The recently formed Brigham Young University Mormon Scholars in the Humanities organization will host its inaugural conference, “Mormon Belief, Scholarship and the Humanities,” Friday and Saturday, March 23-24, on campus.
Admission is free, and the public is welcome to attend. Students entering humanities-related fields are also encouraged to attend.
The symposium is designed to address the relationship between the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the study of the humanities, and speakers will address practical, theoretical and historical issues. The event’s keynote address will be delivered by Richard Bushman, the Gouverneur Morris Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University and author of the Joseph Smith biography “Rough Stone Rolling.”
Other presenters will include John S. Tanner, BYU academic vice president, who will speak about the gospel ground for studying humanities; Claudia Bushman, professor of American studies at Columbia University, who will talk about writing biographies; and Valerie Hegstrom, BYU associate professor of Spanish, who will cover “How Catholic Nuns Have Taught Me to be a Better Mormon,” among others.
Mormon Scholars in the Humanities seeks to promote intellectual conversation among humanities scholars, to provide a forum for exchange to strengthen Latter-day Saint values and to assist its members in integrating the intellectual and spiritual aspects of their lives.
For more information and a complete schedule of speakers, contact George Handley at (801) 422-7151 or visit mormonscholars.org.
Writer: Elizabeth Kasper
