Digital Commons Network^™

The Power In Multiplying: Growth In New Religious Movements, Nicole Wrobel

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Starting in November of 2016, a documentary series aired on the original network A&E where it continues to capture the attention of thousands of viewers in America. Scientology: The Aftermath, starring the well-known King of Queens and Dancing with the Stars actress Leah Remini and former senior executive of the church of Scientology International and Sea Organization Mike Rinder, aim to reveal the "truth" that hides behind the church of Scientology. The show interviews ex-practitioners who claim their lives have been deeply impacted by the church and who want to assist in revealing the shocking stories of abuse and harassment …

Wise Or Foolish: Women In Mormon Biblical Narrative Art, Jennifer Champoux

BYU Studies

Visual imagery is an inescapable element of religion. Even those groups that generally avoid figural imagery, such as those in Judaism and Islam, have visual objects with religious significance.1 In fact, as David Morgan, professor of religious studies and art history at Duke University, has argued, it is often the religions that avoid figurative imagery that end up with the richest material culture.2 To some extent, this is true for Mormonism. Although Mormons believe art can beautify a space, visual art is not tied to actual ritual practice. Chapels, for example, where the sacrament ordinance is performed, are built with …

End Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Martin Harris Comes To Utah, 1870, Susan Easton Black, Larry C. Porter

BYU Studies

[The following is an excerpt from chapter 14 of the new biography Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon by Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter. This biography, published by BYU Studies, will be available in October 2018. For further information, see the advertisement on page 208 of this issue.]

Timing The Translation Of The Book Of Mormon: "Days [And Hours] Never To Be Forgotten", John W. Welch

BYU Studies

This paper aims to stimulate specific thinking about the intense and complex events during which the Book of Mormon was translated in 1829. Encouraged initially by Elder Neal A. Maxwell, and building on my chapter in the second edition of Opening the Heavens, this article strives to be as precise as possible about the timing of the events and progress of the Book of Mormon translation during the months and days it took place. In 1834, Oliver Cowdery wrote, “These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, …

The Power Of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy And Cosmology, Dan Belnap

BYU Studies

The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology By Jonathan A. Stapley

New York: Oxford University Press, 2018

Voice Of The Saints In Taiwan, Richard B. Stamps

BYU Studies

Voice of the Saints in Taiwan By Po Nien (Felipe) Chou and Mei Wah Sin (Petra) Chou

Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2017

Pioneer Women Of Arizona, Hannah Charlesworth

BYU Studies

Pioneer Women of Arizona, by Roberta Flake Clayton, Catherine H. Ellis, and David F. Boone, 2d ed. (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017)

Abinadi: He Came Among Them In Disguise, Neal Rappleye

BYU Studies

Abinadi: He Came among Them in Disguise, edited by Shon D. Hopkin (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2018)

Photographs Of The Dedication Of Pioneer Square In Salt Lake City, July 25, 1898, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Ronald L. Fox

BYU Studies

In July 1898, the Spanish-American War was raging and the people of the United States were remembering the Maine, a US ship that sank after an explosion in the Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898. Nevertheless, the upcoming fifty-first anniversary of the 1847 arrival of the Mormon pioneers in Utah was on the minds of Salt Lake City officials. This anniversary was celebrated off and on beginning in 1849; in the 1897 jubilee year, just a year earlier, the community had “pulled out all the stops.” As city officials considered what might be done in 1898, they focused their attention …

True And Faithful: Joseph Fielding Smith As Mormon Historian And Theologian, Reid L. Neilson, Scott D. Marianno

BYU Studies

Each year hundreds of thousands of visitors to Salt Lake City’s Temple Square make their way to the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While many of the museum’s exhibits have been rotated over the past three decades, the “Presidents of the Church” gallery, made of individual displays for each previous Church president, is a longstanding exhibit that has generally been refreshed only after a Mormon prophet has died and his artifacts have been added to the chronological display cases. The current museum exhibit commemorating President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) hangs on the east …

Approaching Completion: The Book Of Mormon Critical Text Project: A Review Of Royal Skousen's Analysis Of Textual Variants Of The Book Of Mormon And The History Of The Text Of The Book Of Mormon: Grammatical Variation, Grant Hardy

BYU Studies

Analysis of Textual Variants

The Old Testament's Moribund Condition: Still Critical, Brent A. Strawn

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

American Muslims In The Age Of President Trump, Amir Hussain

Theological Studies Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Johannine Christology Through The Lens Of Three Of Its Dialogues, Gaye Strathearn

Faculty Publications

In comparison with the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Gospel of John has a very different interpretive lens through which it answers the age-old question “Who is Jesus?” The Gospel itself identifies its purpose: “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). While many individuals in the Synoptic Gospels declare Jesus to be the Son of God, there are very few accounts of Jesus himself declaring so until the latter part of his ministry. In this respect, …

Let Us Reason Together: Essays In Honor Of The Life's Work Of Robert L. Millet, Austin A. Tracy

BYU Studies

J. Spencer Fluhman and Brent L. Top, eds., Let Us Reason Together: Essays in Honor of the Life’s Work of Robert L. Millet (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 2016)

Pressing Forward With The Book Of Abraham, Stephen O. Smoot

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

The Book of Abraham continues to attract scholarly attention. New findings in the fields of Egyptology, Near Eastern archaeology, and Mormon history have highlighted the complexity surrounding the origins of the Book of Abraham and its relationship to the Egyptian papyri that came into the possession of Joseph Smith in 1835. A new introductory volume on the Book of Abraham by John Gee, An Introduction to the Book of Abraham, is an excellent resource that may help laypersons and scholars alike navigate this rapidly developing area of study

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Semantics And The Study Of Religion, G. Scott Davis

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

This essay argues that the approach to meaning articulated by Donald Davidson supplies all the student of religion needs to know about this subject. By focusing on interpretation as understood by Davidson, we can understand, for example, the beliefs and practices of a people such as the Dogon of Mali. By adding to this the evidence of ethnography and history, students of religion can give a compelling account of change and adjudicate between competing analyses.

Intercultural And Interreligious Bonds In The Language Of Colors, Lucy Soucek

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the interfaith elements of the artwork of three south Asian visual artists, The Singh Twins, Siona Benjamin, and Arpana Caur. All coming from various religious backgrounds, living in multicultural societies, and navigating the borders and boundaries between different religious thought, these artists create meaningful artwork which explores what it means to live in a pluralistic society. All three artists invite viewers to think differently, formulate opinions, rethink assumptions, and spark associations. They use art as a way to ignite interfaith understanding, reaching broader audiences and asking us to question how we understand our neighbors and ourselves.

From Antagonists To Protagonists: Muslims On The Hollywood Screen, Brooke K. Gentry

Honors Theses

I investigate the depictions of Muslims in Hollywood film. Have the Muslim protagonists been reduced to antagonists? Are the depictions historically and culturally relevant? How can films psychologically impact viewers? What kinds of stereotypes pervade even the most innocuous of films? What context to these stereotypes rise out of? What impact do Hollywood images of Muslims have on the ideas, actions, and politics of the American public? How do non-Hollywood films portray Muslims, and what impact do these films have on viewers? This paper finds that Hollywood’s negative portrayal of Muslims is not an accident. It reflects the geopolitical atmosphere …

Advent Devotional Guide 2018, Belmont University

Advent Devotional Guides

No abstract provided.

The Memory Of The Temple And The Making Of The Rabbis, Avram R. Shannon

BYU Studies

Naftali S. Cohn. The Memory of the Temple and the Making of the Rabbis.

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.

"Ye Are No More Strangers And Foreigners": Theological And Economic Perspectives On The Lds Church And Immigration, Walker A. Wright

BYU Studies

While always a heated topic, immigration has once again taken center stage in political discourse across multiple countries in recent years. The controversial debate surrounding the Syrian refugee crisis was especially critical to the 2016 United States presidential election. In response to the crisis, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced its “I Was a Stranger” relief effort, encouraging members—and the women in particular—to seek out and assist refugees in their local communities. With this contentious political climate in mind, this paper will review the Church’s “I Was a Stranger” initiative as well as its position on immigration. …

The Council Of Fifty: What The Records Reveal About Mormon History, Alison Palmer

BYU Studies

Matthew J. Grow and R. Eric Smith, eds., The Council of Fifty: What the Records Reveal about Mormon History (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017)

The Development Of The Council On The Disposition Of The Tithes, David W. Smith

BYU Studies

On December 1, 2009, Presiding Bishop H. David Burton spoke to Brigham Young University students about the current opportunities and pressing challenges they would face throughout the world. He observed, “We all have to determine for ourselves if we—in mixed turbulent times like we are currently in—perceive the glass of water to be half full or half empty. I’m a half-full sort of guy. I propose that we are, indeed, living in the best of times.” He then shared one reason he was so full of optimism:

Let me give you a little perspective. Do you know what important event …

Photographs Of The Interior Of The Salt Lake Tabernacle, December 1905, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Ronald L. Fox

BYU Studies

The United States government’s war on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came to a sudden end with the issuance of the Manifesto in 1890. The cessation of the conflict produced a period of goodwill between Latter-day Saints and their neighbors in Utah and with politicians in Washington, D.C. However, the fragile truce began to show cracks in 1896 when Utah achieved statehood, and by 1900, with the election of B. H. Roberts to the U.S. Congress, the final vestiges of the armistice had all but disappeared. Four years later, in 1904, with the election of LDS Apostle …

Lengthening Our Stride: Globalization Of The Church, Jacob Rennaker

BYU Studies

Reid L. Nielson and Wayne D. Crosby, eds., Lengthening Our Stride: Globalization of the Church (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2018)

Canadian Mormons: History Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In Canada, Brian Champion

BYU Studies

Roy A. Prete and Carma T. Prete, eds., Canadian Mormons: History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017)

To Be Learned Is Good: Essays On Faith And Scholarship In Honor Of Richard Lyman Bushman, Hannah Charlesworth

BYU Studies

J. Spencer Fluhman, Kathleen Flake, and Jed Woodworth, eds., To Be Learned Is Good: Essays on Faith and Scholarship in Honor of Richard Lyman Bushman (Provo, Utah: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, 2017)