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Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

2 Insights, November 1999 Farms Through The Years, Part 1: A Conversation With John Welch And John Sorenson

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

FARMS's 20th anniversary this month gives reason to reflect on the Foundation's past progress and future promise. The following article begins a three-part series, each installment featuring comments from two people who figure prominently in the history and ongoing work of FARMS. John W. (Jack) Welch and John L. Sorenson were involved with FARMS since its inception, Stephen D. Ricks and Noel B. Reynolds were administrative officers during the organization's middle years, and Daniel C. Peterson and Daniel Oswald are current administrative officers at FARMS. This first segment presents responses from separate interviews conducted by Don Brugger, managing editor of …

The "Missionary Voice": Bona Fide Sociolect Or Figment Of The Mormon Linguistic Imagination?, Joshua Stevenson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Can members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consistently identify the so-called “missionary voice”? That is, when presented with a series of unidentified speech samples that are a mix of currently serving young missionaries and their college-aged peers, how accurate will they be at selecting missionaries from the lineup? Additionally, what features (prosodic and otherwise) make the missionary voice distinct? That is, which characteristics of missionary speech most strongly index it as such? In this paper, I seek to answer both of these questions through a sociolinguistic lens (and, in part, via the tools of perceptual dialectology). …

Here, There, And In-Between: On The Civilizing Process And Civilizational Analysis, Michael Palencia-Roth

Comparative Civilizations Review

This essay presents a cautionary tale about certain problems with systematization and abstraction in comparative civilizational studies. It advocates instead for the analysis of single works, limited events, or particular figures, within larger issues pertaining to what is understood as a “civilization” or “culture”. It prioritizes certain aspects of the civilizing process: the here, or the civilizing and interpretive gaze; the there, or the Other that is the object of that gaze; and the in-between. It further suggests that insights and methods from Mikhail Bakhtin, Hans-Georg Gadamer and others from the humanities, social sciences, and philosophy can …

The Economic Regions Of Chinese Civilization: A Gis-Based Analysis Of Grain Markets In China, 1736-1842, Karl Ryavec, Mark Henderson, Rocco Bowman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

The Theoretical Status Of The Concept Of Civilization, Roger W. Wescott

Comparative Civilizations Review

This paper may be regarded as an effort to answer some questions concerning the conceptualization of civilization.

1. Whether or not concepts are essentially verbal, is the concept of civilization primarily denotative (referential) or connotative (emotive) in meaning?

2. If the concept of civilization is primarily emotive, is its emotive force predominantly laudatory or derogatory in effect?

3. When the concept of civilization is derogatory, is it decadence or outdatedness that is primarily derogated?

4. If the concept of civilization is primarily denotative, is its denotation primarily abstract (referring to culture and associated mentifacts) or primarily concrete (referring to people …

The Mything Link: Why Sacred Storytelling Is A Key Human Survival Strategy, Ken Baskin

Comparative Civilizations Review

For several decades, societies across the globe have faced a real existential threat with challenges such as global warming. Yet no one in the elite has been able to do anything to improve conditions. We seem to be trapped in the kind of situation that Einstein described when he discussed problems that can’t be solved with the logic that created them.

Buber The Radical Egalitarian And Buber And Psychology, Kenneth Feigenbaum

Comparative Civilizations Review

My first iteration for this paper was to present Martin Buber in the context of radical politics in Germany and to focus upon his relationship to the anarchist Gustav Landauer. After a brief search, I found too few sources that were easily accessible from here in the United States, so as part of this presentation I situate Buber in the radical politics extant mostly during his time in Germany and in Berlin. I focus here on Buber’s psychology but include several intellectual side trips visiting aspects of Buber’s philosophy and his politics. I cannot separate them in discussing Buber and …

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Comparative Civilizations Review

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Remembering Martyrdom: Delacroix's Massacre Of Chios As A Site Of Collective Memory, Colette Burton

Theses and Dissertations

The Massacre of Chios (1824) by Eugéne Delacroix illustrates the titular genocide from the Greek War of Independence. This genocide was a veritable razing of the entire island by Ottoman Turks in 1822. Today, a replica of Delacroix's painting resides on the island inside the entrance of the Chios Byzantine Museum, located in a converted mosque built on the ruins of a Christian church. This site is a case for the existence of non-Western temporalities, including liturgical and Aegean temporalities, as they pertain to the commemoration of the massacre through interaction with the replica. These temporalities are not causal or …

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Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

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Farms Welcomes New Board Member

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

John E. Clark is the newest member of the FARMS board of trustees. He is an associate professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University and director of the BYU New World Archaeological Foundation. A specialist in Mesoamerican civilizations for the past 20 years, he has taught courses in anthropology and archaeology, conducted field research in Mexico, and authored many scholarly publications.

Gnosticism And The Loss Of Prophecy In The Early Christian Church

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In his book The World and the Prophets, Hugh W. Nibley considers the historical role of Gnostics and their influence on the early Christian church. He explains that in the great Gnostic revolution of the second century, the whole orientation of the church changed completely. What brought this about? It was the ceasing of prophetic voices. The continuing demand in the church for the spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy, gave rise to an army of quacks and fakirs who, though discredited in time, left their mark permanently and conspicuously on the Christian church. These were the Gnostics, …

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Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Nibley Fellowships Assist Rising Scholars

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

For a number of years FARMS has sponsored a graduate fellowship program that gives financial aid to students pursuing advanced degrees in fields of special interest to FARMS. Named in honor of eminent Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley, the Nibley Fellowship is made possible by generous donations from individuals committed to helping further the mission of the Foundation.

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Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

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Lectures Open Windows On Ancient World

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In full swing since the beginning of fall semester, FARMS brown bag lectures have kept attendees updated on an array of topics in ancient research.

Revised Book Extends Lds Scholar's Analysis Of Jesus' Immortal Sermon

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

John W. Welch has revised and updated his 1990 book The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount, which presented a thorough Latter-day Saint interpretation of Jesus' masterful sermon delivered to his disciples in New Testament Galilee and in New World Bountiful. The new FARMS paperback edition, titled Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple and Sermon on the Mount: An Approach to 3 Nephi 11-18 and Matthew 5-7, features a new chapter and several new sections that offer interesting support for viewing the Sermon as a ritual text.

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Early Study Of Fraudulent 'Michigan Relics' Available

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Now available from FARMS is a reprint of Dr. James E. Talmage's 1911 report that goes a long way toward exposing the "Michigan relics" as forgeries. From 1874 through 1920, hundreds of archaeologically anomalous objects-including tablets, tools, weapons, vessels, and ornaments-bearing crudely rendered inscriptions were reportedly dug up from various sites near Detroit, Michigan. The inscriptions somewhat resembled characters from cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Greek, Hebrew, Assyrian, and Phoenician alphabets. Moreover, some of the objects contained pictographic representations that suggested ties to Hebraic peoples.

Redesigned Farms Review Of Books Released

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Sporting a new cover design and format, the latest issue of the FARMS Review of Books (vol. 12, no. 1) looks at an array of recent books related to Mormon studies, biblical studies, and scripture study. In the editor's introduction, Daniel C. Peterson sets the record straight concerning a particularly infamous example of contemporary anti-Mormon rhetoric. His remarks set the stage for much of the nearly 500-page Review, which in addition to several positive book reviews, includes a thorough debunking of another anti-Mormon publication, the Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism.

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Nibley Fellowships Awarded

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

FARMS has awarded Nibley Fellowships to 16 rising scholars who are pursuing advanced degrees in fields of special interest to FARMS. Named in honor of eminent Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley, the Nibley Fellowship is made possible by generous donations from individuals committed to helping further the mission of the Foundation.

Returning Home: The Thesis Of A Master, Yang Thai Vang

Theses and Dissertations

Over centuries, Hmong people have moved from mountain to mountain, home to home, country to country, crossing rivers and valleys in search of an escape from oppression. The Txiv Xaiv (Plig) ritual and chant has survived serial exodus and diaspora that Hmong people have experienced. This ritual encodes Hmong historical and cosmological understandings as an oral text, passed down from master to student, and performed at funerals to apply that understanding in the management of souls--ultimately to send them home. The Txiv Xaiv (Plig) serves as a glue, connecting the past generations to the generation of today and the generations …

Remembering And Forgetting: The Commemoration Of The First World War And The Spanish Influenza Pandemic In Salt Lake City, Utah, Bethany Kathleen Gustafson

Theses and Dissertations

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, American culture has experienced a renewed interest in pandemic events, including the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. Based on research carried out in cemeteries and monuments in Salt Lake City, Utah, this paper compares commemoration practices relating to the Spanish Influenza pandemic and the simultaneous events of First World War within the city. Such research provides evidence that warfare enjoys a greater presence in places of social memory than does disease, suggesting an inequality in the cultural value placed on different causes of death. This outcome is the result of numerous factors and …

First Shasta Ground Sloth (Nothrotheriops; Xenarthra) From The Eastern Great Basin, Nevada, Jim I. Mead, Sandra L. Swift, H. Gregory Mcdonald, Steven D. Emslie

Western North American Naturalist

We present the first record of the Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensis) for the eastern Great Basin. The single right upper second molariform was recovered from the back dirt pile of archaeological test pits excavated during the 1960s and 1970s in Smith Creek Cave, northern Snake Range, White Pine County, Nevada. The precise age of the specimen is indeterminate, although all sediment layers in the area produced radiocarbon dates older than 11,000 cal BP; thus, the specimen is considered of the Rancholabrean Land Mammal Age. All previous accounts of this sloth in the Great Basin are from its …

Ecology And Retribution: Blake, Tokarczuk, And Animal Rights, Kristina Isaak Powell

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk's 2008 novel, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, engages with William Blake's life and his writings on animal welfare and speaks to current conversations about multispecies justice in the environmental humanities. It argues, first, that in recognizing how this novel's protagonist, Janina, selectively reads Blake to rationalize retributive justice, readers should resist a tendency to mistake this character for Tokarczuk's ideal advocate for environmental ethics. Secondly, it asserts that legal scholars' division between retributive and restorative justice offers valuable framework for approaching both this novel and ongoing debates about …

Visions Of Mary: Patria As The New Mestiza Madonna In Alvarez's In The Time Of The Butterflies, Mila Argueta

Theses and Dissertations

Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies is a fictional depiction of three sisters who are lauded for their role in ending the supremacist, womanizing, and terror-inspiring reign of Trujillo. While, one character, Patria, seems to represent the traditional, and at times cloistered, life of a Dominican wife and mother (reflecting the Malinche and sufrida archetypes), the text also shows her transformation into one of the most vital figureheads of the revolution. I find that when she joins the revolution, she comes as a transformed Marian-figure. Unlike Ibez Gomez Vega and other feminist scholars who have categorized Patria as one …

Conspecific Tolerance In A Solitary Small Carnivore, The Pacific Marten, Matthew S. Delheimer, Marie E. Martin, Katie M. Moriarty

Western North American Naturalist

Holarctic martens (genus Martes) are small carnivores that are considered functionally solitary, with both resource scarcity and martens’ inability to store energetic reserves posited as precluding social behavior. Interactions between martens are expected to be largely agonistic with the exception of mating and rearing of kits by adult females. Nonetheless, we documented multiple instances of conspecific tolerance by Pacific martens (M. caurina) during long-term monitoring of radio-marked animals in 2 study populations. Observations from radio-tracking and remotely triggered cam­era trap photographs suggested that pairs of martens traveled, foraged, and rested together. Presumed marten associations occurred both inter- …

Qosqo: A Documentary Approach To The Preservation Of Andean Culture, Emma Wheeler Volz

Student Works

This thesis and creative project aspire to follow the well-worn path of documentary filmmaking. The written portion of this thesis includes background information on Incan history and the Southern Andean language of Quechua that informed and developed into my film, Qosqo. The short documentary is a hybrid between traditional and experimental non-fiction filmmaking, exploring Cusco, Peru’s spirituality through the sage perspective of a native Cusqueñan woman, Norma Sanchez de Incaroca.

The film is a personal reflection of Norma’s experience with the Quechua language, a historically marginalized and currently endangered language. Her reflections are framed within the context of Cusco’s …