Religious Education Commons^™

It’S Not The End Of The World; It’S Just The Apocalypse: The Book Of Revelation In The Book Of Mormon, Nicholas J. Frederick, Joseph M. Spencer

BYU Studies

Among the Book of Mormon’s most remarkable characteristics is its consistent interaction with the Bible. The Bible haunts this book, showing up in subtle allusions and type scenes as well as direct quotations both short and long. Further, the Book of Mormon explicitly reflects on the Bible’s historical origins, canonical shape, and scriptural destiny. As has long been recognized, the Book of Mormon’s most sustained interest is in the book of Isaiah. But at least one other biblical focus deserves detailed notice because it has a place of some privilege in the Book of Mormon: the book of Revelation. Indeed, …

Jesus And The Torah In Matthew Beyond Replacement Theology, Jordan Lavender

BYU Studies

The book of Matthew is a first-century Jewish text that reflects the debates and concerns of Second Temple Judaism, a period of Jewish religious practice lasting from the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in the sixth century BC to its destruction by Roman forces in AD 70. The Gospel of Matthew’s position on the observance of the Torah, or Jewish law, has been the subject of scholarly debate, with some claiming that Matthew advocates for the observance of Jewish law and others arguing that the Gospel proposes abandoning the observance of Jewish law. This paper follows the scholars in the …

Lessons We Can Learn From The Mountain Meadows Massacre, Richard E. Turley Jr.

BYU Studies

The Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857 has been called the worst incident in Utah, Latter-day Saint, and northwest Arkansas history. I don’t remember the first time I heard about it, but I coauthored my first publication about the atrocity more than thirty years ago, an article on the subject published in a multivolume encyclopedia set issued by Macmillan Publishing Company of New York in 1992.

Ten Views On The Falling Away, John Gee

BYU Studies

Latter-day Saints have long known about the falling away or Apostasy of Christianity from the Church established by Jesus Christ. The two terms both come from 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Falling away is the expression used by the King James translators to render the Greek word apostasia, which came into English as a loan word: apostasy. The terms are thus synonyms for the same thing. The term apostasia was a later form of the classical term apostasis and a more intense form of the term stasis, all of which mean “dissension,” “revolt,” or “rebellion.” The Septuagint uses both the …

Empty Spaces, Jolyn Brown

BYU Studies

Sometimes my children slept in his place.

Lines For The Forgotten Familiar Living With Loss: My Spouse To Alzheimer’S, Dixie L. Partridge

BYU Studies

Tight as a bulb, I wait in the dark,

wanting only the dark. But I’ve dreamed

the scent of sage, the smell of plowed soil,

a movement of wildflowers coming and going.

Fall Semester, Large Midwestern University, Kevin Klein

BYU Studies

Across acres of parking lots we walk

in thick silence, the first snow

this year, the first ever to stick

Lehi Tries To Explain, John Alba Cutler

BYU Studies

How the liquid branches of that burning tree

whipped upward as if trying to shake

themselves free of the nothing

they consumed, as if they remembered

or anticipated spirits shucking

off bodies, finding a lighter form

Like A Fiery Meteor: The Life Of Joseph F. Smith By Stephen C. Taysom, Matthew B. Christensen

BYU Studies

Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith by Stephen C. Taysom dives into the extraordinary life of Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Taysom expertly navigates the complexities of Smith’s life, offering readers a comprehensive and insightful biography of this important Church leader.

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Anti-Nephi-Lehi Mothers: What They Taught Their Stripling Sons, Julie A.P. Frederick

BYU Studies

When I first saw this shirt (see fig. 1), I was immediately taken with the contrast of the shirtless warriors in bodybuilder-type poses and the claim that these men with six-packs and bulging muscles were “momma’s boys.”1 I have always loved a clever juxtaposition, and this one was so delightful that I remember it from years ago. I was a student walking down the main hallway of Orem High School, and I actually stopped in the middle of the hallway to stare at it, then continued down the hall laughing to myself. What made the shirt even more wonderful was …

Temple Marriages Are Less Likely To End In Divorce: Insights From The B. H. Roberts 2023 Current And Former Latter-Day Saint Survey, Stephen Cranney, Joshua Coates

BYU Studies

It is a commonly held truism that temple marriages are less likely to end in divorce. But is it true? How do we know? The fact is that this popular belief is primarily based on surveys that are now forty to fifty years old. A popular statistic of temple marriages having a 6% divorce rate is cited by the Gospel Topics essay on “Temple Marriage,” which in turn cites an article from the Los Angeles Times. However, the Times article came from a 1985 Church study that used 1981 data, making this 6% number more than forty years out …

What Jesus Didn’T Do: The Discipled Pursuit Of Less, Greg Mckeown

BYU Studies

The soft, muted lighting reflected off wooden pews in a local church building, casting a glow on the faces of leaders gathered for a stake meeting. Among those on the stand was the young bishop of the Sixth-Seventh Ward in the Temple View Stake. Tall, with a commanding presence, he was known for his dedication, but tonight, he felt restless. He had promised to visit an older ward member in the hospital right after this stake meeting was over. As the meeting progressed, he felt a strong impression to leave the meeting and rush to the hospital. The feeling became …

Sariah’S Sons, Rachel Terry

BYU Studies

And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them. 1 Nephi 2:12

This poem was a finalist in the 2024 BYU Studies Poetry Contest.

Ward Choir, John Alba Cutler

BYU Studies

We brought no gold to make an offering, no goat, no lamb, no blood on the lintel— only voices.

Review: A Word In Season: Isaiah’S Reception In The Book Of Mormon By Joseph M. Spencer, Joshua M. Sears

BYU Studies

This groundbreaking study by Joseph Spencer, who teaches in Religious Education at Brigham Young University, invites both Latter-day Saints and those outside our faith to consider what the Book of Mormon has to say about the relevancy of prophecy and scripture in our modern world.

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Parental Influence On Adolescent Perfectionism, Jenet Erickson, Olivia Forsberg, Mckenna Schmidt

BYU Studies

I (primary author) will never forget a poignant moment in the mother’s lounge at church when our first child was about nine months old. Two other mothers with younger babies were in the lounge at the same time, and we talked as our babies nursed, then played. As I watched the two younger children crawl around, I became acutely aware that our daughter, who had not yet started to crawl, was clearly behind these other children. A panicky feeling overtook me as I wrestled with what it meant to me that these children appeared to be ahead of mine. I …

Perfectionism’S Influence On Adolescent Mental Health, Mark D. Ogletree

BYU Studies

Years ago, I was sitting in my counseling practice with a sixteen-year- old young man. He was a great teenager with many positive qualities. However, on this particular summer day, he came in a somber mood. I asked him what was bothering him. He began to share some of his problems with me. In my opinion, none were out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, I could see his lips begin to quiver, and then he broke down in tears. When he could compose himself, he uttered, “I know that God hates me.” And with that declaration, I knew that we had …

Healing From Toxic Perfectionism, Debra Theobald Mcclendon

BYU Studies

Perfect is the enemy of good.” This phrase is derived from a French proverb, yet it is most often attributed to the famous French writer Voltaire. It observes that those striving for perfection are their own worst enemies.1 Indeed, perfectionism is overly demanding of those who struggle with it. With its irrational and impossible demands, perfectionism can cause anxiety, create high levels of distress that inhibit learning and performance, damage relationships, and diminish the quality of life for otherwise highly competent and dedicated individuals. Perfectionism can be the main problem that leads someone to seek therapeutic services from a mental …