A few years ago, a small cloud rose from the sea of Mormon studies. Its rain fell to earth, yielding a small harvest of fruit plucked from the trees of Mormon scripture…
The cloud grows, the harvest spreads.
The Mormon Theology Seminar is hosting a conference at Utah Valley University on June 7-8. The conference, titled “Opposition in All Things: Perspectives on the Fall,” will feature papers from a number of scholars who’ve been studying Genesis 2-3 and 2 Nephi 2 over the past several months. The seminar is structured as a collaboration in which a variety of scholars perform close readings of Mormon scripture in order to yield fresh readings.
Past conferences have resulted in excellent published collections of essays by Salt Press, recently acquired by the Maxwell Institute. Future collections, including the proceedings from this conference, may likewise be published by the Maxwell Institute.
For more information about the seminar, see Adam Miller’s announcement here.
Schedule
Friday, June 7
(Library Auditorium, Utah Valley University)
“Fleeing the Garden: Reading Genesis 2-3″
9:30 – 10:20
Julie Smith, “Paradoxes in Paradise”
Response by Deidre Green
10:30 – 11:20
Ben Spackman, “Adam, Where Art Thou? Onomastics, Etymology, and Translation in Genesis 2-3″
Response by Rico Martinez
11:30 – 12:20
Rosalynde Welch, “Creation, Localism, and Appetite in the Garden World of Wendell Berry”
Response by Candice Wendt
12:30 – 2:30
Lunch
2:30 – 3:20
James Faulconer, “Chaos and Order, Order and Chaos: The Creation Story as the Story of Human Community”
Response by Julie Smith
3:30 – 4:20
Candice Wendt, “Environmental Education in Zion”
Response by Jenny Webb
4:30 – 5:20
Adam Miller, “Dirt, Dung, and Digestion”
Response by Joseph Spencer
Saturday, June 8
(Library Auditorium, Utah Valley University)
“Lehi’s Discourse: Reading 2 Nephi 2″
9:30 – 10:20
Rico Martinez, “Reading Genesis with Lehi: Lehi as Exegete”
Response by John Hilton III
10:30 – 11:20
Jenny Webb, “‘He Is the Firstfruits unto God’: Toward a Theology of Flesh”
Response by Adam Miller
11:30 – 12:20
Joseph Spencer, “Lehi’s Unfinished Thought: On 2 Nephi 2:10b”
Response by Rosalynde Welch
12:30 – 2:30
Lunch
2:30 – 3:20
Deidre Green, “Sacrifice, Doubt, and Divinity: Using Doubt to Become Divine”
Response by James Faulconer
3:30 – 4:20
John Hilton III, “Fathers and Sons: Textual Connections in 2 Nephi 2 and Alma 42″
Response by Robert Couch