In Heaven As It Is on EarthIn Heaven as It Is on Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death (Oxford University Press, 2012) reinterprets earliest Mormonism by viewing it through the lens of founder Joseph Smith Jr.'s complex, intimate, and conflicted relationship with death and dying. When approached from this perspective many of the unusual or striking aspects of earliest Mormonism begin to make sense, allowing outsiders and insiders a refreshing new look at a much-discussed but poorly understood religious tradition. In Heaven as It Is on Earth also provides insight to the ongoing problem of the tragedy of early mortality, an eloquent and complex response to death. UpdatesOutcomes after severe shock paper publishedChest, the journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, published our study of patient outcomes after shock severe enough to require high-dose vasopressor therapy. Although mortality is quite high in this group of patients, it was lower than has been previously thought. Dynamic parameters in sepsisIn this study in Shock, our group suggested that certain echocardiographic parameters may be associated with a positive response to administration of intravenous saline solutions in patients with life-threatening infection, even when patients are breathing on their own. (Prior work had been restricted to patients on the mechanical respirator, not breathing on their own.) Study on heart function in sepsis publishedIn this study in Cardiovascular Ultrasound Journal, our group found evidence that “mild” impairment of heart filling in patients with life-threatening infection may be associated with higher mortality. We suspect this is related to inadequate administration of intravenous salt solutions, even though older measures of adequacy (“central venous pressure”) were appropriate. Interview with Kirk Caudle of the Mormon Book ReviewIn this interview, Kirk Caudle of the Mormon Book Review interviews me about In Heaven. We discuss communal salvation, early American ideas about salvation, Freemasonry and Mormon temple worship. Marshall Poe interview, New Books in HistoryMarshall Poe interviewed me about In Heaven for his New Books Network flagship channel, New Books in History. Mormonism’s Abandoned Race PolicyIn this post at Huffington Post, I argue that the question of whether Mormon leaders will offer an official apology for the pre-1978 policy of racial exclusion is about more than race. Positive review in Books & CultureProfessor John Turner reviews In Heaven in the Sept/Oct issue of Books & Culture:
“Language of Heaven” essay now publishedSSRN hosts the published version of the paper in which I introduce some of the ideas from my current project on Mormon history, a treatment of what sacred translation meant for founder Joseph Smith and his early followers. The print copy is available in the Journal of Mormon History 38:1 (Summer 2012): 51-71. Response to bad science in ScienceIn this piece at Huffington Post, I describe the severe methodological problems with a group of studies published in Science magazine, one of the top two journals in general science. MHA Best First Book 2012We are pleased to announce that In Heaven received the Best First Book Award from the Mormon History Association at the meeting in Calgary, AB this past weekend. |
   
Samuel Brown—ICU physician, medical researcher, and cultural historian—is Assistant Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Medical Ethics and Humanities at Intermountain Medical Center/University of Utah. Trained at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Brown researches and writes at the interfaces among medicine, religion, culture, and history. 
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