Religious Education Commons^™

Nibley Teams Up With Brigham Young To Look At Politics, Education, Leadership, And The Environment

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

As those who have read much Brigham Young know, the combination of this pioneer prophet's insight, articulateness, and candor is little short of stunning. Nibley calls him a "monumental figure," perhaps (after Joseph Smith), the most prominent mind of his century.

Several Significant Historical And Anthropological Essays Of John Sorenson Gathered In Two New Volumes

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

Nearly two dozen essays by John L. Sorenson, professor emeritus of anthropology at Brigham Young University, have been conveniently gathered into two paperback volumes by a Salt Lake publisher, New Sage Books. Some of these essays will be familiar to FARMS readers, but many will be new. Both collections can be obtained at a discount from FARMS using the enclosed order form.

Thirteen Is Lucky For The Farms Review Of Books

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

For the thirteenth time, FARMS has invited reviewers to examine books about the Book of Mormon, other scriptures, and related topics. The latest issue of the FARMS Review of Books (volume 9, number 2) covers eight books about the Book of Mormon and eight books on other topics. It also contains an editor's introduction that raises serious and stimulating questions about weaknesses in the methods of contemporary biblical scholarship.

Review Surveys Mixed Bag Of Publications

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

The newest issue of the FARMS Review of Books (volume 10, number 2) surveys a diverse crop of recent publications, some inviting high praise, others substantial refutation, and some a mixture of both.

Revised Book Extends Lds Scholar's Analysis Of Jesus' Immortal Sermon

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

John W. Welch has revised and updated his 1990 book The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount, which presented a thorough Latter-day Saint interpretation of Jesus' masterful sermon delivered to his disciples in New Testament Galilee and in New World Bountiful. The new FARMS paperback edition, titled Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple and Sermon on the Mount: An Approach to 3 Nephi 11-18 and Matthew 5-7, features a new chapter and several new sections that offer interesting support for viewing the Sermon as a ritual text.

Understanding Joseph Smith's Translation Of The Bible By Kent P. Jackson, Kerry Muhlestein

BYU Studies Quarterly

Kent Jackson has spent about three decades studying Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible and has put all that research together in a masterful volume that is informative yet not overwhelming for the nonacademic. While there are a few minor things that could have been done differently, this book, combined with Jackson’s recent Joseph Smith’s Translation of the Bible: The Joseph Smith Translation and the King James Translation in Parallel Columns (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), have made it possible for us to better use and understand Joseph Smith’s translation than …

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 …

Trinity And Monotheism: A Historical And Theological Review Of The Origins And Substance Of The Doctrine, Jason Robert Combs

BYU Studies Quarterly

The history of Christian beliefs about the nature of God is complex. It would be helpful for Latter-day Saints and other Christians to have a simple, straightforward introduction to this topic. A. Keith Thompson, professor of law and the associate dean at the Sydney School of Law of the University of Notre Dame Australia, who previously worked as international legal counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, set out to write such a book. Motivated in part by his interfaith work and by his own religious beliefs as a Latter-day Saint, Thompson wrote Trinity and Monotheism to …

Watchman On The Tower: Ezra Taft Benson And The Making Of The Mormon Right Thunder From The Right: Ezra Taft Benson In Mormonism And Politics, Roger Terry

BYU Studies Quarterly

Although I was already fairly well acquainted with the activities and rhetoric of Ezra Taft Benson, a controversial twentieth-century Apostle, what surprised me when reading these two books about him was their relevance to what is happening in the United States today. Historian Matthew L. Harris authored the biography of Benson titled Watchman on the Tower and edited the anthology Thunder from the Right. They help explain not only Benson’s life and times but also political conservatism and paranoia about government conspiracy among American Latter-day Saints today.

Clogs And Shawls: Mormons, Moorlands, And The Search For Zion, Amy Harris

BYU Studies Quarterly

Born in turn-of-the-century Bradford, Yorkshire, the eight Whitaker sisters were raised as Latter-day Saints, all eventually immigrated to Utah, and all remained members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout their lives. Their lifelong faithfulness was an important cornerstone of their family story, a story Ann Chamberlin, a granddaughter of one of the sisters, situates within a larger narrative about their family culture—both its positive and negative elements and the parts that tipped into becoming family mythology.

Life And Times Of John Pierce Hawley: A Mormon Ulysses Of The American West, Adam Oliver Stokes

BYU Studies Quarterly

In recent years there has been a growing effort to expand the definition of “Mormonism” within Mormon studies. “Mormonism,” in twenty-first-century scholarship, refers not only to the largest organization in the restoration tradition—namely, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, headquartered in Utah—but also to other branches and movements within the restoration tradition. Joseph Smith’s movement includes the Reorganized Church (RLDS, now known as the Com- munity of Christ), the Bickertonite church (Church of Jesus Christ), the Strangite church, and the Elijah Message church, among others. In large part, this expanded understanding of what qualifies as “Mormon” has come …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 …

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.

Race And Making Of The Mormon People, Matthew L. Harris

BYU Studies Quarterly

Max Perry Mueller. Race and the Making of the Mormon People.

Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017.

Mormonism And The Emotions: An Analysis Of Lds Scriptural Texts, Richard N. Williams

BYU Studies Quarterly

Mauro Properzi. Mormonism and the Emotions: An Analysis of LDS Scriptural Texts.

Vancouver, B.C.: Farleigh Dickenson University Press, 2015.

The Believing Scientist: Essays On Science And Religion, Hyrum Lewis

BYU Studies Quarterly

Stephen M. Barr. The Believing Scientist: Essays on Science and Religion.

Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2016.

Feeding The Flock: The Foundations Of Mormon Thought: Church And Praxis, Mark A. Wrathall

BYU Studies Quarterly

Feeding the Flock: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Church and Praxis By Terryl L. Givens

New York: Oxford University Press, 2017

Mountain Meadows Massacre: Collected Legal Papers, Iantha Haight

BYU Studies Quarterly

Mountain Meadows Massacre: Collected Legal Papers Edited by Richard E. Turley Jr., Janiece L. Johnson, and LaJean Purcell Carruth

Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2017

Voice Of The Saints In Taiwan, Richard B. Stamps

BYU Studies Quarterly

Voice of the Saints in Taiwan By Po Nien (Felipe) Chou and Mei Wah Sin (Petra) Chou

Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2017

The Mormon Jesus: A Biography, Andrew C. Reed

BYU Studies Quarterly

John G. Turner. The Mormon Jesus: A Biography.

Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016.