Write Some What is a Mormon Studies research blog by Ethan M. Sproat, whose research projects are heavily informed by a range of interests in philology, rhetorical theory (particularly the works of Kenneth Burke), and the histories and theories of speculative fiction. Ethan’s 2015 article “Skins as Garments in the Book of Mormon: A Textual Exegesis” (published in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies) has over 2,000 downloads.
Since 2003, Ethan has taught English and philosophy courses and faculty seminars at three different universities and currently works in university administration at Utah Valley University. He’s also mildly embarrassed at his accumulation of degrees (if his degrees were people, he could fill a minivan… a very expensive minivan that doesn’t really take him anywhere other than where he’s already been).
A lifelong Latter-day Saint, Ethan has served in a variety of callings that are incident to Church membership. His favorites include two years as an early-morning seminary teacher in a ward in Indiana and a year as a primary chorister in a branch in Utah. His least favorites include those callings in which he had to stay awake while sitting on the stand.
Ethan also spends precisely the right amount of time playing video games, board games, and tabletop role-playing games. He currently DMs a monthly Dungeons & Dragons game for his in-laws, and he is also a current cast member on TypeCastRPG (along with SF authors Dan Wells, Brian McClellan, Mari Murdock, and Howard Tayler), which streams a weekly D&D game on Twitch.tv.
Ethan is married to Kristy Gilbert (owner of Looseleaf Editorial and Production). They live in Utah with two kids and almost enough wall space for all their books.