Tag: Mormon

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2026 MSSA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado

Salt Lake City Mormon temple surronded by scaffolding

2026 MSSA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado

Join us for MSSA panels and other Mormon Studies sessions held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) and the Religious Research Association (RRA). This year’s event is happening at the Denver Marriott Tech Center, from October 30 to November 1, 2026

Explore the full #SSSR_RRA2026 Annual Meeting final program.

Join the conversation on our social media channels: X @MormonMSSA & Facebook @MormonMSSA

Tag us in your posts and use the #MormonStudies and #SSSR_RRA2026  hashtags.

Panels and papers 

Friday, October 30th

9:00-10:30 am – Paper Session A (SSSR) Negotiating the Threshold: Identity, Interaction, and Institutional Exit in Contemporary Mormonism – Room: Lupine

  • Renegotiating the Self: Identity Reconstruction and Boundary Management in Online Ex Mormon Communities
  • Mormons in the Middle: The Understudied “Liminal” Latter-day Saints
  • Formal Exiting — Name Removal Differences in community narratives of name removal

10:40 am -12:10 Paper Session B (SSSR) Leaving Religion: Pathways Out – Room: Ponderosa

  • Profiles of Former Latter-day Saints

Paper Session B (SSSR) Networks and New Directions in Studies of Latter-day Saints/Mormons– Room: Bluebell

  • Jacques Ellul, Platforms, and Latter-day Saint Technical Responses to COVID-19
  • Women Leaving by Degrees: Mormonism’s Unexpected Gender Reversal in the US
  • The impact of socioeconomic change in sexual institutions on generational and gender-based decline in religious practices: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as example

12:10-1:10 pm MSSA Business Meeting 

  • All MSSA members welcome; Location of Saturday night group dinner to be announced.

1:10-2:40 pm Paper Session C (SSSR) Congregational Studies within Mormon Studies- Room: Conifer 2

  • Identity over Place: Relocating the “Local” in Centralized Religious Traditions
  • A quantitative history of women’s Sacrament Meeting participation, 1880-2024
  • Motherhood Discourse in LDS Sacrament Meetings

2:50-4:20 pm  Paper Session D (SSSR) Religion, Giving, and Prosocial Behavior – Room: Spruce 2

  • Global Study of the Prosocial Behavior of Latter-day Saints

Paper Session D (SSSR) Measuring American Religion – Room: Lupine

  • Measuring Christian Zionism: Institutional Socialization, Generational Change, and Religious

8:30 – 10:00 pm  

Affinity Group and Research Networking Meetings Mormon Social Science Association – Room: Bluebell

Saturday, October 31st

9:00 am-10:30 am Paper Session E (SSSR) (Non-)Religion and Spirituality in Latin America – Room: Conifer 1

  • The Enduring Mission of the LDS Church in Bolivia

10:40 am-12:10 Paper Session F (SSSR) Unsettling Scripture: Iroquois and the Book of Mormon – Room: Cottonwood 2

  • Book panel

Paper Session F (RRA) Religious Discourse and Semantics – Room: Aspen

  • “A Calming Warm Sensation in my Heart and Mind”: A Qualitative Analysis of Descriptions of Spiritual Experiences of Latter-day Saint

12:10 -1:10 pm 

  • MSSA Business meeting (all members invited) – Room: Larkspur

2:20-3:50 pm Paper Session G (SSSR) Holiness to the Lord: Latter-day Saint Temple Worship – Room: Conifer 2

  • Book Panel, Holiness to the Lord: Latter-day Saint Temple Worship

4:00 – 5:30 pm Paper Session H (SSSR) Mormon Garments: Sacred and Secret – Room: Conifer 3

  • Book Panel: Mormon Garments, Sacred and Secret

6:00 pm

  • Group Dinner – All MSSA members are invited. Location: TBD

Sunday, November 1st

10:40 am – 12:10 pm Paper Session J (SSSR) Mormon Barrio: Latino Belonging in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – Room: Spruce 1

  • Book Panel, Mormon Barrio: Latino Belonging in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Join the MSSA

As an interdisciplinary and international association, the MSSA promotes the social scientific study of Mormonism and facilitates communication and collaboration among researchers, educators and students. Membership is open to all. We sponsor scholarly conferences, publications, panel discussions, paper sessions,  and the biennial Glenn M. Vernon Lecture. Join us today.

Give to the MSSA

The Armand Mauss Founders’ Fund supports the costs of the Vernon Lecture, honoraria for other invited speakers, student paper awards, student travel assistance, MSSA sponsored publications and other organizational expenses deemed appropriate by the Board of Directors.

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Call for Papers – 2026 MSSA Annual Meeting in Denver

Salt Lake City LDS Temple surrounded by scaffolding. Photo by Rob Martin on Unsplash.

The Mormon Social Science Association welcomes paper submissions for its annual meeting, held conjointly with the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion + Religious Research Association annual meeting. The event will take place at the Denver Marriott Tech Center, from October 30 – November 1, 2026.

We invite contributions on all topics relevant to the social scientific study of Mormonism, with special interest in those featuring multiculturalism, gender/sexuality, post-colonialism, generational change, and questions of disaffiliation/retention. The theme of the 2026 SSSR+RRA annual meeting is Rethinking Religion for the 21st Century.

Submissions Close: March 15, 2026

The MSSA invites proposals for:

  • Individual papers
  • Session proposals (3-4 papers)
  • Book panel proposals
Submit proposals through this link by March 15th, 2026
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Call for Papers: 2026 MSSA One-Day Conference at Utah Tech University

St. George Utah Momon Temple

April 17, 2026

The Mormon Social Science Association welcomes presenters and guests to our One-Day Conference at Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah. Sessions will be followed by Q&A conversations.

The Mormon Social Science Association welcomes paper submissions for our annual One-Day Conference at Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah on Friday, April 17, 2026. 

In addition to paper sessions, there is time and space for research posters from undergraduate and graduate students. Poster proposals should include a title and abstract and specify that it is a poster presentation. Details in the submission form below.

Submissions close: March 15, 2026.

The MSSA invites submissions on all topics relevant to the social scientific study of Mormonism:

–Individual papers
-Session proposals
-Panels
-Author-Meets-Critics sessions
-Poster Presentations

Submit proposals through this link by March 15th, 2026
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2025 MSSA Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, MN

Spires of the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah

Join us for the 2025 Glenn M. Vernon Lecture, MSSA panels and other Mormon Studies sessions held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) and the Religious Research Association (RRA). This year’s event is happening at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center, from October 31 to November 2, 2025.

Explore the full #SSSR_RRA2025 Annual Meeting final program.

Join the conversation on our social media channels: X @MormonMSSA & Facebook @MormonMSSA
Tag us in your posts and use the #MormonStudies and #SSSR_RRA2025  hashtags.

Panels and papers

Friday, October 31st

9:00-10:30 am Session A-14: Gender and Sexuality in Mormonism (Pine Lake room)

  • When Is fertility salient to religion? Colonization and counterculture in frontier Utah
  • (Trans)Gender, sexuality, and abortion attitudes among Mormons: science, politics, or religion?
  • Marital cold war: How Ex-Mormons navigate mixed-faith marriages after disaffiliation
  • “Who wants twenty controlling women in their lives anyway?” Polygamy, gender essentialism and masculinity on a conservative LDS online forum

10:40 am -12:10 pm Session B-14 (Pine Lake room)

12:10-1:10 pm MSSA Business Meeting (Deer Lake room)

  • All MSSA members welcome; Location of Saturday night group dinner to be announced.

1:10-2:40 pm Session C-4 (Cedar Lake room)

1:10-2:40 pm Session C-12 (Maple Lake room)

2:50-4:20 pm Session D-14 Platformed Mormonism (Birch Lake room)

  • Mormon Presence on right-wing social media platforms
  • Algorithmic Authority: Networked Mormonism in the age of YouTube
  • In the form not at the table: Conflict and reconciliation between religion and politics among online conservative Mormons

8:30 pm Mormon Studies/Mormonism Affinity Group Meeting (Deer Lake room)

Saturday, November 1st

9:00-10:30 pm Session E-3: Religious Change and Conversion (Excelsior Bay room)

  • Gender, relationships, and negotiation: How men frame their deconversion experiences from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

2:20 -3:50 pm 2025 Glenn M. Vernon Lecture (Cedar Lake room)

  • Mormon settler colonialism’s endpoint: Enduring Mormon settler and Lamanite discourse in Mormon infrastructures

    Elise Boxer (Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota, citizen of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes) is associate professor of History and Native American Studies at the University of South Dakota.

4:00-5:30 pm Session H-5: Revolutionary Matters in Mormon Settler Colonialism (Birch Lake room)

  • An Iroquois Quetzalcoatl: Entangled Christologies in the Book of Mormon
  • Revolution in Mormon Literature: Protest against the religious hegemony
  • Reading against the grain: Recovering Peninah Shropshire Cotton Wood as an Indigenous protagonist in Mormon settler colonialism
  • A Nahua Prophet: La Evolución de México in Mormon thought

4:00 – 5:30 pm Session H-12: Book Panel

6:00 pm MSSA group dinner

All MSSA members are invited. Location: TBD

Sunday, November 2nd

10:40 am – 12:10 pm Session J-8: Systems of Power and Meaning in Mormonism (Birch Lake room)

  • Divine-human capital: Aspiring to theosis via Mormon ‘self-reliance’
  • The growing emphasis on ritual within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Contested exits revisted: Institutional and individual meaning-making in the LDS Church name removal process
  • Purpose in life in the context of Mormonism: Is pursuit of individual purpose possible?

Join the MSSA

As an interdisciplinary and international association, the MSSA promotes the social scientific study of Mormonism and facilitates communication and collaboration among researchers, educators and students. Membership is open to all. We sponsor scholarly conferences, publications, panel discussions, paper sessions,  and the biennial Glenn M. Vernon Lecture. Join us today.

Give to the MSSA

The Armand Mauss Founders’ Fund supports the costs of the Vernon Lecture, honoraria for other invited speakers, student paper awards, student travel assistance, MSSA sponsored publications and other organizational expenses deemed appropriate by the Board of Directors.

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MSSA One-Day Conference, April 12, 2025

Red rocks of southern Utah. Photo credit: Pexels - Photo by Jeffrey Eisen

The Mormon Social Science Association welcomes presenters and guests to our One-Day Conference at Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah. Paper presentation sessions will be followed by Q&A conversations.

Utah Tech University Campus Map

Session 1: 1-2:15 PM
College of Education Building (COE), room 121 

Unpacking Utah Stereotypes: Religion, Region, and Subculture 
Ryan T. Cragun (University of Tampa), Bethany Gull (Utah Tech University), Michael Nielsen (Georgia Southern University), Rick Phillips (University of North Florida) and Jesse Smith (Western Michigan University) 

LGBTQ+ Experiences with Community Belonging in Southern Utah
Carmyn Hardisty (Utah Tech University)  

Exploring the Formation of the Fundamentalist Movement through Family History
Laird P. Naylor  

Followed by Q+A 

Session 2: 2:30-3:45 PM
College of Education Building (COE), room 121 

Mormon Barbie: A Critical Examination of the Male Gaze, Ideology and Parallel Representations 
Sherrie Gavin (University of New England, Australia) 

Modern Mormon Women as Global Change Agents 
Warner Woodworth (University of Utah) 

“‘You might change your mind!’: Early Responses to Women’s Ordination in the 1980s RLDS Church
Nancy Ross (Utah Tech University) and David Howlett (Smith College)

Followed by Q+A 

 Dinner together: 5:00 PM TBD 





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Call for papers: MSSA annual meeting in Minneapolis, MN October 31 – November 2, 2025

Our main MSSA meeting is held conjointly each year with the SSSR + RRA annual meeting.

Photo by T. Conway on Unsplash.

The Mormon Social Science Association welcomes paper submissions for its annual meeting, held conjointly with the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion + Religious Research Association annual meeting. The event will take place at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center, from October 31 – November 2, 2025.

We invite contributions on all topics relevant to the social scientific study of Mormonism, with special interest in those featuring multiculturalism, gender/sexuality, post-colonialism, generational change, and questions of disaffiliation/retention. The theme of the 2025 SSSR+RRA annual meeting is “Religion Matters.”

Submissions Close: March 15, 2025

The MSSA invites proposals for:

  • Individual papers
  • Session proposals
  • Book panel proposals
Submit proposals through this link by March 15th, 2025

Posted on

Call for Papers: April 12, 2025 MSSA One-Day Conference at Utah Tech University in Saint George, Utah

Photo: Red rocks of southern Utah. Photo credit: Pexels - J. Eisen

The Mormon Social Science Association welcomes paper submissions for our annual One-Day Conference at Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah on Saturday, April 12, 2025. In addition to paper sessions, there is time and space for research posters from undergraduate and graduate students. Poster proposals should include a title and abstract and specify that it is a poster proposal. Details in the submission form below.

Submissions close: March 15, 2025.

The MSSA invites submissions on all topics relevant to the social scientific study of Mormonism:

  • Individual Papers
  • Session Proposals
  • Panels
  • Author-Meets-Critics sessions
  • Posters

Submit proposals by March 15th through this link.

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MSSA events at the 2024 SSSR+RRA Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA

Moroni statue linocut triptych

Join us for the MSSA panels and sessions on Mormon Studies during the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) and the Religious Research Association (RRA) happening at the Westin Convention Center, October 18-20, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Several MSSA board members will also be presenting in other SSSR+RRA sessions.

Explore the full #SSSR_RRA2024 Annual Meting final program.

Join the conversation on our social media channels:

X @MormonMSSA & Facebook @MormonMSSA

Be sure to tag us in your posts and use the #MormonStudies hashtag.

MSSA Program & Board member SSSR+RRA participation

Friday, October 18th

  • 9:00 am: Paper Session A-6 includes Comparing Evangelical and Latter-day Saint Membership Growth in Honduras, 1960-2019 (location: Somerset East)
  • 10:40 am: Paper Session B-10, Transcending Racism and Nationalism? Latter-day Saint Past, Present, and Future (location: Armstrong)
  • 12:15 pm: MSSA business meeting (location: Butler East)
  • 2:50 pm: Paper session D-5 includes Psychedelic experiences of ex-Mormons: a qualitative study (location: Crawford West)
  • 8:30 pm: MSSA affinity group (location: Butler East)

Saturday, October 19th

  • 9:00 am: MSSA board member Ryan Cragun’s book panel E-14, Goodbye Religion: The Causes and Consequences of Secularization (location: Armstrong)
  • 9:00 am: MSSA board member Johanna Palomo presents in Paper Session E-3 (location: Butler West)
  • 10:40 am: Paper Session F-7, Mormon Social Science Association: Mormon Catechisms (location: Fayette)
    • Beehive Girls and the Priesthood: Reactions to Women’s Ordination and Feminism in Church Curriculum in the 1970s and 1980s
    • Giving “Primary Answers”: Implicit Catechism in LDS Teacher’s Manuals for Children
    • A Mormon Catechism?: John Jaques’ Catechism for Children and the beginning of Mormon religious instruction for children
    • The value pulpit: An analysis of moral messages in L.D.S. General Conference
  • 2:20 pm: Paper Session G-13, Mormon Gender Roles: Past, Present, and Future (location: Lawrence)
    • Charismatic Authority and Socioreligious Conflict: Exploring Early Mormon Fundamentalist Patriarchal Blessings
    • Religious Identity in Elite Mormon Athletes
    • Charting the Impact of Religion on Women’s Economic Vulnerability in the Twenty-first Century: Perspectives from Mormon Culture
    • Mormons and Efficacy: Gender, Generation, and Orthodoxy as Factors in Creating Change
  • 4:00 pm: Book Panel H-15, Diné dóó Gáamalii: Navajo Latter-day Saint Experiences in the Twentieth Century (location: Armstrong)
  • 6:00 pm: informal MSSA dinner (location: TBD)

Sunday, October 20th

  • 9:00 am: Book Panel I-12, The Devil Sat on my Bed: Encounters with the Spirit World in Mormon Utah (location: Somerset West)
  • 10:40 am: MSSA board member Levi Sands presents in Paper Session J-2 (location: Cambria East)
  • 10:40 am: Book Panel J-10, Forever Familias: Race, Gender, and Indigeneity in Peruvian Mormonism

Join the MSSA

As an interdisciplinary and international association, the MSSA promotes the social scientific study of Mormonism and facilitates communication and collaboration among researchers, educators and students. Membership is open to all. We sponsor scholarly conferences, publications, panel discussions, paper sessions,  and the biennial Glenn M. Vernon Lecture. Join us today.

Give to the MSSA

The Armand Mauss Founders’ Fund supports the costs of the Vernon Lecture, honoraria for other invited speakers, student paper awards, student travel assistance, MSSA sponsored publications and other organizational expenses deemed appropriate by the Board of Directors.

Posted on

MSSA One-Day Conference, April 18, 2024

Flags in front of mountains.

The Mormon Social Science Association welcomes presenters and guests to our One-Day Conference at Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah. Paper presentation sessions will be followed by Q&A conversations.

Utah Tech University Campus Map

Session 1

12:00–1:00 PM

College of Education Building (COE), room 121

Arizona Mormon Youth’s Religious Socialization and 2020 Voting Choices

No Longer a “Peculiar People”?: How Mormons differ (or don’t) from other religious groups in their knowledge and acceptance of science

Q & A conversation

Session 2

1:15–2:15 PM

College of Education Building (COE), room 121

Kenyan LDS Women and Gender Roles: Emerging Themes and Next Questions

Shame and Worthiness with Mormon Garments

Q & A conversation

5:00 PM

Dinner together – Place TBD

7:00 PM

Juanita Brooks Conference Keynote

This event will be presented by Laurie Maffly-Kipp in the Taylor Auditorium at Utah Tech University. Maffly-Kipp is the Archer Alexander Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis.

Link to Juanita Brooks Conference Program and (Free) Registration.

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Call for papers: MSSA annual meeting in Pittsburgh, PA, October 18-20, 2024

Our main MSSA meeting is held conjointly each year with the SSSR + RRA annual meeting.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania skyline

Image by C. Klein from Pixabay.

The Mormon Social Science Association welcomes paper submissions for its annual meeting, held conjointly with the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion + Religious Research Association annual meeting. The event will take place at the Westin Convention Center, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from October 18 to 20, 2024.

We invite contributions on all topics relevant to the social scientific study of Mormonism, with special interest in those featuring multiculturalism, gender/sexuality, post-colonialism, generational change, and questions of disaffiliation/retention. The theme of the 2024 SSSR+RRA annual meeting is “Religion: Past, Present, and Future.”

Submissions Close: March 15, 2024

The MSSA invites proposals for:

  • Individual papers
  • Session proposals
  • Book panel proposals

Submit proposals through this link by Friday March 15th, 2024

Join the MSSA

As an interdisciplinary and international association, the MSSA promotes the social scientific study of Mormonism and facilitates communication and collaboration among researchers, educators and students. Membership is open to all. We sponsor scholarly conferences, publications, panel discussions, paper sessions,  and the biennial Glenn M. Vernon Lecture. Join us today