Teaching The Book of Mormon at the University of Vermont: An Interview with Elizabeth Fenton by Joseph Spencer

Keywords

Religious studies, Religion Professor, Mormon studies, University of Vermont

Abstract

First, Liz, I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview you. The occasion for our conversation is, of course, the graduate seminar on The Book of Mormon that you recently taught at the University of Vermont. It seems the seminar was unprecedented. Grant Shreve wrote recently that “all available evidence” indicates that you’ve spearheaded “the first literature course outside of Utah to focus exclusively on the Book of Mormon.”1 Let’s begin, then, with a little bit about what led you to organize a whole seminar on The Book of Mormon. You’ve mentioned elsewhere that a reviewer of an article you wrote on The Book of Mormon said that the text holds “no value for nonbelievers” and is “an inappropriate object of critical study.”2 To what extent was this seminar a response, however implicit, to this sort of criticism?

Original Publication Citation

“Teaching The Book of Mormon at the University of Vermont: An Interview with Elizabeth Fenton by Joseph Spencer.” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 27 (2018): 125–48.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2018

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6088

Publisher

JSTOR

Language

English

College

Religious Education

Department

Ancient Scripture

University Standing at Time of Publication

Assistant Professor

Link to Full Text

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