Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Psalms And Saints In The Offices: From Prayerful Praise To Commemorating Cults, Paul Scanlon

Musical Offerings

Through the Medieval Era, the function of the Offices shifted from continual God-directed prayer to advancing and preserving local culture. The early form of the Offices found in the Rule of St. Benedict was built on the Psalms, engraining their words in the participants through the structure of the services and the weekly repetition. Commitment to primarily scriptural content is evidenced in early church traditions, papal decrees, and conservative efforts from clergymen. However, this focus changed with the emergence of cults of saints, which integrated the Offices into civic culture. As the number of feast days greatly expanded, cantors across …

Can The 1834 Affidavits Attacking The Smith Family Be Trusted?, Daniel C. Peterson

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The character and claims of Joseph Smith are fundamental to the claims of the Church he founded. Knowing this, critics of the Prophet have contended for more than a century and a half that he and his family were the kind of people from whom nobody would want to buy a used car, much less receive a plan of salvation.

Elder L. Tom Perry Examines The Personalities Involved In The Translation Of The Book Of Mormon And In The Restoration Of The Church

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In his address to the friends and supporters of FARMS at the Foundation's 1995 annual banquet, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve expressed his interest in the human chemistry found in organizations and examined the early history of the Church from this perspective. He spoke of the challenges that Joseph Smith faced as a young husband with a skeptical father-in-law who thought Joseph should be doing something more productive than sitting around the house translating golden plates. He reflected on the challenges that Martin Harris faced in helping to finance the work on the Book of …

The Fight Against The Threat Of Witchcraft And Paganism In Anglo-Saxon England, Russell I. Knapp

Lux et Fides: A Journal for Undergraduate Christian Scholars

Unlike the general assumption that England was completely Christianized after Augustine’s mission to the island, witchcraft and paganism thrived all throughout the Christian period of Anglo-Saxon history. Sources condemning witchcraft and paganism increased during the Danish raids in the mid-ninth century and beyond due to an increased sense of a perceived threat of paganism. King Alfred himself reacted to this threat by doing everything he could to strengthen his people in their Christian beliefs through education reform and his law code. The Church battled against the perceived threat through penitentials–which they used to discourage pagan practices. Lay-people fought against …

Honorary Volume Focuses On Church History And Doctrine

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Richard Lloyd Anderson - known as a devoted teacher, careful writer, and perfect gentleman - has had a great impact on the study of LDS Church history. In The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, one of two Festschrift volumes published in recognition of his work, friends and colleagues have written 18 scholarly studies in his honor. Several of these papers were presented on 8 March 1997 at a conference titled "Pioneers of the Restoration."

"Show Them Unto No Man", Barry R. Bickmore

BYU Studies Quarterly

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) who attempt to educate themselves about the history of their religion can sometimes be confronted with a bewildering array of interpretations made by historians who range in perspective from traditional believers to atheists and include numerous variations in between. When asked about the origins of such discrepancies, the historians will naturally refer to biases exhibited by the others and perhaps even to their own possible sources of bias.

If N. T. Wright Is Right, How Then Shall We Do Theology?, Howard A. Snyder

The Asbury Journal

In November of 2022, theologian N.T. Wright gave a series of lectures for the Centennial Celebration of Asbury Theological Seminary. In this response from Asbury Theological Seminary’s Howard Snyder, the implications of Wright’s lectures are explored and expanded. In particular, Snyder explores the meaning of Scriptural Theology as opposed to Systematic Theology. He explores how Systematic Theology came to be the dominant way of reading scripture, and then proposes ten principles for doing theology rooted in scripture instead of any human system.

A Chat With The New Editors Of The Maxwell Institute Journals

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Accompanying this issue of Insights is volume 17 (combining numbers one and two) of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies; however, readers will note that the Journal now carries a new name, the Journal of the Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture. In connection with this change, the Institute asked Andrew H. Hedges, an associate professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU, to become the new editor, replacing Professor S. Kent Brown, who served as editor and associate editor for many years, and who recently retired from the university. The new associate editors are Grant Hardy, professor of …

A Reader’S Guide To Worship And Liturgical Studies, David Kneip

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

The history of writing about worship in the Christian tradition is almost as old as the tradition itself, and it shows no sign of abating anytime soon. As a result, readers may find it difficult to know where to begin reading, and how to evaluate books that are popular or otherwise available to them. This annotated bibliography aims to assist readers in navigating the huge field of Christian publishing in worship studies, both by offering specific book recommendations and by demonstrating some of the different sub-categories that one might examine in attempting to choose what to read or study. The …

Arius As A Figure In Church History, Kendall Davis

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

Church history, much like any other kind of history, is an exercise in meaning-making and identity creation. As Anglican theologian, Rowan Williams, writes regarding Church history, “We begin with a sense of identity that is in some way fragile or questionable, and we embark on the enterprise of history to make it clearer and more secure. In the process, of course, definitions may change a good deal, but the aim is to emerge with some fuller sense of who we are.”1 This is quite obviously true when we tell stories about the heroes of the faith: Irenaeus, Martin Luther, C. …

A New Witness To The World, By Robert A. Rees (Salt Lake City: By Common Consent Press, 2020), Lane Welch

BYU Studies Quarterly

This book provides a series of essays that analyze and contextualize the text of the Book of Mormon while providing Professor Rees’s faithful perspective on the text. Though each essay stands on its own as a separate work, the later essays, handling the context of Joseph Smith’s work as a nineteenth-century American writer, do reference and build off one another. These later essays handle the backgrounds and processes of various American writers contemporary to Joseph Smith, providing an effective survey of the literary milieu into which the Book of Mormon first entered; the earlier essays are more focused on the …

Sally In Three Worlds: An Indian Captive In The House Of Brigham Young, By Virginia Kerns (Salt Lake City: University Of Utah Press, 2021), Julia Harrison

BYU Studies Quarterly

In Sally in Three Worlds: An Indian Captive in the House of Brigham Young, Virginia Kerns relates the story of the settlement of Utah through the life of Sally, a Pahvant Ute woman who lived in Brigham Young’s household. On its surface, the book is a narrative of the life of one woman, but Kerns argues that “a single life can illuminate an entire cultural and social world, or reveal an unremarked but vital part of the human story.”

"None That Doeth Good", Walker Wright, Don Bradley

BYU Studies Quarterly

The First Vision has been a center of both faith and controversy. While millions of Latter-day Saints affirm it as the beginning of the Restoration, others see it as an ever-growing fish tale. The multiple accounts of the First Vision vary in detail, with Joseph Smith’s earliest written account (1832) lacking some of the elements found in his later accounts. However, some of these elements—particularly the appearance of God the Father as part of the First Vision experience—are laced throughout Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible. These historical threads ultimately culminate in his translation of Psalm 14, which weaves together …

An Experiential Pathway To Conversion, Robert K. Christensen, Matthew D. Wride, Neil R. Lundberg

BYU Studies Quarterly

Joseph Smith’s formal education did not extend beyond the third grade. His life did not extend beyond the final years of his thirties. The person he became and his work in restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ, however, extend into eternity. John Taylor observed that “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.”

Joseph Smith For President: The Prophet, The Assassins, And The Fight For American Religious Freedom By Spender Mcbride, Jordan T. Watkins

BYU Studies Quarterly

In Joseph Smith for President, Spencer McBride provides an illuminating and reader-friendly account of Joseph Smith’s presidential campaign. McBride, who is a scholar of American religious and political history and an associate managing historian of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, firmly situates the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints within antebellum contexts. In doing so, he contributes to a body of scholarship that examines the early Saints’ experiences in ways that shed light on and correct assumptions about American historical developments. In one recent example, which addresses some of the same themes, Benjamin E. …

According To Which Paradigm Do Reformed Scientists Work? A Response To Zwart's Response To Walicord And Hayes, Jurgen-Burkhard Klautke

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

The Forgotten Disciples: The Faithful Witness Of Women In Early Christianity, Jessica C. Hughes

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal

At its earliest, Christianity is a religion of respect and dignity for women. This paper examines the experience and contributions of women to Christianity, beginning at the time of Christ and continuing to through to approximately 300 A.D., or shortly before the Nicene Creed was developed. This paper demonstrates the way the church, from the outset, has largely relied on the contributions and gifts of women in order to fulfill its mission. This paper then applies this historic context to the American church in issues of life and gender, concluding that it is the recognition and partnership with women, not …

Conversions, Arrests, And Friendships: A Story Of Two Icelandic Police Officers, Fred E. Woods, Kari Bjarnason

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

In 1881 in Reykjavík, Iceland, two Icelandic police officers, Þorsteinn (Thorsteinn) Jónsson and Jón Borgfirðingur, were sent to arrest Latter-day Saint missionaries. These missionaries had baptized the first three converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Reykjavík a year earlier, and one of those converts, Sigríður Jónsdóttir, happened to be the wife of one of the arresting officers. But a remarkable friendship, one that thrived irrespective of time, distance, and religious differences, developed due to the arrests and the events surrounding them. Although the story and historical context of the missionaries’ experience in Reykjavík have been …

Urban Church Planting: Three Functional Shifts From The New Testament, Anthony Wagenersmith

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Indeed, the very pulse of Adventist ministry beats strongest through apostolic mission. A basic consideration of the practical and exegetical link between the second advent of Christ and the apostolic witness for Christ must generate significant shifts in thinking and practice. Describing these as functional shifts rather than paradigm shifts—to emphasize the connection between theology and practice—what better framework to reflect upon urban church planting than that of the New Testament Church. Looking through a disciple-making and church planting lens, one can be challenged by three functional shifts for urban mission today: from places to people, from performers to equippers, …

Saints At Devil's Gate: Landscapes Along The Mormon Trail, Herman Du Toit

BYU Studies Quarterly

Laura Allred Hurtado and Bryon C. Andreasen. Saints at Devil's Gate: Landscapes along the Mormon Trail.

Salt Lake City: Church Historian's Press, 2016.

Saints, Slaves, And Blacks: The Changing Place Of Black People Within Mormonism, Alison Palmer

BYU Studies Quarterly

Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People within Mormonism, by Newell G. Bringhurst, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2018)

Leonard Arrington And The Writing Of Mormon History, James B. Allen

BYU Studies Quarterly

Gregory A. Prince. Leonard Arrington and the Writing of Mormon History.

Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2016.

Out Of Obscurity: Mormonism Since 1945, Roger Terry

BYU Studies Quarterly

Patrick Q. Mason and John G. Turner, eds., Out of Obscurity: Mormonism since 1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016)

Joseph Smith's Iowa Quest For Legal Assistance: His Letters To Edward Johnstone And Others On Sunday, June 23, 1844, John W. Welch

BYU Studies Quarterly

When Joseph and Hyrum Smith were threatened with arrest on June 22, 1844, they left Nauvoo, Illinois, and went across the Mississippi River in the very early morning hours of Sunday, June 23. As evidenced by the letters and records of that crucial day, Joseph and Hyrum were considering several options that pointed in divergent directions. Recently found sources give new information about a little-known and underestimated purpose for their midnight rowing across the Mississippi River to Montrose, Iowa—namely, to seek and retain the legal assistance of experienced lawyers necessary before submitting to a warrant requiring them to go to …

Martin Harris Comes To Utah, 1870, Susan Easton Black, Larry C. Porter

BYU Studies Quarterly

[The following is an excerpt from chapter 14 of the new biography Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon by Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter. This biography, published by BYU Studies, will be available in October 2018. For further information, see the advertisement on page 208 of this issue.]

Seminary And Institute Recognition Pins, Dennis A. Wright, Alan L. Morrell

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The history of the Church is recorded not only in the words and events o f the past but also in the artifacts left behind by previous generations. Artifacts serve as tangible reminders of our memories and add a sense of reality to our history. The Church History Museum seeks to collect, preserve, and interpret the artifacts that illustrate the history of the Church. As windows to our past, artifacts enhance personal insight and understanding that in turn enlighten our appreciation of our history. The purpose of this discussion is to examine the historical context of recognition jewelry in the …

Praying A Mission Into Existence: Frantiska “Mamousek” Vesela Brodilova, Mary Jane Woodger, Tyler Smith, Kiersten Robertson

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

After hearing about the death of Frantiska “Mamousek” Brodilova, President John A. Widtsoe of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “Sister Brodil was a really marvelous woman. Her story must be preserved in Church history.” This paper preserves the memory of a woman whose faith and devotion to the truth and whose love for the Lord opened the door for an entire nation to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. She was “a woman who prayed a mission into existence.”

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)

Tracing Paintings In Napoleonic Italy: Archival Records And The Spatial And Contextual Displacement Of Artworks, Nora Gietz

Artl@s Bulletin

Using a Venetian case study from the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, this article demonstrates how archival research enables us to trace the spatial life of artworks. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic policy of the suppression of religious corporations, followed by the appropriation of their patrimony, as well as the widespread looting of artworks, led to the centralisation of patrimony in newly established museums in the capitals of the Empire and its satellite kingdoms. This made the geographical and contextual displacement, transnationalisation, and change in the value of artworks inevitable.

A Historical Account Of The Pentecostal Mission And Its Contributions To The Church Of The Nazarene, R. Jeffrey Hiatt

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.