In contrast to national trends, women in Mormon-dominated Utah attain college degrees at a much lower rate than men, reporting that they value some college experience but not necessarily graduation. This session presents findings from a study focussing on an online support group (OSG) for Mormon women pursuing a college degree. The OSG provided academic …
Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2017
Discussion Group: Having Conversations About Faith With Those You Disagree With
This interactive discussion group will allow attendees to discuss with one another strategies on how to have conversations about faith with people they disagree with. Josh Weed Lolly Weed
Priestess unto the Most High God
For many women in the church, the potential to receive an endowment of power and authority from on High is a beautiful blessing. However, the current temple blessing defers to antiquated gender positioning in which a husband rules over his wife and posterity. However, there are a number of sources, including Heber and Vilate Kimball, …
Remembering Gene
Eugene England is recognized as one of the most influential Latter-day Saints of the latter half of the twentieth century. As teacher, writer, scholar and humanitarian, England had an indelible influence on several generations of Latter-day Saints at a pivotal time in Church history. Graduate Theological Union is establishing an endowed chair in Mormon Studies …
A Preview Discussion of a forthcoming volume entitled: The LDS Church’s Gospel Topics Essays: The Scholarly Community Responds
This session is a discussion of the contents of forthcoming volume entitled The LDS Church’s Gospel Topics Essays: The Scholarly Community Responds to be published by the University of Utah Press in 2018. The discussion will feature four contributing scholars. The scholars and their topics are as follows: Newell G. Bringhurst, “A Brief Overview of …
Trials Of Our Faith: On Navigating A Faith Crisis
Many LDS members are experiencing tension in their relationship with the LDS Church similar to the tension people in couple’s therapy have. The best solutions to such tensions aren’t in having a satisfying answer to each unique concern, but in understanding the tension itself. Daniel Rollõ
The Nauvoo Council of Fifty Minutes
In September 2016 the LDS Church Historian’s Press made available in print the early minutes of the Council of Fifty. These minutes were kept from church members and the public for well over one hundred and fifty years. This paper will explore some of the events and topics discussed in these meetings, including Joseph Smith …
The 10 Things Donald Trump can Teach us about Joseph Smith
Trump’s rise from outside pariah to the presidency of the United States gives us insight into the phenomenon of charismatic leaders such as Joseph Smith. A comparison of the two men can shed light on the nature of revolutionary leaders and what characteristics it takes (or doesn’t take) to stage an inside revolution. Looking at …
It’s the End of the World as We Know It
At a recent Mormon Women’s Retreat, I was asked what I felt to be the greatest problem or challenge facing the Church today. My thoughts on this go beyond policy, doctrine, and politics. In this presentation, I approach this challenge with a single question: “Is changing the way we live in the world more frightening …
The Wages of Sin is Death: HIV/AIDS in Utah
The Utah Department of Health confirmed the first cases of AIDS in 1983 and began compiling statistics on the disease that year. How did gay and lesbian activists in Utah respond to the new and deadly disease? What did religious communities in Utah think about the disease and what, if any, support did they offer? …