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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Documents: The Joseph Smith Papers, Richard E. Bennett
Documents: The Joseph Smith Papers, Richard E. Bennett
BYU Studies Quarterly
Almost fifty years ago, my wife, Patricia, and I had the distinct privilege to work for incoming Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington in combing through the archives of the Church History Library in Salt Lake City for source materials long since shelved, considered lost, or otherwise off-limits. Along the way, we also enjoyed working with a team of other dedicated scholars brought in to work under Arrington’s kind and learned tutorship. Among them was a talented archivist/historian named Dean Jessee, who was an assiduous student of the document, particularly the papers of the prophet Joseph Smith Jr. Owning a passion …
Make Yourselves Gods: Mormons And The Unfinished Business Of American Secularism, Michael Hubbard Mackay
Make Yourselves Gods: Mormons And The Unfinished Business Of American Secularism, Michael Hubbard Mackay
BYU Studies Quarterly
Borrowing its title from Joseph Smith’s far-reaching Nauvoo theology, Make Yourselves Gods is somehow even more provocative than its title. The average Latter-day Saint reader will chafe under its vocabulary, struggle through its detailed contributions to the study of secularism, and be at odds with its use of queer critique. Furthermore, to the average reader’s disdain, this book will be chewed and discussed for a generation to come. It is not likely to be forgotten.
Understanding Covenants And Communities: Jews And Latter-Day Saints In Dialogue, Bradley J. Kramer
Understanding Covenants And Communities: Jews And Latter-Day Saints In Dialogue, Bradley J. Kramer
BYU Studies Quarterly
Organized topically, this book’s sixteen essays provide a wealth of information about Jewish and Latter-day Saint perspectives, scripture, experience, worship, culture, and politics. However, at least for me, the true treasure of these essays is not so much informational as it is relational.
The Pearl Of Greatest Price: Mormonism’S Most Controversial Scripture, Richard Lyman Bushman
The Pearl Of Greatest Price: Mormonism’S Most Controversial Scripture, Richard Lyman Bushman
BYU Studies Quarterly
The Pearl of Great Price is the least intentional of Latter-day Saint scriptures. When British mission president Franklin Richards pulled together a fifty-six-page assemblage of miscellaneous writings in 1851, he showed no signs of thinking that it prefigured an addition to the canon. He thought the items would be useful for instructing missionaries and members in gospel doctrine. The writings were widely distributed as a pamphlet but not considered scripture until canonization was proposed, almost casually, in 1880, in the same meeting where John Taylor was sustained as Church President. Unlike the Book of Mormon, which arrived as another Bible …
An Apostolic Journey: Stephen L Richards And The Expansion Of Missionary Work In South America, Elisa Eastwood Pulido
An Apostolic Journey: Stephen L Richards And The Expansion Of Missionary Work In South America, Elisa Eastwood Pulido
BYU Studies Quarterly
In their work An Apostolic Journey: Stephen L Richards and the Expansion of Missionary Work in South America, authors Richard E. Turley Jr. and Clinton D. Christensen have compiled a documentary history of the 1948 journey of Apostle Stephen L Richards and his wife, Irene Merrill Smith Richards, to South America. Turley is a former assistant Church historian and former managing director of the Department of Public Affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Christensen has spent much of his career at the Church History Department collecting Latter-day Saint history from Latin America. An Apostolic …
Revelations And Translations, Volume 3: Printer’S Manuscript Of The Book Of Mormon The Joseph Smith Papers, James B. Allen
Revelations And Translations, Volume 3: Printer’S Manuscript Of The Book Of Mormon The Joseph Smith Papers, James B. Allen
BYU Studies Quarterly
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints revere the Book of Mormon as a sacred text that was translated “by the gift and power of God” (D&C 135:3) by Joseph Smith and first published in 1830. Since then it has seen numerous editions, has been translated into around one hundred languages, and is distributed around the world. The story of how the Book of Mormon originated and eventually spread is well known, but the details of its textual history are not widely known.
Gay Rights And The Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences, Tom Christofferson
Gay Rights And The Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences, Tom Christofferson
BYU Studies Quarterly
When valedictorian Matt Easton spoke to his graduating classmates in the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences at Brigham Young University in April 2019 and pronounced himself “proud to be a gay son of God,”1 it was notable—not for the frank self-identification, nor because college administration had preapproved the speech. Rather, what was remarkable was the instant, energetic, and sustained cheers and applause from the large Marriott Center audience.
Gay Rights And The Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences, W. Justin Dyer
Gay Rights And The Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences, W. Justin Dyer
BYU Studies Quarterly
In this book, Gregory Prince compiles and examines available records of how individual leaders within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Church as an institution have approached issues of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The compilation is most welcome as it provides many useful sources to understand how the Church and its leaders have discussed and acted on these issues. The book is an important reference, and I have gone back to it again and again to reference its timelines and sources.
Moth And Rust: Mormon Encounters With Death, Connie Lamb
Moth And Rust: Mormon Encounters With Death, Connie Lamb
BYU Studies Quarterly
Latter-day Saints view death as part of the plan of salvation and some have even claimed to have glimpsed the afterlife. Thus, as the book’s introduction explains, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a good understanding of death and the afterlife, but many still fear dying (x). Despite Church teachings on the temporary nature of death, the death of someone dearly loved can still cause a Latter-day Saint to face stark reality and ask serious questions. Moth and Rust captures Latter-day Saints’ varying experiences and demonstrates the many ways death can be conceived.
A Documentary History Of The Book Of Mormon, John W. Welch
A Documentary History Of The Book Of Mormon, John W. Welch
BYU Studies Quarterly
Larry Morris, a veteran researcher of everything related to Oliver Cowdery and early Latter-day Saint history, has provided the world with this fine collection of primary historical sources relevant to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Published by Oxford University Press, this formal presentation of his fascinating compilation will certainly be interesting, convenient, credible, and crucial in the hands of historians (in the rigorous documentary sense of that word) as well as in the hearts of amateurs (in the best Latin sense of that word).
Mormons, Musical Theater, And Belonging In America By Jake Johnson, Megan Sanborn Jones
Mormons, Musical Theater, And Belonging In America By Jake Johnson, Megan Sanborn Jones
BYU Studies Quarterly
In his ambitious first book, musicologist Jake Johnson examines how and why the vocal and theatrical traditions of American musicals are evidenced in the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the heart of this examination are close readings of a number of popular American musicals and what Johnson sees as their Utah counterparts— Oklahoma! and Promised Valley; Fiddler on the Roof and Life . . . More Sweet than Bitter; The Book of Mormon and Saturday’s Warrior. Part history, part literary criticism, part religious studies, and part music studies, Mormons, Musical Theater, and …