Assignment: LDS

HONORS JUNIOR SEMINAR: MISSIONS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
Fall 2002

Case Study: Mormons in the U.S.

Assignment: Your group will be responsible for researching the history of the mission effort by the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or LDS Church) in the United States, from its origins to the present day. You will present your research in a well-organized presentation to teach the class what you have learned.

Research topics:

Primary: the history of Mormon missions in the U.S. and the response of the American people at an official and unofficial level. Since the United States is a multicultural society, you might find it helpful to focus on three or four specific regions of the country with particular ethnic compositions, to see how Mormon missions are carried out in different environments. You will also need to present, as background, the structure of the missionary enterprise in the Mormon church why it is important, and how it is carried out.
Secondary: the context of NRM (“new religious movements”) missions in the United States overall, including other Christian sects such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists, and non-Christian groups such as Krishna Consciousness and Ba’hai. Here you may let your particular interests be your guide. Use this part of the presentation to set the Mormon missions in context and provide comparison and contrast.

Presentation guidelines:

Group work: Divide the labor of research among members of the group. Meet often outside of class to report your findings, and keep in touch via e-mail. Your presentation will be shaped by how your research is going, so frequent contact will give you a good idea of what the presentation will be like long before the details need to be planned.
Preparation and rehearsal: You will be teaching the class. Therefore, prepare to be informative above all. I will be happy to copy and distribute any handouts you’d like to make, and/or make arrangements for audiovisual equipment. Not all members of the group need speak; your guide should be how the material can be presented most effectively. You have one class period (75 minutes). You must rehearse your complete presentation ahead of time. Failure to do so will be obvious to the class and will detract from the effectiveness of your teaching.
Evaluation: After the presentation, each member of the group will anonymously evaluate the work of all members of the group (including him/herself). Your grade will be determined by the instructor’s evaluation of the group’s presentation, combined with your peers’ evaluation of your individual work in the group.

Select Bibliography:

The following resources in print and on the web are starting points for your research. Please include a bibliography of works actually cited in your presentation, either as a handout or on an overhead or slide. Thorough research means consulting both print and online resources. Websites are best consulted as you would an encyclopedia: to discover historical facts that are generally accepted, and to provide bibliographic information on journals and books to be consulted in print. Both websites and books may come with an interpretive agenda, especially if they are produced by people or groups with a religious or anti-religious mission. Such materials can still be useful if you are aware of potential biastake them as spokestexts for particular sides in an ongoing debate,

Klaus J. Hansen, Mormonism and the American Experience. History of the relationship between the Mormon church and American culture.

Eric A. Eliason, Mormons and Mormonism. Academic history and introduction to Mormon theology.

Jan Shipps, Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition. By a scholar who spent 40 years living in Mormon communities.

David Egan Evans, “A Uniform System for Teaching the Gospel” (http://www.humanistsofutah.org/1997/mormonmissionary.html). Presentation to the Humanists of Utah detailing the training of Mormon missionaries. Presented to demonstrate “thought control,” so beware polemical content.

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, “God’s Army: Mormon Missionaries” (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week430/profile.html). Transcript of the PBS show’s segment on life at a missionary training center.

Jeffrey Hadden, “Mormons: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” (http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/lectures/mormons.html). Lecture on group identification, conversion models, and the religious marketplace with respect to Mormonism, with bibliography.