Our inaugural conference for Mormon Scholars in the Humanities was an auspicious beginning for the organization.  The conference, held at BYU on March 23-24, 2007, approached the broad theme of “Mormon Belief, Scholarship, and the Humanities” and featured a keynote address by Richard Bushman.  Close to one hundred people were in attendance throughout most of the conference, including many scholars, students and non-scholars interested in the various papers.  I think I can speak for the other participants and audience alike and say that it was a stimulating, spiritually fulfilling, and intellectually challenging experience, one which we hope to repeat again next year.

Plans are underway for our second conference to be held at Southern Virginia University in May, 2008, with a tentative theme of “Interpretation.”  Visit the website for updates.  We hope especially to build up our membership and participation by drawing from our colleagues at eastern institutions. 

This is an exciting time to be a Mormon scholar in the humanities.  We have never enjoyed such numbers, and the opportunities for us to build on our understanding of what it means to be a Mormon scholar and what it means to integrate faith and intellect are unprecedented.  I understand that the kind of papers and work we do at our meetings may not always fit directly into the research plans of many Mormon scholars (as it hasn’t in my own!), but there is much to be gained personally, professionally, and in terms of our community as scholars for all of us to contribute to thinking about the meaning of our endeavors.  One of the lasting impressions I will take away from this conference was a graduate student telling me, “I hope this doesn’t sound like an overstatement, but being a part of this organization just might save my soul.”  While soul-saving may not be the express purpose of the organization, it certainly means we are doing our job right if people of good faith, keen intellect, and natural curiosity for ideas can come away from our conversations feeling refreshed, renewed, and deepened in their spiritual convictions.

As I have said before, I hope you will join us.