Gendered Power in Nauvoo…Presented in Nauvoo!

Today I’m catching a plane to St. Louis, followed by driving a rental car up to Nauvoo. I’m excited. Well, I’m always excited to visit Nauvoo, but I’m especially excited to head up there this weekend to present a paper in the annual John Whitmer Historical Association conference. JWHA is a fun organization dedicated to…

The Mormon Constitution

To celebrate Constitution Day, Americans often proclaim their reverence for their nation’s founding document. But to play contrarian, I thought I would highlight some of its discontents. Mormons today are recognized as some of the most patriotic citizens. And rightfully so: part of their canon of scripture includes God claiming he had “established the Constitution…

DACA Protests, Natural Rights, Religious Protest, and Civil Disobedience in Massachusetts

It takes a lot to be surprised in the Age of Trump. In reality, we shouldn’t be surprised by anything at this point. But Trump announcing the gradual end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was a real punch in the gut for many, including myself. While he ran an explicitly xenophobic campaign…

Review: Marisa Fuentes, DISPOSSESSED LIVES

Sometimes the best thing a book can do is make you feel guilty. That is certainly the case with the book I’m gisting today. There were more enslaved women in the colonial port town of Bridgetown, found on the western edge of Barbados, than any other demographic group. So why do they receive such little…

New Essay: The Council of Fifty and American Democracy

This week marks the official release of a new essay collection, The Council of Fifty: What the Records Reveal about Mormon History (BYU Religious Studies Center), edited by Matthew Grow and Eric Smith. The volume contains fifteen chapters, each from a different author. The Council of Fifty was a secretive organization established by Joseph Smith in…