Jared Halverson
Jared Halverson is an associate professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. Originally from Southern California, he earned a BA in history and an MA in religious education from Brigham Young University and a second MA and PhD in American religious history from Vanderbilt University. He has taught religious education courses for high school and college-age young adults since 1998, and has been a featured speaker for youth and young adult groups from coast to coast. He has also served on a writing committee for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and has written college curriculum for the Church Educational System.
Prior to his current assignment, he was a teacher and assistant director at the University of Utah Institute of Religion, after spending eight years directing religious education programs in Nashville, Tennessee, with responsibility for programs in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Alabama, and Georgia. He has published papers and presented research on such topics as apocalyptic literature, canonical criticism, religious epistemology, sixteenth-century anti-Semitism, nineteenth-century anti-Mormonism, and the interface between religious and political rhetoric. He was frequently involved with interfaith dialogue in the Nashville area, having lectured on Mormonism at Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee State, Belmont, Tennessee State, and at various congregations throughout the city. His interfaith work continued at the University of Utah, where he has hosted Evangelical student groups from across the country.
Supervisors: James P. Byrd, Kathleen Flake, James Hudnut-Beumler, Vanessa Beasley, and Jonathan Lamb
Address: Utah, United States
Prior to his current assignment, he was a teacher and assistant director at the University of Utah Institute of Religion, after spending eight years directing religious education programs in Nashville, Tennessee, with responsibility for programs in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Alabama, and Georgia. He has published papers and presented research on such topics as apocalyptic literature, canonical criticism, religious epistemology, sixteenth-century anti-Semitism, nineteenth-century anti-Mormonism, and the interface between religious and political rhetoric. He was frequently involved with interfaith dialogue in the Nashville area, having lectured on Mormonism at Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee State, Belmont, Tennessee State, and at various congregations throughout the city. His interfaith work continued at the University of Utah, where he has hosted Evangelical student groups from across the country.
Supervisors: James P. Byrd, Kathleen Flake, James Hudnut-Beumler, Vanessa Beasley, and Jonathan Lamb
Address: Utah, United States
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In spite of these disappointing results, the Italian Mission provides an excellent glimpse into conversion itself. With only one exception, converts came from a small group of Protestants known as Waldenses, who had overwhelmingly resisted any attempts at conversion for over six centuries. The purpose of this thesis is to discover why certain members of this group converted and how their conversions occurred.
Dr. Lewis Rambo provides an excellent framework with which to understand conversion by analyzing the process through the following seven stages: Context, Crisis, Quest, Encounter, Interaction, Commitment, and Consequences. In this thesis, the conversion of the Waldensian Saints is considered using Rambo’s stage model, in an effort to understand those conversions and draw conclusions regarding the process of conversion itself.
Contextually, Italy itself was in crisis in the 1850s. External pressures and internal woes compelled many Italians to pursue alternatives other than the status quo. With the coming of Latter-day Saint missionaries, many people encountered a message of peace and prosperity—as well as salvation—with which they resonated. Potential converts learned the Church’s doctrine and history through continued interaction with the missionaries, and finding many ties to their own religious heritage, several significant families joined the Church. Not all of the consequences of these commitments were positive; the majority of converts were unable to endure the persecution that followed and fell away from the Church. The remaining faithful immigrated to Utah, where they continued their active involvement in the Church.
Religious conversion can never be reduced to simplified formula or an assemblyline explanation. However, the experience of the Waldensian Saints suggests that social trends, economic conditions, religious similarities, and spiritual experiences all play a part. Conversion is most likely to occur at a crossroads of such suitable circumstances.