Curriculum Vitae

TERRYL L. GIVENS
Summary Vita

Teaching

  • James A. Bostwick Chair of English, University of Richmond, 2005-present
  • Professor of Literature and Religion, UR,  2004-present
  • Associate Professor of English, UR, 1994-2001
  • Assistant Professor of English, UR, 1988-1994

Education

  • Ph.D., Comparative Literature, (Pogue Fellow), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1988
  • M.A.,  Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina at Chapel  Hill, 1986
  • Graduate Study, Intellectual History, (Sage Fellow), Cornell University 1982-83
  • B.A., Brigham Young University, 1981

Selected Publications
Books

  • A Sourcebook of Mormonism in America. Edited with Reid Neilson. New York: Columbia University Press,  projected 2011.
  • Parley P. Pratt: A Cultural and Intellectual Biography. With Matthew Grow. New York: Oxford University Press, projected 2011.
  • When Souls Had Wings: Pre-Mortal Life in Western Thought. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Joseph Smith: Reappraisals After Two Centuries. Edited, with Reid Neilson. New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 2008.
  • People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
  • The Latter-day Saint Experience in America. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2004.
  • By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion. New York: Oxford  University Press, 2002.
  • The Viper on the Hearth:  Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
  • Dragon Scales and Willow Leaves.  Illus. Andrew Portwood.  New York:  Putnam’s Sons, 1997.

Articles

  • “Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of, and its Theology,” “Mormon, Book of,” “Mormon Worship,” Joseph Smith,” “Brigham Young,” in Daniel M. Patte, ed., Cambridge Dictionary of  Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
  • “The Book of Mormon,” in A New Literary History of America, ed. Greil  Marcus and Werner Sollors. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009.
  • “‘Common-Sense’ Meets the Book of Mormon: Source, Substance, and Prophetic Disruption,” in Revisiting ‘The Mormons’: Persistent Themes, and Contemporary Perspectives, eds. Cardell K. Jacobson, John P. Hoffmann, and Tim B. Heaton. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2008.
  • “Mormons,” in American History through Literature, 1820-1870, eds. Janet Gabler-Hover and Robert Sattelmeyer.Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006.
  • “‘Adjectives of Mystery and Splendor’: Byron and Romantic Religiosity,” in Recent Perspectives on European Romanticism, ed. Larry Peer. Lewiston, NY: Mellon Press, 2002;  Originally published in Prisms: A Journal of Studies in Romanticism, 2000.
  • “‘This Great Modern Abomination’: Orthodoxy and Heresy in American Religion,” in Mormons and Mormonism: A Reader, ed. Eric Eliason. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001.
  • “Romantic Agonies:  Human Suffering and the Ethical Sublime,” (with Anthony Russell), in Romanticism Across the Disciplines, ed. Larry Peer. New York: University Press of America, 1998.
  • “Augusto Frederico Schmidt:  A Reconsideration of his Romanticism,” Luso-Brazilian Studies 1991.
  • “Blind Men and Hieroglyphs:  The Collapse of Mimesis,” European Romantic Review 1991.
  • “The Aristotelian Critique of Mimesis: The Romantic Prelude,” Comparative Literature Studies 1991.

Selected Presentations

  • ““Finding the Divine in Man: Romantic Angst and the Collapse of Transcendence.” Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology.” Keynote address, SMPT, Orem, Utah, 2010.
  • “Restoration, Romanticism, Anthropology, and Passibility,” Conference on Sacred Space, Brigham Young University, 2009.
  • “The Prehistory of the Soul: Lessons from the Woman in the Wilderness,” Eugene England Memorial Lecture, Utah Valley University, 2009.
  • “Engineering and the Mormon Imagination,” Keynote Address, Engineering and Mormonism Conference, Claremont Graduate School/School of Theology, 2009.
  • “The Paradoxes of Mormon Culture,” Keynote address for the Association of Mormon Letters Annual Convention, Utah Valley University, 2009.
  • “The Book of Mormon and Mormonism’s ‘Perfect Storm,’” University-wide Forum of Centenary College, Louisiana, 2008.
  • “Mormonism and Politics in American History,” Public lecture at UVa Law School, sponsored by the Rex Lee Legal Society, 2008.
  • “The Several Lives of the Book of Mormon,” Annual Public Lecture, Co-Sponsored by the Boston University Dept. of Religion and Luce Program in Scripture,” 2008.
  • “Helen Whitney and ‘The Mormons,’” Panel at the American Academy of Religion Annual Convention, San Diego, 2007.
  • “When Souls had Wings: Pre-existence in Western Thought,” The American Academy of Religion Annual Convention, San Diego, 2007.
  • “Joseph Smith and the Vocation of a Prophet,” Public Symposium, Georgia State University, 2005.
  • “Reading an American Scripture: Interpreting Mormon’s Book,” Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Convention,” Rochester, New York, 2005.
  • “The Book of Mormon and Theology,” Symposium on Joseph Smith: Ideas for the 21st Century, National University of Taiwan, Taipei, Taiwan, 2005.
  • “The Legacies of Joseph Smith: Progressivism and Pluralism,” Joseph Smith Bicentennial Symposium, Parliament House New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 2005.
  • “Joseph Smith: Prophecy, Process, and Plenitude,” The Worlds of Joseph Smith Symposium, The Library of Congress 2005.
  • “Shelley’s Frankenstein, A Star Named Kolob, and the Nature of Mormon Heresy.” public lecture, Harvard Divinity School 2003.
  • “Heresy and the Perils of Pluralism,” NEH Seminar Public Lecture, Utah Valley State College, 2001.
  • “Romantic Agonies: Human Suffering and the Ethical Sublime.”  American Conference on Romanticism, Park City, Utah,  1996.

Professional Affiliations

  • American Academy of Religion
  • Mormon History Association
  • National Advisory Board, Joseph Smith Papers Project

Selected Awards

  • “Best Book Award” for People of Paradox from Mormon History Association, 2008
  • “Outstanding Criticism” award for People of Paradox from Assoc. of Mormon Letters, 2008
  • Virginia State Council of Higher Education Outstanding Faculty Award, Top 20 Finalist, 2003
  • Brigham Young University College of Humanities, Alumnus of the Year, 2002
  • “Best First Book” Award for Viper on the Hearth from Mormon History Association, 1998
  • “Distinguished Educator” Award, University of Richmond, 1997