History
Early Mormons Were Anti-Slavery and Anti-Abolitionist
I just began reading Newell Bringhurst’s book Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism. Â It was printed in 1981, and is a hard book to find on the cheap. Â Used copies are around $30 on Amazon, and the local booksellers tell me it is a highly requested book. Â I wanted […]
17 Miracles: The Faithful and Foolhardy Willie Handcart Company
If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know I really enjoy Mormon History, yet for some reason, I haven’t taken the time to become acquainted with the Martin and Willie Handcart disasters. I don’t have a good reason for that; I guess it is because other topics have more interest for me. I […]
The Finale of MHA 2011
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. MHA 2011 finished with a bang. Once again it was hard to pick which session to attend. Steve Olsen, Shawn Bennion, and Brandon Plewe combined for a session titled “New Perspectives on Mormon History”. Steve spoke on how we often argue history. To bolster an argument […]
Day 2 of MHA 2011
I absolutely love the Mormon History Association conferences. Â It is wonderful to talk to all the people that I have been writing about the past few years! Â I’ve eaten lunch with Newell Bringhurst, breakfast with Richard Bushman, and received advice from Rick Turley, Gary Bergera, Armand Mauss and Barbara Walden. Â Only John Hamer seems to […]
MHA 2011: First Impressions
I’m at the Mormon History Association meetings here in St. George, Utah and thought I would give some first impressions of the conference so far. Yesterday I had the opportunity to be part of the pre-conference tour, and learned a very interesting thing: Sin City was first settled by Mormons! The first non-Indian settlers in […]
Mormon Enigmas: Linda Newell and Valeen Avery
John Larson of Mormon Expression did a book review of Mormon Enigma by Linda Newell and Valeen Avery. Â I’m not going to quote the whole podcast, but John gives a very interesting introduction to the book. Â In light of my recent post Latter-day Dissent, I thought I would continue the theme of how the church […]
Book Review: Latter-Day Dissent
A few months ago, I received an advance copy of a new book by Philip Lindholm called Latter-day Dissent: At the Crossroads of Intellectual Inquiry and Ecclesiastical Authority. The book is supposed to be released on Friday by Greg Kofford Books. Lindholm interviews 5 of the “September Six”, as well as 3 others. The September […]
Were Israelites Not Slaves to the Egyptians?
With Passover beginning on April 19, I thought it might be nice to look at a new theory of the Exodus. If you want to see some of the previous theories, click here for my post on Questions about the Exodus. I just reviewed a video from the History Channel called Bible Battles. The film […]
Scholarship History of the Priesthood Ban
The Priesthood ban for black members of the church is a pet topic of mine. I have previously discussed Early Black Mormons who held the priesthood, as well as a long 10,000 word article discussing events leading to the ban. Newell Bringhurst and Darron Smith have put together a list of 9 essays highlighting different […]
Mormon Heretic 