Professor Terryl Givens, professor of English at the University of Richmond, spoke yesterday at a BYU forum. Professor Givens discussed some of the factors that contribute to the effect that Joseph Smith’s message wrought on the world, his followers in particular. The title of his speech is taken from a 1840 lecture by Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish thinker and literary figure, on the topic “The Hero as Prophet,” specifically, the prophet Muhammad.

Given is currently working on a forthcoming book on the cultural history of Mormonism.

As I listened to Givens’ lecture, I thought of something that Sterling McMurrin said in an interview about the reaction of a non-Mormon colleague to his book The Theological Foundations of the Mormon Religion:

“You know, you have made Mormonism look a lot better than it really is.”

I said, “That is exactly what I intended to do. The other writers make it look worse than it is.”

I mean that quite seriously. Mormon theology has strengths that virtually all, not all, but virtually all of the writers in the church seem to have been unaware of.

(Note: hat tip for inspiring this thought: New Cool Thang discussion of McMurrin’s book.)

An MP3 recording of the speech can be found here.

Update: A Deseret News story on Givens’ lecture can be found here.

Well things have been slow around BT this last week or two. Everyone’s busy with finals, holidays or trying to get things finalized for the end of quarter at work. However there were quite a few good science related discussions. I’ll start with today’s post at BCC on mental illness. It gets into a few topics we’ve discussed here before related to what our embodiment is like, how grace overcomes the fall, and of course the ever popular topic of free will. However they are also trying to get at the more practical and less theological issues. Check it out as it has been a good discussion.

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The Times is reporting a government inquiry into claims by doctors that approximately 50 babies a year are born alive in the United Kingdom after botched abortion procedures. In England, abortion on demand is allowed up until the twenty-fourth week, the longest of any nation in Europe. The Times article notes that “[i]t is not known how many babies who survive attempted abortions go on to live into adulthood.” (more…)

I’m almost loath to post this after the lengthen and somewhat distasteful 9/11 thread. However since many read that it is probably appropriate to put up some news about the aftermath. I was alerted to this statement on the BYU Physics page. The statement was reposted on several of the University’s engineering department pages with a few changes as well. For instance here’s the statement at the College of Engineering and Technology page:

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Michael McClean is calling for a miracle over at Meridian Magazine after the nasty, liberal New York Times mined the media waters for the off-Broadway journey of his musical “The Ark.” (more…)