Religion Commons^™

Wildfire & Sacred Flame: Enthusiasm In American Revivalism 1734-1944, Randy Lee Darnell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The First and Second Great Awakenings were momentous events in American history. The developments that occurred from these movements forever influenced religion in the United States. Many participants in these revivals either witnessed or took part in an emotional religious experience often dubbed “enthusiasm,” which critics dismissed as fanaticism or the work of the devil. Advocates averred that these behaviors were genuine experiences brought about by the Holy Spirit. What can be demonstrated by the historical sources left behind from America’s great revivals is a continuity of this religious behavior from the First Great Awakening to revivals in the early …

The Rp Church And The 1918 Pandemic Over A Century Later, Congregations Are Being Affected In Similar Ways, Nathaniel Pockras

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Quarantine. Wearing a mask. Keeping safer at home. Pandemic. No public worship. Closing and reopening. Many of us think of these far more often than we did a year ago, since we have never experienced anything comparable to COVID-19. But many of us have heard about the great Spanish Flu pandemic at the end of World War I, and we know that a lot of these concepts were important then.

William Everett Ferguson Papers, 1941-2014, William Everett Ferguson

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

Finding aid for the William Everett Ferguson Papers, 1941-2014.

Spiritual Classics, Retrieval Theology, And The Cure Of Souls, Hank Voss

Essays

No abstract provided.

Finding Documents On The Joseph Smith Papers Website, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

The Joseph Smith Papers website (josephsmithpapers.org) is a wonderful resource. With thousands of documents and hundreds of resource pages, though, it can sometimes feel like you’re searching for a needle in a haystack. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how you might use the website to learn more about quotations and documents associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith. This article helps readers learn to use the Joseph Smith Papers website to find specific documents. It also teaches readers how to benefit from the numerous other resources available on the Joseph Smith Papers website.

Ages Of Grace, Leah Farish Esq.

College of Arts and Cultural Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship

Do you ever wonder about our sisters in Christ who lived in other ages–and about what we have in common with them? Our church decided to offer a women’s retreat with the title “Ages of Grace,” in which the teaching was by various characters who came to us with costume and music of their era.

The first talk began as the retreatants were settled on a Friday evening at a retreat lodge about 10 miles from our church. Candles were lit, and some recorded music suggesting the chants of the early church ushered in one of our members, wearing a …

Sensitivity, Blessing And Doxology: Archival Practice As Spiritual Discipline, Mcgarvey Ice

Library Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

[Book Review Of] American Protestant Theology: A Historical Sketch, By Luigi Giussani, Denis Kaiser

Faculty Publications

Many scholars in the field of American religious and theological history may never have heard the name of Luigi Giussani (1922-2005) because he spent most of his life in his home country Italy, his proficiency in English was limited to reading literacy, and the majority of his writings were not concerned with American religious history anyway. Giussani was a Catholic priest, theologian, high school teacher, professor, and founder of the international movement Comunione e Liberazione. He was closely acquainted with Pope John Paul II and the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. His influence on Italian and European religious life and culture …

Ten Great Books On Church History, Scott Culpepper

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"We are blessed to live at a time when a number of gifted scholars devote their time and talents to illuminating the story of the Christian church. They stand on the shoulders of giants from centuries past whose work has passed on to us the legacy of the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us."

Posting about great books on church history from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/ten-great-books-on-church-history/

Prophets Rendering Christlike Service: Looking To Peter As An Example, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This chapter (from the 2014 book “An Eye of Faith,” a festschrift for Dr. Richard O. Cowan, published by the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center) shares examples of prophetic service from Peter the Apostle to each of the prophets of the Restoration—from Joseph Smith, Jr. to Thomas S. Monson. Many of the stories included about modern prophets are not widely known.

Theology In Parish Life, Skip Bell

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Using "The Joseph Smith Papers" In The Classroom, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This article discusses how several discoveries made by the research team at the Joseph Smith Papers (josephsmithpapers.org) can be shared in LDS teaching situations, such as seminary, institute, family home evening, and sunday school. Specific examples are shared from D&C 1, 4, 20, 21, 23, 29, 30, 39, 40, 41, 74, 94, 97, 104 and 107. Summary tables also compare section heading information from the 1981 D&C, the 2013 D&C, and the various early Church revelatory books.

The Date Of Easter And Shakespeare’S ‘Progress Of The Stars’: Creed And Chronometry In The Sixteenth Century, Martin Connell

Theology Faculty Publications

William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" opens with the question "Is this a holiday?" followed by another, "What, know you not?" The queries seem benign and, perhaps, humorless four centuries after the drama about the assassination of the ancient Roman emperor premiered at the Globe Theater in 1599, but – within a century of King Henry VIII's start of the Church of England (1534) – chronometry was a grave matter of church and state. Shakespeare's first Roman play coincided with the worst span of controversy between the Vatican and Canterbury, and Flavius's questions reveal social rubs between churches and calendars in late …

0796: Shirley Foster Streeby Mathews Collection, 1939-2003, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The bulk of the collection contains newspaper clippings that Mrs. Mathews collected over the years about her former students. There are also a few dozen photographs, along with wedding invitations, school pageants and programs, commencements, handwritten and typed correspondence, reunion correspondence, Greenline newsletters (a publication for Marshall University alumni), church programs, funeral/death announcements and holiday cards. Most of the photos are identified on the back.

The Circumference Of The Apostleship, Richard Bennett

Faculty Publications

In Robert Bolt's classic drama A Man for All Seasons, the ever-principled and incomparable Thomas More, England's stout defender of the Holy Catholic faith, responded with unflinching conviction when pressed by the Duke of Norfolk about the reasonability and historicity of the Roman Catholic claim to priesthood legitimacy. "The Apostolic Succession of the Pope is--Why, it's a theory yes; you can't see it; can't touch it; it's a theory. But what matters to me is not whether it's true or not but that I believe it to be true, or rather not that I believe it, but that I believe …

Making Friends In Missouri: Telling The Steamboat Saluda Story And Its Aftermath, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

The infamous "Extermination Order" issued October 27, 1838, by Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs caused thousands of Latter-day Saints to flee the state and seek refuge in Illinois. Throughout the harsh winter of 1838-39, many Latter-day Saint families traveled to Missouri's eastern border (some 150 miles) in carts and wagons and on foot. While most crossed the Mississippi River by ferry at Quincy, some voyaged by riverboats from Richmond, Missouri, to the Quincy region in Illinois.

For God And Country: Baptist General Conference Attitudes Toward World War Ii, Taylor Ferda

History Student Works

On the afternoon of February 23, 1943, amidst the gathering of professors, pastors, and students, the inauguration ceremony of Professor Henry Conrad Wingblade as the second president of Bethel Institute was held at the school's chapel. In his acceptance address entitled, "Bethel and the World of Tomorrow," Wingblade reflected on the Institute's role in a global war that seemed to be spiraling out of control: "Nor should we forget just now that Bethel men and women are sharing in the crucial tasks and burdens which face our country and the world today-increasingly in the places of spiritual power as chaplains, …

We Know No North, No South, No East, No West: Mormon Interpretations Of The Civil War, 1861-1865, Richard Bennett

Faculty Publications

While peace reigns in Utah, civil war, with all its horrors, prevails among those who earnestly desired to see the soil of these valleys crimsoned with the blood of the Saints, and, if we are mistaken in the signs of the times, before the conflict between the North and South shall have ended, all they unitedly desired to see meted out to the Mormons, will be poured out without measure upon those who have initiated the war of extermination, and are now carrying it on with all the energy they severally possess. So read the lead editorial in the Salt …

Revivalism In The Baptist Bible Fellowship, 1959‐60: A Burkean Analysis, Gregory A. Smith

Faculty Publications and Presentations

By 1960, the 1,100 churches of the Baptist Bible Fellowship (BBF) claimed a cumulative membership of 1,000,000--an impressive number given that the movement had begun with 120 churches in 1950. The Baptist Bible Tribune provides the most extensive documentation of the BBF's early history. The 1959-60 volume of the Tribune contains numerous references to revivals. Analysis of these references via Kenneth Burke's dramatistic pentad demonstrates the centrality of revivalism to the life of the BBF in its early years. Members of the BBF’s first generation viewed revival meetings as (one of) the foremost means of building a fellowship of churches …

Rational Supernaturalism: Early Mormonism And Enlightened-Romantic Rhetoric, Benjamin Park

Library Research Grants

No abstract provided.

0760: Camp Creek Church Of Christ Register And Record, 1920-1950, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

A church record book for the Camp Creek Church of Christ located in the vicinity of East Lynn, West Virginia. The record book contains membership rosters, birth, death, and marriage information as well as financial information related to the congregation. Additional loose (un-numbered) register pages and correspondence are also included.

Mr. Tabor has created two digital copies of the Register book that are included. He also wrote a brief history (annotated) of the Camp Creek Church of Christ and compiled an index of the Christian and surnames of the congregation members. The history is boxed with the register, and the …

0757: First Presbyterian Church [Huntington, Wv] Records, 1839-1990, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The First Presbyterian Church of Huntington Archives contain material dating back to the early nineteenth century, with the bulk of the items dating from between the 1880s and the 1990s. The collection consists primarily of 'Minutes of Session,' which relate to official church business; 'Bulletins,' which give information about church sermons, calendars, and events; and 'Church Groups,' which provide information on the social structure and individuals within the Church. There are extensive financial records pertaining to the church, as well as membership rosters for many Church groups, and some marriage/baptism registers. Also included are a few "histories" written by Church …

Charles Good's Act Of Kindness And The Handcart Children, Fred E. Woods, William G. Hartley

Faculty Publications

On a hot July afternoon in 1856, businessman Charles Good paid an unannounced visit to a crowded campground west of Fort Des Moines. There he found nearly 500 tired travelers--Mormon emigrants who had pulled their handcarts earlier that day through the small business district of Fort Dex Moines where Good lived. This was the fourth handcart company to pull through the city in two months. Good's visit would be noted in the company's official journal, but subsequent histories have overlooked his charitable gesture--a simple act of kindness--while at the camp.

Iowa City Bound: Mormon Migration By Sail And Rail, 1856-1857, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

In the spring of 1855, an article in the Mormons' British periodical, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, instructed church members to leave "Babylon" just as ancient Israel had left Egypt under Moses' leadership. For European converts, the Atlantic was their Red Sea and Brigham Young their American Moses. During his nearly 30 years (1847-1877) as president and prophet of the Latter-day Saints (LDS), Young directed the organized migration of more than 70,000 people to Utah, most of them from Europe. He approved yearly migration plans, appointed officers to manage the various companies, and arranged for church agents to assist at …

A Mormon And Still A Jew: The Life Of Alexander Neibaur, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

Alexander Neibaur was a man of many talents. An educated man and gifted poet, he was fluent in seven languages. One account describes Neibaur as "a small, thin man, with a round ruddy face, with sharp eyes." He was also unusual inasmuch as he was Utah's first dentist and matchmaker, and the first known male Jewish convert to Mormonism; and he left the only known contemporary diary account of Joseph Smith's first vision experience. Neibaur was also a good family man, honest and loyal, and a kind friend and trusted neighbor, not only to fellow Church members but also to …

Of Printers, Prophets, And Politicians: William Lyon Mackenzie, Mormonism, And Early Printing In Upper Canada, Richard Bennett, Daniel H. Olsen

Faculty Publications

Well-known in both Canadian and Latter-day Saint history is the arrival of Charles Ora Card and his faithful band of followers in southern Alberta in 1887. Less explored is the much earlier venture into Upper Canada (Ontario) of such prominent Mormon leaders as Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Orson Hyde, and scores of others during the 1830s in their concerted attempts to promulgate their new faith on Canadian soil. Their success in converting hundreds of people, many of whom were British- and American-born Methodists or members of other nonconformist faiths, prompted Mormon leaders to send missionaries …

Pronounced Clean, Comfortable, And Good Looking: The Passage Of Mormon Immigrants Through The Port Of Philadelphia, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

We were pronounced clean, comfortable, and good looking. So wrote LDS voyage leader Matthias Cowley after arriving in Philadelphia with a company of foreign Saints in the mid-nineteenth century. At this time, Latter-day Saint European immigrants, obeying the call to come to Zion, were gathering to America by the thousands on the way to their Mormon Mecca in Salt Lake City. They were obeying the call to come to Zion. In 1852, the First Presidency issued the following counsel: "When a people, or individuals, hear the Gospel, obey its first principles, are baptized for the remission of sins, and receive …

The Palawai Pioneers On The Island Of Lanai: The First Hawaiian Latter-Day Saint Gathering Place (1854-1864), Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

A decade after the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, the message of the Restoration continued to breathe new spiritual life into thousands who were part of scattered Israel, and the Hawaiians were no exception. The call to gather had go forth: "Gather ye out from among the nations, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Send forth my elders of my church unto the nations, which are afar off; unto the islands of the sea" (D&C 133:7-8). After the Saints had been exiled from Nauvoo in 1846 and had migrated …

The "Tabernacle Post Office" Petition For The Saints Of Kanesville, Iowa, Fred E. Woods, Maurine Carr Ward

Faculty Publications

As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Thus spoke wise King Solomon a millennium before the birth of Christ. As America labored to give birth to a new nation, the United States Post Office Department was born when the Second Continental Congress met in 1775 at Philadelphia and agreed to appoint Benjamin Franklin as the country's first postmaster general. During the nineteenth century, America continued to grow in population as children were born and as immigrants crossed the Atlantic to the land of promise. This growth not only caused America to lengthen …

That Every Man Might Speak In The Name Of God The Lord: A Study Of Official Declaration 2, Richard Bennett

Faculty Publications

Official Declaration 2, tucked away quietly at the very tail end of the Doctrine and Covenants, is in many ways a fitting conclusion to the preface of the Doctrine and Covenants recorded 147 years before. In section 1 the Lord reveals much about the Restoration and about the divine pulley of the First Vision in particular. The term pulley emphasizes the two-way nature of the First Vision, for although Joseph prayed to know heaven's will, God "called upon" his servant to initiate the Restoration. Although much has been said about the boy prophet's request, surely God's intent counts for just …