Browsing by Subject "Mormon"
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Item A Beggar?s Ride: Tales From Within the Herd(2012-02-14) Jensen, Katie LaurieThis story suite is a work of autobiographical fiction, a coming of age tale which uses a young girl?s relationship to horses?along with various people and places connected to the horse world?as its narrative theme. The collection is comprised of twelve chapters, including an Introduction and Prologue and much later, an Interlude and Conclusion. While the first person narrative voice is maintained through most of the chapters herein, the Interlude uses second-person perspective. Additionally, NOW DEPARTING is written in the present narrative tense. Poems are interspersed throughout the work, between chapters, as transitional bridges for the reader.Item The Mormon Temple Lot Case : space, memory, and identity in a divided new religion(2012-05) Ouellette, Richard D.; Abzug, Robert H.Mormonism is among the most studied religious phenomena of American history. Yet little attention has been devoted to one of its most telling and, at the time, most famous chapters, the “Temple Lot Case” of 1891-1896, a legal battle over sacred space, cultural memory, group identity, and judicial intervention in religion. The suit involved three rival Mormon sects: Granville Hedrick’s Church of Christ, based in Independence, Missouri; Joseph Smith III’s Reorganized Church, based in Lamoni, Iowa; and Brigham Young’s LDS Church, based in Utah. In previous decades, the churches had forged distinct identities from one another, stemming from their divergent interpretations of Mormonism’s founding prophet, Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844). The “Hedrickites” lionized the teachings of Smith’s early years, the “Josephites” emphasized the moderate teachings of Smith’s middle years, and the “Brighamites” institutionalized the controversial semi-secret teachings of Smith’s final years. In 1891, the Reorganized Church filed suit in the Eighth Federal Circuit Court for possession of the Temple Lot Smith dedicated at Independence in 1831. The Hedrickites owned it, the Josephites thought they had a better claim to it, and the Brighamites sought to prevent the Josephites from obtaining it. The Reorganized Church presented evidence demonstrating it was the rightful successor of Joseph Smith’s church; the Hedrickites and Brighamites countered with evidence of their own. The case produced an array of notable witnesses, including elites from Mormonism’s founding generation, leaders from its divided second generation, and figures from Missouri’s colorful past. Newspapers from the New York Times to the Anaconda Standard followed the suit closely. The present work is the first book-length study of the Temple Lot Case. It offers one of the most in-depth treatments of a U.S. religious property suit to date. It chronicles the establishment and fragmentation of arguably America’s most successful native-born religion. It examines the contestation of an American sacred space. And it traces the differentiation of collective memory and identity among competing religious siblings.Item Religiosity and techno-spiritual practices of young adult Latter-day Saints(2013-12) Snow, Sara, active 2013; Galloway, Patricia KayThis research examines the relationship between the use of communication technologies offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the religiosity of its young adult members by studying how young adult Latter-day Saints use the communication technologies offered by the Church, whether those communication technologies support or enhance the faith of those members, and what effects communication technologies have on religious beliefs or behaviors. Online survey results and follow-up interview responses indicate that with the exception of social media, active young adult members are utilizing the religious communication technologies offered by the Church, and they do so primarily to support and enhance their own religiosity. The ease of access to scripture and Church publications facilitates gospel learning and study, and the most common communication technologies used for this purpose are LDS.org, the official website of the Church, and the LDS Gospel Library for mobile devices. An overview of the communication technologies the Church offers is provided, and a discussion of Church direction regarding technology is given.Item You are Hereby Called: An Ethnographic Study of Mormon Missionaries(2014-07-08) Pepper, Kevin PhillipThe purpose of this dissertation is to provide an initial examination into Mormon missionaries from an anthropological, and ethnographic, perspective. Through the use of autoethnography, I provide an emic understanding into this parallel culture inside mainstream Mormonism. Employing surveys and personal interviews with former Mormon missionaries, I seek to more fully develop the understanding of the formation of Mormon missionary identity, how Mormons see their missionary service as a life event, and the use of folklore by Mormon missionaries to adapt the Gospel message to new cultures. The usual demographic indicators?age, sex, ethnicity, or occupation?had no correlation to Mormon missionary identity or how the mission experience is viewed as a life event. However, age was a correlative factor in what type of challenge?cultural or mission?was the most difficult for Mormon missionaries to overcome during their service; the older a returned missionary was the more likely they were to choose a cultural challenge as the most significant problem inside their missionary service. The trainer/first companion is the most influential person in establishing a Mormon missionaries? identity and contributing to their cultural understanding. Contrary to my expectations about missionaries who serve in their native cultures, the mission president is not the most influential person in forming Mormon missionary identity. The least influential persons on the development of Mormon missionary identity were the district/zone leaders. In regards to a life event, former Mormon missionaries did conceptualize their missionary experiences as self-contained time. While aspects of a rite of passage/rite of social intensification were present in the answers missionaries gave, the use of terms that denote the mission as being a completely separate place (bubble, missionary world, dream, different life, etc.) permeated my informant?s responses. Mormon missionaries do not use knowledge of folklore/folk culture to tailor their Gospel message to the cultures they serve in. However, missions that contain areas which are extremely rural or densely urban found missionaries trying new folklore approaches and adapting the message to the people around them suggesting that population density, not culture, drives the incorporation of folklore into missionaries? teaching techniques.