Religious Education Commons^™

"With The Voice Together Shall They Sing", Laurence P. Hemming

BYU Studies

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) believe that in their temples, as they make covenants with God and participate in worship, they are restoring ancient practices that were lost over the centuries.

Mormons have participated with people of other religions in the scholarly study of the meaning and effect of temples in history and in modern worship. This article by Laurence Hemming was first presented at Brigham Young University in September 2009 as part of the Vulgate seminar.

Laurence Hemming, a British Catholic scholar and theologian, looks back to the ancient Temple of Jerusalem to …

Diversity In Nineteenth-Century St. Louis, Robert D. Palmer, Rachel Cope

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

The Four Discourses Of Mormonism, Joseph M. Spencer

BYU Studies

Alain Badiou, an important French philosopher, used a theoretical model of discourses to analyze the epistles of Saint Paul. Joseph Spencer applies Badiou's reading of Paul to Mormonism to answer the question, "What does it mean to be Mormon?"

Badiou viewed Greek and Jewish thought as a closed circle—Hellenistic discourse as a totalizing universalism, and Jewish discourse as an exception to Greek universalism based on "the prophetic sign, the miracle, [and] election." Paul's apostolic discourse broke free from this closed circle, for he was concerned with faith, or fidelity, to a particular event, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Spencer identifies …

"And Gladly Wolde He Lerne And Gladly Teche", Marilyn Bushman-Carlton

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

By What Authority? The Vital Questions Of Religious Authority In Christianity, Alonzo L. Gaskill, Robert L. Millet

BYU Studies

It appears that I have stumbled upon the answer to Juliet's timeless question, "What's in a name?" (Romeo and Juliet, act 2, scene 2). While a rose, by any other name, may have smelled as sweet to Juliet, the name of a book can make a significant difference for a reader.

By What Authority? is a compilation of papers delivered at a 2006 Brigham Young University conference on religious authority. The subtitle of the book (The Vital Questions of Religious Authority in Christianity) and the preface (authored by Robert L. Millet) imply that the text is …

Bountiful Harvest: Essays In Honor Of S. Kent Brown, Andrew C. Skinner, D. Morgan Davis, Carl Griffin

Maxwell Institute Publications

Over the course of his forty-year career, S. Kent Brown, professor of religious studies, has taught and inspired thousands of students at Brigham Young University and has produced over one hundred publications and several films in the fields of early Christian, Near Eastern, and Mormon studies. Twenty-four scholars, including Leslie S. B. MacCoull, Robert Millett, and Jacob Neusner, have contributed articles to this volume in honor of Brown. Essay topics include archaeology, biblical studies, Coptic studies, early Christian studies, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, Mormon studies, and Quran studies. In addition to these pieces, the book includes a bibliography of works …

Worlds Come And Pass Away: Evolution Of Stars And Planets In The Pearl Of Great Price?, Hollis R. Johnson

BYU Studies

In a revelation given to Joseph Smith and recorded in the book of Moses, we find the statement that "worlds" come into existence, live for a time, and pass away (or, at least, pass into a different state). How does this statement accord with the astronomical knowledge of Joseph Smith's day?

Emeritus professor of astronomy Hollis Johnson briefly recounts the history of astronomy, from ancient days, when the earth was deemed the center of creation, to the present, when astronomers are discovering earthlike planets orbiting distant stars. Johnson also reviews the life cycle of stars and how our knowledge of …

A Trick Of Light, Kim Hancock

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

How Country Music Can Improve Your Marriage, Greg Hansen

BYU Studies

This light-hearted personal essay describes one man's "quest to become the Perfect Husband, the Ultimate Man, the Guy My Wife Dreams Of." Greg Hansen, a professional musician, has discovered one secret weapon: country music. "Before becoming the Highly Improved Guy I am today, I would come home after a long day in the recording studio, ready to de-stress and download, my full ration of words completely used up for the day. My wife would want to talk, but I just wanted the remote. Now, because I have memorized so many country songs on the way home, I always have the …

"A Mother There": A Survey Of Historical Teachings About Mother In Heaven, David L. Paulsen, Martin Pulido

BYU Studies

Since the 1840s, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have taught that in addition to a Father in Heaven, we have a Mother in Heaven. This cherished doctrine has been an important, although relatively obscure, part of the Latter-day Saint understanding of the premortal origins and divine nature of humankind. The authors, a professor and a student of philosophy at Brigham Young University, present historical statements by Mormon leaders about Mother in Heaven. Contrary to criticism in some quarters, Church leaders have not relegated this deity to a confined role. Statements from the late 1840s …

"The Testimony Of Men": William E. Mclellin And The Book Of Mormon Witnesses, Mitchell K. Schaefer

BYU Studies

William E. McLellin (1806-1883) was an early Mormon apostle who later left the church. In his later years he questioned the authority of founder Joseph Smith, but he always said he believed that the Book of Mormon was truly the word of God. In 1871 he wrote a notebook in which he recorded his contacts with men who had filled special roles as Book of Mormon witnesses in 1829. McLellin described his 1833 interview of Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, his circa-1850 visit with Martin Harris, his 1869 visit with John Whitmer, and a report of an 1833 event involving …

Temple Elements In Ancient Religious Communities, Brent J. Schmidt

BYU Studies

The idea of Zion or utopia has fascinated the human race since ancient times. This topic has special meaning to Mormons, since latter-day scripture revealed to Joseph Smith is replete with references to building Zion. What, then, can Latter-day Saints learn from attempts by other groups? One thing we learn, writes Brent Schmidt, is that certain characteristics appeared in some successful ancient communities, characteristics that invoke the temple as known in the Bible and in Latter-day Saint use.

Temple teachings were known and widely dispersed throughout antiquity as a means of forming good communities within religious groups. Indeed, temple themes …

The Search For Mormon Literary Quality: Bound On Earth, Rift, Long After Dark, And The Best Of Mormonism 2009, Jack Harrell

BYU Studies

For a hundred years or more, Latter-day Saints have been writing works of literary quality. We have had among us fine poets and novelists, playwrights and essayists, and, more recently, a few serious filmmakers. I'm not the only one who knows this secret. For three decades, students have taken Mormon literature courses at BYU, reading novels, poems, and plays virtually unknown to their parents and peers. I was one of those students in the early 1990s. It is difficult to see the effects this educational movement has had on LDS culture when visiting a Mormon bookstore today. But for me …

Muhammad: Prophet Of God, Thora Qaddumi, Daniel C. Peterson

BYU Studies

Islamic studies scholar Daniel C. Peterson has written a small book that speaks volumes about the man who, in about the year AD 610, while meditating in a cave near Mecca in Arabia, received a prophetic call that led to the establishment of a religion that today is claimed by almost a quarter of the world's inhabitants. It adds to the growing body of research by Peterson and other Latter-day Saint scholars that strengthens the Church's role as a voice of reason in an area rife with misunderstandings and ignorance--the Islamic world.

Although written from a strongly academic and scholarly …

God And Sex: What The Bible Really Says, Michael Coogan, Eric A. Eliason

BYU Studies

Once, while serving as a military chaplain, I attended a training event in Colorado Springs. There we toured the world headquarters of the Evangelical "Focus on the Family" ministry. Our friendly guide explained to us that their organization existed to promote the "biblical model" of the family in the modern world. A cheeky question popped into to my mind: "By 'biblical model' do you mean the polygamy practiced in the Old Testament, or the celibacy encouraged in the New Testament?" But I held my tongue, as I wanted to be a polite guest. But since this event, I have often …

Days Never To Be Forgotten: Oliver Cowdery, Rachel Ozanne, Alexander L. Baugh

BYU Studies

Days Never to Be Forgotten presents the fruits of the 2006 BYU Church History Symposium on the life and work of Oliver Cowdery in honor of the two hundredth anniversary of his birth. Eleven scholars of Mormon history contributed essays about various aspects of Cowdery's life and involvement in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ultimately, the contributors have two goals: to honor Cowdery's memory and to inform believers who may not be aware of Cowdery's importance in the founding of the Church.

This book gives a good sense of Cowdery's extensive presence and activities in the earliest …

When The Saints Came Marching In: A History Of The Latter-Day Saints In St. Louis, Thomas L. Farmer, Fred E. Woods, Susan E. Black

BYU Studies

Most of our histories about Mormons in Missouri speak of dramatic events in the 1830s in the western region of the state. Congratulations to Fred Woods and Thomas Farmer for writing a history of the Latter-day Saints in St. Louis. Woods, a professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU, and Farmer, a lifetime St. Louis resident, wrote of the LDS presence in St. Louis beginning with early missionaries in 1831 and ending with the St. Louis Stake jubilee in 2008. This book is essential reading for scholars of Mormonism seeking to understand the experience of the Latter-day Saints in …

Utopian Communities Of The Ancient World, Brent J. Schmidt, John W. Welch

BYU Studies

It is often said, and not only by classicists, that in order to understand the modern world a person must learn to understand the ancient world. Fascination with antiquity has not diminished in the digital postmodern age, perhaps because people are wondering more and more what life is really all about and what chance there might now be in the age of instant worldwide communication and interdependent global economies to achieve a truly cooperative state of affairs among all peoples of the earth.

Into this picture comes the work of Brent Schmidt on the use of covenantal rituals and practices …

Introduction: Practices, Faith, And Pedagogy In "Teaching And Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith And Learning", David I. Smith, James K.A. Smith

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

No abstract provided.