Organized together with the Department of Comparative Religion
at Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

“Mormonism and the Christian Tradition”

General Information

Registration: Registration is now available on this website. Scroll down and fill-in the registration box. Please register before June 30 in order to help with the conference planning, although it will be possible to register also after that.

Venue: Åbo Akademi University, Faculty of Arts building Arken, Tehtaankatu / Fabriksgatan 2, 20500 Turku / Åbo (due to the bilingual nature of the city, the street and city name are given in Finnish / Swedish). The university is located close to Turku cathedral, one of the main landmarks. See the map of Turku (press the British flag for service in English) and a map of the university campus.

The conference will be held in the Armfelt auditorium on the first floor of the Arken building, shown as Å22 in grid D3 of the campus map. Use the entrance to the building shown just above the circled Å22.

Travel: You can arrive in Turku by air, train, bus or sea. The conference venue is located within walking distance (about 15 minutes) of Turku city centre. For intra-Finland train or bus travel (in case you fly to Helsinki and decide to continue by land from there), see http://www.vr.fi (train) and http://www.expressbus.com (bus).

Accommodation: There are plenty of hotels and hostels in Turku. You can find a suitable place for example through here (hotels) and here (hostels).

Food: There is a cafeteria with lunch and snack services available in the Arken building. The possibility for a social event on the evening of Thursday 21 August, involving dinner, is currently being probed.

Conference fee: Costs are covered through a fee of 5 Euros per participant. You are requested to pay when arriving at the conference venue. No lunches or dinners are covered by the conference fee.

Contact: Kim Östman, Conference coordinator (kim.ostman@abo.fi, +358-40-829 6192).

Register: Please register using this form:

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Preliminary Programme

Thursday, 21 August

9:30 – 11:30 Mormons and Christians – Tutorial Session

Brian Birch (Utah Valley University, USA)
On Being Christian: Doing Justice to the Tradition

Grant Underwood (Brigham Young University, USA)
Mannermaa, Mormonism, and the Question of Imparted v. Imputed Righteousness

13:00 – 15:00 Keynote Session

Heikki Räisänen (University of Helsinki, Finland)
Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and the Bible

Panel discussion: Brian Birch, Douglas J. Davies, Heikki Räisänen and Grant Underwood (Walter van Beek, moderator)

15:15 – 17:15 Mormon Doctrine and Identity

Graham Stott (Arab American University, Palestine)
The Martyrdoms at Ammonihah and the Sacrifice of Christ

Risto Räty (Åbo Akademi University, Finland)
The Challenges of Latter-day Saint Identity

Stephen J. Fleming (University of California at Santa Barbara, USA)
Mormonism and the Christianity of the Folk

Douglas J. Davies (Durham University, United Kingdom)
The Holy Spirit in Latter-day Saint Thought

Evening program: Possibilities for a social event including dinner are being probed.

Friday, 22 August

9:30 – 11:30 Comparative Perspectives

Ronan James Head (Johns Hopkins University, USA / United Kingdom)
Mormon Children in the British Classroom: A Survey of Attitudes Towards School-Based Statutory Religious Education

Reid L. Neilson (Brigham Young University, USA)
Convicted Civility: Mormons and Evangelicals in Dialogue

Johnnie Glad (University of Stavanger, Norway)
Proclaiming the Message: A Comparison of the Mormon Missionary Strategy with Other Mainstream Christian Missions

Richard Sherlock (Utah State University, USA)
Mormonism in a Comparative Christian Context

13:00 – 15:00 Historical Perspectives

David M. Morris (University of Chichester, United Kingdom)
Hunters and Gatherers: Nineteenth-Century Mormon Leadership in the British Isles

Kim Östman (Åbo Akademi University, Finland)
Reactions of Lutheran Clergy to Mormon Proselytizing in Finland, 1875–1889

Fred E. Woods (Brigham Young University, USA)
George Ramsden, the Guion Line and the Mormon Immigration Connection

Ron E. Bartholomew (Brigham Young University, USA)
Nineteenth-Century Missiology of the Bedfordshire Conference and its Interrelationship with other Christian Sects

15:15 – 17:15 Contemporary Perspectives

Dustin J. Eaton (Claremont Graduate University, USA)
European Mission, European Baptisms? The Changing Face of Mormon Baptisms in Europe

Walter van Beek (Tilburg University, The Netherlands)
The Gideon Syndrome in European Mormonism

Michael W. Homer (Utah State Historical Society, USA)
The Mormon Factor in the Romney Presidential Campaign: U.S. Perspectives

Massimo Introvigne (Center for Studies on New Religions, Italy)
The Mormon Factor in the Romney Presidential Campaign: European Perspectives

Closing of the Conference

Organized together with the Department of Comparative Religion
at Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

21–22 August 2008

Keynote Address: Heikki Räisänen
Professor of New Testament Exegesis Emeritus, University of Helsinki

Call for Papers
“Mormonism and the Christian Tradition”

The relationship of Mormonism and the Christian tradition is hotly contested, especially in religious circles. Whatever the precise nature of that relationship is, it provides rich opportunities for scholarly probing in domains such as sociology, history, theology, anthropology and religious studies. Keynoter and acclaimed theologian Heikki Räisänen, for example, will speak concerning his research on Mormonism’s founder Joseph Smith and the relationship of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, two of the faith’s central texts.

Other potential topics abound. Europe’s religious landscape with its national churches presents Mormonism with a very different situation than does the United States, the movement’s homeland. How has this shaped Mormonism’s European manifestations? How has the relationship of Mormonism and the Christian tradition, with the attendant processes of boundary negotiation, played out in Europe historically? Who are Europe’s Mormons? What are Mormonism’s contributions to the wider range of Christian thought?

Those wishing to present a paper at the conference are requested to send a 200-word abstract to Kim Östman at the below e-mail address. The abstract deadline is 15 April 2008. If accepted, a notification will be given by 15 May 2008. It is expected that final papers will be approximately 3,000–3,500 words, being delivered in a time of 20–25 minutes each. A question and answer period will be available following each paper. It is anticipated that conference proceedings will be published.

Conference attendees will be charged 20 EUR (15 EUR students), with a reduction available to those who register in advance. Please check the website for updates.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Kim Östman
Conference Coordinator / 2008, European Mormon Studies Association
Phone: +358 (0)40 829 6192
E-mail: kim.ostman@abo.fi
Web: http://www.euromormonstudies.com

Please feel free to distribute the attached Call for Papers PDF-file.

Participants:

Douglas Davies, Wouter van Beek, Lee & Steve Fleming, Lydia & Warrick Kear, Rebecca & Ronan James Head, Anthea & David Head, Kim Östman, Jennifer Adam, Jiro Numano, David Morris, Alison & Steve Carter, Linda & Martin Holden, Armand Mauss, Susan Eliason, Gordon Mauss, Fred Woods, Ron Bartholomew, Terry O’Dea, Marion & John McLaverty, Beverly Plester, John Fowles.

Watch this space for details on the forthcoming publication of the conference proceedings.

Venue: University of Worcester, Henwick Grove, WR2 6AJ. Leave extra time to get through Worcester (the university is on the opposite side of the city from the M5 motorway). See map here.

The conference will be held in the Cotswold Suite on the first floor of the main building (building #2 here). We will try to put up some posters to guide you to the room.

Parking: Park in the long-stay car park at the Henwick Road entrance (£1.50/day). Sign-posting from the car park to the main building isn’t great, but it’s a small campus.

Food: There is a cafeteria available in the main building. We will organise dinner for Thursday night at a local restaurant. Please note, the dinner scheduled for Saturday has been cancelled, to be replaced by a lunchtime BBQ at Gadfield Elm (map here).

Costs: Conference fees are £15 (£10 concessions). If you tried to book online but ran into difficulties, please let us know and we will offer the discounted rate. Please bring money for food — it will not be covered by the conference fee (which is intended only to cover our costs to the University of Worcester).

Shuttles/Bus: There should be space in some cars to shuttle people between the city centre and the university, and to Gadfield Elm on Saturday. The #31 bus passes the university.

Contact: Ronan James Head (01684 572686), David Morris (0790 337 4685).

‘Periphery and Centre: European Mormons and their Relationship with North America, 1837-2007′

Thursday 2 August 2007

9:00-10:00 Registration and Welcome

10:00-12:00 Session 1 (Session chair: David M. Morris, University of Chichester)

- Introduction to Conference and European Mormon Studies Association (David M. Morris, University of Chichester)

- A Finnish Mormon Temple or ‘America in Karakallio’? The Activation of a Stereotype at an Encounter of Cultures (Kim B. Östman, Åbo Akademi University

- Mormonism and the British Northwest: Tracing the Roots of Mormonism (Stephen J. Fleming, University of California at Santa Barbara)

- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Isle of Man: A Brief Study of a Peripheral Area and its Relationship to the Main Body of the Church (Martin E. Holden, Independent Scholar)

14:00-16:00 Session 2 (Session chair: Kim B. Östman, Åbo Akademi University)

- An LDS Soundworld for the Twenty-First Century: A Thesis Revisited (Warrick N. Kear, Church Education System)

- Making Adjustments: Babel, Bees, and the Book of Mormon
(Ronan James Head, Johns Hopkins University)

- Identifying Jesus in Mormonism (Douglas Davies, University of Durham)

- Mormons in an ‘Exceptional’ Europe: LDS and the Secularisation Paradigm (Walter E. A. van Beek, African Studies Centre, Leiden)

17.00 Dinner

19.00 Session 3 Keynote Address (Session chair: David M. Morris, University of Chichester)

- Armand L. Mauss, Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies Emeritus, Washington State University, and former editor of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

***

Friday 3 August 2007

9:00-10:00 EMSA Board Business Meeting

10:00-12:00 Session 4 (Session chair: Ronan James Head, Johns Hopkins University)

- The Rhetoric of the Gathering and Zion: Consistency Through Change 1831-1920 (David M. Morris, University of Chichester)

- The Place of Liverpool in the Mormon Gathering (Fred E. Woods, Brigham Young University)

- The Patterns of Missionary Work and Emigration in Nineteenth Century Buckinghamshire, England (Ronald Bartholomew, Brigham Young University)

- Patriotism and Resistance, Brotherhood and Bombs: The Experience of the German Saints and World War II (Steven Carter, Henderson State University)

14:00-16:00 Session 5 Round Table Discussion (Session chair: Ronan James Head, Johns Hopkins University)

- European Mormonism and the Future of Mormon Studies in Europe: Armand L. Mauss, Douglas Davies, Walter E. A. van Beek

Close of conference and announcements (Kim B. Östman, Åbo Akademi University)

***

Saturday 4 August 2007

10:00-15:00 Gadfield Elm Chapel and Church History Tour

- Presentations at Gadfield Elm relating to the history and restoration of the building, and the musical culture of the United Brethren. Visit to Benbow Pond and the Malvern Hills. BBQ lunch.

***

Registration

Participants are invited to register for the conference by following this link. Advance registration costs 10 GBP (5 GBP for students).

Arrival and Accommodation

Local airports to Worcester include Birmingham, Coventry, and, to a lesser extent, East Midlands. The budget airlines who fly there are BMI Baby, Thomson (TUI), and Ryanair respectively. Most major carriers fly to Birmingham (BHX). London Heathrow has good bus links to virtually everywhere and Worcester is well-connected to the trains. An excellent budget airlines’ sources is www.skyscanner.net.

For accommodation, visit:
http://www.visitworcester.co.uk/sleep/guesthouses.asp
and:
http://www.worc.ac.uk/about/facilityhire/3402.html

Please let the conference organisers know if you need any help making arrangements. We will be providing help and advice at the conference regarding food, transport to and from the venue, etc.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
David M. Morris, University of Chichester
Conference Coordinator, European Mormon Studies Association
Ph: +44 (0)790 337 4685 Fax: +44 (0)870 132 8807
Email: davidmmorris at euromormonstudies dot com

The keynote address will be offered by Armand L. Mauss, Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies Emeritus, Washington State University, and former editor of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Confirmed participants include Fred E. Woods, Brigham Young University; Douglas Davies, University of Durham; Walter van Beek, Utrecht University.

Registration

Participants are invited to register for the conference by following this link. Advance registration costs 10 GBP (5 GBP for students).

Arrival and Accommodation

Local airports to Worcester include Birmingham, Coventry, and, to a lesser extent, East Midlands. The budget airlines who fly there are BMI Baby, Thomson (TUI), and Ryanair respectively. Most major carriers fly to Birmingham (BHX). London Heathrow has good bus links to virtually everywhere and Worcester is well-connected to the trains. An excellent budget airlines’ sources is www.skyscanner.net.

For accommodation, visit:
http://www.visitworcester.co.uk/sleep/guesthouses.asp
and:
http://www.worc.ac.uk/about/facilityhire/3402.html

Please let the conference organisers know if you need any help making arrangements.

Programme

Thursday 2 August

9-10 Registration and Welcome

10-12 Session 1

2-4 Session 2

7-9 Keynote Address

Friday 3 August

9-10 Business Meeting

10-12 Session 3

2-4 Session 4

Saturday 4 August

10-3 Church history tour (Benbow Farm, Gadfield Elm, Malvern Hills)

6-8 Dinner

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
David M. Morris, University of Chichester
Conference Coordinator, European Mormon Studies Association
Ph: +44 (0)790 337 4685 Fax: +44 (0)870 132 8807
Email: davidmmorris at euromormonstudies dot com

The European Mormon Studies Association (EMSA)

Inaugural Conference

University of Worcester, England

2-4 August 2007

Keynote address: Armand L. Mauss, Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies Emeritus, Washington State University; Former Editor, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

Call for Papers

“Periphery and Centre: European Mormons and their Relationship with North America, 1837-2007″

While scholars have historically emphasised the experience of Mormonism within the United States, there is a rich legacy of Mormonism within Europe, beginning with the arrival of the first Mormon missionaries one hundred and seventy years ago in 1837. European Mormons in this Mormon periphery have had a changing relationship with the American centre, from the 19th century when emigration to the centre was encouraged, to the 20th century when emigration was no longer church policy. What are the stories of those 19th century Mormons who stayed behind? How have European Mormons viewed the United States through the years? What is the current relationship between Mormonism in Europe and its American centre?

Papers are invited that represent a wide range of research topics relating to the experience of Mormonism within Europe. We are happy to welcome scholarly papers that come from different fields of study: historical, theological, literary, sociological, anthropological, and political.

Please send an abstract to David Morris by 15 April 2007. It is expected that final papers will be approximately 3,500–4,000 words, being delivered in a time of 20-30 minutes each. A question and answer session will be available following each paper. Notification of acceptance will be given by 1 May 2007. Session chairs may request a draft paper in order to offer a response. It is anticipated that conference proceedings will be published.

Conference attendees will be charged 15 GBP (10 GBP students), with a five pounds reduction available to those who register in advance (details to follow).

Worcester is a beautiful cathedral town in the heart of England, 10 miles away from the Malvern Hills and the Mormon historical sites of Benbow’s Farm and the newly-restored Gadfield Elm chapel. A history tour will be offered as part of the conference. Details on transport to Worcester and accommodation in the city are available at the Worcester tourist information centre.

Download, print, and share the conference poster and call for papers.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
David M. Morris, University of Chichester
Conference Coordinator, European Mormon Studies Association
Ph: +44 (0)790 337 4685 Fax: +44 (0)870 132 8807
Email: davidmmorris at euromormonstudies dot com

Aird’s article explores the myth of 19th century Mormon “without purse or scrip” proselytising and “tethers the myth” to actual experiences of missionaries in Scotland. She focuses on the missions of local Scottish elders — mostly recent converts — whose experiences were often different to their American brethren (who, according to Aird, were “sometimes treated like near royalty” [46]). She concentrates her study on the 1840s and 1850s, the period of greatest 19th century LDS missionary activity in Scotland.

For sources she uses thirteen journals of Scottish travelling elders as well as various reports published by the Glasgow and Edinburgh Conferences and the Millennial Star.

The injunction for missionaries to travel without “purse or scrip” (a bag) was given first by Jesus in Luke 10:1-7 and reiterated in D&C 84:86.

“Taken literally, the missionaries were to go forth, preach the gospel to strangers, and depend on the charity and hospitality of those willing to listen” [48].

When hospitality could not be found, money was needed (strictly speaking raising money, as many Mormon missionaries did, was not permitted in Jesus’ scenario). The elders, the families they were leaving, and the people they travelled amongst were mostly poor. When donations from church members were not forthcoming, some of the elders were reduced to begging and sleeping rough.

Matthew Rowan described what happened with two who were sent into the Highlands at the same time as he and his companion in the summer of 1849:

“Elders [Hugh] Fulton and [Samuel] Lindsay who were sent out with us to Argyleshire [sic] and who laboured on the Campbelltown side, got along rather worse than us. They got into a system of begging more than any thing else; and they soon had the County, or rather their part of the County, begged out and they had latterly to lie out in the open air and anywhere else they could creep into at night, and before their Mission was up they had to return” [51].

Vagrancy laws soon made the begging of able-bodied men even less savoury.

When the money ran out, some elders returned home or took sabbaticals to earn money both for their missionary activities and to provide for their families (”God did not require me nor any other man to starve ourselves to death” [62]).

The work of the travelling elders coincided with a rise in converts in Scotland, although Aird points out that this may have had more to do with Orson Pratt’s prolific and persuasive pamphleteering than the elders themselves. Also, most of the success was found in the central, populated belt of Scotland whereas the elders often worked in more rural areas.

In a very real sense, travelling “without purse or scrip” was counterproductive:

Certainly the elders’ writings show that much of their time in the field was taken up with how to find some thing to eat and where they would spend the night. Such concerns at times appeared to demand precedence over the purpose of their mission.

In other words, taking “no concern” over purse or scrip turned out to be an impossible venture.

How did the elders view their missions? When they speak of it they often recount positive feelings of friendship and faith. There was a real sense for the missionaries that they were acting like apostles of old, thus strengthening their faith in a restoration of the Primitive Church.

Aird tells an interesting story of a bygone missionary age for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It would certainly be valuable to view these accounts in a wider psycho-social setting: many Mormon missionaries in Europe today speak of hardships coupled with little success (”suffering for the Lord” is a catchphrase one often hears). Is the value of their missions to the church measured in converts or in the inculcation of Mormon values that a mission very often provides? In a real sense it is the latter, a phenomenon also to be found in 1840s Scotland.