Mormon Studies Commons^™

Review: Matthew L. Harris, Ed. Thunder From The Right: Ezra Taft Benson In Mormonism And Politics. Urbana: University Of Illinois Press, 2019., Lauren F. Turek

Mormon Studies Review

The Cold War looms large in Thunder from the Right, an edited volume that offers readers an incisive appraisal of the religious and political career of Mormon leader Ezra Taft Benson. As the collected essays reveal, a profound anxiety about Soviet communism and, more specifically, the perception that internal socialist subversion threatened the United States and its core values, impelled Benson to speak out widely and vociferously. His zealous anti-communism infused every aspect of his life and his work, from the policy positions he advocated for as President Eisenhower’s secretary of agriculture to the religious teachings he shared as a …

Race And The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In India, Taunalyn Rutherford, Joe Chelladurai, Vinna Chintaram

Mormon Studies Review

Paul Reeve has argued that the Book of Mormon’s imperative, “all are alike unto God,” “met its match in an American religious and racial culture which insisted otherwise.”1 The complexity of race and its construction in “Indian culture” over the course of a much longer history has created a formidable match for a Mormonism characterized at times by its “whiteness” and “Americanness.”2 Race in India is a multifarious and changing phenomenon. Contemporary scholars claim that India is facing “a race problem made up of a combination of ignorance and denial.”3 The policy of geographic boundaries rather than self-selection creates diverse …

“By Study And Also By Faith”, J Gordon Daines Iii

BYU Studies

At their inception, universities were places where all branches of learning—both the sacred and the secular—were studied. At the great medieval universities, for instance, faith and academic excellence were intertwined,¹ and this strong connection continued in the universities of the New World. Most American research universities began as religiously affiliated colleges whose missions were to develop Christian character and foster faith in order to prepare men for the ministry or work in the government.² But, beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing over the course of the twentieth century, the vast majority of these research universities abandoned …

Mormonism And The Limits Of Scripture, Vincent L. Wimbush

Mormon Studies Review

The complex, modern, US-founded but now international, social-cultural phenomenon categorized most popularly by insiders and outsiders as “Mormons,” the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” and/or simply by analysts as a provocative example of modern “religion,” is, as it should be, approached by the latter through many different disciplines and areas and fields of study and in myriad and overlapping ways. From the historical to the literary-rhetorical, from the scientific/social-scientific to the materialist, from the theological and psycho-social to the aesthetic, and from the comic-farcical to the political—whatever approach has been attempted in terms of examining historical and ongoing …

The Mobility Of Race: An Indigenous Feminist View From Aotearoa/New Zealand, Gina Colvin

Mormon Studies Review

This paper provides a commentary on how race and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints intersect in Aotearoa/New Zealand and will include an exploration of the mobility of race through an analysis of hermeneutics in the LDS Church. I will argue that while the interpretative lens of sacred texts, including the four standards works of the LDS Church, is shaped by and enforced by an American patriarchal leadership, the redemptive power of scripture will be lost to a population who can least afford another spiritual deprivation.

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

James E. Talmage And Scientific Consulting In Early Modern Utah, Gregory Seppi

BYU Studies

A devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, James E. Talmage (1862–1933) is perhaps best remembered today for his classic theological text Jesus the Christ.¹ He is also remembered by some for his extensive academic ties to Brigham Young Academy, the Latter-day Saints College, and the University of Utah.² Yet the image many Latter-day Saints have of Talmage sedately writing Jesus the Christ in the Salt Lake Temple has seemingly little in common with the trail-worn scientist covered in mining debris who emerges from his journals. Talmage spent much of his time from the …

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Grace, Legalism, And Mental Health Among The Latter-Day Saints, Daniel K. Judd, W. Justin Dyer

BYU Studies

Martin Luther (1483–1546), a central figure of the Protestant Reformation, is one of many who have experienced tension between the perceived necessity of their own good works and the grace of God in the process of salvation. Soon after the young Luther entered the monastery in preparation to become a priest, he began to experience the consequences of his legalistic beliefs. Reflecting on this experience later in life, he wrote:

The History Of The Book Of Mormon Text, Royal Skousen

BYU Studies

In this paper, I will provide an overview of the two latest published books in the Book of Mormon critical text project:

Part 5: The King James Quotations in the Book of Mormon

Part 6: Spelling in the Manuscripts and Editions

As the numbers indicate, these two books form a part of a much larger publishing project. The fundamental work in the project is The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, published in 2009 by Yale University Press and now in its fourth printing. Supporting this single volume of the text are the volumes of the critical text project …

The Strengths And Challenges Of Contemporary Marriages Of Members Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Dean M. Busby, David C. Dollahite

BYU Studies

Many people follow religious beliefs, principles, and practices because they believe these will lead to a higher quality of marriage and family life.¹ It is clear from the extant research that belonging to and practicing a religion can lead to improved outcomes that benefit couples and families. A large body of social science research indicates that religion has salutary influence on a number of personal and relational outcomes, including greater physical and mental health,² positive psychological outcomes in adolescence,³ better marital relationships and higher fidelity,⁴ transformation in marital relationships,⁵ reduced anxiety,⁶ marital stability,^{7 …}

The Rain On Alan Avenue, J. S. Absher

BYU Studies

How the Missionaries Came to Marion, Virginia, 1955

In that far year when I was a child (you were not yet), I saw how rain on long afternoons can chitter and chat, gurgling and chortling out the downspout, its sing-song tune boring a brat with nothing to do.

Gay Rights And The Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences, Tom Christofferson

BYU Studies

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

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.

Mormons, Musical Theater, And Belonging In America By Jake Johnson, Megan Sanborn Jones

BYU Studies

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 …

“He Denieth None That Come Unto Him” The Mormon-Jewish Relationship During The Holocaust And World War Ii, Erica Lauren Shaw

Online Theses and Dissertations

The Church of Latter-day Saints of Jesus Christ stumbled into fruition and global recognition after decades of oppression and resistance from its contemporaries. Despite its rocky beginnings, the Church’s membership remained largely friendly to anyone who expressed interest in their gospel. Among those whom they shared a positive relationship with were the Jewish people. The research presented here explored the history of that relationship from its doctrinal significance to its greatest test: the Holocaust and World War II.

Review: Ronit Y. Stahl. Enlisting Faith: How The Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion And State In Modern America. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 2017., Patrick Q. Mason

Mormon Studies Review

Pop quiz: What do Mormons, Eastern Orthodox, and Buddhists have in common? Answer: For much of the twentieth-century, members of all three groups were classified as “Protestants” by the United States military. Why? Because in the “Protestant-Catholic-Jew” schema of “tri-faith America” that dominated for many decades, if you weren’t Roman Catholic or Jewish, you must have been Protestant. American historian Ronit Stahl has elevated this and many other head-scratching bureaucratic idiosyncrasies into a readable and insightful analysis of how the military chaplaincy both reflected and shaped the dynamic relationship of religion and the state in twentieth-century America. Enlisting Faith is …

Review: Robin Scott Jensen And Brian M. Hauglid, Eds. The Joseph Smith Papers, Revelations And Translations, Volume 4: Book Of Abraham And Related Manuscripts. Salt Lake City: The Church Historian’S Press, 2018., Susanna Morrill

Mormon Studies Review

The staff of the Joseph Smith Papers have published the Book of Abraham and related documents as volume 4 of the “Revelations and Translations” series of the project. As with the other facsimile volumes of the project, it is a physically handsome, high quality production: durable, easy to use, and easy to read. The content of the volume is fascinating, obscure, and invitingly important for scholars of religion. The introduction ends with the statement, which captures the broader anxieties concerning its contents: “This volume does not . . . seek to assist readers in understanding the Book of Abraham narrative …

Review: James R. Swenson. In A Rugged Land: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, And The Three Mormon Towns Collaboration, 1953–1954. Salt Lake City: University Of Utah Press, 2018., Rachel Mcbride Lindsey

Mormon Studies Review

When Brigham Young surveyed the vista before him in 1847 and uttered “this is the place,” he meant that the wearied band of Latter-day Saints had finally arrived in Zion. More than a century later, those same words, simple but filled with divine promise, were seen on a neon cowboy at the Nevada state line and scribbled by a young Daniel Dixon as the first in his essay accompanying the Life magazine photo-essay, “Three Mormon Towns.” The year before the essay was printed, Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams pitched an idea to the editors at Life and were granted approval …

“Effusions Of An Enthusiastic Brain”, Jeremy Talmage

BYU Studies

[I] wanted to get Religion too,” reminisced the Latter-day Saint prophet Joseph Smith. “[I] wanted to feel & shout like the Rest but could feel nothing.”¹ A wide-eyed witness of the nineteenth-century religious revivals that enveloped western New York, Smith made this lament to a close acquaintance shortly before his death in 1844. Reflecting back on the religious excitement of his youth, he detailed how he longed for a spiritual manifestation like many others enjoyed but for whatever reason seemed unable to experience the evangelical enthusiasm he so deeply desired. As a fourteen-year-old adolescent, Smith had been torn among …