University of Utah History 4795 Mormonism and the American Experience Spring Semester 2011 Paul Reeve CTIHB 323 585-9231 Office hours, M 10 -11 a.m.; T 10 -11 a.m. Course Description: This course explores the historical development of Mormonism in an American context, from its Second Great Awakening beginnings to the beginning of the twenty-first century. It situates the founding and development of Mormonism within the contexts of American cultural, economic, social, religious, and political history. A central theme is the ebb and flow over time of tension between Mormonism and broader American society. How did conflicts over Mormonism during the nineteenth century, especially the conflict over polygamy and theocracy, help define the limits of religious tolerance in this country? How have LDS beliefs, practices, and culture positioned and repositioned Mormons within U.S. society? Objectives: 1. To situate the development of Mormonism within broader American historical contexts and thereby arrive at a greater understanding of religion's place in American life. a. To understand the impact of Mormonism upon American history. b. To understand the impact of American history upon Mormonism. 2. To formulate and articulateCin class discussions, exams, and through written assignmentsCintelligent and informed arguments concerning the major developments and events that have shaped Mormonism over time. 3. To cultivate the critical mind in response to a variety of historical perspectives.

In a letter to the abbess Eadburga in 716, Boniface described a monk's vision of the afterlife. The monk had seen the souls of sinners slipping into fiery pitch, from which they were finally able to scramble out. He was told by his angel guide, "These are the souls, which having left this mortal life with some trifling sins not quite removed, needed kindly chastisement (castigatione) from a merciful God that they might be a worthy offering to him." 1 That this terrible violence against the body was considered a purification for the soul and evidence of kindly treatment by a "merciful" God prompts a number of questions about how Christian writers of Late Antiquity understood the role of violence in God's justice and the limits and quality of divine mercy. How did pain in the afterlife contribute to purification? How was God's role in the violence of the afterlife understood? And how far did God's mercy extend?

The Merovingian era is one of the best studied yet least well known periods of European history. From the fifth to the eighth centuries, the inhabitants of Gaul (what now comprises France, southern Belgium, Luxembourg, Rhineland Germany, and part of modern Switzerland), a mix of Gallo-Roman inhabitants and Germanic arrivals under the political control of the Merovingian dynasty, sought to preserve, use, and reimagine the political, cultural, and religious power of ancient Rome while simultaneously forging the beginnings of what would become medieval European culture.

The forty-six essays included in this volume highlight why the Merovingian era is at the heart of historical debates about what happened to Western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. The essays demonstrate that the inhabitants of the Merovingian kingdoms in these centuries created a culture that was the product of these traditions and achieved a balance between the world they inherited and the imaginative solutions they bequeathed to Europe. The Handbook highlights new perspectives and scientific approaches that shape our changing view of this extraordinary era by showing that Merovingian Gaul was situated at the crossroads of Europe, connecting the Mediterranean and the British Isles with the Byzantine empire, and it benefited from the global reach of the late Roman Empire. It tells the story of the Merovingian world through archaeology, bio-archaeology, architecture, hagiographic literature, history, liturgy, visionary literature and eschatology, patristics, numismatics, and material culture.

The purpose of patent policy is to balance the incentive to invent against the ability of the economy to utilize and incorporate new inventions and innovations. Substandard patents that upset this balance impose deadweight losses and other costs on the economy. In this paper, we examine some of the deadweight losses that result from granting substandard patents in the United States. Under plausible assumptions, we find that the economic losses resulting from the grant of substandard patents can reach $21

This paper examines the historical record of two relic petitions to the East initiated by Queen Radepnd of Poitiers in the %Os, as portrayed in Gregory of Tours' contemporary account and in the early seventh-century Life of the queen composed by the nun Baudonivia. These two sources provide con$icting information. Baudonivia's description of