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 b ...
. Since 2019, he has held the
Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at
Utah State University
Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...
.
["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) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...
in 1999, an MA in history from the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
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
The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California, United States. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium which includes five undergraduate and two grad ...
from 2011–2018. He previously held positions at American University in Cairo
The American University in Cairo (AUC; ) is a private research university in New Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, along with a continuing education program. ...
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'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
, NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
, The Salt Lake Tribune
''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871."
History ...
, Religion Dispatches Magazine, and KPCC public radio in Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
.
In January 2012, Mason published an opinion piece in The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
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 b ...
thought. He was featured on New England Cable News
New England Cable News (NECN) is a regional 24-hour cable news television network owned and operated by NBCUniversal (as part of the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division, both ultimately owned by Comcast) serving the New England reg ...
in May 2012 regarding the "Mormon movement" in Arkansas, and has been quoted in both the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' and the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...
. 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 quarterly 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 o ...
and the Journal of Southern Religion. He has 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 ...
, 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:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
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 Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
, 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
Patheos is a non-denominational, non-partisan online media company providing information and commentary from various, mostly religious, perspectives.
Upon its launch in May 2009, the website was primarily geared toward learning about religions ...
, with 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 publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press 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), th ...
, Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2015
*''Mormonism and Violence'' Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, 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'', eds. 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'', eds. 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