Authors:Christine Elyse Blythe Abstract: Some of the earliest artistic depictions of Latter-day saint women appear in mid to late 19th century satirical illustrations. Mormon women were commonly portrayed as oppressed by their male counterparts and pawns in Brigham Young's sexual and political exploits. As argued by scholars Davis Bitton and Gary L. Bunker in The Mormon Graphic Image, 1834-1914, early anti-Mormon cartoons regularly featured women as battered, destitute, subservient, uncivilized, uneducated, homely, and lascivious. In 1872, these women sought to respond to popular stereotyping by publishing The Woman's Exponent—the first periodical written and published by Mormon women. PubDate: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 08:36:43 PST
Authors:Colby Townsend Abstract: As historians engage with literary texts, they should ask a few important questions. What is the text that I am using in my research' What is the manuscript tradition from which the manuscript or text evolved' How does that evolution inform the specific period I am studying' Did it evolve orally or in written form' And are there variations that have been handed down through time and through tradition that may provide greater context or clarity to my research' Implicit in these questions is an interest in authenticity and accuracy. As literary texts evolve and are shared over time, there are multiple factors that may lead a text away from its earliest forms, such as when a narrative is orally transmitted over multiple generations and then recorded in writing or when a manuscript is repeatedly copied by hand and errors are introduced into the text. The attempt to ascertain the earliest forms of a text is known as textual criticism. This branch of scholarship started in earnest at the beginning of the European Renaissance from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, and led to the European Enlightenment of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In this article I will argue that scholars of Mormon history have not yet taken advantage of the historical insights that textual criticism has to offer, as a means of persuading the academic community to embrace this important methodology. PubDate: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 08:36:34 PST
Authors:Charlotte Shurtz Abstract: Creativity is one of the few culturally appropriate ways that Latter- day Saint women seek for and learn about Heavenly Mother. In my research, I draw on twenty-six interviews with women ages 21 to 55 from around the world who self-identified as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or “Mormon.” According to their interviews, these women seek Heavenly Mother because She is the manifestation of their potential, a topic I will discuss in more detail. Their beliefs and practices—which I define as vernacular beliefs, that is, personal rather than official expressions of religion—are centered around the idea that creativity is a uniquely female power. For example, some women drew on visual art and music as a vehicle for interacting with the female divine, while others feminized scripture, adopting female pronouns and imagery where women were otherwise absent from the scriptural canon. As such practices are unofficial and have been discouraged at times by the Latter- day Saint Church hierarchy, many informants expressed their fears surrounding unsanctioned practices, most particularly the fear of praying directly to the divine Mother. However, I have found that creativity—both physical art forms and more abstract forms of creativity, such as childbirth—offers women greater freedom to create and express their personal theologies. PubDate: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 08:36:31 PST
Authors:Philippa Juliet Meek Abstract: In 1967, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional, citing the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The ruling struck down laws in sixteen states that banned inter-racial marriage and overturned an earlier 1883 Supreme Court ruling; Pace v. Alabama. Richard Loving, a white man, and his wife Mildred, a woman of colour, had been sentenced to a year in prison for marrying contrary to Virginia law; their sentence was suspended upon condition that they leave the state and not return for at least twenty-five years. Their 1958 marriage, which took place in the District of Columbia where inter-racial marriage was legal, was considered invalid in Virginia and the couple were arrested after establishing their marital home in the Virginian county in which they grew up. With the support of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Lovings appealed their convictions and took their case all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, resulting in the landmark ruling that concluded, ‘marriage is one of the “basic civil rights of man,” fundamental to our very existence and survival’. PubDate: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 08:36:28 PST
Authors:Christopher James Blythe Abstract: It is my honor to open this 10th anniversary issue of the Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies. Reader, please appreciate just what an oddity that is in the world of student-run journals. The problem with student (and thus editorial staff) turnover is very real. The typical student journal lasts only a few issues before consistency in publishing begins to wane. The fact that the IMW Journal has remained afloat and regularly publishing for a decade is a monumental accomplishment for the program in Religious Studies at Utah State University and the staff of the journal. My congratulations. PubDate: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 08:36:25 PST
Authors:McKinley Smoot Abstract: Since its initial publication in 1976, A Course in Miracles (ACIM) has sold over two million copies in 18 languages. Its vast circulation can be largely accredited to grassroots efforts.1 This article examines the early development of this key “New Age” text and its significance in modern American spirituality and religion. PubDate: Tue, 08 Jan 2019 19:39:38 PST
Authors:Gabriel Andrade Abstract: The history of Satanism goes back to at least 2500 years. Yet, only in the seventeenth century, was the devil perceived in more sympathetic terms, in large part due to John Milton’s Paradise Lost.1 In the twentieth century, Aleister Crowley assumed the name of “The Beast 666,” as well as owning the title of “the wickedest man in the world.”2 But, it was during the second half of the twentieth century, when an openly Satanic movement arose and gained significant attention from mass media with the enigmatic and sensationalist Anton LaVey at its helm.3 In this article, I examine the charisma and life of Anton Lavey and explore how he drew on philosophy and literature to create a religious movement that challenged Christian morality and sytematic power. PubDate: Tue, 08 Jan 2019 19:39:31 PST
Authors:Peter Dziedzic Abstract: The Mughal period has been appraised by scholars as one of the most prolific and creative eras of Persianate1 literary and historiographical production.2 Among the many works produced from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, Abu’l-Faẓl’s Akbarnāma [The Book of Akbar] stands as an exemplary product of this epoch. As the court-sponsored “biography”3 and encyclopedic chronicle of the reign of the third Mughal emperor Jalal al-Dīn Akbar, its literary style was cherished and studied by Mughals and other scholars for generations. While the Akbarnāma is readily acknowledged as an Indo-Persian chronicle, little critical attention has been paid to the details or contours of Abu’l-Faẓl’s historical project in the text. Empirical data – dates, places, events – is couched within Abu’l-Faẓl’s elaborate, eulogistic prose, indicative of its location as a court-sponsored text which attempted to portray Akbar as the confluence of full political and spiritual authority on earth. What are the implications of this' How can we evaluate the historical material of the Akbarnāma, given its rich literary style' This calls for new, and creative, historical analyses of not only the text, but Abu’l-Faẓl’s project of historical writing. PubDate: Tue, 08 Jan 2019 19:39:24 PST
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