The God Who Laughs: Examining Intersections of Faith and Humor Can God laugh? Lacking empirical evidence, we accept or reject the hypothesis based on what we think about laughter as well as what we think about deity. Plato was not keen on the guardians of his Republic hearing or reading of gods laughing, not because …
Meditation in 4149 JFSB
This post was written by Paul Westover, a Humanities Center faculty fellow. In my English 236 class, a GE course on C. S. Lewis, we recently read “Meditation in a Toolshed,” an essay that begins with a simple anecdote: Lewis, standing in his shed, observes a beam of light entering through a crack at …
Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite
This post was written by Ivy Griffiths, a Humanities Center student fellow. I often find myself worrying about my future. With so many variables out of my control, there is no way to guarantee success in my endeavors. If life is a game, how can I win when I don’t hold all the cards? …
Dedication to the Humanities: Revisiting Laura Huerta Migus’s Colloquium Address
This post was written by Abigail Beus, an undergraduate student. February 1st marked a notable occasion on BYU’s campus with the esteemed presence of Laura Huerta Migus, Deputy Director of the Office of Museum Services. As introduced by her childhood friend Professor Brian Price (Spanish and Portuguese), we learned of Migus’s devotion to the …
2024 Undergraduate Fellow Nominations
We are currently looking for a new group of Humanities Center undergraduate fellows. Generous donors have made it possible for us to fund at least four student fellowships – the equivalent of a full scholarship – next year. As always, our pool of candidates will consist solely of nominations sent by you, our faculty. The …
Humanities Center Faculty Writing Retreat
Call for Applications: BYU Humanities Center Summer 2024 Writing Retreat Deadline: 15 March 2024 Inspired by the productive example of the National Humanities Center, we are pleased to announce that the BYU Humanities Center will sponsor a new Summer Writing Retreat this year at the beautiful Zermatt hotel in Midway, UT. At a location that …
Navigating the Body and the Soul
This post was written by Drew Swasey, a Humanities Center student fellow. During a period of my college years, my ascent of the stairs behind the Maeser building became a ritual punctuated by necessary breaks. The physical discomfort of those moments has nearly faded from my memory, yet the process I would use to …
Finding Love in the Shadow Lines
This post was written by Luka Romney, a Humanities Center student fellow. It seems to me that heartbreak is the constant negotiation and renegotiation between two forces within the self: the first, the deep inner knowing that one is both a deserving recipient and a ready vessel for the fundamental metamorphosis that reciprocal love …
Winter 2024
All Colloquia will take place in 4010 JFSB at 3:00 PM unless otherwise specified. Please visit the event page for more details. January 18 Stephen Ramsay (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) Resilience, Romanticism, and the “Techno” in Techno-Capitalism January 26 Sylvester Johnson (Virginia Tech Center for Humanities) Humanities & Public Interest Technology: Leading the Ethical Governance …
Acting Otherwise
This post was written by Zach Stevenson, a Humanities Center student fellow. It is impossible to know with certainty the precise thinking patterns of one’s youth, but I feel that I can confidently assert that my former understanding of free will was a faulty one. Specifically, I once understood free will to be a …