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How to catch up on the Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture

August 04, 2017 12:00 AM
Philip L. Barlow introduces the 2017 Symposium. See more photos on Twitter and Instagram.
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The 2017 Summer Seminar starts today

June 26, 2017 12:00 AM
Terryl Givens recently published Feeding the Flock: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Church and Practice. We were happy to see the gratitude he extended to—among others—the participants of the 2015 Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, “Organizing the Kingdom: Priesthood, Church Government, and the Forms of LDS Worship,” as well as the Neal A. Maxwell Institute, who hosted the event. The Seminar has a storied history and we’re glad to be a part of it.The Summer Seminar began in 1997 when historian Richard L. Bushman was working on his landmark biography Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. He enlisted a group of graduate students to help him compile the “Archive of Restoration Culture,” a repository of documents that add context to Joseph Smith’s life. Participants eventually cataloged around 3,000 items totaling over 1,600 pages before the archive was discontinued. (You can check it out here. Technological advances like Google Books made this approach somewhat obsolete.)But there was more work to do at the precipice of the next phase of Mormon historical studies. The Summer Seminar provided young scholars—mostly LDS—an opportunity to network and receive mentorship while researching Mormon history, faith, and scholarship. Terryl L. Givens and others began alternating with Bushman as director, all under the chief sponsorship of the Mormon Scholars Foundation.In 2006 the Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture moved to BYU’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute where it has been held every summer (except one) ever since. Students and scholars convene here each summer to study Mormon history, belief, & practice. ((I was lucky enough to participate in the seminar in 2010. It radically altered my academic trajectory in the best way.)) They prepare presentations for public symposium. Originally, these “Working Papers” were published by BYU Studies, but technological advances make it easier to provide access to them online. The Institute offers them to document the Seminar’s history and to inspire and inform scholars who wish to expand on their work. As noted above, Terryl Givens made use of the 2015 seminar for his latest book. You can see those Working Papers here.The Institute is once again abuzz with the enthusiasm of young scholars ready to dig in to Mormon topics together under the tutelage of our two visiting Neal A. Maxwell Fellows, Terryl Givens and Philip Barlow. The theme is “‘Mormonism Confronts the World’: How the LDS Church Has Responded to Developments in Science, Culture, & Religion.”We’re thrilled to have them with us through August 3. You’ll learn more about this year’s group on an upcoming MIPodcast episode, but in the meantime you might check out these episodes from previous years:—2014—The History of the Mormon Family—2015—Organizing the Kingdom
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2015 Summer Symposium on Mormon Culture program announced for July 23

July 20, 2015 12:00 AM
“Organizing the Kingdom:
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Summer seminar focuses on history of the Mormon family

July 07, 2014 12:00 AM
In this guest post, Claudia and Richard Bushman discuss the 2014 summer seminar on Mormon culture: “The History of the Mormon Family.” The seminar began on June 15 and concludes on July 26. The seminar is being held here at the Maxwell Institute with support from the Mormon Scholars Foundation and the Jack and Mary Lois Wheatley Institution. In the next few weeks I’ll be highlighting several current participants here on the blog and in an episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast. Watch this space for updates on the current seminar, including introductions to some of this year’s seminar participants. —BHodges
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Summer Seminar applications due Saturday, February 15

February 11, 2014 12:00 AM
For over a decade, young scholars have gathered each summer to study the origins and development of the Mormon movement under the direction of distinguished Mormon scholars (Richard Bushman, Terryl Givens). This summer, Claudia Bushman will join Richard in conducting the Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture. This year’s theme is “The History of the Mormon Family.”
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Papers from the 2013 Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, a guest post from Terryl Givens

September 11, 2013 12:00 AM
In this post, Terryl L. Givens discusses the recent seminar on early Mormon culture that was hosted at the Maxwell Institute. Links to the transcripts of most of the resulting papers follow Givens’s remarks, more to be added as they arrive. —BHodges
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Symposium program on "The History of the Mormon Family" announced

July 16, 0014 12:00 AM
The schedule for the Annual Summer Symposium on Mormon Culture* has been released. The symposium will take place next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1 pm to 4 pm at Brigham Young University. The symposium's theme is 'The History of the Mormon Family.' The schedule is as follows: TUESDAY, JULY 22, 1�4 pm Welcome�Claudia Bushman "The Urgent Need of a Home: Rescuing Mormon Girls and Young Women from the City"�Natalie Rose 'Shifting Boundaries and Redefining Adulthood: LDS Singles and Their Wards" �Sharon Harris "Conceiving Power and Identity: Natural Birth Narratives and Midwifery in Contemporary Mormonism" �Christine Blythe "Heavenly Mother in Poetry: It's Possible They're Projecting"�Rachel Hunt Steenblik WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 1�4 pm Welcome�Richard Bushman "Home is Where the Exile Is: Ambivalence in the Mormon Settlement of Southern Alberta" �Brooke Brassard "Joining the Club: How Moving to Utah Affected LDS Young Women in the 1980s"�Heather Stone "Siring Gods: The History of Mormon Fertility Rhetoric and Patterns"�Stephen Cranney "Multiplying and Becoming One: Mormon Theological Interpretations of Sex" �Michael Haycock FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1�4 pm Welcome�Claudia Bushman "Home Invasion: The Media's Assault on Youth Culture and the Family and the Mormon Church's Response" �Tim Hoxha "Reorganizing Eternity: Understanding Brigham Young's Divorce Doctrine" �Bryce Taylor "Exploring Eternity: Orson Pratt Envisions the Family" �Chase Kirkham PLACE: Brigham Young University Joseph F. Smith Building Rooms 4186 & 4188
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