Sunstone Symposium turns 50 this year, and they are gearing up for an event worthy of that milestone. Big names in Mormon Studies, podcasting, and book publishing will present the latest research and thought. Attendees will include everyone from traditional Latter-Day Saints to fundamentalists. The symposium takes place at the University of Utah Student Union in Salt Lake City, running July 31st through August 2nd.
If you are planning to attend all or part of the symposium, go here for the latest information on presenters and registration.. There are full-conference and 1-day registration options. Single-session registration will be available at the venue. As a presenter and attendee last year, I can testify (as is the Mormon way) to the value and enjoyment this event provides. Regardless of where you are on the spectrum of belief, Sunstone offers first-rate content and priceless community.
Featuring Joseph Smith’s Newest Biographer
John G. Turner, professor of Religious Studies at George Mason University, will be the speaker for the opening event: the Smith-Pettit Lecture. This is free and open to the public. Smith-Pettit lectures always feature a high-profile speaker originating from outside of Mormonism. Dr. Turner’s new biography, Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet currently has the bloggernacle abuzz.
Dr. Turner recently sat down for a Gospel Tangents interview. Start here at Wheat & Tares to see his conversation with podcast host Rick Bennett. Rick is also one of this year’s Sunstone presenters in a session titled: “Pregnant Possibilities: Sexuality in Early Mormon Polygamy.” Safe to say this will be a symposium highlight too.
Coming to a Multiverse Near You
One of the most interesting Sunstone sessions this year is shaping up to be a panel event: “Mormon History in the Multiverse.” For a preview of this session, check out Lindsay Hansen Park’s Facebook post. Panelists include historians Benjamin Park, Matt Harris, Amanda Hendrix-Komoto, and… somebody named Mary Ann Clements. Hmm, she sounds familar. 😉
You can read more of Mary Ann’s Wheat & Tares contributions starting at this page.
That Mormon Stories Guy is Back!
John Dehlin, longtime host of Mormon Stories, will present a session: “Reflecting on Sunstone and 25 Years of the Mormon Internet.” With a quarter-century’s worth of content already posted, there should be plenty to remember and reconsider.
If you’ve never been, you should consider attending Sunstone in-person. It’s one thing to explore online or in print, as so many of us do. The summer symposium, however, is a unique opportunity to interact with others for whom Mormonism is a heritage and/or lifestyle. Join in a Q&A and meet someone you may now only know from podcasts. Shop the delightfully peculiar arts and crafts on display at vendor tables. Strike up conversations with friends and strangers. Take a chance on a smaller session and explore some Mormon niche within a niche that’s new to you. Pearls of great price await!
Again, you can go here to register, peruse the schedule, and consider if this is your year to become a real-for-sure Sunstoner.
Okay, Wheat & Tares readers, anyone here attending? Who’s attended in the past? What are your personal highlights from previous Sunstone symposia? Lastly, for some multiverse fun, what alternative Mormon histories can you imagine?
Wheat & Tares 
One small correction, the symposium will turn 50 in 2029, the original magazine turns 50 this year. Fresh off my mission in the fall of 1975 I lived in a duplex in Provo with Kris Cassity who was part of the original group of people that got Sunstone going, Wikipedia credits him as one of the co-editors of the early magazine issues. He wasn’t around much and probably found this new RM to be extremely annoying (looking back I know I do) but he did enthusiastically show us the Mormon history calendar they had created as a fund raiser to start the magazine.
A few years later I lived in the same ward as Elbert Peck who later became the Sunstone editor. Elbert was a great person and became a good friend. He told me that they originally created the symposium not out of some altruistic goal of spreading Mormon scholarship but because they were desperate for content for the magazine and thought a symposium might generate it.
KLC, thank you for the clarification on timeline! Much appreciated. I love the details you are giving us on the early days, especially the WE NEED CONTENT!! aspect of the symposium’s origin. It’s fascinating how things with staying power get started.
I will be out of town during the symposium. Will there be a way to watch or listen to the sessions?
Wayfaring, Sunstone records audio and video from most sessions. In recent years they’ve offered it for purchase and download through their website. The Smith-Pettit lecture may also be livestreamed on Facebook and then available on demand there for free. Sunstone recommends watching their website and Facebook page for announcements of when session audio and video will be available for download. I’ve utilized this option in past years and plan to again this year.
I’d like to believe my several posts here on W&T on quantum mechanics and multiple universe theory influenced in some small part the presentation “Mormon History in the Multiverse”!