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Nauvoo & Hancock County, Illinois: A Guide To Family History And Historical Sources, Gerrit Van Dyk

BYU Studies

Nauvoo & Hancock County, Illinois: A Guide to Family History and Historical Sources, by Kip Sperry. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, 2014.

Mormon Studies Review Volume 1, Mormon Studies Review

Mormon Studies Review

No abstract provided.

Mormon Studies In The Academy: A Conversation Between Ann Taves And Spencer Fluhman, Mormon Studies Review

Mormon Studies Review

No abstract provided.

Prophets Rendering Christlike Service: Looking To Peter As An Example, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This chapter (from the 2014 book “An Eye of Faith,” a festschrift for Dr. Richard O. Cowan, published by the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center) shares examples of prophetic service from Peter the Apostle to each of the prophets of the Restoration—from Joseph Smith, Jr. to Thomas S. Monson. Many of the stories included about modern prophets are not widely known.

Banishing The Cross: The Emergence Of A Mormon Taboo, Michael G. Reed, Alonzo L. Gaskill

BYU Studies

This first book by Michael G. Reed is a revamp of his 2009 master's thesis, "The Development of the LDS Church's Attitude toward the Cross" (California State University, Sacramento). In this current work, Reed beefs up his text with some additional sources and graphics, and he adds a chapter on the cross as a symbol in the Strangite and Community of Christ (RLDS) traditions.

The book's aim is to delineate the place of the cross as a symbol in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in the two aforementioned Restoration churches, though the book largely focuses on …

Jacob's Textual Legacy, John Hilton Iii

Faculty Publications

Today, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints know what texts are considered authoritative—namely, the standard works. As members, we recognize a formal process for canonization; for example, at the Saturday afternoon session of general conference in April 1976, President N. Eldon Tanner announced that the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve had approved two revelations for inclusion in the Pearl of Great Price and called for a sustaining vote. This concept of canonization in the restored church has echoes from earlier Christian practices and councils.

This Is The Way, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

The limited objective of this paper is to clarify some of the key terminology used by Book of Mormon writers. In particular, I will show that they used such terms as gospel, doctrine, way, and word interchangeably, but that the plan of salvation should be distinguished from these. It is probably inevitable that Latter-day Saint scholars will bring assumptions from their academic studies of the Bible and Christian theology to their study of the Book of Mormon. While the Book of Mormon obviously has a great deal in common with the Bible, I am increasingly convinced that Book of Mormon …

The Heresy Of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture's Fascination With Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding Of Early Christianity, Andreas J. Köstenberger, Michael J. Kruger, Noel B. Reynolds

BYU Studies

Readers interested in the ongoing debate over the reliability of the New Testament texts will find this new book to be an excellent contribution to the defense of those texts. Authors Kostenberger and Kruger are both allied personally and professionally with the contemporary movement that defends the inerrancy of scripture. Andreas J. Kostenberger is Professor of New Testament and Greek and director of PhD and ThM studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He is the editor of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society and is the author of books and articles on biblical texts …

Textual Similarities In The Words Of Abinadi And Alma's Counsel To Corianton, John Hilton Iii

BYU Studies

John Hilton examines textual similarities between two texts found in the Book of Mormon: the words of Abinadi in Mosiah 12–17 and the words of Alma the Younger in Alma 39–42. Hilton used both human-based and computer-based techniques to search for textual matches.

Clothed With Salvation: The Garden, The Veil, Tabitha, And Christ, Dan Belnap, Daniel Belnap

Faculty Publications

Sandwiched between the account of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9 and Peter’s vision of the Gentiles in Acts 10 is the story of the raising of Tabitha. While staying in the town of Lydda, Peter, the presiding disciple of Christ, is approached by two individuals from the neighboring city of Joppa with the request that he come and attend to the then-deceased Tabitha. When he gets there, he is met by widows weeping and wailing over Tabitha’s departure. We know practically nothing of Tabitha except that she is a believer and a woman “full of good works and almsdeeds” (Acts …

Now You See It, Now You Don't: Biblical Perspectives On The Relationship Between Magic And Religion, Shawna Dolansky, David A. Allred

BYU Studies

Defining terms is a foundational task in academic studies, and a clear example of its importance is in the ongoing debates on the relationship between magic and religion. Because of the various ways in which magic has been defined over time and because of the negative connotations that can accompany some definitions, explorations of magic and religion are rife with misunderstanding and ethnocentrism, most famously dating back to the milieu of cultural evolution that characterized nineteenth-century anthropology, especially in the works of Edward B. Taylor and James G. Frazer. However, questions about the relationship between magic and religion go back …

The Chicago Experiment: Finding The Voice And Charting The Course Of Religious Education In The Church, Casey P. Griffiths

BYU Studies

In many professions, Latter-day Saints often struggle to find harmony between their religion and their career. This has been especially true in academia, in most of its diverse disciplines. These challenges were particularly fierce when the Church began developing its own corps of professional religious educators to teach and lead in the newly founded seminary and institute programs of the early twentieth century. In the early 1930s, religious educators in the Church developed a close relationship with the School of Divinity at the University of Chicago. Eleven young Latter-day Saint scholars earned advanced degrees at the school at the Church's …

The Five Books Of Moses: A Translation With Commentary, Roger G. Baker, Robert Alter

BYU Studies

There are Bibles aplenty in our world, hundreds if Amazon.com is any guide. In late 2009, Amazon listed over one thousand books on its Bible hit list that have not even been released yet. Over one thousand new books of the roughly 450,000 listed Bible hits portend heavy reading this year for those who try to keep up with things biblical. A beneficial search in this swim through the Amazon of books is for new Bible translations, which now seem plentiful, although there were very few in the years after King James. An almost three-century gap separates the King James …

Egyptian Papyri And The Book Of Abraham: Some Questions And Answers, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

In 1835 Joseph Smith began translating some ancient Egyptian papyri that he had obtained from an exhibitor passing through Kirtland, Ohio. He soon announced, “Much to our joy [we] found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham.” While we do not know how much the Prophet translated, we do know that some of his translation was published in serial form and eventually canonized as the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. For nearly one hundred years, it was thought that all these papyri had eventually made their way to the Wood Museum in Chicago, …

Jesus And The Eyewitnesses: The Gospels As Eyewitness Testimony, Richard Bauckham, Thomas A. Wayment

BYU Studies

Undoubtedly, Professor Richard Bauckham's most recent contribution will add life to an already thriving scholarly discussion on the historical foundations of the New Testament Gospels, particularly the Synoptic Gospels--Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Like others who have contributed to this field of study, Bauckham (professor of New Testament studies at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland) sets out to describe the sources used by the authors of the canonical Gospels, and, in doing so, provides a viable theory that has been met by exuberant praise and will certainly encounter significant rebuttals. In his own words, he states:

It is the contention …

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Encircling Astronomy And The Egyptians: An Approach To Abraham 3, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Abraham 3 is one of the most enigmatic sections of the Pearl of Great Price. Teacher and student together sense there is something more to the text than the meaning they are drawing out of it. Each thorough exploration gently nudges another layer of understanding from the text, but we always feel we have unraveled only the smallest portion of what it has to offer. Though I do not pretend to have a great key to unlock this revelation, I believe there are some apperceptive principles that cast light on Abraham's night vision.

Christ's Interpretation Of Isaiah's 52'S "My Servant" In 3 Nephi, Gaye Strathearn, Jacob Moody

Faculty Publications

When the Savior appeared to the “more righteous” of the Nephites and Lamanites, he used many teachings that modern readers readily recognize from the Old and New Testaments. Some critics have suggested that Joseph Smith merely lifted these teachings from his copy of the Bible.1 While some of these quotations are very similar to the accounts in the King James Bible, there are some significant differences that strongly suggest that the process was more complex and nuanced than these critics allow.

Bible Gateway And The New Testament Gateway: Two Biblical Websites, Ryan Combs

BYU Studies

BibleGateway.com is a website designed for online study and access of the scriptures. Unlike other sites that may have only one version of the Bible in one language, BibleGateway boasts thirty-five different languages and twenty-one versions of the Bible in English. Among the oldest are Jerome’s Vulgate (AD 405) in Latin, the Wycliffe New Testament (1382) in English, the Luther Bible (1545) in German, and the King James Bible (1611) in English. There are also many modern versions, such as the New International Version and modern translations in Chinese, Arabic, and Creole. For those who would prefer to listen to …

One Continuous Flow: Revelations Surrounding The New Translation, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

We often underestimate both the complexity and continuity of Joseph Smith's revelatory life. His visions rolled, he said, "like an overflowing surge before [his] mind." Now that they have been compartmentalized into different sections, chapters, and books, we tend to compartmentalize them in our minds. Such a practice, however, limits our ability to see how powerful and continuous this "overflowing surge" really was.

Before Jeremiah Was: Divine Election In The Ancient Near East, Dana M. Pike

Faculty Publications

FRAGMENTS OF GOSPEL TRUTHS are often detected by Latter-day Saint scholars studying ancient texts, especially texts from the ancient Near East. This essay focuses on one example of this phenomenon. Divine election—the academic designation for the choosing of people by deity for position and opportunity in mortal life—is a claim that is well attested in ancient Near Eastern texts, including the Hebrew Bible.¹ Latter-day Saints correlate certain aspects of this concept with premortal foreordination and are familiar with a few key biblical passages, such as Jeremiah 1:5, that feature divine election. However, many Latter-day Saints are less familiar with the …

Jesus, The Great Shepherd-King, Dana M. Pike

Faculty Publications

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters” (Psalm 23:1–2). So begins one of the most beloved psalms and best-known biblical passages mentioning a shepherd. Shepherd imagery is utilized in scripture to depict three important aspects of Jesus’s identity and mission: His roles as Savior, King, and Jehovah, the God of Israel. Of these three, His role as compassionate Savior, devoted to protecting and saving the flock of God, is the aspect of shepherd symbolism that typically comes to mind. Less well known, …

Approaching Understandings In The Book Of Abraham, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

The Book of Abraham is replete with important and rich doctrines for Latter-day Saints. The existence of papyri connected with the Book of Abraham furthers interest in this volume of scripture. While much research has been conducted into the doctrines and also the origins of the Book of Abraham, clearly much more remains to be done.

Insights Available As We Approach The Original Text, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

What excites me most about Royal Skousen's Analysis of Textual Variants,Part One: 1 Nephi 1 2 Nephi 10 (hereafter Analysis) is what it says about Latter-day Saints' commitment to the scriptures in general and to the Book of Mormon specifically. This volume, like others in the series published to date, bespeaks our desire to know, as accurately as possible, what the text actually says. We understand that even those with the best intentions sometimes introduce mistakes into the most sacred and important texts. Skousen demonstrates that he and others value the Book of Mormon so much that meticulous and intense …

Joseph Smith And The Past, John W. Welch

BYU Studies

My thoughts on Joseph Smith’s interest in past worlds cluster into three sections. The first deals with the challenge of evaluating and assessing Joseph Smith’s recoveries of texts or views from past worlds or civilizations. The second develops a list of ways in which the past functioned in Joseph Smith’s process of continuing revelation. The third focuses on the dynamic link between the past and the present in Joseph Smith’s concept of priesthood authority and its restoration.

Behold I, Kent P. Jackson

BYU Studies

On two occasions while he worked on his New Translation of Genesis in 1830, the Prophet Joseph Smith dictated to his scribe Oliver Cowdery a word combination that in English is awkward and ungrammatical, though in the Hebrew it is not: "Behold I." The first occurrence reads, "Behold I I am the Lord God Almighty." The second reads, "Behold I send me." Both passages are in the Book of Moses in the Pear of Great Price, but "Behold I" is not found in either of those passages today because, after the time of Joseph Smith, each was edited out of …

The Curse Of Ham: Race And Slavery In Early Judaism, Christianity, And Islam By David M. Goldenberg And Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification Of American Slavery By Stephen R. Haynes, Stirling Adams

BYU Studies

David M. Goldenbert. The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Stephen R. Haynes. Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

The Book Of Breathings In Its Place, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Michael D. Rhodes's publication on the Hor Book of Breathings is an unusual book in many ways. It is a scholarly Egyptological work, dealing with an understudied type of text from an understudied era of Egyptian history, appearing in the midst of a series that has been dedicated to the exploration of a book considered to be scripture by the Latter-day Saints. Additionally, it deals with what many have incorrectly considered to be a text that can be used to test the revelatory ability of the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.

Prelude To The Pearl: Sweeping Events Leading To The Discovery Of The Joseph Smith Papyri, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

In a general presentation, Elder John A. Widtsoe of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that "throughout all the ages of history the hand of God has overruled the actions of mankind, that nothing is done except as the Lord may use it for the accomplishment of his mighty purposes. The things accomplished by humanity become in the end God's accomplishments, as he makes use of them in working out his infinite purposes. Even the great movements of nations and armies often serve to accomplish the workings of the Lord, such as when the empire of Assyria rose to …

The Marriage Of Adam And Eve: An Ancient Covenant, Roseann Benson

Theses and Dissertations

The metaphorical marriage, as described by the Old Testament prophets beginning with Hosea, symbolized the relationship of God the bridegroom, to israel his bride. This covenant relationship between God and Israel also symbolized the relationship God ordained between husband and wife. Literary structures, ritual patterns, and the Hebrew word which means "know" are common to ancient Near Eastern treaties and Old Testament covenants; most importantly, the marriage covenant. The marriage covenant is under the umbrella of previous covenants which a man and woman have entered into as part of the house of Israel. The terms "help meet" and "ruler" are …

Captain Moroni's Wartime Strategies: An Application For The Spiritual Battles Of Our Day, Richard J. Mcclendon

Faculty Publications

As Mormon abridged the Nephite record he included what he deemed most relevant for latter-day Israel including stories of war. The so-called war chapters provide a rich resource of modern-day spiritual applications for teachers and students of the gospel (see Alma 43-62). One way to apply these chapters is to draw a parallel between the physical and the spiritual between Moroni's physical battles on the field and the spiritual battles that we face in our own lives today. To be more specific we might ask these questions: (1) What strategies did Captain Moroni use to prepare and protect himself and …