October 7-9, 2021
USU Conference Center
Pre-Recorded Papers (Sept 29 – Oct 6), Slack
Frederick Kleiner (Independent Scholar), “Alma and Korihor”
John Turner (George Mason University), “What Have Ye to Say Against This? Alma 5 and Scriptural Intertextuality”
Robin Jensen (Joseph Smith Papers), Presentation: Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon
Thursday (October 7)
Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Laurie Maffly-Kipp (Washington University in St. Louis), “‘A Marvelous Work’: Reading Mormonism in West Africa”
Friday (October 8)
Plenary Session: Book Reviews, 8:30 am – 9:30 am
Jordan Watkins, reviewing Elizabeth Fenton, Old Canaan in a New World
Nick Frederick, reviewing Brant Gardner, Labor Diligently to Write
George Handley, reviewing Adam Miller, Mormon: A Brief Theological Introduction
Plenary Session: Interview with Laurie Maffly-Kipp, 9:45 – 10:45 am
Concurrent Sessions, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Room 1
John Christopher Thomas (Pentecostal Theological Seminary, Bangor University) – “Implied Readers, the Bible, and the Book of Mormon: Soundings from Jacob”
Jenny Webb (Bangor University) – “Viral Mormonism: ‘Speaking Out of the Dust’ in the Book of Mormon”
Room 2
Aaron Coombs (University of Utah) – “Book of Mormon Liberty”
Kylie Nielson Turley (Brigham Young University) – “Blessing the Earth, Cursing unto Destruction, Innocent Blood and Typifying of Christ: An Explanation for Alma’s Blessings and Cursings in Alma 45”
Concurrent Sessions, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Room 1
Patrick Mason (Utah State University) – “‘I Did Send Down Fire and Destroy Them’: The Book of Mormon and the Problem of Divine Violence”
David Pulsipher (Brigham Young University–Idaho) – “Piercing Mildness: The Book of Mormon and the Paradox of Nonviolent Power”
Room 2
Noel Reynolds (Brigham Young University) – “Nephi: Unexcelled Master of Hebrew Rhetoric”
Fred Axelgard (Wheatley Institution) – “Mormon’s Editorial Activity in Alma 1-29”
Concurrent Sessions, 3:45 pm – 5:15 pm
Room 1
Joseph Spencer (Brigham Young University) – “What Is the Good and How Do We Know It? Notes on Book of Mormon Ethics”
Julie Frederick (Independent Scholar) – “Isaiah 54, 3rd Nephi 22, and the Theological Implications of their Metaphor”
Room 2
Newell Wright (North Dakota State University) – “Possessed by Charity”
Becky Roesler (Brigham Young University–Idaho) – “To Act for Themselves–or to Be Acted Upon? God and Prophets’ Attempts at Motivating Humans, and their Effectiveness”
Saturday (October 9)
Business Meeting, 8:30 am – 9:00 am
Panel: Scribes and Scriptures, 9:15 am – 10:45 am
“Scribes and Scriptures: Writing, Copying, and Editing in and Around the Book of Mormon” – panel presentation by Elizabeth Fenton (University of Vermont), Jared Hickman (Johns Hopkins University), and Robin Jensen (Joseph Smith Papers)
Plenary Session: Branches of the Restoration, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Gary R. Whiting (Apostle in the Joint Conference of Restoration Branches) – “They Will Hearken to the Words of the Book”
Adam Stokes (Saint Joseph’s University) – “The Record of Nephi: A Comparison of the Elijah Message Record with the LDS Edition of the Book of Mormon”
Concurrent Sessions, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Room 1
Janiece Johnson (Maxwell Institute) – “‘Not Only to the Gentiles, But Also to the African’: Samuel Chambers, Jane Manning James, and the Book of Mormon”
Diane Livingston (Utah State University) – “Book of Mormon Usage by Early Latter-day Saints in Scotland”
Room 2
Kimberly Matheson (Loyola University) – “Avoiding Capture: Vigilant Prayer in 3 Nephi 18:15-25”
Concurrent Sessions, 3:45 pm – 5:15 pm
Room 1
Nick Frederick (Brigham Young University) – “‘It is Not an Easy Task, But it Cannot be Avoided’: On the Contribution of Royal Skousen”
Sharon Harris (Brigham Young University) – “Land and Gentiles in the Book of Mormon and The Christian Imagination by Willie James Jennings”
Room 2
Don Bradley (Independent Scholar) – “I Nephi: Transgression, Transposition, and the Book of Mormon’s Transvaluation of Values”
Brant Gardner (Independent Scholar) – “Knowing When to Stop: Chapter Endings in the Mormon-Attributed Books in the Book of Mormon”
Keynote Speaker, 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Terryl Givens (Neal A. Maxwell Institute) – “Anxiety and the Quest for Assurance: Destabilizing Certitude”
