Toward Global Mormon Studies Conference

Join Us for a Special Two-Day Conference

Friday – Saturday, March 9 – 10 | 2018

Sponsored by the Mormon Studies Council at Claremont Graduate University and the Howard W. Hunter Foundation

Toward Global Mormon Studies will feature a series of panels with leading scholars on the Mormon experience around the world and the challenges and opportunities posed by studying Mormonism from a global perspective.

As Mormonism has become an increasingly globalized religion, the scholarly study of the religion has failed to keep pace. Toward Global Mormon Studies, a two-day conference sponsored by the Howard W. Hunter Foundation and the Mormon Studies program at Claremont Graduate University, will feature leading experts on Mormonism around the world who will reflect on the challenges and opportunities of adopting a global perspective in better understanding the religion and its people.

The conference’s keynote speaker is Elder Patrick Kearon, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Kearon formerly served as the area president over the LDS Church in Europe when it engaged in humanitarian assistance for refugees coming from the Middle East and Africa.

Conference is free and open to the public | Registration is requested



For more information, call 909-621-8264 or email paul.roach@cgu.edu

FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2018

2:00 pm

Registration | Albrecht Auditorium

2:30 pm

Welcoming Remarks | Albrecht Auditorium

Patrick Mason | Claremont Graduate University

2:45 – 4:15 pm

The Mormon Experience in Post-Religious Europe | Albrecht Auditorium

Julie Allen | Brigham Young University

Carter Charles | Université Bordeaux Montaigne

Medlir Mema | LDS Seminaries and Institutes of Religion

4:30 pm

Dinner Break

7:30 pm

Keynote Address | Rose Hills Theatre*

Elder Patrick Kearon | Presidency of the Seventy,

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

*Please note the keynote address will take place at Rose Hills Theatre:

Rose Hills Theatre

Smith Campus Center | Pomona College

170 E. 6th Street

Claremont, CA 91711

SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2018

8:30 am

Registration and Continental Breakfast | Albrecht Auditorium

9:00 – 10:30 am

Mormonism Across Borders | Albrecht Auditorium

Thomas Evans | Claremont Graduate University

Saskia Tielens | Dortmund University

Melissa Inouye | University of Auckland

10:45 am – 12:15 pm

Colonialism and Indigeneity | Albrecht Auditorium

Sujey Vega | Arizona State University

Hokulani Aikau | University of Hawaii Manoa

Chiung Hwang Chen | Brigham Young University Hawaii

12:15 pm

Luncheon

Provided for registered attendees

1:15 pm

Challenges and Opportunities in Studying | Albrecht Auditorium

Global Mormonism (panel discussion)

Fred Axelgard | Moderator

Henri Gooren | Oakland University

Caroline Kline | Claremont Graduate University

Matthew Martinich | The Cumorah Foundation

Colleen McDannell | University of Utah

Keynote Speaker

ELDER PATRICK KEARON

Presidency of the Seventy

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Friday, March 9, 2018 | 7:30 pm

Rose Hills Theatre

Educated in the Middle East and the United Kingdom, Elder Patrick Kearon has lived and worked across the U.K., Saudi Arabia, and the United States in the healthcare, automotive, and transport industries. He joined the Church in 1987 and spent the next three decades in a succession of callings—as an assistant ward clerk, ward Young Men president, branch president, stake president—before being named as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy in 2017. His supervisory responsibilities include the North America West and the North America Northwest Areas as well as assisting President Russell M. Nelson with the Europe East Area and Elder M. Russell Ballard with the Europe Area.

In partnership with the Howard W. Hunter Foundation, Claremont Graduate University established the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies in 2008. The Hunter Chair is significant as the first fully endowed Mormon Studies chair in the world, and continues to provide intellectual and programmatic leadership in the emergent field of Mormon Studies.

To learn more about or contribute to Mormon Studies and the Center for Global Mormon Studies at CGU, please visit mormonstudies.cgu.edu.