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Full-Text Articles in Religious Education
Special Byu Studies Issue On Mormon Beginnings
Special Byu Studies Issue On Mormon Beginnings
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The recent issue of BYU Studies contains five significant articles about Joseph Smith's early years. Subjects such as treasure seeking and seership are analyzed particularly in light of newly discovered documents. The contributors are Dean Jessee, Ron Walker, Marvin Hill, and Richard Anderson. Copies of this issue (volume 24, number 4) may be ordered for $4.00 from 1102 JKHB, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602.
Scholar Watch
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
S. Kent Brown, Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU, is currently preparing a major study on the Exodus pattern in the Book of Mormon, following up on an initial brief essay on this theme recently published in BYU Studies.
Byu Studies And The Book Of Mormon
Byu Studies And The Book Of Mormon
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Summer 1990 issue of BYU Studies is dedicated solely to Book of Mormon thought and "offers a sample of recent scholarship on the Book of Mormon," says Kent P. Jackson, guest editor of the volume. Jackson adds, "It is intentionally diverse and includes a variety that ranges from doctrine to history and from ocean currents to word prints."
Welch Takes Leave Of Absence
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
A leave of absence from the F.A.R.M.S. board of directors for John W. Welch has been approved during the time that he serves as the editor of BYU Studies. Welch was the founding president of F.A.R.M.S. and has served on its board of directors throughout the life of the foundation. His contributions to the success of the foundation's efforts have been considerable and essential.
Welch Appointed Editor Of Byu Studies
Welch Appointed Editor Of Byu Studies
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
John W. Welch, founding president and continuing member of the board of directors of F .A.R.M.S., has been appointed editor-in-chief of the 32-year-old BYU Studies.
Articles Available Separately
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Summer 1990 issue of BYU Studies, a special issue on the Book of Mormon, is now out of print. The new 1992 F.A.R.M.S catalog, however, lists several of its articles individually.
Ancient Studies Features In A Recent Issue Of Byu Studies
Ancient Studies Features In A Recent Issue Of Byu Studies
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Readers interested in ancient research and Mormon studies will welcome several articles in the latest issue of BYU Studies. A short study by Donald Parry discusses a new insight into Psalm 24:6, widely recognized as a temple psalm. Parry suggests that the Hebrew dor ("generation") might be read as dur ("circle"), possibly alluding to a prayer circle of those who seek the Lord. Psalm 24 may reflect ancient pre-Mosaic temple practices, or it may prophetically look forward to the post-Mosaic temple era, when higher ordinances are known to mankind.
Bibliography Enriches New Testament Curriculum
Bibliography Enriches New Testament Curriculum
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
BYU Studies has just published a 128-page bibliography on the New Testament. It will help students of the scriptures study the New Testament more thoroughly and will help teachers of the New Testament se!ect materials to support their teaching and find answers to their students' questions. "We Rejoice in Christ": A Bibliography of LOS Writings on Jesus Christ and the New Testament offers a comprehensive annotated list of all publications by Latter-day Saints on the New Testament.
Latest Research On Book Of Mormon In 20th Century, E Parable Of Good Samaritan
Latest Research On Book Of Mormon In 20th Century, E Parable Of Good Samaritan
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Two articles in the latest issue of BYU Studies (volume 38, number 2) will be of great interest to FARMS readers. By special arrangement, the Foundation is making that issue available to its subscribers.
New Book Compiles Scholarship On Oliver Cowdery
New Book Compiles Scholarship On Oliver Cowdery
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In conjunction with the recent BYU symposium “Oliver Cowdery: Restoration Witness, Second Elder,” the Maxwell Institute has published Oliver Cowdery: Scribe, Elder, Witness, edited by John W. Welch and Larry E. Morris. This book includes 17 important articles previously published by BYU Studies or FARMS and covers virtually all periods of Oliver Cowdery’s life.
End Matter
BYU Studies Quarterly
BYU Studies publishes scholarship that is informed by the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Submissions are invited from all scholars who seek truth “by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118), discern the harmony between revelation and research, value both academic and spiritual inquiry, and recognize that knowledge without charity is nothing (1 Cor. 13:2).
Is Sure Knowledge An Ideal For Everyone Or One Spiritual Gift Among Many?, Blair Dee Hodges, Patrick Q. Mason
Is Sure Knowledge An Ideal For Everyone Or One Spiritual Gift Among Many?, Blair Dee Hodges, Patrick Q. Mason
BYU Studies Quarterly
“I’d like to bear my testimony. I know the Church is true. I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and restored the Church on the earth. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that the Church is led by living prophets today. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
Is God Subject To Or The Creator Of Eternal Law?, James Mclachlan
Is God Subject To Or The Creator Of Eternal Law?, James Mclachlan
BYU Studies Quarterly
Whether God is subject to law or whether God created all law is a question long debated in priesthood quorums, Relief Society meetings, Gospel Doctrine classes, and around Latter-day Saint dinner tables. Both sides claim the scriptures and the Prophet Joseph Smith. The divide usually lines up with, on one side, Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce McConkie teaching of God’s power over all things and, on the other, B. H. Roberts, John Widtsoe, and James Talmage seeing God as the revealer of laws that even God must follow. Not only is the question open and unsettled as a matter of …
What Is The Nature Of God’S Progress?, Matthew Bowman
What Is The Nature Of God’S Progress?, Matthew Bowman
BYU Studies Quarterly
In the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the question of whether or not God progresses can be separated into two more precise questions, each of which has been the topic of strenuous debate. The first has to do with whether God has always been divine or achieved that state through eons of progression, passing through a humanity much like ours along the way. The second is whether God continues to progress—and crucially, whether that progression is qualitative or simply quantitative: whether God’s progress means that God learns new things and gains new powers or whether …
Was Jesus Married?, Christopher James Blythe
Was Jesus Married?, Christopher James Blythe
BYU Studies Quarterly
While the belief that Jesus was married during his lifetime has been popular among Church leaders and lay members since the nineteenth century, it has never been an essential of Latter-day Saint theology. Rather, belief in a married Christ prospered in the early decades of the Church with little controversy among members, until leaders in the early twentieth century discouraged its public discussion while never disparaging the concept. A century later, as FAIR, an independent apologetic think tank, states on its website, “Some [Latter-day Saints] believe that He was married; others believe He wasn’t. Most members are open to believe …
The King Follett Discourse: Pinnacle Or Peripheral?, James E. Faulconer, Susannah Morrison
The King Follett Discourse: Pinnacle Or Peripheral?, James E. Faulconer, Susannah Morrison
BYU Studies Quarterly
On March 8, 1844, fifty-five-year-old King Follett, an early convert to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, was killed in a well-digging accident. On April 7, as part of a general conference of the Church in Nauvoo, and in response to the request of Follett’s family, Joseph Smith memorialized him with a sermon about the general subject of death and the dead. Smith said his sermon, a revelation on the origins of God and the divine potential of human beings, was about “the first principles of consolation.” Though Smith mentions Follett by name only early in the sermon, referring to …
Understandings Of The Relationship Between Grace And Works, Terryl L. Givens
Understandings Of The Relationship Between Grace And Works, Terryl L. Givens
BYU Studies Quarterly
No debate more thoroughly sunders the Christian world into competing factions than the simple question, Are we saved by grace or by works? It needs to be stated at the outset, however, that the framing of the debate in such terms is not truly accurate. Sola gratia, or salvation by grace alone, is one of the pillars of Protestantism. No one, on the other hand, affirms a doctrine of salvation by works. (Pelagians might have in the fifth century, but they are no longer alive to be part of the conversation.) The debate is really over the question, Are …
How Limited Is Postmortal Progression?, Terryl L. Givens
How Limited Is Postmortal Progression?, Terryl L. Givens
BYU Studies Quarterly
One way of making sense of Latter-day Saint heterodoxy—its location outside the spectrum of mainstream, historic Christianity—is to envision it as the culmination of early Christian trends that were suppressed or reconfigured in the early centuries of the new faith. In other words, one could see the Restoration as a road of Christian development not taken. After all, holds the great historian Walter Bauer, heresy is merely the orthodoxy that lost out.1 One scholar of early Christianity observes that the condemnation of Origen, church father of the third century, ensured the supremacy in the Christian tradition of a “theology …
Each Atom An Agent?, Steven L. Peck
Each Atom An Agent?, Steven L. Peck
BYU Studies Quarterly
An agent, broadly conceived, references something causally efficacious. More narrowly, the word agent is usually deployed in at least three senses. The first is as brute causality. For example, to say that water is an agent of erosion on vegetatively barren hillsides is to claim that water directly causes the removal of the soil in particular drainage systems. The second sense, used predominately in biology, recognizes an agent as an individual autonomous system that constrains the flow of energy and matter such that its actions are performed for particular functions or goals. For instance, a simple bacterium is drawn to …
Is The Bible Reliable?, Eric A. Eliason
Is The Bible Reliable?, Eric A. Eliason
BYU Studies Quarterly
The eighth article of faith proclaims, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.” This statement by itself suggests that the Bible as we have it may or may not be fully and reliably the word of God. In 1 Nephi 13:28, we read, “Many plain and precious things [were] taken away.” This passage more expressly indicates that the Bible we have now is indeed not as complete as originally intended. Joseph Smith elaborated on this theme with his statement that “ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have …
Book Of Mormon Geographies, Andrew H. Hedges
Book Of Mormon Geographies, Andrew H. Hedges
BYU Studies Quarterly
Of the many unresolved issues facing members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today, perhaps none has generated as much speculation and controversy as the question regarding where, exactly, the events recorded in the Book of Mormon took place. Beginning in Joseph Smith’s lifetime and continuing to the present, scholars and interested members alike have offered a variety of possible locations for the more prominent places mentioned in the text, including the city of Zarahemla, the “narrow neck of land” (Ether 10:20), the river Sidon, and the site of the last battle between the Nephites and the …
The Book Of Mormon Translation Process, Grant Hardy
The Book Of Mormon Translation Process, Grant Hardy
BYU Studies Quarterly
Joseph Smith did not offer many details about the translation process for the Book of Mormon, other than affirming that it was done through “the gift and power of God.”1In 1831, at a Church conference where he was invited to share more information, he declined, saying that “it was not expedient for him to relate these things.”2 Along with the golden plates, he had been given a set of Nephite “interpreters” (Mosiah 8:13; Ether 4:5), which he described as “two stones in silver bows” (JS–H 1:35), apparently looking something like a pair of glasses or spectacles. According …
Introduction To A Byu Studies Quarterly Special Issue On Open Questions In Latter-Day Saint Theology, Eric A. Eliason, Terryl L. Givens
Introduction To A Byu Studies Quarterly Special Issue On Open Questions In Latter-Day Saint Theology, Eric A. Eliason, Terryl L. Givens
BYU Studies Quarterly
Through revelation, our knowledge of the Lord’s creations and his plan for us is gloriously multifaceted, and ever increasing. Revealed truth continually pushes back darkness, opening our eyes to ever-more expansive vistas. Joseph Smith’s revelations often came as answers to questions that occurred to him in the context of his current state of knowledge. But as insight increases, it may seem that each answered question precipitates three more. This is the natural condition for followers of a religion of continuing revelation.
“Oh Say, What Is Truth?”: Approaches To Doctrine, Michael Goodman
“Oh Say, What Is Truth?”: Approaches To Doctrine, Michael Goodman
BYU Studies Quarterly
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ, like other religious traditions, claims to be based on true doctrines.2 The above hymn, included in the first edition of the Pearl of Great Price, encapsulates the deep longing for truth by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Statements by Church leaders abound extolling the virtue and power of truth, but such statements often beg the question, What is truth? Scripture states that “truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.”3 Church curricular material further states that “divine …
The Joseph Smith Translation Of The Bible: Ancient Material Restored Or Inspired Commentary? Canonical Or Optional? Finished Or Unfinished?, Jared W. Ludlow
The Joseph Smith Translation Of The Bible: Ancient Material Restored Or Inspired Commentary? Canonical Or Optional? Finished Or Unfinished?, Jared W. Ludlow
BYU Studies Quarterly
Joseph Smith began an ambitious program to revise the biblical text in June 1830, not long after the organization of the Church of Christ and the publication of the Book of Mormon. While the result came to be known as the Joseph Smith Translation (JST), it was not a literal word-for-word translation of ancient biblical languages from a manuscript but more of an inspired revision or paraphrase based on the King James Version in English, carried out primarily between June 1830 and July 1833.1 Since Joseph Smith never specifically addressed how or exactly why he made the particular changes …
Shards Of Combat: How Did Satan Seek To Destroy The Agency Of Man?, Philip L. Barlow
Shards Of Combat: How Did Satan Seek To Destroy The Agency Of Man?, Philip L. Barlow
BYU Studies Quarterly
Human beings in other guise lived before the creation of our world. This belief is at once controversial and durable, pervading the history of Western thought and bearing analogues elsewhere.1 That gods, angels, or other celestial beings rebelled against their superiors or engaged in cosmic conflict prior to earth’s creation is a related concept, widespread in the ancient world. Depictions or allusions to such contests appear in the myths, lore, art, literature, and sacred texts of Babylon, Egypt, Israel, Persia, Greece, Rome, far-flung tribal religions, and elsewhere. In certain cases, the older traditions endure even to the present, as …
In The Hands Of The Lord: The Life Of Dallin H. Oaks By Richard E. Turley Jr., John W. Welch
In The Hands Of The Lord: The Life Of Dallin H. Oaks By Richard E. Turley Jr., John W. Welch
BYU Studies Quarterly
In several ways, this is not a normal book. But then, it does not cover an ordinary life. It should be read and revisited especially by every Brigham Young University student, faculty member, and alum. After all, no other biography has ever been written about a graduate of BYU (1954) who went on to become a clerk to the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court (1957–1958), a dynamic president of BYU (1971–1980), and also an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ (1984). I can only imagine that every Latter-day Saint and all readers of BYU Studies Quarterly will …
Is The Song Of Solomon Scripture?, Dana M. Pike, Eric A. Eliason
Is The Song Of Solomon Scripture?, Dana M. Pike, Eric A. Eliason
BYU Studies Quarterly
Many Latter-day Saint youth may have had their first exposure to the Song of Solomon in seminary or on a mission. “Tear it out of your Bible,” “Staple the pages together,” or “Write ‘DO NOT READ’ on the title page with your red scripture marker!” are variants of stories passed on about what seminary teachers or mission presidents have advised. Since such sensational admonitions are almost guaranteed to pique teenagers’ curiosity, they are presumably more alive in student rumors than in the actual practice of seminary and institute instructors or mission leaders. Such stories may be reactions to Bruce R. …
Shoulders, Bethany Sorensen
Shoulders, Bethany Sorensen
BYU Studies Quarterly
"We” are taking a nap, but she’s the only one sleeping. The canvas shade above our heads and the subtle breeze off the water make the 95-degree heat tolerable. The gentle rocking of the houseboat lulls us both into a trance.
Manuscripts, Murder, And A Miniseries: A Personal Essay, Richard E. Turley Jr.
Manuscripts, Murder, And A Miniseries: A Personal Essay, Richard E. Turley Jr.
BYU Studies Quarterly
On March 3, 2021, a three-part miniseries on the Mark Hofmann forgery-murder case of the 1980s premiered on Netflix, a popular subscription-based streaming service. The three-part miniseries, titled Murder among the Mormons, quickly catapulted into the top echelon of most-watched Netflix programs in the United States.1 Because I appeared in the miniseries, many people began asking me questions about this criminal case I have followed since it first attracted widespread public attention.