A Novel Idea,
2021
Brigham Young University
A Novel Idea, Chris Crowe
BYU Studies
The following is a transcript of a forum address presented by Chris Crowe, recipient of the 2020 Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award. Crowe is a professor of English at Brigham Young University and an author who writes books for the young-adult market. This forum assembly took place on May 25, 2021.
Everything You Make With Your Hands,
2021
Brigham Young University
Everything You Make With Your Hands, John Alba Cutler
BYU Studies
Todo lo que haces con tus manos tiene valor she said, and we knew what she meant. That Christmas card of glitter glue and crayon. That yarn potholder born from a tiny loom like a lute. Even the Pinewood Derby car, blue with a white stripe down the middle, wobbling its way into seventeenth place. We knew the making of it was the point, what gave it worth.
Book Notice: The Ancient Order Of Things: Essays On The Mormon Temple; Why I Stay 2: The Challenges Of Discipleship For Contemporary Latter-Day Saints; Real Vs. Rumor: How To Dispel Latter-Day Myths ,
2021
Brigham Young University
Book Notice: The Ancient Order Of Things: Essays On The Mormon Temple; Why I Stay 2: The Challenges Of Discipleship For Contemporary Latter-Day Saints; Real Vs. Rumor: How To Dispel Latter-Day Myths , Brooke James, Roger Terry, Matthew B. Christensen, Christian Larsen, Editor, Robert A. Rees, Editor, Keith A. Erekson
BYU Studies
The Ancient Order of Things: Essays on the Mormon Temple presents a variety of academic discussions on different aspects of temples. In the introduction, the collection’s editor, Christian Larsen, explains that the essays focus on historical perspectives of significant and “unique facets” (x) of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The essays cover themes such as histories of ordinances, the role of temples beyond mainstream LDS tradition, and the position of temples within wider cultural contexts.
The Mountain Meadows Massacre: Examining The Tragedy From A Social Psychological Perspective,
2021
Brigham Young University
The Mountain Meadows Massacre: Examining The Tragedy From A Social Psychological Perspective, Spencer C. Black
Theses and Dissertations
In September 1857, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints massacred emigrants traveling through southern Utah to California. The perpetrators, who were also members of the Cedar City militia, slaughtered one hundred and twenty men, women, and children. They only spared seventeen young children. Historians have written at length about this event. In this paper, I analyze the Mountain Meadows Massacre through the perspective of social-psychological constructs. In particular, I use the constructs of human motivation, moral disengagement, group behavior, and obedience to authority to help provide further understanding regarding how seemingly ordinary Christian people committed such …
The Temple Past, Present & Future,
2021
Brigham Young University
The Temple Past, Present & Future, Stephen D. Ricks, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
Interpreter Foundation Books
Taken as a whole, 3 Nephi 19 presents us with a ritual sequence unlike anything else we encounter in ancient or modern scripture. Mormon’s account of the second day of Jesus’s threeday ministry among the Lamanites and Nephites at the temple in Bountiful (3 Nephi 26:13)1 begins with additive scenes of kneeling (3 Nephi 19:6, 18, 16–17), proskynesis (3 Nephi 19:19, 27), baptism (3 Nephi 19:11–13), temple prayer (3 Nephi 19:6–10, 17–18, 20–24, 20–35), Aaronic priestly blessing (3 Nephi 19:25), and high priestly intercessory prayer (3 Nephi 19:19–24, 27–29, 31–35).
Full Issue,
2021
Brigham Young University
Full Issue
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
No abstract provided.
Enoch And The Gathering Of Zion,
2021
Brigham Young University
Enoch And The Gathering Of Zion, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
Interpreter Foundation Books
Latter-day Saints have long been fascinated and inspired by the Book of Moses story of Enoch. It provides the closest thing to a full biography we have in the Book of Moses. And what a biography! Moses 6–7 detail his call, his teaching mission, his glorious vision of all things, his surprising victories in battle, and the ultimate ascent of the city of Zion to the bosom of God. What some readers may not know is that Latter-day Saint scholars, beginning with Hugh Nibley, have begun to find pieces of new and plausibly authentic elements of Enoch’s story in fragments …
World Enough,
2021
Brigham Young University
World Enough, Tracy Fessenden
Mormon Studies Review
I value reviews that help me decide whether a book is likely to light up the classroom, so I will say it straightaway: Americanist Approaches to The Book of Mormon will. Classroom friendliness in the humanities feels especially pressing now, as the larger share of our students set foot in our fields to fulfill distribution requirements on their way to degrees in business or STEM. If your class in American literature or history or religious studies is the one experience of your discipline that students who take it are likely to seek, a semester’s offering built around this book will …
Review: Church Historian’S Press (Church History Department, The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints). The Diaries Of Emmeline B. Wells. 2020. Https://Www.Churchhistorianspress.Org/Emmeline-B-Wells.,
2021
Brigham Young University
Review: Church Historian’S Press (Church History Department, The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints). The Diaries Of Emmeline B. Wells. 2020. Https://Www.Churchhistorianspress.Org/Emmeline-B-Wells., Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Mormon Studies Review
The Church Historian’s Press has just announced publication of the diaries of Emmeline B. Wells. That is the good news. The bad news is that the current offering includes only the first six of Wells’s forty-seven diaries. Never fear. When I asked the publisher when the rest might appear, I learned that the 1890s diaries that focus on Utah statehood and women’s suffrage would be published in August to honor this year’s celebration of the Nineteenth Amendment. The press hopes to complete the entire project by 2022. In the meantime, scholars can consult the digitized versions of the original diaries, …
A Short Tribute To My Genealogical Butcher Chart,
2021
Brigham Young University
A Short Tribute To My Genealogical Butcher Chart, Linda Hoffman Kimball
BYU Studies
If you were to parse me Like meat on a banner You’d find all my ancestors In parts or in manner.
Birth Of Discernment,
2021
Brigham Young University
Birth Of Discernment, Julia Hathaway
BYU Studies
“Peace does not dwell in outward things, but within the soul. We may preserve it in the midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remains firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from acquiescence even in disagreeable things, not in an exemption from suffering.” —François Fénelon
Supporting Literacy And Comprehension In Religious Education,
2021
Brigham Young University
Supporting Literacy And Comprehension In Religious Education, Stephen A. Nelson
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Imagine the following scenario unfolding in a seminary classroom: The assigned scripture block that day is James chapter 1, and the instructor is anxious to facilitate a meaningful discussion focusing on verses 5 and 6. To help his students identify the principle “God generously gives wisdom to those who ask of him in faith,” he writes the following question on the board: “What did James advise his readers to do to find answers to their questions?”[1] After a compelling readiness activity, the teacher invites a young man to read James 1:5–6 aloud while the rest of the class follows along …
Review: Jake Johnson. Mormons, Musical Theater, And Belonging In America. Urbana: University Of Illinois Press, 2019.,
2021
Brigham Young University
Review: Jake Johnson. Mormons, Musical Theater, And Belonging In America. Urbana: University Of Illinois Press, 2019., Amanda Beardsley
Mormon Studies Review
Jake Johnson opens his book Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in America from the relatively vulnerable subject position of his relationship to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As Johnson explains, he was a former member of both the LDS Church and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (now the Community of Christ), but no longer subscribes to either faith. This personal detail about his background may be startling, but it immediately lends a unique authorial voice and point of view to his book, which, in turn, discusses the centrality of voice and theatricality in …
Mormon Performance/Performing Mormonism: At The Intersection Of Mormon, Theatre, And Performance Studies,
2021
Brigham Young University
Mormon Performance/Performing Mormonism: At The Intersection Of Mormon, Theatre, And Performance Studies, Megan Sanborn Jones
Mormon Studies Review
The Nauvoo Dramatic Association was founded in 1844 to respond to a growing demand for culture and entertainment in the booming young Illinois city. Organized by Joseph Smith, the company was directed by Thomas A. Lyne, a recent convert and professional actor from Philadelphia. The first offering of the society was advertised for performance in the newly dedicated Masonic Hall on April 24, 1844. All were invited to attend Pizarro, or The Death of Rolla, a “rational amusement with usefulness.”1 While the performance was postponed until April 26, 1844, due to heavy rains, the wait did not lessen the positive …
The Danite Constitution And Theories Of Democratic Justice In Frontier America,
2021
Brigham Young University
The Danite Constitution And Theories Of Democratic Justice In Frontier America, Benjamin E. Park
BYU Studies
Most modern Americans define liberty as the freedom to do things: freedom to speak, freedom to congregate, freedom to vote, freedom to worship. That is, we define it in proactive terms. But in early America, many citizens were just as likely to define liberty as freedom from things: freedom not to be taxed without representation, freedom not to be unjustly imprisoned, or freedom not to be oppressed. In other words, they defined it in preventive terms. And among Americans in the 1830s, per- haps the most poignant political discussion concerned the freedom to not be forcibly removed from the land …
Remnant Or Replacement? Outlining A Possible Apostasy Narrative,
2021
Brigham Young University
Remnant Or Replacement? Outlining A Possible Apostasy Narrative, Nicholas J. Frederick, Joseph M. Spencer
BYU Studies
Since early in the twentieth century, it has been common for Latter- day Saints to speak of a “Great Apostasy” that occurred in the centuries following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Such a general apostasy has been viewed as providing the basic motivation for the Restoration, begun in earnest with Joseph Smith’s First Vision in 1820. The traditional apostasy narrative has centered on the argument that the church founded by Jesus Christ once possessed the same organization, doctrine, and authority restored in the nineteenth century but that, over time, these crucial components were either lost or corrupted. It …
Gospel Ethics,
2021
Brigham Young University
Gospel Ethics, Hinckley A. Jones-Sanpei
BYU Studies
Unavoidable ethical and moral decisions permeate our lives. From the personal (how we treat our family members and the people we interact with) to the political (what we do about the increasing number of mass shootings in our country and refugees at our borders or how we behave during a worldwide pandemic), our decisions have moral and ethical implications that reveal our priorities and values. Traditional approaches to ethics and economic policymaking emphasize isolated rational individuals and their direct interactions with other self-sufficient, rational individuals. Yet at different points in our lives, all of us are dependent on others—some we …
Signs Of The Times: Racism, Tribalism, And Disinformation Before The Comings Of Christ,
2021
Brigham Young University
Signs Of The Times: Racism, Tribalism, And Disinformation Before The Comings Of Christ, Luke Drake
BYU Studies
Each of the major narrators/compilers of the Book of Mormon evince varying degrees of understanding that their work is destined for modern readers who would face a set of modern concerns.2 This essay suggests that Mormon’s editorial hand—on display both in the redaction of the words of Samuel the Lamanite and in the narration of the events surrounding Samuel’s ministry—can be understood to address pressing issues faced by latter-day readers: specifically, the perils posed by racism, “tribalism,” and disinformation.
Wake Up And Dream,
2021
Brigham Young University
Wake Up And Dream, Eva Koleva Timothy
BYU Studies
The cover piece, Star Stretching, was inspired by a favorite saying of my mission president, Elder Ronald Rasband: “It is better to aim for the stars and drag your feet in the treetops than to aim for the treetops and drag your feet in the mud.”
My Stepdad Was A Bank Robber,
2021
Brigham Young University
My Stepdad Was A Bank Robber, Billy Wilson
BYU Studies
I remember standing on the back porch of our rental in Meadow Vista, California—the steady gurgles of a running creek in the backyard, the faint smell of dry firewood in the cardboard box behind me. Dad (the con- tract killer, not the bank robber) wore a tank top and jeans with the pant legs cut into very short shorts. He was six foot two, an anomaly in our lineage of shorter men. I don’t recall him ever yelling at me, and he was naturally amicable, but he did raise his voice on occasion and could crack granite with his eyes. …
