Digital Commons Network^™

Damascus Road Or Emmaus Road?: Conversion, Nurtutre Or Both?, Edyta Jankiewicz

Faculty Publications

As outlined previously, the Scriptures appear to portray a tension between, on the one hand, the need for adults to nurture the faith of children and, on the other hand, the need for the new birth of conversion. Thus, while adults are encouraged to create an environment that facilitates optimal spiritual development, the Scriptures do not suggest that optimal spiritual nurture negates the need for conversion. However, while the Scriptures provide counsel on the how of spiritual nurture, they do not address the subject of how those who are nurtured in faith experience conversion. Thus, Adventist understandings of children’s faith …

The Influence Of Religion On The Criminal Behavior Of Emerging Adults, Christopher Salvatore, Gabriel Rubin

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Recent generations of young adults are experiencing a new life course stage: emerging adulthood. During this ‘new’ stage of the life course, traditional social bonds and turning points may not be present, may be delayed, or may not operate in the same manner as they have for prior generations. One such bond, religion, is examined here. Focusing on the United States, emerging adulthood is investigated as a distinct stage of the life course. The criminality of emerging adults is presented, a theoretical examination of the relationship between religion and crime is provided, the role of religion in emerging adults’ lives …

A Plain And Precious Part Restored: An Essay Based On Matthew Bates's The Birth Of The Trinity: Jesus, God, And Spirit In New Testament And Early Christian Interpretations Of The Old Testament, Paul Y. Hoskisson

BYU Studies

Once every ten or twenty years, it seems, a book happens on the scene that promises to dislodge a long-held and often beloved paradigm. It is not that the old paradigm is necessarily abandoned, but rather it makes room for a different, equally valid one. The subtitle of The Birth of the Trinity announced such a shift and to my utmost delight delivered on that promise.

Understanding The Abrahamic Covenant Through The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds

BYU Studies

Latter-day Saint discourse concerning Abraham and the blessings and covenants given to him by the Lord is distinguished by its reliance on the restoration of ancient scriptures and other revelations given to Joseph Smith. The revival of scholarly interest in Abraham in recent decades provides a timely opportunity to explore the contemporary findings of biblical scholars from a Latter-day Saint perspective—which, in turn, invites an in-depth exploration of how the Lord’s covenants with Abraham were understood by the Nephite prophets in the Book of Mormon, how their perspectives compare with contemporary biblical scholarship, and how the Nephite perspective may modify …

A Dream, A Rock, And A Pillar Of Fire, Adam S. Miller

Maxwell Institute Publications

The first chapter of 1 Nephi may be the most read in all of Mormon scripture. But beyond its veneer of familiarity, its substance remains shadowed by a host of contextual and theological questions. The papers collected in this volume offer theological readings that draw on careful examinations of 1 Nephi 1’s structure and literary details to explore questions about Lehi’s world, the nature of revelation, the problem of suffering, and the promised Messiah.

Response To Margaret Barker's "The Lord Is One", David J. Larsen

BYU Studies

I appreciate the opportunity to be here and to give a brief response to what Margaret Barker shared with us. I would like to talk about some of the ideas she explored and perhaps how we may apply them to our LDS scriptures to better understand what we are reading there. Barker touched on the idea of the ascent to heaven and the fact that we can find this ascent, this journey to the heavenly holy of holies, in the writing of Isaiah and other prophetic texts in the Bible. There is so much to consider as we look at …

"In The Land Of The Chaldeans": The Search For Abraham's Homeland Revisited, Stephen O. Smoot

BYU Studies

Readers of the Hebrew Bible first encounter Abram (later Abraham), the spiritual father of the three great monotheistic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—at the end of Genesis 11. There they discover he was the son of a certain Terah and claimed “Ur of the Chaldeans” as his home (Gen. 11:28). Being as central as Abraham is to the patriarchal narratives of Genesis and, subsequently, to the faith of scores of believers across the globe, both faithful and nonbelieving readers have turned a critical eye toward the passages where Abraham makes an appearance and have attempted to discern if any historicity lies …

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

The Ancient Doctrine Of The Two Ways And The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds

BYU Studies

From its opening pages to the end, the Bible describes a bifurcated world in which God bids, commands, and teaches the people he has created to follow him in the way of righteousness, and in which the devil leads people into wickedness. And while great blessings and cursings are promised and realized in this life according to which way people choose to live their lives, the final judgment comes after this life when all will be judged according to whether they chose to follow good or evil. This way of seeing things surfaces explicitly in various texts and is known …

Covenanters Reading Scripture Through History, Mark Safstrom

Scandinavian Studies: Faculty Scholarship & Creative Works

This 12-page pamphlet was commissioned by the Evangelical Covenant Church as supplemental historical material to accompany a denomination-wide biblical literacy initiative called the "Community Bible Experience" in 2016. Four theologians and historians were asked to collaborated in writing; Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom (North Park Theological Seminary), Christopher Gehrz (Bethel University), Hauna Ondrey (North Park Theological Seminary), and Mark Safstrom (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). The purpose was to invite Covenant Church members to engage with the biblical reading practices as demonstrated through vignettes in the history of the Evangelical Covenant Church (1885–present), as well as its roots within the Protestant Reformation and …

An Other Testament: On Typology, Joseph M. Spencer

Maxwell Institute Publications

How should we read the Book of Mormon? And does the Book of Mormon itself have anything to say about it? Joseph Spencer follows the lead of Nephite prophets who interpreted Isaiah and other prophets typologically—according to “types” and “shadows”—in order to preach salvation through Jesus Christ. By focusing on history, memory, time, repentance, and conversion, An Other Testament explores what it means to believe God provided the Book of Mormon to change a person like you and a world like ours.

Death Being Swallowed Up In Netzach In The Bible And The Book Of Mormon, David Larsen

BYU Studies

One way to read the Book of Mormon is to be attentive to ways in which it comes across as a translated text. Being mindful of this is wise, because all translations—even inspired translations—lose something of the primary language, particularly as meanings shift when words are rendered into the vocabulary or idioms of the target language.

A Narrative Approach To The Joseph Smith Translation Of The Synoptic Gospels, Jared W. Ludlow

BYU Studies

One of the first projects Joseph Smith undertook after the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April 1830 was a translation of the Bible. Although it was not a typical translation from original Greek or Hebrew manuscripts, the project was often called a “translation” nonetheless. The Joseph Smith Translation, or JST as it is often called, was referred to by the Lord in the Doctrine and Covenants as “the new translation of my holy word” (D&C 124:89). At the top of the manuscript of the revision of Matthew, it reads, “A translation of the New …

The Journey Of A People: The Era Of Restoration, 1820 To 1844; The Journey Of A People: The Era Of Reorganization, 1844 To 1946, Alonzo L. Gaskill

BYU Studies

Mark A. Scherer. The Journey of a People: The Era of Restoration, 1820 to 1844.

Independence, Mo.: Community of Christ Seminary Press, 2013.

Mark A. Scherer. The Journey of a People: The Era of Reorganization, 1844 to 1946.

Independence, Mo.: Community of Christ Seminary Press, 2013.

Narrative Atonement Theology In The Gospel Of Mark, Julie M. Smith

BYU Studies

Since each of the four New Testament Gospels contains an account of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, it is perplexing that they receive so little attention in discussions of the Atonement: thinkers both ancient and modern are more likely to turn to Leviticus, Isaiah, or Paul’s letters than they are to the actual accounts of Jesus’s death. But the Gospels—particularly Mark’s Gospel as the oldest canonized account of the life and death of Jesus Christ—surely deserve attention when thinking about the concept of atonement. Yet at the level of discourse, Mark is almost silent on the meaning of …

New Perspectives On 2 Enoch: No Longer Slavonic Only, David J. Larsen

BYU Studies

This book contains the proceedings of the Fifth Enoch Seminar, held in Naples, Italy, on June 14–18, 2009. The theme of the conference was “Adam, Enoch, Melchizedek: Mediatorial Figures in 2 Enoch and Second Temple Judaism,” covering topics of intrinsic interest for biblical scholars generally, as well as for Latter-day Saints. The book’s subtitle, No Longer Slavonic Only, refers to an important discovery announced at the seminar. The book of 2 Enoch is also commonly referred to as “Slavonic Enoch” because the text has been known only in its Slavonic translation; now Coptic fragments of the text have been …

Plain And Precious Things, Lexi Devenport

BYU Studies

Plain and Precious Things, by D. John Butler (N.p.: D. John Butler, 2012).

For Zion: A Mormon Theology Of Hope, Lauren Mccombs

BYU Studies

For Zion: A Mormon Theology of Hope, by Joseph M. Spencer (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2014)

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.

Understanding And Practice Of Discipleship Among The Members Of The Michigan Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventists In Light Of A Biblical Model, Daniel Scarone

Human Subject Research Archive

This descriptive study uses a biblical Rabbi-Witness Discipleship Model to answer the following question: "To what extent, if any, is the current understanding and practice of discipleship and witnessing biblically founded among the members of the MCSDA?" [Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists]

Revelation, Reason, And Faith: Essays In Honor Of Truman G. Madsen, Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, Stephen D. Ricks

Maxwell Institute Publications

The distinguished career of Truman G. Madsen has earned him wide respect in and outside of LDS circles as an outstanding teacher, scholar, researcher, speaker, university administrator, church leader, and religious ambassador. With the publication of Revelation, Reason, and Faith: Essays in Honor of Truman G. Madsen, the Institute pays tribute to this remarkable man whose many accomplishments include helping to advance Book of Mormon scholarship and related interests of the Institute.

Edited by Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and Stephen D. Ricks (each of whom also author a chapter), the 800-plus-page volume contains contributions by 31 scholars, …

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 …

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.

Papers Of George Herbert Livingston Arc1986-012 - Finding Aid, George Herbert Livingston

Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Papers Of Howard Shipps Arc1992 -009 - Finding Aid, Howard Shipps

Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Papers Of Wilber T Dayton Arc1985-001 - Finding Aid, Wilber T. Dayton

Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

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 …