De Lamar Jensen is a historian of early modern Europe, and was a faculty member of the history department at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

(BYU). He wrote several books on Europe during the Renaissance and Reformation.

Biography

Jensen was born and raised in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. He was a fighter teaching pilot in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war he studied for a year at BYU and then was a physics teacher at a high school in Idaho for a year. He then served a mission for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

in Mexico and Guatemala. It was while serving as a missionary that he decided to shift to studying history. After his mission he returned to BYU and in 1952 earned a BA in history. He then earned an MA and PhD from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He then was a professor of history at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. Jensen joined the BYU history department in 1957. In 1979 he was a fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation. Among Jensen's works are ''Renaissance Europe: Age of Recovery and Reconciliation'', ''Reformation Europe: Age of Reform and Revolution'', ''Confrontation at Worms: Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms'' and ''Diplomacy and Dogmatism: Bernardino de Mendoza and the French Catholic League''. Jensen served on the editorial committee of the ''

Sixteenth Century Journal ''The Sixteenth Century Journal: The Journal of Early Modern Studies'' (SCJ) is a quarterly journal of early modern studies. The senior editors are Merry Wiesner-Hanks and Patricia Phillippy. It is published by Sixteenth Century Publisher Inc. and ...

''. He was the editor of '' Forums in History'' from 1973 to 1976. Jensen has written several encyclopedia articles including the one on the Protestant Reformation for the ''

Encyclopedia of Mormonism The ''Encyclopedia of Mormonism'' is a semi-official English-language encyclopedia for topics relevant to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church, see also "Mormon"). The five-volume texts have been digitized and are availabl ...

''. He also wrote the foreword to

Arnold K. Garr Arnold Kent Garr (born June 14, 1944) was the chair of the department of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 2006 to 2009. He was also the lead editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History''. Biography ...

's ''Christopher Columbus: A Latter-day Saints perspective''. From 1980-1983 Jensen served as the president of the Peru Arequipa Mission. He also served as a senior missionary for the church in Chile. He had also served as a bishop. Jensen had been granted emeritus status from BYU by 1992 at which time he headed the universities committee in charge of celebration the quinta-centennial of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

' voyage to the Americas. As recently as 2003 Jensen was a participant at a BYU lecture on Latter-day Saint perspectives on world history. In 2008 the BYU history department established at De Lamar Jensen lectureship in Jensen's honor.BYU history department 2008 newsletter
/ref> In 2017 the BYU history department established the De Lamar Jensen Chair in Early Modern History. Since being granted emeritus status Jensen has taken up mural painting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, De Lamar 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II Brigham Young University alumni Brigham Young University faculty Columbia University alumni Living people Mission presidents (LDS Church) American Mormon missionaries in Mexico American Mormon missionaries in Guatemala American Mormon missionaries in Peru 20th-century Mormon missionaries Latter Day Saints from Idaho Latter Day Saints from New York (state) Latter Day Saints from Utah Year of birth missing (living people) New York University alumni American World War II fighter pilots American male non-fiction writers