This notice is likely too late for anyone not living in Utah, but I wanted to share this info anyways. Next Friday and Saturday (March 12 & 13), there will be a great symposium at the Hinckley Alumni and Visitor’s Center at Brigham Young University.
This symposium celebrates the 50th anniversary of BYU Studies and will have a very broad range of presenters and topics. Of special interest (to me, anyways):
Jeffrey Bradshaw will be presenting on Saturday morning at 9:35am (in the N. Assembly room). His paper is called “The Ezekiel Mural at Dura Europos and the Mysteries of Aaron, Moses, and Melchizedek.” I worked with him a bit on this project and I can tell you that it is very exciting material.
Also, in that same session, starting at 9am, John Hall (BYU professor of Classics) will be giving a presentation entitled “The Anointing of the Gods: Sanctification and Authority from Egyptian Pharaohs to Hebrew Priest-Kings and Beyond.” I heard a version of this paper in London at the Temple Studies Group conference and it was awesome. You can see my notes on it here.
I also recommend Lynn Wilson’s paper at 1:35pm in the same room. Lynn did her PhD in Theology at Marquette University and is a great scholar. I heard her speak at SBL two years ago and she has done some very interesting research.
There are many other papers that look very interesting. I just wish I could be there! If you are planning to attend, it would probably be good to register at their website (registration is free and open to the public). See their website below.
The following is some more specific info regarding the symposium, copied from their official website: http://byustudies.byu.edu/symposium.aspx
Title: “Of Things Both in Heaven and in the Earth” D&C 88: 78, 79
When: March 12-13, 2010
Where: Hinckley Alumni Center on Brigham Young University campus in Provo, Utah
What: To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, BYU Studies is holding a special symposium on Friday, March 12, and Saturday, March 13, in the beautiful Hinckley Alumni and Visitor's Center at Brigham Young University. The theme, which captures the mission statement of BYU Studies, is drawn from D&C 88:78-79, "Of Things Both in Heaven and in the Earth." The event is free and open to the public. A preliminary schedule is available at byustudies.byu.edu.
Three plenary sessions and four blocks of concurrent sessions, from 9:00 am on Friday until 3:00 pm on Saturday, will feature more than fifty fascinating presenters. A poster session, scheduled for Friday afternoon, will highlight recent research from a variety of disciplines by both seasoned professors and younger scholars.
The three plenary speakers are Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Professor of Church History and Doctrine and publications director of the Religious Studies Center at BYU; Van C. Gessel, Professor of Japanese and former Dean of the College of Humanities at BYU; and George S. Tate, Professor of Humanities and Comparative Literature and former Dean of Undergraduate Education at BYU. Holzapfel will share new discoveries about Wilford Woodruff's 1897 recorded testimony concerning Joseph Smith and the succession in the Church presidency. Gessel will examine the challenges of introducing Christian vocabulary into non-Christian cultures. Tate will give a behind-the-scenes look at his work on the 1918 influenza pandemic and the 1918 revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 138, recently published in BYU Studies and the Ensign.
According to Welch, those who come will have the chance to meet "other like-minded individuals who enjoy exploring a variety of topics" along with several BYU Studies authors. "This symposium will help involve readers in the academic experience," explains Welch.
Contact: For questions or comments, contact BYU Studies at
(801) 422-6691 or at byustudies_symposium@byu.edu
Can’t Attend? We will be blogging this event on March 12th and 13th. We will post summaries of each session shortly after they end, so if you are not in the area and cannot attend you can follow our blog posts. Some sessions will also be recorded for later broadcast as well. Check back on this page for links to our blog.
–Additional Information
–Schedule links
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