(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
I’m back from Ephraim, Utah, where I participated in a History of the Saints program in the Eccles Performing Arts Center at Snow College. This is the first one of these in which I’ve taken part; I’ve been invited to participate two or three times before, but my schedule of travel and other obligations has always prevented me from doing so before now.
I enjoyed it very much – and not merely because, being a professor, I’m enthralled with the sound of my own voice.
Glenn Rawson opened with an engaging presentation on the eyewitnesses to Joseph Smith’s life and character, pointing out that those who reject Joseph’s claims are, effectively, dismissing those eyewitnesses as either liars or dupes.
Anthony Sweat, whose undergraduate degree is a B.F.A. in painting and drawing, offered some excellent insights on the relationship between art and history and religion that, in my opinion, could eliminate a number of misconceptions that have damaged the faith of some Latter-day Saints. And he did it with wit and humor.
Kerry Muhlestein gave a fine presentation on the Book of Abraham that provided some very good information supportive of its historicity. He and I rode down to Ephraim and back; it was good to talk with him during the drive and to get to know him a bit better. I was interested in his perspective on a number of issues that interest both of us.
The final speaker was pretty bad, it’s true, but he spoke in the early afternoon, after lunch, in a dimly lit auditorium — and there are, accordingly, good grounds for hope that most of the audience were dozing by then. Anyway, a batting average of .750 would be spectacularly good in baseball and surely ought to count for something in a conference or seminar. Honestly, I wasn’t satisfied with my remarks, and didn’t feel that they went overly well. But people were kind, and nobody threw anything or made any harsh comments.
From what I can tell, those who attended the program were quite satisfied with it. I recommend these History of the Saints events to anybody who is interested in a deeper and more extensive knowledge of Latter-day Saint history. I’ll eventually have some dates and locales for future such programs. There will be a variety of speakers and topics at these various gatherings.
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I missed it because of other heavy obligations, but there was an interesting Joseph Smith Papers Conference yesterday (Friday) up at the Church History Museum, involving historians, Egyptologists, and others. It was dedicated to the concept of translation in early Mormonism, and to celebrating the appearance of a new Joseph Smith Papers volume:
I’m told that a “proceedings” volume will likely be published from the conference.
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