2014 MHA Conference in San Antonio June 5-8th, 2014

I'm looking forward to attending my first MHA Conference right here in San Antonio.  I've enjoyed so many articles in the Journal of Mormon History over the few years I've been a member, and now I'm looking forward to meeting some folks in the flesh.  (Any one reading this going to be attending?  Here's the preliminary program.)

Three years ago when I read Leonard Arrington's "Adventures of a Church Historian", I typed out the following paragraph about MHA because I found it interesting:

In 1977, I think, the year we met in Ogden, the dean of BYU's College of Religious Instruction presented a paper that was subjected to the usual ritual of a commentator making suggestions for improvement. The dean did not like the commentator's tone. Nor did he like a paper he heard presented in another session by a historian the dean regarded as "lacking testimony." The dean made up his mind to take action. BYU's College of Religious Instruction would no longer support any member of its faculty in attending future meetings of the Mormon History Association. The rule still holds. If any faculty member wishes to attend the MHA convention, and some do, the individual must pay and use vacation time. I wondered whether someone who heard a talk in sacrament meeting he didn't like would discontinue taking his children to meetings in that ward. Or, whether one who had seen an article in The Ensign she didn't like would cancel her subscription. I believe it is shortsighted to discourage the attendance of College of Religious Instruction faculty at MHA conventions, because they teach many courses in church history and they, of all people, need to know of new developments in the field. (--Leonard Arrington, p. 61, "Adventures of a Church Historian")

Seeing that there is now in fact the following announcement for the conference on BYU's Religious Education website, I'm wondering if anyone has any insight about this "rule" that Arrington talks about and if or when it changed? 

2014 MHA Conference in San Antonio, Texas, June 5-8, 2014 

"The Immigration of Cosmopolitan Thought"

The 49th annual conference of the Mormon History Association will be held in San Antonio, Texas, June 5-8, 2014. The theme emphasizes the interplay between Mormonism and broad national and international currents and forces. San Antonio, a cosmopolitan, historically Catholic borderlands city with a vibrant but contested multicultural history and a relatively small but expanding Mormon presence, is a good place to explore the immigration and impact of cosmopolitan viewpoints and ideas. Papers that connect all branches of the Restoration to diverse theoretical, intellectual, and cultural perspectives, as well as papers that examine the interplay between Mormonism and other religions, are encouraged. Texas, a state with a reputation for confidant swagger and independent thought, is also a bastion of conservative moral conviction. Also encouraged are papers that explore how Mormons have negotiated an identity and thrived in vast settings with firmly entrenched worldviews where they have comprised small, sometimes maligned minorities. 

(Richard) Poll's (Faith) Pillars

The following is an excerpt of a talk by Richard Poll entitled "Pillars of my faith", which I transcribed while listening to it on Mormon Stories. I've become something of a fan of his lately. Yesterday when I joined the Mormon History Association I noticed his name as a former president, and I was reminded at how much I enjoyed these remarks:

For me faith is what an earlier Paul said it is. The substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen. It transcends empirical knowledge. And because what humanity learns by reason and experience is both finite and fallible, it may even contradict such knowledge. [Where this happens,] I feel no compulsion to choose between them, unless it becomes necessary to act. [Many issues that have strained relationships between Latter-day Saints] do not require resolution. For pragmatic and doctrinal reasons I believe in suspending judgment in such cases.

I am, in short, a Latter-day Saint who believes the gospel is true, but who has an imperfect and evolving understanding of what the gospel is.

My testimony will, I suppose, be of most interest to people like me. People for whom neither dogmatic fundamentalism nor dogmatic humanism provides convincing answers to life’s most basic questions.

The pillars of my faith are two. Two articles of faith defined by the prophet and founder of my church and an interpretive principle provided by one of the founding fathers of my country….first: ”we believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost". The 9th article affirms “we believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God”

James Madison cautioned: “When the Almighty Himself condescends to address mankind in their own language, His meaning, luminous as it must be, is rendered dim and doubtful by the cloudy medium through which it is communicated.”

Because I believe, with Madison, that everyone, including Paul and the other prophets, saw eternity, or sees eternity through a glass darkly, prophetic infallibility, scriptural inerrancy, and unquestioning obedience are not elements in my faith.

I believe in Heavenly parents who care about me, but who will not, perhaps cannot, compel me to obey. I have hope in Christ. And I have drawn strength from the comforter of which he spoke.

I see history in terms of human strivings to discover divine realities and follow divine principles. Flashes of prophetic insight have elevated those efforts, and Jesus of Nazareth in his life, death, and resurrection uniquely embodied those realities.

Joseph Smith, a prophet like Moses, Peter, and Alma, gave inspiration and momentum to the gospel dispensation in which, as I've written earlier, I find answers to enough important questions to live purposefully without answers to the rest.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I have found ideas, opportunities and challenges around which I have organized my life. Next to my family, my church is the most important component of that life. I am proud of its contributions to bettering the human condition and grateful to its contributions to my own. If I were in charge of the church I would make some changes. Since I am not, I must be patient, but I need not be passive.

As a historian, I know that changes have occurred and the 9th article of faith assures me that they will yet occur...