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2008 FAIR Conference SpeakersWe have a great lineup of speakers for the 2008 FAIR Conference. Below you will find an overview of each speaker's credentials and their presentation. If you would like to see the schedule of when the speakers will be addressing the Conference, visit our Conference overview page. Mike Ash
Presentation: Shaken Faith Syndrome. Brian Birch
Presentation: Philosophy and Mormonism (panel discussion). Jeffrey Bradshaw
Jeff has always had a great love for the book of Moses, and during a recent sabbatical in France, determined to return to its study in earnest. The resultant detailed commentary and analysis, entitled "In God's Image and Likeness" and slated for publication by Greg Kofford books in late 2009, has been praised in advance by the eminent Old Testament scholar Margaret Barker as "remarkable," by BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture and Director of FARMS S. Kent Brown as a "most interesting tapestry," by prominent LDS scientist David H. Bailey as a "uniquely modern and honest treatment," by LDS Bible scholar Kevin L. Barney as "enlightening," and by Professor of Anatomy and Embryology Trent Stephens as a "must read." Presentation: The Message of the Joseph Smith Translation: A Walk in the Garden. Newell Bringhurst
Newell is a long-time member of the Mormon History Association, having initially joined back in 1972, during its formative years. He served as president of MHA in 1999-2000 and more recently as MHA Historian, a position to which he was appointed in 2002. He is also the member of a number of other professional historical organizations, most notably The John Whitmer Historical Association, with which he has been involved since the mid-1970s and of which he served as president, from 2005-2006. Aside from his research and writing of history, Newell enjoys hiking and other activities in the great California outdoors—an interest which he shares with his wife of 39 years, Mary Ann. They are the parents of one daughter and the expectant grandparents of their first grandchild, due in early October. Presentation: The White Horse Prophecy: Myth vs. Reality. Matthew Brown
Presentation: The Israelite Temple and the Early Christians. Ron Esplin
For eight years in the 1970s, Ron worked in the LDS Historical Department under Leonard Arrington, and for 25 years was a professor of church history and a senior research historian at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University. For sixteen of those years he served as director of the institute. Today he serves as managing editor of the Joseph Smith Papers Project in the Family and Church History Department in Salt Lake City; and with Richard Bushman and Dean C. Jessee, as one of the general editors of The Joseph Smith Papers publications. His publications deal mainly with Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and their periods of our history. Presentation: The Joseph Smith Papers. James Faulconer
Presentation: Philosophy and Mormonism (panel discussion). Craig Foster
He is the author of Penny Tracts and Polemics: A Critical Analysis of Anti-Mormon Pamphleteering in Great Britain, 1837–1860 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Greg Kofford Books, 2002). He has also published articles in scholarly journals including Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, FARMS Review, Genealogical Journal, The Journal of the John Whitmer Historical Association, Journal of Mormon History, Mormon Historical Studies, and Utah Historical Quarterly. He has also written encyclopedic entries for the Encyclopedia of the American West and Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History. Craig is involved in several scholarly and social organizations, including the Mormon History Association and John Whitmer Historical Association. He served in the Belgium Brussels Mission, 1978–1980 and has served in various ward and stake callings. He and his wife, Suzanne, are the parents of three children: Robert, Shannon, and Senia. Presentation: The White Horse Prophecy: Myth vs. Reality. Brant Gardner
Presentation: Mormon's Editorial Method and Meta-Message Scott Gordon
Presentation: Online Apologetics. Darius Gray
Presentation: Nobody Knows, the Untold Story of Black Mormons. Brian Hauglid
Presentation: The Book of Abraham. Blake Ostler
Mr. Ostler is a partner in the Salt Lake City law firm of Mackey Price Thompson & Ostler. He is the past Chair for the Education Law Section of the Utah State Bar (1996), and past Chair for the Law for Clergy Section of the Utah State Bar (1990). Presentation: Philosophy and Mormonism (panel discussion). Ugo Perego
Ugo is married to Jenna and they are the parents of two boys and a girl. Presentation: Joseph Smith's DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophet's Genes. Daniel C. Peterson
Presentation: Humble Apologetics. Larry Poulsen
Larry devotes a good percentage of his time to the study of the Book of Mormon and the implications of the textual descriptions of Book of Mormon culture and geography. He has published some of his conclusions about the impact of modern and ancient Mesoamerican culture on the interpretation of Book of Mormon text in relation to Nephite and Jaredite geography on his Website and in his blog. Larry has also published in the FARMS Review of Books. Presentation: Book of Mormon Geography: Convergence of Culture and Geography. Mark Wright
Presentation: Deification: Divine Inheritance and the Glorious Afterlife in the Book of Mormon and Ancient Mesoamerica. Margaret Young
Presentation: Nobody Knows, the Untold Story of Black Mormons.
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Last Updated
July 28, 2008
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Mike Ash is the owner and operator of the MormonFortress.com
website and has spoken at five of the past nine FAIR Conference. He has been published in Sunstone,
Dialogue, and the FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening
One's Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt. He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have
three daughters and three grandchildren with a fourth grandchild on the way.
Brian D. Birch is director of the Religious Studies Program and
Associate Professor of Philosophy at Utah Valley University where he teaches ethics and the philosophy
of religion. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy from the University of Utah
and his Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion and theology from Claremont Graduate University in 1998. His
research interests of late involve issues in comparative Christian theology with particular attention to
questions of revelation and doctrinal authority. He is the editor of Element: The Journal of the
Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology and has been active in the society since its formation.
Jeffrey M. Bradshaw (Ph.D., Cognitive Science, University of Washington) is a Senior Research Scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Pensacola, Florida (
Newell G. Bringhurst is an independent scholar and Professor Emeritus of
History and Political Science at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California, having retired after a 35 year
career in the classroom. He was born in Salt Lake City Utah and received his bachelors and masters degrees at
the University of Utah before attending the University of California, Davis, where he received his PhD. He is the
author/editor of nine books published since 1981, the most recent being Scattering of the Saints: Schism within
Mormonism (2007) which he co-edited with John Hamer; and The Mormon Quest of the Presidency (2008),
co-authored with Craig L. Foster.
Matthew B. Brown
holds a B.A. degree in history from Brigham Young University. He is the author of eight books (with two more
forthcoming) which explore topics such as Joseph Smith, ancient and modern temples, the Book of Mormon, gifts
of the Spirit, the First Vision, Prophecies, and the Plan of Salvation. Matthew has also had articles published
in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies and the FARMS Review. He has been invited on several
occasions to lecture to the University of Utah LDS Institute faculty and he will be a presenter at the 2008
Students of the Ancient Near East symposium on "Temples and Ritual in Antiquity" to be held on the BYU campus.
He has written several papers for the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research and has been a speaker
at two previous FAIR conferences.
Ron Esplin was born in Cedar City, Utah, raised in the Salt Lake Valley, and graduated with a degree in History from the University of Utah. He married the former Judith Mortensen and they have seven children and fifteen grandchildren. He has graduate degrees in History from the University of Virginia and Brigham Young University.
James E. Faulconer is the husband of Janice K. Allen. They are the
parents of four children and eleven grandchildren. He is a Richard L.
Evans Professor of Religious Understanding at Brigham Young
University. His home department is the Philosophy Department. A former
dean of Undergraduate Studies and former chair of the Philosophy
Department, Faulconer is the author of Romans 1: Notes and Reflections
and Tools for Scripture Study (both FARMS) as well as a forthcoming
volume, Faith, Reason, and Philosophy. He edited Transcendence in
Religion and Philosophy (Indiana University Press); with Mark Wrathall,
Appropriating Heidegger (Cambrdige University Press); and, with Richard Williams,
Reconsidering Psychology: Perspectives from Continental Philosophy
(Duquesne University Press). His scholarly articles include "The Past and Future
Community: Abraham and Isaac; Sarah and Rebekah, . . . ." Levinas
Studies (Fall 2007); "Response to David Tracy: A Mormon View of
Theology: Revelation and Reason," in Mormonism in Dialogue with
Contemporary Theologies (ed. by Musser & Paulsen: Mercer University Press); and "La
perte de l'espoir," in Expériences de la perte (ed. by Michel Juffé,
Presses Universitaires de France).
Craig L. Foster
is a Research Specialist in Library Public Affairs of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
He earned a Bachelor's degree in history with a minor in political science at BYU in 1986. He then earned
a Master of Arts in history (1989) and a Master of Library and Information Sciences (1991) at BYU.
Brant Gardner's
academic background includes work towards a Ph.D. in Mesoamerican Ethnohistory as the State University of
New York, Albany. His published works on Mesoamerica include an analysis of classical Nahuatl kinship
terminology, an ethnohistoric investigation into the identification of the use of Coxoh to designate a
people and language in Southern Mexico, and an examination of the Aztec Legend of the Suns. His widely
acclaimed six-volume commentary on the Book of Mormon, Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual
Commentary on the Book of Mormon, was recently published by Kofford Books.
Scott Gordon is the President of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research. He is Dean of Business, Technology, Family and Consumer Sciences at Shasta College in Redding, California. He has an MBA from Brigham Young University and an undergraduate degree in Organizational Communications. He is married to Sheri Farnsworth Gordon, and has five children. He is co-author of a "Survey of Clergy Opinion on Mormonism" as well as several articles on the FAIR Website. As president, Scott is responsible for organizing the annual FAIR conference and being a spokesperson for FAIR. He has been quoted in several national newspapers and appeared as a guest on several national radio shows.
Darius Gray was educated at Brigham Young University, the University of Utah,
and Columbia University in broadcast journalism, and worked for many years at KSL television. He continues to freelance for such programs as KBYU's Questions and
Ancestors. He joined the LDS Church in 1964, before the priesthood was available to him as a person of African descent. Darius is a past president of the
Genesis Group, an official arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized in 1971 to meet the needs of Black members, with the hope of reactivating
those who had left the Church and of supporting new converts of African descent. With Margaret Young he wrote a trilogy of award-winning books about African American
Latter-day Saints called Standing on the Promises. The two are currently completing special features for their documentary Nobody Knows: The Untold Story
of Black Mormons.
Brian M. Hauglid
was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Near Eastern Studies from
Brigham Young University, a Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Utah. Dr. Hauglid is an associate
professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU. He had taught in the Seminary and Institute program in the Salt Lake
Valley for about a dozen years before coming to BYU. He is a member of the editorial advisory board for the
Eastern Christian Texts Series in the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative and also serves on the editorial board
for the Ancient Texts and Mormon Studies Series in the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
(Maxwell Institute). An avid researcher on the Book of Abraham, Dr. Hauglid is the Co-general editor (with
John Gee) of the Studies in the Book of Abraham Series. With John Tvedtnes and John Gee he compiled
and edited the first volume in the series Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham, in which he
provides over a dozen translations of Arabic traditions about Abraham previously unavailable to the English
audience. He also edited (with John Gee) the most recent volume (3) Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant,
which contains a collection of pertinent scholarly papers on the Book of Abraham. (These volumes are also
distributed through the University of Chicago Press). Dr. Hauglid has contributed articles on the Book of
Abraham, New Testament, temple studies, and Islamic topics. He currently serves as a bishop in Spanish Fork.
He is married to the former Tessa McNamara, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and they are the parents of three
daughters.
Blake Ostler
graduated from Brigham Young University in 1981, receiving a BA in Philosophy, summa cum laude, and
a BS in Psychobiology, magna cum laude. He earned his JD at the University of Utah, cum laude, in 1985.
From 1982 to 1985 he was a William Leary Scholar. He is fluent in Italian and French and conversant in
Swedish, Spanish and German, and conducts scholarly research in Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Mr.
Ostler has published numerous articles in professional philosophical journals including International
Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Religious Studies, BYU Studies, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
and he is the author of the three volume series Exploring Mormon Thought.
Ugo A. Perego, MSc, is the Director of Operations and
Study Research Coordinator for the non-profit Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation located
in Salt Lake City, Utah and a PhD student in human genetics at the University of Pavia, Italy.
In his eight years with the Foundation, Ugo has supervised the worldwide collection of nearly
100,000 DNA samples and corresponding genealogical records and given nearly 150 lectures on
DNA, genealogy, and LDS Church history topics. Ugo has also authored and co-authored a number
of publications related to DNA and ancestry, including: "Resolving the Paternities of Oliver N.
Buell and Mosiah L. Hancock through DNA" (John Withmer Historical Association Journal,
submitted for publication), "The Phylogeny of the Four Pan-American MtDNA Haplogroups:
Implications for Evolutionary and Disease Studies" (PLoS One, 2008), "Mountain Meadows Massacre:
A Mitochondrial DNA Examination" (Journal of Mormon History, 2006), "The Science of Molecular
Genealogy" (NGS Quarterly, 2005), and "Reconstructing the Y-Chromosome of Joseph Smith:
Genealogical Applications" (Journal of Mormon History, 2005).
A native of southern
California, Daniel C. Peterson received a bachelor's degree in Greek and philosophy from Brigham Young
University (BYU) and, after several years of study in Jerusalem and Cairo, earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern
Languages and Cultures from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Peterson is a professor
of Islamic Studies and Arabic at BYU, as well as a member of the board and associate executive director of
its Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, which has produced a computer-digitized
version of the Dead Sea Scrolls, electronically recovered damaged documents from the ruins of Herculaneum, Petra,
and elsewhere, and is engaged in joint publishing ventures with such institutions as the Vatican Apostolic Library
in Rome. He is the executive editor of BYU's three-part Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, which includes not only
the Islamic Translation Series but two sister series: Graeco-Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, and Eastern Christian
Texts. These series publish dual-language editions of classical works of medieval Arabic and Persian philosophy,
Arabic medicine and science, and early Coptic, Syriac, and Christian Arabic literature. (The University of Chicago
Press distributes the volumes.) He is the author of several books and numerous articles on Islamic and Latter-day
Saint topics, including most recently a biography of the Prophet Muhammad (Eerdmans, 2007). Dr. Peterson served
in the Switzerland Zürich Mission, and, for approximately eight years, on the
Gospel Doctrine writing committee for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He currently serves as a
Gospel Doctrine teacher in his home ward. He is immediate past chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation
for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), and edits the FARMS Review of Books. Dr. Peterson is
married to the former Deborah Stephens, of Lakewood, Colorado, and they are the parents of three sons.
Lawrence (Larry) Poulsen earned his PhD in biochemistry from
the University of California at Riverside and recently retired from The University of Texas at Austin
where he was employed as a research scientist and lecturer in the field of biochemistry. He is an author
of numerous publications in the field of biochemical toxicity and protein structure. He was first selected
to have his biography included in "Who's Who in America" in 1998.
Mark Alan Wright
was born and raised in Long Beach, California. He served his mission in Colombia from 1991 to 1993. He earned
his BA in Anthropology at UCLA, where he graduated with both departmental and Latin honors (cum laude)
and had the privilege of being the student commencement speaker. He earned his MA at UC Riverside in 2004, also
in anthropology. He is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology at UC Riverside and is
in the process of polishing his dissertation (both he and his lovely wife, Traci, hope he will finish soon).
His research specialization is Mesoamerican Archaeology, and his dissertation focuses specifically on the
institution of divine kingship among the ancient Maya civilization. Mark has been named a Nibley Fellow the
past five years by FARMS. Before moving to Utah, he was an Associate Professor at Mt. San Jacinto College and
taught early-morning seminary for seven years. He has been teaching Book of Mormon part-time in the Department
of Ancient Scripture at BYU since the Fall of 2007, and he is currently a lead director for Liahona Guided Tours.
Margaret Young teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University
and has authored two short story collections and six novels, including the trilogy she co-authored with Darius Gray. Margaret has also authored a play
about Jane Manning James, titled I Am Jane. She has received many awards for her writing, but tends to have a messy house. However, she does have a
beautiful garden and puts fairy figuerines in it every year, which her granddaughter delights in discovering.