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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

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.

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)

A Modest Homestead: Life In Small Adobe Homes In Salt Lake City, 1850-1897, Veronica Anderson

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)

Saints, Slaves, And Blacks: The Changing Place Of Black People Within Mormonism, Alison Palmer

BYU Studies

Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People within Mormonism, by Newell G. Bringhurst, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2018)

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Language Usage In Non-Lutheran Danish Immigrant Religions, Robert Olsen

The Bridge

The first worship services conducted in the Danish language on American soil were conducted among the men who traveled with Jens Munk from Denmark in 1619–20 in search of a passageway to the Orient. They traveled in two small ships called the Unicorn and the Lamprey. Little did they know that in their attempt to find the Northwest Passage to the Orient they would instead journey down the St. Lawrence Seaway and settle on the banks of hudson Bay. here they would spend the long, very harsh winter. Cold and disease ultimately claimed the lives of all of the men …

What Is Mormon Transhumanism? And Is It Mormon?, Gregory L. Smith

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

Some sources have described Mormonism as the faith most friendly to the intellectual movement known as Transhumanism. This paper reviews an introductory paper by the past President of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. A syllogism that purports to show that Mormonism is compatible with — or even requires — Transhumanism is analyzed. The syllogism’s premises are shown to misunderstand or misrepresent LDS scripture and doctrine. The proffered Transhumanist conception of “human nature” and the perspective offered by LDS scripture are compared and found to be incompatible. Additional discrepancies between the Transhumanist article’s representation of LDS doctrine and the actual teachings of …

Teaching The Book Of Mormon At The University Of Vermont: An Interview With Elizabeth Fenton, Joseph Spencer

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

Elizabeth Fenton's first book-Religious Liberties: Anti-Catholicism and Liberal Democracy in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Literature and Culture-appeared in 2011. The next year, she began presenting work on the Book of Mormon, first in a conference paper at the annual convention of C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists, and then in an invited lecture at the University of Maryland titled "Why Americanists Should Read The Book of Mormon." In 2013, she published her conference presentation from the previous year in J19: The Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists. The next year, Fenton organized a panel at C19 focused on the Book of Mormon, which drew …

The Book Of Mormon And Its Redaction Of The King James New Testament: A Further Evaluation Of The Interaction Between The New Testament And The Book Of Mormon, Nicholas J. Frederick

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

The text of the King James Bible plays a significant role in the composition of the Book of Mormon. While there have been studies that have attempted to identify what biblical passages are present in the Book of Mormon, not nearly enough effort has been spent exploring how those passages are used throughout the text. For example, one can readily identify the textual parallels between Alma 5:48 and John 1: 14, due to the sharing of phrases such as "full of grace and truth'' and "only-begotten son:' This type of research is useful in and of itself. But simply identifying …

A Book Of Mormon Bibliography For 2017

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

The Maxwell Institute continues to make efforts to collect bibliographical information for all writings of a scholarly nature focused on the Book of Mormon in a substantial way. The work for this year's bibliography has been undertaken by Amanda Buessecker. The editors would again like to encourage readers of the Journal to send information regarding any publications of a scholarly nature focused on the Book of Mormon that have escaped our attention. These can be sent to [email protected].

Reckoning With Race In The Book Of Mormon: A Review Of Literature, Russell W. Stevenson

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

Scholars of Mormonism have seen a deluge of race literature on the Book of Mormon flow over the past five years. Compared to the robust scholarship on the use of biblical literature in constructing race, Mormonism strikes one as the particularly colorful character who showed up late to the party. For a faith system that has started to imagine itself in global terms, the implications of this recent increase are profound and invite commentary from a variety of disciplines ranging from literary criticism to forensic anthropology. This review essay holds humble aspirations for itself: to trace the basic contours of …

"Skin" Or "Scales" Of Blackness? Semitic Context As Interpretive Aid For 2 Nephi 4:35 (Los 5:21), Adam Oliver Stokes

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

Few verses in the Book of Mormon are as problematic and controversial as 2 Nephi 4:35 (LDS 5:21). Critics of the Book of Mormon have routinely pointed to this verse and its reference to Lamanites receiving a "skin of blackness" as evidence of racism and racist theology in Mormonism's sacred scriptures. The verse has also failed to escape ridicule in pop-cultural depictions of Mormonism, as seen most recently in the hit Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon. The verse and its interpretation are of perennial interest to readers of the Book of Mormon, believing or not, since the racial stance …

Building The Temple Of Nephi: Early Mormon Perceptions Of Cumorah And The New Jerusalem, Don Bradley

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

As a new faith's purported "Gold Bible" began rolling off the presses at the E. B. Grandin print shop, the public was curious to know the nature of that faith. Protestant sects proliferated wildly during the Second Great Awakening, particularly in the fertile soil of upstate New York's "Burned-over District:' And restorationists, like the Christian primitivist Disciples of Christ, who aimed to restore the New Testament Church, were a familiar breed among them. Such sects provided the best model for what the public might expect Palmyra's new faith to become, but actual information was still hard to come by.

The Theological Value Of The King James Language In The Book Of Mormon, Jan J. Martin

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

In 1831, Alexander Campbell (1788-1866), the founder of the Disciples of Christ Church and leader in the early nineteenth-century religious reformation known as the Restoration, published a short pamphlet entitled Delusions: An Analysis of the Book of Mormon: With an Examination of Its Internal and External Evidences, and a Refutation of Its Pretences to Divine Authority. In the pamphlet, Campbell argued that the Book of Mormon was a linguistic hodgepodge, "patched up and cemented with 'And it came to pass' - 'I sayeth unto you'-'Ye saith unto him'-and all the King James' haths, dids and doths-in the lowest imitation of …

"With The Help Of These": Words Of Mormon 1 :18, Benjamin Keogh

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

The little book entitled Words of Mormon has long been a puzzle, including as it does a number of ambiguous passages and two seemingly distinct parts. In this brief note, I focus primarily on just one such ambiguity-Mormon's use of "these" in verse 18-in an attempt to show that the whole of the book is much more complete and coherent than has been previously thought. It may be also that the Lord's "wise purpose[s]" (Words of Mormon 1:7) are more expansive than has generally been supposed. In verse 18, Mormon notes three causes behind the establishment of peace among King …

Becoming A People Of The Books: Toward An Understanding Of Early Mormon Converts And The New Word Of The Lord, Janiece Johnson

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

Leather-bound copies of the first edition of the 586-page Book of Mormon were published and sold beginning March 26, 1830. Before there was a prophet, there was a translator-legally the "author and proprietor" of the Book. The title page told of the plates written "by the spirit of Prophecy and Revelation'' from which the Book originated. Before the publication was complete, Joseph Smith had encouraged Oliver Cowdery that "a great call for our books" had already commenced. The Book emerged before there was any church to join. The rest would come later; initially individuals decided how they would respond to …

Orson Scott Card’S “Artifact Or Artifice”: Where It Stands After Twenty-Five Years, Jeff Lindsay

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

When Orson Scott Card wrote “The Book of Mormon: Artifact or Artifice?” in 1993, he applied keen skills as an author of fiction to help readers understand how to detect the many hidden assumptions an author brings into a text. Subtle details such as the choice of what to explain or what not to explain to readers can quickly reveal the era and environment of the author. The value of Card’s analysis is reconsidered in light of extensive Book of Mormon studies since 1993 and has been found, for the most part, to have withstood the test of time well, …

“If I Pray Not Amiss”, David L. Clark

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

In 2nd Nephi, it is suggested that the Lord answers prayers but that requests made in prayer should not violate some kind of standard that would make them “amiss.” This undefined standard most likely excludes many prayers requesting immunity from those conditions of mortality which all mortals accepted and embraced with great enthusiasm in the great Council in Heaven. However, except for limited latter-day explanations of that great conference, our eager acceptance of all details of the conditions of mortality did not carry over into mortal memory. Consequently, when we request exemption from those conditions joyfully endorsed in premortal time, …