Mormon studies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of individuals and denominations belonging to the Latter Day Saint movement, a religious movement associated with the Book of Mormon, though not all churches and members of the Latter Day Saint movement identify with the terms Mormon or Mormonism. Denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), by far the largest, as well as the Community of Christ (CoC) and other smaller groups, include some categorized under the umbrella term Mormon fundamentalism.
Before 1903, writings about Mormons were mostly orthodox documentary histories or anti-Mormon material. The first dissertations on Mormons, published in the 1900s, had a naturalistic style that approached Mormon history from economic, psychological, and philosophical theories. While their position within Mormon studies is debated, Mormon apologetics have a tradition dating back to Parley P. Pratt's response to an anti-Mormon book in 1838.
The amount of scholarship in Mormon studies increased after World War II. From 1972–1982, while Leonard Arrington was a Church Historian in the history department, the LDS Church Archives were open to Mormon and non-Mormon researchers. Researchers wrote detached accounts for Mormon intellectuals in the "New Mormon history" style. Many new publications started to publish history in this style, including Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, BYU Studies Quarterly, and Exponent II. Some general authorities in the church did not like the New Mormon history style, and Arrington and his remaining staff were transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1982, where they worked in the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History. The institute continued to support scholarship in Mormon history until 2005, when the institute closed and employees transferred to the LDS Church Office Building.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, several other incidents made BYU faculty reluctant to voice unorthodox ideas about church history. Around 1990, BYU professors were asked not to contribute to Dialogue or Sunstone. Two historians were excommunicated in 1993, probably for their published unorthodox views.[citation needed]BYU Studies and other LDS church-sponsored publishers published more "faithful" scholarship at this time. Presses outside of Utah started to publish more books in Mormon studies.
Mormon scholars engaging in Mormon studies still feel they must be careful about what they write, especially if they work with material from the Church History Library archives.[citation needed] Non-Mormon scholars are often suspicious of Mormon scholars' work.[citation needed]
Mormonstudies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of individuals and denominations belonging to the...
The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written...
The Foundation for Ancient Research and MormonStudies (FARMS) was an informal collaboration of academics devoted to Latter-day Saint historical scholarship...
Faith and Scholarship Journal of Book of MormonStudiesMormonStudies Review (journal) Studies of the Book of Mormon (book of essays) Sunstone (magazine)...
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate...
Studies of the Book of Mormon is a collection of essays written at the beginning of the 20th century (though not published until 1985) by B. H. Roberts...
"Book of Mormon and DNA Studies" and "Book of Mormon Translation". In them, the church affirms the literal historicity of the Book of Mormon. In the essay...
University of Illinois Press published Roberts's study posthumously in 1985 as Studies of the Book of Mormon. Roberts based his discussion on the assumption...
MormonStudies Review is an annual academic journal covering Mormonstudies published by the University of Illinois Press. Previously, until and including...
prolific Mormon-themed research, scholarship, or their popularization, in an era now past. Then, beginning in the decade of the 2000s, Mormonstudies finally...
relationship between Archaeology and the Book of Mormon is based on the claims made by the Book of Mormon that could be verified or discredited by archeological...
and places it is all of these." A prominent feature of Mormon theology is the Book of Mormon, which describes itself as a chronicle of early Indigenous...
Mormon folklore includes tales, oral history, popular beliefs, customs, music, jokes, and material culture traditions. In folklore studies, Mormons can...
The Book of Mormon, a work of scripture of the Latter Day Saint movement, describes itself as having a portion originally written in reformed Egyptian...
Adherents to the Latter Day Saint movement view the Book of Mormon as a work of divinely inspired scripture, which was written by ancient prophets in the...
David J (ed.), Mormon Americana: A Guide to Sources and Collections in the United States, BYU Studies monographs, Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, pp. 437–454...
called "Mormons". In academic literature, the area is also commonly called the Mormon culture region. It has also been referred to as the Book of Mormon belt...
Mormon foodways encompass the traditional food and drink surrounding the religious and social practices of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day...
In the Book of Mormon, the waters of Mormon is a body of water where about two hundred Nephites are baptized. In Mosiah 18, Nephites living in King Noah's...
Mormon teachings on skin color have evolved throughout the history of the Latter Day Saint movement, and have been the subject of controversy and criticism...
of words and phrases in the Book of Mormon that are anachronistic—their existence in the text of the Book of Mormon contradicts known linguistic patterns...
Mormon Stories Podcast is a podcast principally hosted by psychologist John Dehlin featuring interviews with individuals and occasionally scholars on Mormon...
founded the Mormon Stories Podcast, as well as several other podcasts, blogs, and websites. He was an influential early participant in the "Mormon blogosphere...
The Words of Mormon is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon, a text that is held sacred in the Latter Day Saint movement. It consists of a...
works were published jointly by the Foundation for Ancient Research and MormonStudies (FARMS) and Deseret Book. Around the time of Nibley's death in 2005...
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