From what I understand from teachers and students there, it is not an understatement to say that student evaluations are the most important factor in hiring at BYU’s religious education. Degrees and scholarship are nice, but student evaluations are king. Many a qualified young scholar has seen their hopes of teaching at BYU religion dashed by the low marks received in teaching. The overvaluation of the student evaluation leads to easier curriculum, rewards form over content, and encourages grade inflation.... Read more

The Church Audiovisual Department Casting Office is looking to fill 30 plus roles for a new NT film (hat tip to c-bones). I’m going to apply as the “Possessed Man.” Read more

The opening for the Howard W. Hunter Chair in Mormon Studies at Claremont was posted today at the American Academy of Religion (members only). Sadly, Richard L. Bushman’s temporary appointment soon comes to an end. I don’t know if it is posted at other professional organizations’ job sites, but the posting at the AAR is significant. Let this be the place for official speculation, insider information, and discussion of the flagship Mormon Studies chair! Read more

The Bloggernacle has featured no shortage of posts on the Curse of Ham. At the risk of leaving some out, I’ll mention these two posts by David G. of JI with a link to this post by Stirling of BCC, all of which take note of important non-Mormon scholarship. As may be recalled from these posts, book-length studies of the reception history of the curse are Haynes (2002), Goldenberg (2003), and Davis (2008). Now there is another to add to... Read more

In my last post I wondered aloud whether Nephi Sails the Ship of State. Since the Republic itself has a sequel, I hope it won’t be too much if I offer another Platonic reading of some of our Judeo-Christian scripture. References to ‘intelligence’ and ‘intelligences’ in the D&C, Book of Abraham, and King Follett discourse have attracted and continue to attract a fair amount of attention. In the 19th and 20th centuries, not a few Mormons got themselves into trouble... Read more

Mormon Scholars Testify is a new website sponsored by the folks at the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR). It solicits and posts the “views and feelings about the Gospel” from LDS scholars, including graduate students. The goal of the website is to “dispel the myth” that “people of education and learning can’t be religious.” Each page is devoted to the relatively brief testimony of a LDS scholar, and features their credentials at the bottom of the page.  One... Read more

Blogging has been a big part of my life over the last 5 years.. I have gotten to know many interesting people. I have made friends. I have made enemies. I have never posted consistently, but instead have chosen to comment…a lot. I am actually a very passive and mild person. While blogging, I have developed a voice. Actually, many voices…possibly more than there are in my head. After 4 years with BYU-Idaho and this past year at BYU, I... Read more

I recently came across this presentation by Daniel Peterson given at the annual FAIR Conference in 2009. Admittedly I haven’t read much of Peterson’s work, but from conversations I’ve had with others I get the sense that he’s rather well respected in the field of Islamic Studies. I know he’s also very involved in Mormon Studies. I gather that he’s one of the best comparativists that LDSs have since he’s deeply knowledgeable of Islam and Mormonism. (more…) Read more

The feminist idea of care is both a response to the canon of ethical and political theory as well as an alternative approach to that cannon. In this essay, I contend that caring relationships are a valuable and necessary component of a just society, and as a result necessary in any theoretical argument about social justice. Yet, it could be asked whether the theory of social justice advanced by the philosopher John Rawls adequately incorporates the idea of care. I... Read more