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Front Matter

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

From The Editor, John W. Welch

BYU Studies Quarterly

This being the one hundredth issue of BYU Studies Quarterly for which I have served as editor in chief, this occasion calls for a moment of grateful celebration. I am extremely thankful for the numerous people whose goodwill and devoted service make the continued publication of this journal possible. Their wise judgment and brilliant assistance mean the world to me! They include longtime BYU faculty members in many disciplines, members of our staff and editorial boards, a steady stream of new blood from undergraduates who toil happily as interns and budding colleagues, as well as committed authors, university administrators, and …

"In The Land Of The Chaldeans": The Search For Abraham's Homeland Revisited, Stephen O. Smoot

BYU Studies Quarterly

Readers of the Hebrew Bible first encounter Abram (later Abraham), the spiritual father of the three great monotheistic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—at the end of Genesis 11. There they discover he was the son of a certain Terah and claimed “Ur of the Chaldeans” as his home (Gen. 11:28). Being as central as Abraham is to the patriarchal narratives of Genesis and, subsequently, to the faith of scores of believers across the globe, both faithful and nonbelieving readers have turned a critical eye toward the passages where Abraham makes an appearance and have attempted to discern if any historicity lies …

The Experience Of Love And The Limitations Of Psychological Explanation, Brent D. Slife

BYU Studies Quarterly

BYU Studies has a long history of publishing the annual lecture given by the recipient of the Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award, BYU’s highest faculty honor. It is with great pleasure that BYU Studies Quarterly publishes this year’s lecture by Dr. Brent D. Slife, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology. His speech was delivered as a forum address on May 16, 2017, at Brigham Young University.

The Church Library Coordinating Committee And The Correlation Of Meetinghouse Libraries, Cory Nimer

BYU Studies Quarterly

Beginning in the late 1950s, many religious groups in the United States saw a growing interest in the development and improvement of libraries. Within some denominations, organizations were created to advocate library programs and promulgate standards and guidelines. This effort included the establishment of the Parish Library Section of the Catholic Library Association in 1957 and the formation of the Lutheran Church Library Association the following year. A drive toward greater cooperation and professionalization culminated in 1967 with the creation of the Church and Synagogue Library Association, a nonprofit, nondenominational organization that provided conferences and publications for training church librarians.

Constructively Broken, Sarah D'Evegnee

BYU Studies Quarterly

“Crazy world. Cockeyed.”

Mr. Savo, in The Chosen, by Chiam Potok

Evolving Faith: Wanderings Of A Mormon Biologist, Blake T. Ostler

BYU Studies Quarterly

Steven L. Peck. Evolving Faith: Wanderings of a Mormon Biologist.

Provo, Utah: Neal A. Maxwell Institute, 2015.

I Have Traced A Jagged Autumn, Scott Cameron

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

An Edward Martin Photograph Of The Construction Of The Great Tabernacle, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Ronald L. Fox

BYU Studies Quarterly

October 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of the first general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held in the Salt Lake City Tabernacle. On October 6, 1867, the first day of the conference, Brigham Young prayed,

O God our Heavenly Father, who dwells in the heavens, in the name of thy Son Jesus Christ we come before thee at this time to worship thee on this occasion. . . .

We pray thee in the name of Jesus to bless this congregation who have assembled within the walls of this house for the first time to …

Mormonism And The Making Of A British Zion, Ronald E. Bartholomew

BYU Studies Quarterly

Matthew Lyman Rasmussen. Mormonism and the Making of a British Zion.

Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2016.

Hosea Stout: Lawman, Legislator, Mormon Defender, Jay H. Buckley

BYU Studies Quarterly

Stephen L. Prince. Hosea Stout: Lawman, Legislator, Mormon Defender.

Logan: Utah State University Press; Boulder: University of Colorado Press, 2016.

Just South Of Zion: The Mormons In Mexico And Its Borderlands, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

BYU Studies Quarterly

Just South of Zion: The Mormons in Mexico and Its Borderlands, ed. Jason H. Dormady and Jared M. Tamez (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2015)

The Mormon Church And Blacks: A Documentary History, Stephanie Fudge

BYU Studies Quarterly

The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History, edited by Matthew L. Harris and Newell G. Bringhurst (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2015)

Defender: The Life Of Daniel H. Wells, Cherry B. Silver

BYU Studies Quarterly

Quentin Thomas Wells. Defender: The Life of Daniel H. Wells.

Logan: Utah State University Press, 2016.

End Matter

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

From The Editor, John W. Welch

BYU Studies Quarterly

A nephew recently asked me, “Why do we care about the Old Testament? Is it even relevant today?” After catching my breath, I got wondering, how many others might share this feeling as the Church Sunday School curriculum returns in 2018 to the study of the Old Testament? And for those who feel that way, might some of the intriguing articles published in BYU Studies over the years on Old Testament topics pique their interest? I would definitely hope so.

Joseph Smith Translating Genesis, Kent P. Jackson

BYU Studies Quarterly

Joseph Smith’s revision of the Bible was one of his signature projects as founder and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (originally called the Church of Christ). He began it sometime in June 1830, just three months after the first copies of the Book of Mormon came out of the bindery of the Howard and Grandin Company in Palmyra, New York. The Bible project lasted three years, until July 1833, when he dictated the last pages and declared the work finished. The venture was formidable, eventually producing seven manuscripts totaling 446 pages. Two of those manuscripts …

"We Believe The Hand Of The Lord Is In It": Memories Of Divine Intervention In The Zion's Camp Expedition, Matthew C. Godfrey

BYU Studies Quarterly

On February 23, 1834, Joseph Smith attended a high council meeting in Kirtland, Ohio, and heard Lyman Wight and Parley P. Pratt explain how over a thousand members of the Church of Christ—now The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—had been violently ejected from their homes in Jackson County, Missouri. The Saints had been forced to leave the county—which had been previously identified by revelation as Zion—by irate Missouri citizens who saw Church members and their beliefs as a political and ideological threat. Hearing this report, Smith arose from his seat and declared “that he was going to Zion …

Photographs Of The Fourteen Apostles Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, September And October 1898, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Ronald L. Fox

BYU Studies Quarterly

Ninety-one-year-old Wilford Woodruff, fourth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died unexpectedly at 6:40 a.m. on Saturday morning, September 2, 1898, during a visit to San Francisco, California. Woodruff’s well-attended funeral was held six days later, at 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 8, 1898, at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah. Sixty-six-year-old George Teasdale, one of the Church’s fourteen Apostles, reported, “Weather sunshine and fair Arose early and . . . went to Woodruff villa and saw the body of our beloved President laying in state. . . . saw the body borne into the …

Jewels, Michelle Forstrom

BYU Studies Quarterly

The first time it happened, I was seven. My grandma had mailed me a tiny ring for my birthday, an aquamarine set in silver. I clapped my hands and couldn’t stop jumping when I saw it. It was the first piece of jewelry I had ever owned; like wearing a piece of the sky. I took it everywhere—presenting my hand to the world, palm down, as if I were queen. It was the most beautiful ring in the history of rings.

American Universities And The Birth Of Modern Mormonism, 1867-1940, Heather M. Seferovich

BYU Studies Quarterly

Thomas W. Simpson. American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism, 1867-1940.

Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016.

The Mormon Missionary: Who Is That Knocking At My Door?, Tim Zeidner

BYU Studies Quarterly

Robert L. Lively Jr. The Mormon Missionary: Who IS That Knocking at My Door?

Wilton, Maine: By the Author, 2015.

The Field Is White: Harvest In The Three Counties Of England, Ronald E. Bartholomew

BYU Studies Quarterly

Carol Wilkinson and Cynthia Doxey Green. The Field Is White: Harvest in the Three Counties of England.

Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 2017.

Birth And Calling Of The Prophet Samuel: A Literary Reading Of The Biblical Text, Steven L. Olsen

BYU Studies Quarterly

Chapters 1–3 of 1 Samuel describe the miraculous origins and auspicious upbringing of the first major Hebrew prophet since Joshua, who by all measures lived centuries before Samuel. The biblical account of Samuel’s beginnings forecasts the exceptional ministry of the man who served as Israel’s last complete sovereign. By faithfully filling the crucial roles of prophet, priest, and judge, Samuel helped to transform the House of Israel from a collection of weak and often warring tribes to a relatively permanent and somewhat stable nation in the contentious ancient Middle East. Thus, Samuel is rightly considered to be one of the …

Margaret Barker's "The Lord Is One"–A Response, Andrew C. Skinner

BYU Studies Quarterly

Margaret Barker’s essay “The Lord Is One” aims at extending the discussion about the doctrine of theosis or deification of humans back to its earliest scriptural roots. From a certain perspective, then, the title of the essay could very well be changed from “The Lord Is One” to “The Lord Is Many,” for by its very definition that is the nature of theosis—many gods. Barker’s paper provides a resource in helping us trace the Old Testament roots and rituals of the doctrine of theosis.

Response To Margaret Barker's "The Lord Is One", David J. Larsen

BYU Studies Quarterly

I appreciate the opportunity to be here and to give a brief response to what Margaret Barker shared with us. I would like to talk about some of the ideas she explored and perhaps how we may apply them to our LDS scriptures to better understand what we are reading there. Barker touched on the idea of the ascent to heaven and the fact that we can find this ascent, this journey to the heavenly holy of holies, in the writing of Isaiah and other prophetic texts in the Bible. There is so much to consider as we look at …

An Improvisation On Margaret Baker's "The Lord Is One", Daniel C. Peterson

BYU Studies Quarterly

It’s a privilege to be here, and I want to thank Dr. Barker for a really, really interesting, dense, and rich paper. What I’m going to do is not so much add to it or comment on it as do an improvisation based upon it. The thought that came to my mind as I was reading it—and as I was thinking about it just now as she was reading it—was that, first of all, Latter-day Saints are naturally going to be very sympathetic to an attempt to view the temple as a model of the universe, something of a scale-model …

"An Angel Or Rather The Savior" At The Kirtland Temple Dedication: The Vision Of Frederick G. Williams, Frederick G. Williams

BYU Studies Quarterly

At the Kirtland Temple dedication on Sunday, March 27, 1836, Presi-dent Frederick G. Williams testified that he saw a holy angel enter the temple during the opening prayer and take his seat between Joseph Smith Sr. and himself in the upper pulpits on the Melchizedek priesthood side of the room, a holy site that had just been dedicated and consecrated to the Lord earlier that morning. This study collects nine eyewitness statements regarding Williams’s vision of the heavenly personage to see if the identity of the angel as well as the purpose of his visit can be determined from their …

The Kingdom Of God, Tyler Chadwick

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.