Religious Education Commons^™

The Kingdom Of God, Tyler Chadwick

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

The Polygamous Wives Writing Club: From The Diaries Of Mormon Pioneer Women, Andrea G. Radke-Moss

BYU Studies Quarterly

Paula Kelly Harline. The Polygamous Wives Writing Club: From the Diaries of Mormon Pioneer Women.

New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

End Matter

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

From The Editor, John W. Welch

BYU Studies Quarterly

The front and back covers of this issue of BYU Studies Quarterly feature a unique stained glass window. It is found in the chapel of the La Cañada Ward meetinghouse in Southern California. Since I grew up in that ward, where my parents lived and served for fifty years, I have many special personal reasons for wanting to share these pictures with all who enjoy this journal.

The Latter-Day Saint Reimagining Of "The Breath Of Life" (Genesis 2:7), Dana M. Pike

BYU Studies Quarterly

The creation and flood accounts in Genesis in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) contain variations on a phrase commonly translated “the breath of life.” This phrase additionally occurs in some uniquely Latter-day Saint materials relating to creation. After overviewing and analyzing this phrase and its meaning in the Bible, this paper then examines the occurrences of the phrase “the breath of life” in important early Latter-day Saint texts. The purpose of this study is to illustrate and explain how and why many Latter-day Saints have come to often employ the phrase “the breath of life,” transforming its traditional …

Ann Booth's Vision And Early Conceptions Of Redeeming The Dead Among Latter-Day Saints, Christopher James Blythe

BYU Studies Quarterly

On October 5, 1840, Joseph Smith addressed the general church body in Nauvoo on the subject of baptism for the dead, an ordinance he had introduced less than two months previously. On this historic occasion, the Prophet referenced a vision or dream that has until now escaped thorough study by Church historians. The vision was received by Ann Booth, a recent convert in Great Britain, and included images of John Wesley accepting the restored gospel and being baptized in the spirit world through the administration of David W. Patten. Booth’s revelation had garnered attention of missionaries in England and among …

Pieces Of April: From The Life And Journal Of Lance Larsen, Lance Larsen, Casualene Meyer

BYU Studies Quarterly

Lance Larsen, BYU professor of English, completed in May 2017 a five-year appointment as Utah’s poet laureate. BYU Studies is pleased to present a series of journal entries from Professor Larsen, preceded by a conversation between Larsen and BYU Studies poetry editor, Casualene Meyer.

Aviophobia, Kim Webb Reid

BYU Studies Quarterly

The January day SkyWest Flight 1834 smashed into a private two-seater plane midair over my elementary school, I was at recess. Some of us snatched at clothes drifting down from the sky because we thought they should be handed over to the school’s lost and found. We didn’t know yet of all the lost things that could never be returned: a jagged wing blocking my friend’s front door; a pilot’s black leather seat perched on my neighbor’s roof; the lives of ten passengers, captains, and crew. Grown-ups spoke in whispers about the carnage found in backyards and closed roads and …

America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion, And The Presidential Election That Transformed The Nation, Benjamin E. Park

BYU Studies Quarterly

John Bicknell. America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion, and the Presidential Election That Transformed the Nation.

Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2015.

Geology Of The Book Of Mormon, Benjamin R. Jordan

BYU Studies Quarterly

Jerry D. Grover Jr. Geology oof the Book of Mormon.

Provo, Utah: By the author, 2014.

Eighth Witness: The Biography Of John Whitmer, Kyle R. Walker

BYU Studies Quarterly

Ronald E. Romig. Eighth Witness: The Biography of John Whitmer.

Independence, Mo.: John Whitmer Books, 2014.

William B. Smith: In The Shadow Of A Prophet, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

BYU Studies Quarterly

Kyle R. Walker. William B. Smith: In the Shadow of a Prophet.

Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2015.

Mormons In The Piazza: History Of The Latter-Day Saints In Italy, Mauro Properzi

BYU Studies Quarterly

James A. Toronto, Eric R. Dursteler, and Michael W. Homer. Mormons in the Piazza: History of the Latter-day Saints in Italy.

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

The Awkward State Of Utah: Coming Of Age In The Nation, 1896-1945

BYU Studies Quarterly

The Awkward State of Utah: Coming of Age in the Nation, 1896–1945, by Charles S. Peterson and Brian Q. Cannon (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015)

From The Editor, John W. Welch

BYU Studies Quarterly

The year 2017 promises to be a very exciting year for readers of BYU Studies Quarterly. With many challenges as well as positive developments happening around the world, we expect that our readers are on the constant lookout for solid information and commendable perspectives. The carefully written and rigorously peer-reviewed pages of this journal continue to offer new insights into old problems and to bring old wisdom to bear on new issues. With this in mind, my thoughts returned to the frequently cited section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Front Matter

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

The Lord Is One, Margaret Barker

BYU Studies Quarterly

This is a lightly edited transcript of a lecture delivered by Old Testament scholar Margaret Barker at Brigham Young University on November 9, 2016. Following the lecture, responses were given by Andrew C. Skinner, David J. Larsen, and Daniel C. Peterson. Edited transcripts of the responses follow in this issue of BYU Studies Quarterly.

"The Little Head Stones Became Monuments": Death In The Early Samoan Mission And The Creation Of The Fagali'i Cemetery, Reid L. Neilson, Scott D. Marianno

BYU Studies Quarterly

When the call first went forth, Samoa was as far from people’s minds as the islands themselves are from the rest of the civilized world,” a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wrote from Apia in 1899. “Women were among the Gospel pioneers on these islands; what they endured, their trials and their hardships, even to parting with life itself, it is a story that today dims the eye with tears. Samoa has never been a happy home for our sisters.”

Envisioning Brigham Young University: Foreword To John S. Tanner's Learning In The Light, Bruce C. Hafen

BYU Studies Quarterly

Editor’s note: Bruce C. Hafen, an emeritus General Authority and former president of Ricks College, wrote this foreword to Learning in the Light: Selected Talks at BYU by John S. Tanner, who is the current president of BYU–Hawaii. This book, a new title offered by BYU Studies, gives insight into John Tanner the person and into his views on the Latter-day Saint endeavor to advance in light and knowledge “by study and also by faith.” The following encapsulates well the issues that have long concerned both educators and students of the Mormon community.

No Words, Elizabeth Dodds

BYU Studies Quarterly

After all these years, I’m still afraid of getting a brain aneurysm. Just a few weeks ago in church, my head started hurting, and I reached up and felt a vein throbbing on the side of my skull. I leaned over to my uncle sitting beside me and whispered, “What if it’s a brain aneurysm?” He laughed and said it wasn’t. “But how can you be sure?” I thought. Because I looked up brain aneurysms a long time ago and found out that they have no symptoms. No warnings before they hit you like an air bag. Wham. Suddenly, there’s …

"What Is It About This Place?": Truman Madsen, Religious Education, And The Mission Of Byu, Bruce C. Hafen

BYU Studies Quarterly

Barnard (“Barney”) Madsen has written a readable, thoughtful, and well-informed biography about his charismatic father, Truman Madsen. Although Truman didn’t keep a conventional journal, he maintained “journal files”—“crucial journal entries or documents he preserved for his posterity.” Those files, along with Barney’s intimate and observant relationship with his father, have now yielded rich biographical resources.

Goddess Looking Up, Sowing Mercy, Tyler Chadwick

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Catholic And Mormon: A Theological Conversation, Elliott D. Wise

BYU Studies Quarterly

Stephen H. Webb and Alonzo L. Gaskill. Catholic and Mormon: A Theological Conversation.

New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.

The First Fifty Years Of Relief Society, Karen Lynn Davidson

BYU Studies Quarterly

Jill Mulvay Derr, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society.

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

Future Mormon: Essays In Mormon Theology, James E. Faulconer

BYU Studies Quarterly

Adam S. Miller. Future Mormon: Essays in Mormon Theology.

Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2016.

The Mapmakers Of New Zion: A Cartographic History Of Mormonism, Brandon S. Plewe

BYU Studies Quarterly

Richard V. Francaviglia. The Mapmakers of New Zion: A Cartographic History of Mormonism.

Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015.

Front Matter

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Kingship, Democracy, And The Message Of The Book Of Mormon, Gregory Steven Dundas

BYU Studies Quarterly

Chapter 29 of the book of Mosiah, in which the people of Zarahemla transform their government from a monarchy to a rule of judges, is a crucial—indeed, pivotal—chapter in the Book of Mormon. Modern readers of the book, particularly those of us raised in Western nations, are prone to react very positively to this story, viewing it as the creation of a free, democratic system, and we are inclined to read this account with something of the same thrill with which we observed the freedom-loving, democratic urges of peoples worldwide, most notably in Eastern Europe in 1989 and in more …

Reading Competency In The Book Of Mormon: Abish And Other Model Readers, Michael J. Call

BYU Studies Quarterly

In chapter 19 of the book of Alma, we are introduced to Abish, described in the narrative as one of the “Lamanitish women” serving in King Lamoni’s court (Alma 19:16). Mormon’s account of her experience on the day of the king’s conversion is compelling for many reasons, but I would like to explore here how Abish and other important figures in the text function as model readers, exhibiting the traits and competencies that the Book of Mormon authors expected the future reader of their text to bring to the reading act. In fact, a careful analysis of important reading acts …

Let There Be Light–, Tyler Chadwick

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.