Fiona Givens—“the pursuit of the good, the true, and the beautiful”

06.15.2018 | The Maxwell Institute

We are pleased to welcome Fiona Givens as recipient of a short-term research grant this summer at the Maxwell Institute. She’s currently working on a chapter, titled “Heavenly Mother and Feminism,” for the theology section of the Handbook on Mormonism and Gender (Routledge, forthcoming), edited by Amy Hoyt and Taylor Petrey.

Fiona Givens on Disciple-Scholarship “Joseph Smith once said that in order to come out ‘pure Mormons’ we needed to embrace truth found in all religious traditions. Indeed, for Latter-day Saints, the admonition to search for truth embraces all forms of intellectual and academic inquiry—historical, literary, linguistic, social, and cultural to name just a few. Herein lies my disciple-scholarship. My personal, spiritual, and intellectual life has been deepened immeasurably in the pursuit of the good, the true, and the beautiful in the company of myriad disciple-scholars.”

In addition to her book chapter, Givens plans to continue expanding her article, “The Perfect Union of Man and Woman: Reclamation and Collaboration in Joseph Smith’s Theology Making,” into a book manuscript. Givens earned degrees in French, German, and in European History while co-raising six children. She is a frequent speaker on podcasts and at conferences and currently works as an independent scholar, having published with Greg Kofford Books, Exponent II, LDS Living, Journal of Mormon History, Dialogue and other venues. Learn more about her background and publications here.