Harvard Divinity School has long prided itself on the diversity of its curriculum – it currently features classes in American Buddhism, Jewish Apocalypticism, and Classical Sufism – but it took until this semester for the venerable school to offer a course on one of the fastest-growing faiths in the world: Mormonism.
The decision by Harvard to add “Mormonism and the American Experience” reflects what appears to be an uptick of interest in Mormonism in higher education nationally.
Two non-Mormon universities, Claremont Graduate University in California and Utah State University, have established the first endowed chairs in Mormon studies, and the University of Wyoming is considering taking a similar step. The American Academy of Religion, which is the largest association of religion scholars worldwide, has established a new group for specialists in Mormon studies.
There are more presses publishing academic works about Mormonism, more academic conferences on the religion, and more non-Mormon scholars studying the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as Mormonism is formally known.
“The interest is growing in Mormon studies generally, and it’s becoming something that other religious studies scholars have to take account of and pay greater attention to,” said Melissa Proctor, a visiting lecturer teaching the new class at Harvard.
I am glad to see this. I am not Mormon and don’t agree with Mormons on many things, but I think the Academy often pretends that a lot of popular forms of Christianity don’t exist. I think that as religious patterns change in this country, we should be seeing far more “Mormon Studies” and “Pentecostal Studies” programs than we do “Episcopal/Anglican Studies” programs (unless, of course, we are talking of some sort of re-aligned Anglicanism). Personally, I am fascinated by Mormonism from a purely academic standpoint, yet in my formal studies of Theology/Christian history I learned next-to-nothing about it.
Call me a skeptic, but might this become a way for academics to draw out different “traditions” in Mormonism and call for dialogue and reconciliation?
There’s got to be something ironic here. Harvard Divinity School has been more or less officially “unitarian” for a couple of hundred years. Mormons are polytheists. Hmmmm . . .
“Mormons are polytheists.”
I’m no mormon but I’d say that’s mighty offensive.
Mormonism has at times been a difficult field to study, particularly for Mormon scholars, because the church has excommunicated scholars
…
But church officials, who have become considerably more aggressive about seeking to explain their faith since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, say they welcome the academic research.
Typical Mormonism – be one thing, but represent yourself as something else.
If Bushman is going to run the Mormon studies program at Claremont, I think we can figure that no course there will mention Helen Mar Kimball, Joseph Smith’s 14 year old plural wife – the same way Bushman somehow didn’t get around to mentioning her in his massive biography of Smith.
As a person who grew up in several different parts of the country, I recall my astonishment when friends on the East Coast had never heard of the Mormons, their weird belief system and cult-like practices. Upon reflection, I believe there was little or no mention of Mormons in East Coast white, wealthy circles because: 1) It was for generations largely confined to Utah and other Western states; 2) For generations, it purposely isolated Mormons from the ‘Gentile’ world [this still goes on, as anyone who has been forced to live in a community which is majority Mormon has experienced]; 3) The Mormon Church was simply operated below the radar of wealthy, Northeastern, white, highly-educated persons. Because such folks had never met a Mormon, much less had to try to maintain orthodox Christianity in the face of a large Mormon congregation, it was ignored.
This Mormon studies program will be a crock, for the reasons given above. No Mormon ‘scholar’ who believes can present an objective case on Joseph Smith, an astonishingly successful 19th century charlatan.
C’mon. There’s only one reason to appease the mormons and that’s if there’s a donation at stake. Otherwise, teach the unvarnished truth and let the chip fall where they may.
[blockquote]”Mormons are polytheists.â€
I’m no mormon but I’d say that’s mighty offensive. [/blockquote]
I’m not sure why you find it offensive. It is literally true. Google “Mormon” and “polytheism” if you doubt this.
For anyone interested in the relationship between Mormonism and scholarship, I would suggest [i] Leaving the Saints, [/i] a memoir written by a Harvard-educated ex-Mormon, Martha Beck. According to her, her father was revered with in the LDS as a leading Mormon scholar and apologist. It’s well written and fascinating to read, though also disturbing.