Benjamin E. Park

Benjamin E. Park received his PhD in history from the University of Cambridge and is currently an assistant professor of American religious history at Sam Houston State University. His articles have been published in Dialogue, Journal of Mormon History, Early American Studies, Journal of the Early Republic, American Nineteenth Century History, and Church History, and his essays have appeared in Washington Post, Newsweek, Religion & Politics, Talking Points Memo, and Religion Dispatches. His first book was American Nationalisms: Imagining Union in the Age of Revolutions (Cambridge University Press), and has completed his second, Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier (W. W. Norton/Liveright).

Peculiar No More? | K. Mohrman, Exceptionally Queer:Mormon Peculiarity and U.S. Nationalism

Articles/Essays – Volume 56, No. 4

It is a common adage that Mormons are a “peculiar people.” The phrase, taken from the Bible, is meant to imply that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints paved their own…

Mormon Dissent in the Age of Fracture

Articles/Essays – Volume 56, No. 3

When fifteen hundred progressive Mormons attended Sunstone Symposium in August 1992, they did so in protest. The symposium had become a center point in the growing battle between Latter-day Saint leaders and activists, especially as…

Modern Mormonism, Gender, and the Tangled Nature of History | Gregory A. Prince, Gay Rights and the Mormon Church

Articles/Essays – Volume 53, No. 3

Few topics have dominated modern Mormon discourse as much as those related to homosexuality. Especially following the contentious and engrossing debates surrounding Proposition 8—the electoral battle in California in 2008 over the legality of same-sex…

A Book Full of Insights | Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women’s Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835–1870

Articles/Essays – Volume 50, No. 1

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is one of the most decorated historians of early America. Her book A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785–1812 (New York: Knopf, 1990) earned her both…

Salvation through a Tabernacle: Joseph Smith, Parley P. Pratt, and Early Mormon Theologies of Embodiment

Articles/Essays – Volume 43, No. 2

Dialogue 43.2 (Summer 2010): 1–44
A discussion of the theology of the body being combined with the spirit for various different reasons.

Image and Reality in the Utah Zion | Polly Aird, Mormon Convert, Mormon Defector: A Scottish Immigrant in the American West, 1848–1861

Articles/Essays – Volume 44, No. 2

Just as national histories are always written by the victors, religious narratives are often written by those who remain within the fold. The common tropes of conversion, devotion, dedication through trials, and faithfulness until death…

(Re)Interpreting Early Mormon Thought: Synthesizing Joseph Smith’s Theology and the Process of Religion Formation

Articles/Essays – Volume 45, No. 2

Nine months after Joseph Smith and his brother were assassinated by an angry mob in June 1844, Parley P. Pratt published a proclamation addressed to the Church’s large and dispersed membership to assure them that all was well. In doing so, he sought to accomplish two things: first, to praise Smith’s legacy as the found ing prophet of a movement that had attracted thousands of converts on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean; and second, to insist on the necessity of the Quorum of the Twelve’s institutional leadership—a role that meant not only continuing, but fulfilling and ex tending, Smith’s religious vision. “The chaos of materials prepared by [Smith] must now be placed in order in the building,” he wrote. “The laws revealed by him must now be administered in all their strictness and beauty. The measure commenced by him must now be carried into successful operation.”

Mormon History Association Conference | The Theology of a Career Convert: Edward Tullidge’s Evolving Identities

Articles/Essays – Volume 45, No. 3

When Edward Tullidge arrived in Utah during the late summer of 1861, one of his first actions was to write Brigham Young and state his “earnest desire” to enter the prophet’s service. “I care not in what form I am employed, within my capabilities, so that I am set to work by you,” he urged. A few months later, either out of worry that his original point wasn’t clear or because he wasn’t satisfied with the shoemaking job he had been assigned, he made a second, more detailed, plea: “From the time I came into the Church,” he wrote, “I fervently desired to live to see the Saints a great nation, and ranking in the first class of civilized society.” But witnessing wasn’t enough. He continued, “To desire to see this was in me also a desire to help it out. To be numbered among the workers-out of Zion’s social and national greatness, became my ambition.” Tullidge emphasized his activities of the past decade, especially his service as associate editor for the Millennial Star, Mormonism’s British periodical. He concluded the letter with a personal—and poignant—admission that next to his “ambition to do the work” was also “an ambition to gain your approbation and acceptance of my labours.”

The Past and Future Boundaries of Mormon Studies | Quincy D. Newell and Eric F. Mason, eds., New Perspectives in Mormon Studies: Creating and Crossing Boundaries

Articles/Essays – Volume 46, No. 3

This is a book about boundaries: boundaries of belief, boundaries of discipline, and boundaries of methodology are all explored in various ways. How did Mormons challenge, create, and transgress boundaries of religion and culture? How…