SMPT Reminder/Travel Funding/Arrington Lecture Update

The July 16th submission deadline for the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology’s 2012 Annual Meeting is approaching. The conference will be held at Utah State University, September 20-22, with the theme, “Theology of The Book of Mormon.” For a fuller discussion of the theme and submission information, see the Call for Papers.

Some funding is available, on a competitive basis, to defray travel costs for student presenters of up to $650 each, based on the merit of the proposal and the distance traveled. Details on travel awards also appear on the Call for Papers page.

Those considering attending may also be interested in another event that weekend in Logan:

Terryl L. Givens, “The Prophecy of Enoch as Restoration Blueprint”
18th Annual Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture
Thursday, September 20th, 7pm
Logan Tabernacle, 50 N. Main Street

Givens will be speaking on the unique theology of the prophecy of Enoch in the Book of Moses, including its portrayal of Zion and of a God who weeps, and on the crucial role this revelation played in the early development of Joseph’s conceptions of the cosmos, of God, and of his own role as a prophet. The SMPT conference schedule will be arranged to encourage attendance at this event.

Abstract and Bio from Arrington Lecture flyer (PDF, 1.8MB):

“The Prophecy of Enoch as Restoration Blueprint”

The prophecy of Enoch exerted an influence on the development of early Mormonism far out of proportion to its modest textual length. The Book of Mormon had negligible impact—and continues to have negligible impact—on the doctrinal foundations of Mormonism. It both enacts and facilitates in particularly powerful form the main engine of Mormonism’s lifeblood—continuing and personal revelation. But as Rodney Stark has observed, “The Book of Mormon…may not have added enough doctrinal novelty to the Christian tradition to have made Mormonism more than a Protestant sect.”

The prophecy of Enoch, by contrast, singlehandedly sowed the seeds of Mormonism’s most distinctive and vibrant doctrines: It produced the most emphatic version of a passible deity the Christian world then knew; it catalyzed Latter-day Saint understanding of and enthusiasm for the doctrine of premortal existence; it foreshadowed, and continues to inform, the church’s distinctive doctrine of theosis or divinization; and perhaps most importantly, it provided Joseph Smith with the distinctive contours of his own prophetic vocation as a builder of Zion. If the Book of Mormon lent Joseph his indispensable aura of prophetic authority, the prophecy of Enoch provided a personal role model to inspire him, and a blueprint to direct him.

Terryl Givens received his PhD in Comparative Literature at UNC Chapel Hill. He holds the Bostwick chair of English, and is Professor of Literature and Religion at the University of Richmond, where he teaches courses in 19th-century studies and the Bible’s influence on Western literature. As a commentator on Mormon religion and culture, he has appeared on PBS, NPR, and CNN. His writing has been praised by the New York Times as “provocative reading,” and includes, most recently, When Souls Had Wings, a history of the idea of premortal life in Western thought, and a biography (with Matthew Grow) of Parley Pratt. The God Who Weeps (with Fiona Givens) will be released this fall.

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