Religious Literacy Practices For Young Readers,
2022
Brigham Young University
Religious Literacy Practices For Young Readers, Eric D. Rackley, Rebekah Kay Strain
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Although much of our gospel knowledge depends upon our interactions with scripture, misconceptions about reading it persist. One of the most enduring is the illusion of comprehension in which young readers mistakenly believe that reading words is sufficient to understand ideas.[1] To understand the important insights embedded in scripture and other complex texts, “reading must go considerably beyond the words alone.”[2] Words are sketches of ideas—not ideas themselves—so no text, however descriptive or eloquent, can include all the information necessary to understand its most compelling truths. For young readers to take full advantage of scripture and have the truths of …
The Covenant Among Covenants The Abrahamic Covenant And Biblical Covenant Making,
2022
Brigham Young University
The Covenant Among Covenants The Abrahamic Covenant And Biblical Covenant Making, Shon D. Hopkin
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
As stated by one biblical scholar, “It is recognized by all serious students of the Bible that the covenant with Abraham is one of the important and determinative revelations of Scripture. It furnishes the key to the entire Old Testament.”[1] Many Christians believe that the Old Testament covenant was superseded with the coming of Christ. Joseph Smith, however, taught that God is always the same, that his plan of salvation does not change, and that his promises in ancient times remain in effect.[2] Thus, for Latter-day Saints, the Restoration of the gospel hinges on “the new and everlasting covenant” (Doctrine …
Nephi's Messiah,
2022
Brigham Young University
Nephi's Messiah, Tanner A. Barratt
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
The Book of Mormon powerfully testifies of Jesus Christ. He is mentioned every 1.7 verses and by scores of different names.[1] Among the many names by which Jesus is identified in sacred writings, the name by which we most commonly know him is Jesus Christ. The word Christ is Greek in origin and means anointed one. It is interesting to note that, just like the Greek word Christ, the Hebrew word Messiah is translated as anointed one. Even though these two titles have the same definition, they present themselves differently in the Book of Mormon.
Front Matter,
2022
Brigham Young University
Front Matter,
2022
Brigham Young University
End Matter,
2022
Brigham Young University
Rethinking The Rod Of Iron,
2022
Brigham Young University
Rethinking The Rod Of Iron, T. J. Uriona
BYU Studies
Near its beginning, the Book of Mormon relates the dream of an Israelite father and visionary prophet named Lehi. About 600 BCE, Lehi and his family “tarried in the wilderness,” having fled Jerusalem for a promised land, guided by the Lord (1 Ne. 8:2). In this dream, Lehi saw a symbolic scene with multiple elements, including a tree with desirable fruit and a river running near the tree. “And,” he said, “I beheld a rod of iron, and it extended along the bank of the river, and led to the tree” (1 Ne. 8:19). Lehi observed how people made their …
How The Book Of Mormon Reads Ancient Religious Texts,
2022
Brigham Young University
How The Book Of Mormon Reads Ancient Religious Texts, Kristian S. Heal, Zach Stevenson
BYU Studies
The Book of Mormon turned the Latter-day Saints purposefully toward ancient religious texts. Early converts connected the Book of Mormon with lost texts recorded in the Bible. The space left by these lost books could be filled by the Book of Mormon. But not by the Book of Mormon alone. There was room to spare, and with it, a growing desire not only to find lost scriptures that were known but also to restore lost scriptures that were until then unknown (see D&C 9:2). This fervor was centrifugal, compelling Joseph Smith and others to seek out and reveal ancient texts …
Life In Utah As An Apostate Plural Wife,
2022
Brigham Young University
Life In Utah As An Apostate Plural Wife, Markelle Jensen
AWE (A Woman’s Experience)
No abstract provided.
Review: Spencer W. Mcbride, Brent M. Rogers, And Keith A. Erekson, Eds. Contingent Citizens: Shifting Perceptions Of Latter-Day Saints In American Political Culture. Ithaca, Ny: Cornell University Press, 2020.,
2022
Brigham Young University
Review: Spencer W. Mcbride, Brent M. Rogers, And Keith A. Erekson, Eds. Contingent Citizens: Shifting Perceptions Of Latter-Day Saints In American Political Culture. Ithaca, Ny: Cornell University Press, 2020., R. Marie Griffith
Mormon Studies Review
There has been no shortage of books devoted to studying the intersections of religion and politics across US history. And the interest has cut across several scholarly fields: no more is religion the possession only or even predominantly of religious studies and anthropology, nor politics sequestered within the high and inward-looking walls of political science. Social history, a guild whose members once exuded a kind of deathly allergy to religion, has perhaps seen the greatest transformation; indeed, the field of history broadly speaking has experienced an unexpected gush of attention to religion and politics. Some of the historians new to …
Review: Steven C. Harper. First Vision: Memory And Mormon Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.,
2022
Brigham Young University
Review: Steven C. Harper. First Vision: Memory And Mormon Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019., Stephen C. Taysom
Mormon Studies Review
Steven C. Harper’s book First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins is, if nothing else, perfectly titled. The book is like none other of the dozens written over the years about what Latter-day Saints call “the first vision.” To this point, authors interested enough to take up the subject have done so out of a variety of motives, which in turn have predictably produced an equally various collection of writings. The most common motives, of course, were, and remain, the apologetic and critical (what used to be known as the “anti-Mormon”). Harper demonstrates, with admirable lightness of touch, the fundamental, categorical …
Review: Elisa Eastwood Pulido. The Spiritual Evolution Of Margarito Bautista: Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident, And Utopian Founder, 1878–1961. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.,
2022
Brigham Young University
Review: Elisa Eastwood Pulido. The Spiritual Evolution Of Margarito Bautista: Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident, And Utopian Founder, 1878–1961. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020., Susie S. Porter
Mormon Studies Review
Margarito Bautista was born in 1878 in Atlautla, Mexico, a small farming community tucked into the folds of the Popocatépetl volcano in the state of Mexico. Even today, the community remains small, with fewer than thirty thousand people in 2010. Bautista’s father was a farmer and respected community member, serving at one time as municipal president. Elisa Eastwood Pulido provides no occupation for his mother, whom she describes as “pure Nahua” (50). Margarito Bautista converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1901, moved to the Mormon colonies in Northern Mexico, and became a volunteer evangelizer. His …
Review: Patrick Q. Mason. Mormonism And Violence: The Battles Of Zion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.,
2022
Brigham Young University
Review: Patrick Q. Mason. Mormonism And Violence: The Battles Of Zion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019., David J. Howlett
Mormon Studies Review
John Krakauer’s 2003 best-seller, Under the Banner of Heaven, played upon a common narrative told in sections of American culture— a story that claimed that some religions are inherently violent. In Krakauer’s work, of course, the group under consideration was Mormonism, and his narrative was encapsulated in his pithy subtitle, “A Story of Violent Faith.”1 Patrick Mason’s new book fundamentally contradicts Krakauer’s salacious claim. Mason argues that all religious groups, including the Mormon tradition, contain “multiple and complex sources—scriptures, histories, myths, social networks, authority structures, and cosmologies that can be mobilized in the service of either violence or non-violence” (78). …
Review: Terryl Givens With Brian M. Hauglid. The Pearl Of Greatest Price: Mormonism’S Most Controversial Scripture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.,
2022
Brigham Young University
Review: Terryl Givens With Brian M. Hauglid. The Pearl Of Greatest Price: Mormonism’S Most Controversial Scripture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019., Jeffrey (Kapali) Lyon
Mormon Studies Review
If you are looking for a quick takeaway from this review, here it is: I have never read a better book about Mormon scripture, and maybe not about any scripture from any religious tradition. The book is meticulously researched, both critical and sympathetic, but never apologetic nor debunking. The author aims to understand, laying out the origins and textual history of the Pearl of Great Price and its significance, both in the development of Mormon theology and as a tool for understanding Joseph Smith’s prophetic vocation.
No Queers Here,
2022
Brigham Young University
No Queers Here, Kathryn Lofton
Mormon Studies Review
Taylor G. Petrey’s Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism uses a word that has an activist past and an electric capacity. This is a word also worn out by its bandying; it is a word perhaps nearing retirement. That word is queer. Tabernacles of Clay is not a book about queer life. It is not a book with any people who call themselves queer, or think within the traditions of queer political activism, or who articulate feelings of queer temporality, queer kinship, or queer emplacement. It is not a book written in a queer way or arguing …
Review: W. Paul Reeve, Project Manager And General Editor. Century Of Black Mormons. J. Willard Marriott Library, University Of Utah. Https://Exhibits .Lib.Utah.Edu/S/Century-Of-Black-Mormons/Page/Welcome.,
2022
Brigham Young University
Review: W. Paul Reeve, Project Manager And General Editor. Century Of Black Mormons. J. Willard Marriott Library, University Of Utah. Https://Exhibits .Lib.Utah.Edu/S/Century-Of-Black-Mormons/Page/Welcome., Lauren Cooper
Mormon Studies Review
W. Paul Reeve opens the statement of purpose on the Century of Black Mormons’s “About” page by capturing the mainstream media and pop culture commentators’ disbelief that a population of Black Mormons exists. In statements culled from sources during the 2012 US presidential election with Mitt Romney, a White Mormon, running against the reelection of Barack Obama, an African American Protestant, comedians describe Black Mormons as “mythical creatures” and news broadcasters speculate there may be “between 500 to 2,000.” In actuality, according to a 2009 Pew Research Study that Reeve references, the estimated Black Mormon population is between sixty thousand …
Moving Histories: On Mobility, Materiality, And Experience In Mormon Heritage,
2022
Brigham Young University
Moving Histories: On Mobility, Materiality, And Experience In Mormon Heritage, Simon Coleman
Mormon Studies Review
In her engaging account of the intersections of Mormon history, memory, and place across the American West, Sara Patterson often returns to a striking narrative—one that is well known within LDS Church circles. It describes the occasion in 1847 when Brigham Young is said to have looked out at the Salt Lake Valley and declared, “This is the place.” From one perspective, Young’s words—both description and prescription—could hardly have been more unequivocal. They came at the end of a difficult journey and signaled the burgeoning fulfilment of Young’s vision of a Mormon Zion. Nowadays, the spot where he is assumed …
This Holy Mess,
2022
Brigham Young University
This Holy Mess, Sharlee Mullins Glenn
BYU Studies
When we go on road trips as a family, we often play what we call “Deep Questions.” One person asks a probing question, and then the rest of us have to answer (“What is the bravest thing you’ve ever done?” “If you could spend one hour with any historical figure, who would it be?” and so on). On one such occasion, someone asked: “What is your greatest fear?”
The River Conception's Mouth,
2022
Brigham Young University
The River Conception's Mouth, David Thacker
BYU Studies
Under her linea nigra the abdominals have parted, / and the couple has finally neared the river’s estuary, / a lowland of swirling impatience and rising pain.
Prophets, Pagans, And Papyri,
2022
Brigham Young University
Prophets, Pagans, And Papyri, Stephen O. Smoot, Kerry Muhlestein
BYU Studies
Egypt has a long history of exchange and contact with a variety of people. Ancient people of diverse ethnic backgrounds made their way into Egypt—whether as war captives, mercenaries, merchants, invading armies, members of diplomatic parties, refugees, or simple migrants—bringing with them their language and culture. One such group was the ancient Jews, whose enslavement at the hands of “a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph” (Ex. 1:8), and exodus under the prophetic leadership of Moses may be the best-remembered incident of a Hebrew presence in Egypt, but it was not the only one.
