Benjamin Park
The reception of a BYU ORCA Mentoring Grant, and the research and writing it enabled me to perform, was one of the best experiences during my time at BYU. I researched the intellectual environment of early Mormon rhetoric, focusing specifically on how it balanced the tensions of Enlightenment thought on the one hand and Romantic intimations on the other. The grant provided me with the opportunity to not only delve into secondary literature, but also a vast amount of primary sources. The benefit of this project not only resulted in several individual papers, but also helped prepare me for more research and writing in grad school.
The first tangible result from this project was a paper titled “Rational Supernaturalism: Early Mormonism and Enlightened Romantic Rhetoric.” I presented a shorter version of this paper at the Mormon History Association’s annual conference, this year held in Springfield Illinois. I received lots of encouraging remarks from those in attendance, and was given several critiques and advice designed to further my research. I am currently revising the paper, expanding it to thirty pages by this point. By the end of the summer, I will submit it to an undetermined scholarly journal.
Two other papers came as a result of this research. After examining the broader topic of Mormon theology, I narrowed down to two important topics that came as a result of their theological innovations: angelology and embodiment. The first paper, “‘A Uniformity So Complete’: Early Mormon Angelology,” came as a result of noticing that at every major ideological shift in early Mormonism, their belief in angels played an important role. Thus, this paper examined the evolving nature of Mormon angels as a microcosm to the larger shifts of LDS thought in general. This article will be appearing in the Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies later this year.
The last paper I wrote as part of this project was on early Mormon conceptions of embodiment. In this article, I am still examining how early Saints viewed the origins, purpose, prospects, and potential power of the body. Breaking with mainstream Christianity, that believed the body was the “locus of sin,” Joseph Smith and others viewed flesh as a necessary part of eternal progression, going so far to say that obtaining a body was the purpose of our earthly existence. I presented a shorter version of this paper, focusing on Parley Pratt’s role in this development, at a conference the first week of July, and it was featured on mormontimes.org. The larger paper will appear in Dialouge: A Journal of Mormon Thought next summer.
Spencer Fluhman has proved a noble mentor. Though he had a busy schedule, he met with me often and read anything that I sent him, always quickly responding with positive feedback and useful critiques. I hope may others have the advantage of working with him as a mentor.
In sum, this research grant provided possibilities to research and write that I otherwise wouldn’t have had. At least three papers have come as a result of it, and it has helped prepare me for a career in academia.