Beck’s memoir, Leaving the Saints, in which she claims to have recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her father, LDS scholar Hugh Nibley, has raised new interest in Mormon circles about how memory works. This session explores how memories are created and retrieved, as well as issues related to memory …
Joseph Smith & The Shaman’s Vision: A Forgotten Paradigm For The Life Of The Mormon Prophet
This presentation continues my consideration of the merits of the paradigmatic model of Joseph Smith as a shamanic personality as the most comprehensible way to understand and embrace his life and work. Utilizing the research of C.G.. Jung and Mircea Eliade and others on archetypal patterns of ancient religions and healing practices, this session furthers …
Seeing The Seer With New Eyes: Revisioning Joseph Smith
In the past two decades, groundbreaking views by scholars such as D. Michael Quinn, Harold Bloom, John L. Brooke, Jan Shipps, William D. Morain, Lance S. Owens, G. Benson Whittle, C. Jess Groesbeck, and others, have repositioned Joseph Smith as an intuitive voice working within alternative worldviews or traditions, such as folk magic, hermeticism, creative …
THE MYTHICAL BOOK OF MORMON, PART II
I will continue developing the thesis that the Book of Mormon is not literal, but symbolic, archetypal history brought forth by the visionary Joseph Smith, in shamanic fashion, as a grand symbolic, spiritual ethic to rebalance the culture into which it came. Calling on the work of Carl Jung and John Weir Perry, I will …
AUTHOR MEETS CRITICS. JOSEPH SMITH: THE MAKING OF A PROPHET BY DAN VOGEL
Vogel’s provocative work approaches the life and times of Mormonism’s founder from a naturalistic perspective. He attempts to bring into focus several familiar, if murky issues, folk magic, treasure-digging, anti-masonry, and pious fraud, painting a detailed portrait of Joseph Smith as a sincere evangelical who used dubious means to promote faith. Of particular interest is …
The Book of Mormon–A Symbolic History: A New Perspective on Its Place in History and Religion
SL03091, This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the March on Washington, at which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and the thirty-fifth anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. It also marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the revelation reversing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ policy of …