Patrick Q. Mason (born 1976) is an American historian specializing in the study of the
Latter-day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...
. Since 2019, he has held the
Leonard J. Arrington
Leonard James Arrington (July 2, 1917 – February 11, 1999) was an American author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his man ...
Chair of Mormon History and Culture at
Utah State University
Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah ...
.
["Patrick Q. Mason"]
Department of History. Utah State University.["Curriculum Vitae"]
Patrick Q. Mason. Utah State University.
Early life and education
Mason earned a BA in history from
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-d ...
in 1999, an MA in history from the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
in 2003 and a second MA there in International Peace Studies, also in 2003. In 2005 he was awarded a PhD in history, also from the University of Notre Dame.
[
As a graduate student, he took a summer seminary at Brigham Young University in Latter-day Saint history run by Richard L. Bushman.
]
Career
Mason was the Howard W. Hunter
Howard William Hunter (November 14, 1907 – March 3, 1995) was an American lawyer and the 14th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1994 to 1995. His nine-month presidential tenure is the shortest ...
Chair in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University from 2011–2018. He previously held positions at American University in Cairo and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He has been interviewed and cited as an expert on Mormonism by outlets such as the Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
, NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, The Salt Lake Tribune, Religion Dispatches Magazine, and KPCC public radio in Pasadena, California.
In January 2012, Mason published an opinion piece in The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
regarding diversity within Latter Day Saints
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...
thought. He was featured on New England Cable News in May 2012 regarding the "Mormon movement" in Arkansas, and has been quoted in both the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Mason is also the author of ''The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South'' which received positive reviews in the Journal of American History
''The Journal of American History'' is the official academic journal of the Organization of American Historians. It covers the field of American history and was established in 1914 as the ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'', the official j ...
and the Journal of Southern Religion. He has also authored a number of articles and book chapters on Mormonism and American religion history.
Mason's research projects as of 2006 included a biography of Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson (August 4, 1899 – May 30, 1994) was an American farmer, government official, and religious leader who served as the 15th United States Secretary of Agriculture during both presidential terms of Dwight D. Eisenhower and ...
, a former president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of 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 nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
, and a book on Mormon theology and ethic of peace.
In 2016, Mason advocated for what he described as a more embracing LDS church. Mason participated in a short-lived joint blog in a current-issues/events debate format, at the non-partisan religion website Patheos.com, with the psychologist John P. Dehlin, who has often been critical of the LDS Church.
Selected works
Books
* ''The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South'' Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2011.
*''Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt'' Deseret Book
Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), the ...
, Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, or Maxwell Institute, is a research institute at Brigham Young University (BYU). Made up of faculty and visiting scholars who study religion (primarily the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- ...
, 2015
*''Mormonism and Violence'' Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer.
Cambridge University Pre ...
, 2019
Articles and chapters
* “Honor, the Unwritten Law, and Extralegal Violence: Contextualizing Parley Pratt’s Murder,” in Parley P. Pratt and the Making of Mormonism, ed. Gregory Armstrong, Matthew J. Grow, and Dennis Siler (Norman, OK: Arthur H. Clark, 2011), 245-273.
* “God and the People: Theodemocracy in Nineteenth-Century Mormonism,” Journal of Church and State 53:3 (Summer 2011): 349-375.
* “Opposition to Polygamy in the Postbellum South,” Journal of Southern History 76:3 (August 2010): 541-578.
* “What’s So Bad about Polygamy? Teaching American Religious History in the Muslim Middle East,” Journal of American History 96:4 (March 2010): 1112-1118.
* “Shrine of the Black Madonna,” “Lynching,” and “Henry McNeal Turner,” in The Encyclopedia of African American History, ed. Leslie Alexander and Walter Rucker (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC- CLIO, 2010): 257-258, 871-874, 1060-1062.
* “Christian Zionism and Its Religious Influence in American Politics,” with Khadiga Omar, US-Arab Issues no. 1 (Spring 2009), Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Center for American Studies and Research, American University in Cairo.
* “The Prohibition of Interracial Marriage in Utah, 1888-1963,” Utah Historical Quarterly 76:2 (Spring 2008): 108-131.
* “‘In Our Image, After Our Likeness’: The Meaning of a Black Deity in the African American Protest Tradition, 1880-1970,” in “We Will Independent Be”: African-American Place Making and the Struggle to Claim Space in the United States, ed. Angel David Nieves and Leslie M. Alexander (Boulder: University of Colorado Press, 2008), 463-487.
* “Anti-Jewish Violence in the New South,” Southern Jewish History 8 (2005): 77-119.
* “The Possibilities of Mormon Peacebuilding,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 37:1 (Spring 2004): 12-45 – winner of Dialogue’s Best Article in Its Category Prize (2005).
* “Traditions of Violence: Early Mormon and Anti-Mormon Conflict in Its American Setting,” in Richard L. Bushman, ed., Archive of Restoration Culture Summer Fellows’ Papers, 2000-2002 (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History, 2005), 163-185.
References
External links
Claremont Graduate University Official Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Patrick
1976 births
American Latter Day Saint writers
Claremont Graduate University faculty
Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement
Historians of the United States
Living people
Mormon studies scholars
University of Notre Dame alumni
American historians of religion
American male non-fiction writers
Brigham Young University alumni
American bloggers
Latter Day Saints from Indiana
Latter Day Saints from California
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male bloggers
Historians from California