Faith and Knowledge Program

Faith and Knowledge: Intellectual Prospects for Mormonism

Feb 11-12, 2001 at Duke University

Friday, Feb 11

Welcome                                                         6:30 PM

• Jason Combs, PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Keynote Address                                                6:45-8:00 PM

• "Insiders, Outsiders, and Mormons," Grant Hardy, Professor of History and Religious Studies, University of North Carolina - Asheville.

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Saturday, Feb 12

Breakfast                                                        8:00-8:30 AM

Mormonism and Other Intellectual Traditions                8:30-9:30 AM

Moderator: Taylor Petrey, Assistant Professor of Religion, Kalamazoo College.

• “Future Prospects in the Comparison of Religions,” Michael Ing, PhD Candidate, Harvard University.
• “On Abandoning the Apostasy,” Ariel Bybee Laughton, PhD, Duke University, 2010.
• “The Relevance of Theology,” Sheila Taylor, PhD Candidate, Graduate Theological Union.

Break                                                                9:30-9:45 AM

Methodological Perspectives                                9:45-10:45 AM

Moderator: Seth Payne, MAR, Yale Divinity School, 2008.

• "Towards an Improved Methodology for Book of Mormon Research," Mark Wright, PhD Candidate, UC Riverside.
• “Academics in the LDS Classroom: A Success Story,” Dustin Naegle, PhD Candidate, Texas Christian University.
• “On Love and Lying: Integrity, Identity and Interpretation in a Pluralistic Mormon Culture,” Jared Anderson, PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Break                                                                10:45-11:00 AM

Mormon Ways of Thinking I                                11:00-12:00 PM

Moderator: Ariel Bybee Laughton, PhD, Duke University.

• “Understanding god and experiencing Being: A LDS Hermeneutical approach to the Biblical text though the eyes of Martin Heidegger,”  Kirk Caudle, MA Student, Marylhurst University.
• “Charles Taylor: A Catholic Mentor for the Mormon Scholar,” James Olsen, PhD Candidate, Georgetown University.
• “Mormon Theologians are Ordinary Latter-day Saints: On the Neuroses Consequent to being a Mormon in Academia,” Joe Spencer, MA Student, University of New Mexico.

Lunch and Break                                                12:00-1:00 PM

Professional Considerations for LDS in Religion        1:00-2:00 PM

Moderator: Richard L. Bushman

Panelists:

• Richard L. Bushman, Gouverneur Morris Professor of History Emeritus, Columbia University; Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies, Claremont Graduate University.
• Grant Hardy, Professor of History and Religious Studies, University of North Carolina - Asheville.
• Taylor Petrey, Assistant Professor of Religion, Kalamazoo College.
• Michael Ing, PhD Candidate, Harvard University, 2010; Assistant Professor of Religion at Indiana University, Bloomington beginning August, 2011.

Break                                                                2:00-2:15 PM

Mormon Ways of Thinking II                                2:15-3:45 PM

Moderator: Jason Combs, PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• “Faith and the Writing of the Religious Past: Evangelical, Catholic, Mormon,” Matt Bowman, PhD Candidate, Georgetown University.
• "Aesthetics and the Negotiation of Belief," Josh Probert, PhD Candidate, University of Delaware.
• "Of One Heart and One Mind: Mormon Zion and the Celebration of the Irreconcilable," David Golding, PhD Candidate, Claremont Graduate University.
• “The Fabulous Jesus: A Heresy of Reconciliation,” Scott Davis, MAR Student, Yale Divinity School.

Break                                                                3:45-4:00 PM

The Intellectual Prospects of Mormonism:

Perspectives from Non-LDS Scholars                         4:00-5:00 PM

Moderator: John-Charles Duffy, PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Panelists:

• Laurie Maffly-Kipp, Professor of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Professor Maffly-Kipp studies Mormonism in the context of her interests in religion in the American West and the Pacific.
• Jill Peterfeso, PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Peterfeso wrote her master's thesis on a collective performance known informally as the "Mormon Vagina Monologues."
• Vince Gonzalez, PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Gonzales examines Mormon video games in the context of theorizing the role of play in religion.

Break                                                                 5:00-5:15 PM

Concluding Remarks                                        5:15-5:30 PM

• Richard L. Bushman, Gouverneur Morris Professor of History Emeritus, Columbia University; Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies, Claremont Graduate University.