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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Non-Christian religions > General
The publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830 began a new
scriptural tradition. Resisting the long-established closed
biblical canon, the Book of Mormon posited that the Bible was
incomplete and corrupted. With a commitment to an open canon, a
variety of Latter Day Saint denominations have emerged, each
offering their own scriptural works to accompany the Bible, the
Book of Mormon, and other revelations of Joseph Smith. Open Canon
breaks new ground as the first volume to examine these writings as
a single spiritual heritage. Chapters cover both well-studied and
lesser-studied works, introducing readers to scripture dictated by
nineteenth- and twentieth-century revelators such as James Strang,
Lucy Mack Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Harry Edgar Baker, and Charles B.
Thompson, among others. Contributors detail how various Latter Day
Saint denominations responded to scriptures introduced during the
ministry of Joseph Smith and how churches have employed the Book of
Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Lectures of Faith over
time. Bringing together studies from across denominational
boundaries, this book considers what we can learn about Latter Day
Saint resistance to the closed canon and the nature of a new
American scriptural tradition.
The publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830 began a new
scriptural tradition. Resisting the long-established closed
biblical canon, the Book of Mormon posited that the Bible was
incomplete and corrupted. With a commitment to an open canon, a
variety of Latter Day Saint denominations have emerged, each
offering their own scriptural works to accompany the Bible, the
Book of Mormon, and other revelations of Joseph Smith. Open Canon
breaks new ground as the first volume to examine these writings as
a single spiritual heritage. Chapters cover both well-studied and
lesser-studied works, introducing readers to scripture dictated by
nineteenth- and twentieth-century revelators such as James Strang,
Lucy Mack Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Harry Edgar Baker, and Charles B.
Thompson, among others. Contributors detail how various Latter Day
Saint denominations responded to scriptures introduced during the
ministry of Joseph Smith and how churches have employed the Book of
Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Lectures of Faith over
time. Bringing together studies from across denominational
boundaries, this book considers what we can learn about Latter Day
Saint resistance to the closed canon and the nature of a new
American scriptural tradition.
An Akan proverb says, "It is not wrong to go back for that which
you have forgotten." This belief underlies historian Amy Tanner
Thiriot's work in Slavery in Zion. The total number of those
enslaved during Utah's past has remained an open question for many
years. Due to the nature of nineteenth-century records,
particularly those about enslaved peoples, an exact number will
never be known, but while writing this book, Thiriot documented
around one hundred enslaved or indentured Black men, women, and
children in Utah Territory. Using a combination of genealogical and
historical research, the book brings to light events and
relationships misunderstood for well over a century. Section One
provides an introductory history, chapters on southern and western
experiences, and information on life after emancipation. Section
Two is a biographical encyclopedia with names, relationships, and
experiences. Although this book contains material applicable to
legal history and the history of race and Mormonism, its most
important goal is to be a treasury of the experiences of Utah's
enslaved Black people so their stories can become an integral part
of the history of Utah and the American West, no longer forgotten
or written out of history.
Eugene England (1933-2001)-one of the most influential and
controversial intellectuals in modern Mormonism-lived in the
crossfire between religious tradition and reform. This first
serious biography, by leading historian Terryl Givens, shimmers
with the personal tensions felt deeply by England during the
turmoil of the late twentieth century. Drawing on unprecedented
access to England's personal papers, Givens paints a multifaceted
portrait of a devout Latter-day Saint whose precarious position on
the edge of church hierarchy was instrumental to his ability to
shape the study of modern Mormonism. A professor of literature at
Brigham Young University, England also taught in the Church
Educational System. And yet from the sixties on, he set church
leaders' teeth on edge as he protested the Vietnam War, decried
institutional racism and sexism, and supported Poland's Solidarity
movement-all at a time when Latter-day Saints were ultra-patriotic
and banned Black ordination. England could also be intemperate,
proud of his own rectitude, and neglectful of political realities
and relationships, and he was eventually forced from his academic
position. His last days, as he suffered from brain cancer, were
marked by a spiritual agony that church leaders were unable to help
him resolve.
In this important new book, Paul T. Phillips argues that most
professional historians - aside from a relatively small number
devoted to theory and methodology - have concerned themselves with
particular, specialized areas of research, thereby ignoring the
fundamental questions of truth, morality, and meaning. This is less
so in the thriving general community of history enthusiasts beyond
academia, and may explain, in part at least, history's sharp
decline as a subject of choice by students in recent years.
Phillips sees great dangers resulting from the thinking of extreme
relativists and postmodernists on the futility of attaining
historical truth, especially in the age of "post-truth." He also
believes that moral judgment and the search for meaning in history
should be considered part of the discipline's mandate. In each
section of this study, Phillips outlines the nature of individual
issues and past efforts to address them, including approaches
derived from other disciplines. This book is a call to action for
all those engaged in the study of history to direct more attention
to the fundamental questions of truth, morality, and meaning.
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