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Adam Miller to visit the Institute this summer as affiliate faculty

March 15, 2019 12:00 AM
The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship is excited to announce a new addition to our roster of visiting scholars for 2019. Adam S. Miller will join us as an affiliate faculty member from June until August. Miller is a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas, and author of a number of books including the Institute’s best-selling Living Faith book Letters to a Young Mormon and An Early Resurrection: Life In Christ Before You Die. Through books, articles, guest lectures, and oversight of the Mormon Theology Seminar, Miller has inspired a host of Latter-day Saint students and disciple-scholars.
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VIDEO—Adam Miller, “Life In Christ Before You Die”

June 01, 2018 12:00 AM
Adam Miller’s MI Guest Lecture is now available to watch online: “Life In Christ Before You Die.” WatchWe often hope for an abundant life with Christ in the next life, but how can we let ourselves and our own desires die so we can be born again to a new life, a full life in Christ, here and now in this mortal life?In this MI Guest Lecture, Adam Miller offers suggestions—at once scriptural, philosophical, and literary—for how to share a life with Christ today. The lecture is based on his forthcoming book, An Early Resurrection: Life In Christ Before You Die. About Adam S. MillerAdam S. Miller is a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas. He and his wife, Gwen, have three children. He is the author of many books, including Letters to a Young Mormon (Maxwell Institute & Deseret Book, 2018), Rube Goldberg Machines: Essays in Mormon Theology (Greg Kofford Books, 2012) and Speculative Grace: Bruno Latour and Object-Oriented Theology (Fordham University Press, 2013). His latest book is An Early Resurrection: Life In Christ Before You Die (Maxwell Institute & Deseret Book, 2018). He also serves as the director of the Mormon Theology Seminar.
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VIDEO—Adam S. Miller, "'Letters to a Young Mormon' Unplugged"

March 07, 2018 12:00 AM
Adam Miller's Maxwell Institute Guest Lecture is now available to watch online: 'Adam S. Miller, ''Letters to a Young Mormon' Unplugged.' Watch https://youtu.be/m9ZMs_KwLfIDoes your faith feel a bit out of joint? Letters To a Young Mormon can help. The book’s author, Adam S. Miller, is a Latter-day Saint professor of philosophy. His small book contains massive messages to inspire your spirit, heart, and mind. The book is available now from the Maxwell Institute and Deseret Book.Miller visited Brigham Young University in January for discussion about the costs and rewards of living a life of faith in our latter days. The lecture contains a stirring call to defend families by rooting out misogyny.Excerpts from Miller's lecture were also included in BYU Magazine, Winter 2018 Issue. About Adam S. MillerAdam S. Miller is a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas. He and his wife, Gwen, have three children. He is the author of many books, including Rube Goldberg Machines: Essays in Mormon Theology (Greg Kofford Books, 2012), Speculative Grace: Bruno Latour and Object-Oriented Theology (Fordham University Press, 2013), and two editions of Letters to a Young Mormon (Maxwell Institute & Deseret Book, 2018). He also serves as the director of the Mormon Theology Seminar.
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An Other Testament is intense and rewarding (and free for digital subscribers)

March 31, 2016 12:00 AM
This guest post by Adam Miller is crossposted at bycommonconsent.com. Miller is currently writing a blog series there on our book series Groundwork: Studies in Theory and Scripture. The new edition of Joseph Spencer’s An Other Testament: On Typology is the second book to be published in our Maxwell Institute series Groundwork: Studies in Theory and Scripture.In addition to paperback and Kindle editions, An Other Testament is available for free on the Maxwell Institute Website for digital subscribers. Digital subscriptions are just $10 and also give subscribers access to all three of the Institute’s periodicals (Mormon Studies Review, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, and Studies in the Bible and Antiquity) and access to current and future volumes in the Proceedings of the Mormon Theology Seminar series.I’ll address in more detail some of An Other Testament‘s content in future posts but to set the stage I’ve been given permission to reproduce here my own foreword to the book: * * * This book is a plow—it breaks ground and its furrow is wide and deep. The future of Mormon studies will be shaped by what is planted in its wake.Spencer’s field is the Book of Mormon and in order to get his plow to bite, he invents, de novo, his own genre of scholarship—a humbling, meticulous, polymathic blend of history, philosophy, literary analysis, biblical studies, and, above all, theological speculation. In this book, Spencer invents Mormon theology as a speculative, scriptural discipline.Both aspects of this description are vital. Spencer’s work is disciplined by an unrivaled attention to the structural, thematic, and literary details of the Book of Mormon. His book is a primer on all we have failed to see and the richness of his reading implicitly chastens us for having failed even to look. His dedication to the letter of scripture is what gives his plow its edge. Spencer never plays games in the often self-congratulatory sandboxes of skeptical criticism and armchair apologetics. Rather, he reads the book.But it’s also true that Spencer’s reading of the Book of Mormon is no end in itself. He’s compelled to do otherwise because the book, on its own account, refuses to be read in such a way. The Book of Mormon is no curio. Spencer takes the Book of Mormon, not as a field to be fenced and occasionally surveyed, but as earth to be tilled. The Book of Mormon is not ripe fruit waiting to be eaten, ready to be canned; it is soil waiting to be planted. Spencer turns a wedge, scatters seeds, and watches to see what ideas take root. Here is Mormon theology enacted as a speculative discipline, as a project propelled by a desire to see how our understanding of the whole world might be rewritten and redeemed by the questions the Book of Mormon poses. Reading the Book of Mormon, Spencer claims no special authority and no special insight. He never commands or defends or decides. Rather, he thinks.Taking up Mormon theology as a speculative, scriptural discipline, Spencer wagers an original reading of the Book of Mormon. Crucially, though, Spencer is not betting that his reading of the book is the right one, but that the book itself is worth the trouble of trying again and again. You may agree or disagree with some aspects of his reading, but either way he will collect on his wager because you will never read the Book of Mormon the same way again.—Adam S. Miller
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Groundwork: A new book series from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute

October 09, 2015 12:00 AM
The canon of Latter-day Saint scripture provides fertile ground where students from a wide variety of backgrounds can plant seeds, cultivate ideas, and harvest new insights. The Maxwell Institute’s new book series, Groundwork: Studies in Theory and Scripture, will test the richness of scripture as grounds for contemporary thought and the relevance of theory to the task of reading scripture. By drawing on a broad range of academic disciplines—including philosophy, theology, literary theory, political theory, social theory, economics, and anthropology—Groundwork books offer a deeper understanding of Mormon scripture and contemporary theory alike. Series EditorsAdam S. Miller is a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas and has written a number of path-breaking books including Letters to a Young Mormon, Speculative Grace: Bruno Latour and Object-Oriented Theology, and Rube Goldberg Machines: Essays in Mormon Theology.Joseph M. Spencer earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of New Mexico and is the author of For Zion: A Mormon Theology of Hope and An Other Testament: On Typology, which will be republished as part of the Groundwork series in 2016. Forthcoming Titles The first Groundwork title will be published on November 24, 2015. It’s Jad Hatem’s Postponing Heaven: The Three Nephites, the Bodhisattva, and the Mahdi. The next book in the series is the new edition of Joseph M. Spencer’s An Other Testament: On Typology (2016). For More Information Scholars who are interested in learning more about the series or who have a manuscript they would like to propose or submit for consideration may contact Adam Miller (amiller@collin.edu) or Joe Spencer (joseph_spencer@byu.edu).
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Latest release: An Experiment on the Word: Reading Alma 32

August 12, 2014 12:00 AM
The Maxwell Institute is pleased to announce the publication of An Experiment on the Word: Reading Alma 32. Adam S. Miller, who edited the volume, introduces our latest book in this guest post. You can read more about this new title here. —BHodges
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Two chances to meet scholars Adam Miller and Joe Spencer this Wednesday

June 30, 2014 12:00 AM
This week, Utahns have two chances to meet Mormon scholars Adam Miller and Joseph Spencer to get some books signed or hear some of their reflections on the relevance of scripture.
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Adam Miller: Mormon Theology Seminar about to bear more fruit

June 26, 2014 12:00 AM
This post by Adam Miller is also at Times & Seasons where you can leave questions or comments. Miller is director of the Mormon Theology Seminar, which recently entered into partnership with the Institute’s Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies. This year’s Seminar drew to a close last week, but its fruits are yet to be fully gathered in. Podcasts of the papers presented at the Seminar will soon be available both through the Seminar website and through the Maxwell Institute podcast. Plans to publish the whole collection are also in the works. The proceedings of the previous conferences on Alma 32 and 2 Nephi are being printed and bound as we speak. More information about these new books to follow, as well as blog posts from seminar participants describing their Seminar experience. —BHodges
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June 20: Mormon Theology Seminar conference in London, England

June 16, 2014 12:00 AM
From Adam Miller, a director of the Mormon Theology Seminar.
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Ask the Scholar: Adam S. Miller on grace, faith, theology, boredom, and other matters

May 20, 2013 12:00 AM
Last week I requested questions for philosopher and Mormon theologian Adam S. Miller. In this post, Miller responds to queries about free will, the practice of Mormon theology, grace, the nature of faith, and other topics. Thanks to all those who submitted questions. –BHodges
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Ask the Scholar: Adam S. Miller edition

May 08, 2013 12:00 AM
I’m trying out a more collaborative feature here at the MIBlog. Readers can submit questions about the works and perspectives of various scholars. Adam Miller, a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas, has agreed to be the guinea pig. This post includes a bit of info about Miller’s background and provides links to some of his scholarship. I also point to other conversations about Miller’s work that have taken place over the last year, in case you haven’t already had the chance to become familiar with it. Questions about any aspect of Miller’s work can be tweeted to @MI_BYU (#askmiller), or sent in a message to the Institute’s Facebook page. Questions must be submitted on or before May 15 (next Wednesday). The best questions will be featured in the Q&A on Monday, May 20.
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How to win an autographed copy of Miller's Letters to a Young Mormon

February 24, 0014 12:00 AM
ollow the Maxwell Institute on Facebook for a chance to win an autographed copy of Adam Miller's new book Letters to a Young Mormon. Over the next few weeks we'll post three photographed excerpts from Letters that readers have recently submitted. When you see an excerpt appear on our Facebook wall, click "Share" and post it to your own wall (see below). Three sharers will be randomly selected* and notified through Facebook that they won an autographed copy. May the odds be ever in your favor! *Note: If your Facebook security settings are too tight, we might not be able to tell that you shared the photo. Feel free to shoot us a Facebook message to let us know you've shared it on your wall.
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Win an autographed copy of Adam Miller's Letters to a Young Mormon

February 04, 0014 12:00 AM
One month ago we announced the release of Adam Miller's Letters to a Young Mormon. A lot of readers have told us they can't wait to recommend the book to family, friends, and fellow church members. It's so good, you'll need an extra copy to give away or lend out. We want to make that easier by giving away six autographed copies of Letters in a new Facebook contest. Here's how to enter: Take a small photograph of a favorite quote or excerpt from Letters (not to exceed 100 words), like this:
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Adam S. Miller's new book, Letters to a Young Mormon, available now

January 04, 0014 12:00 AM
Adam S. Miller spends his days teaching philosophy to students at Collin College in McKinney, Texas, but the most important lessons he's ever prepared have been for his own children. He distilled many of those lessons into his new book, Letters to a Young Mormon. Miller's letters are meant for a young Mormon who is familiar with Mormon life but green in their faith. In simple but profound prose, Miller addresses the real beauty and real costs of trying to live a Mormon life in today's world. He encourages Mormons young and old to live in a way that refuses to abandon either life or Mormonism. Most importantly, even while dispensing wisdom, Miller wonders alongside the reader. Letters to a Young Mormon is unlike anything ever written for a young Latter-day Saint audience.
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