Early Mormon History
Day 3 at MHA
John Hamer, Mike Karpowicz, and Vickie Cleverly Speck gave a very interesting history of the Strangite movement. What’s a Strangite you say? Speck filled in many details: she said that James Strang was baptized into the LDS church just 4 months prior to the death of Joseph Smith. Strang claims to have a letter from […]
Highlights of Day 2 at MHA: Trouble in Zion, Bushman, Gordon, and Bringhurst and the Awards
It’s the pits when you have to choose between sessions, and I made a difficult choice in the morning. I had wanted to attend Kathleen Flake’s session on LDS Adoption Theology, but instead attended Ken Ballentine’s documentary, Trouble in Zion. (Saints Herald has already blogged about it, and there is a Facebook page. I also […]
Pres Veazey and John Hamer: Highlights of MHA Day 1
I thought I’d give a quick rundown of my first day here at the Mormon History Association meetings here in Independence, Missouri, and tell you of some of the cool people I’ve met here. The first activity we had was to go to the Harry S Truman Library. I didn’t realize President Truman grew up […]
Mormon History Association meetings
It’s been a busy week. Last week, Summer semester started, and I am teaching 2 online math classes at the local community college, so I apologize for no post on Sunday. I am currently in Kansas City, Missouri for the Mormon History Association meetings over the next few days, so I hope to make up […]
War and Prayer
Religion is supposed to be about peace, but often it is about war. Some of the worst religious wars include Islamic Jihad, Christian Crusades, and Joshua’s Unholy War. I wish Mormons didn’t have anything to be ashamed of, but I’ve been reading The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks. One of the things I didn’t […]
Newell Bringhurst Discusses the Mountain Meadows Massacre
Mormon historian Newell Bringhurst recently published a new essay discussing the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he has written extensively on topics of Mormon history. Some of his books are found here, and here is a short bio on him. Here’s a brief background concerning the disaster. The Fancher […]
The Shakers of D&C 49
After Christmas, we decided to finally upgrade our television, and got a new 55 inch HD LCD. It’s pretty nice. As part of the package, we are able to download Netflix directly to the television. The first Netflix movie I watched on my new television was Ken Burns’ America: The Shakers (1985). I picked it […]
The Brigham Young Papers: (There is a soft side to him)
There has been much press about volumes 1 and 2 of The Joseph Smith Papers Project. My wife even spoiled me with a copy of volume 2 this past Christmas. It contains the actual hand-written revelations of Joseph, along with a typed copy to help the reader understand some of the hard to read handwriting. […]
Why Mormons Hated Republicans in the Late 1800’s
I just finished the book by Sarah Baringer Gordon, The Mormon Question. It was a very different book from the previous book I read, More Wives than One, by Kathryn Daynes. Gordon has degrees in both Law and Religion. She looked at Constitutional theory and the arguments before the Supreme Court and Congress as the […]
Mormon Heretic 