Digital Commons Network^™

The Nature Of The Pen And Pencil Markings In The New Testament Of Joseph Smith's New Translation Of The Bible, Paul W. Lambert, Thomas A. Wayment

BYU Studies

After Joseph Smith's death, Emma Smith kept the marked Bible and manuscripts of Joseph's New Translation of the Bible. These eventually became the property of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Because of random marks made on the pages of this collection, scholars have questioned whether or not any markings were added after Joseph Smith's death. The authors examine the notations made in the printed Bible Joseph used during his translation, and they conclude from the evidence that the manuscripts were not significantly changed after his martyrdom. They also point out that Joseph had finished translating …

An Epistle Of The Twelve, March 1842, Josh E. Probert

BYU Studies

On March 20, 1842, ten members of the Twelve Apostles composed a long epistle to the Saints in Europe providing directives for immigration. The document reveals the way the Twelve planned to move converts from Europe to the Nauvoo area and the way resources would be provided for the Nauvoo Temple and Nauvoo House. The document also provides a window into the broader contours of Church governance during this for- mative time and the larger responsibilities of the Twelve after their return from their mission to the British Isles.

Blake T. Ostler. Exploring Mormon Thought: The Attributes Of God And The Problems Of Theism And The Love Of God., James Mclachlan

BYU Studies

Blake T. Ostler. Exploring Mormon Thought. The Attributes of God. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2001

Blake T. Ostler. Exploring Mormon Thought. The Problems of Theism and the Love of God. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2006

In The Footsteps Of Orson Hyde: Subsequent Dedications Of The Holy Land, Blair G. Van-Dyke, Lamar C. Berrett

BYU Studies

In October 1841, Orson Hyde traveled to Jerusalem and dedicated the Holy Land for the gathering of Judah. Hyde's dedication was the first of eleven formal dedications performed in the Holy Land in this dispensation, and while each one was given for the purpose of preparing the land for the return of Israel, each dedication also contained unique content. The authors discuss each dedication and the historical and political contexts affecting each prayer. They assert that repetition indicates importance, and no other place has been repeatedly dedicated like the Holy Land.

Andrew Jenson's Illustrated Journey To Iceland, The Land Of Fire And Ice, August 1911, Fred E. Woods

BYU Studies

In 1911, Andrew Jenson was serving one of his ten missions, this time as mission president of the Danish-Norwegian Mission. Headquarters were in Copenhagen, where he had been presiding since February 1909. Jenson was familiar with Scandinavia, having been born and raised in Denmark until age sixteen (1866), when he immigrated to Utah.

Donald W. Musser And David L. Paulsen, Eds. Mormonism In Dialogue With Contemporary Christian Theologies, Jennifer Lane

BYU Studies

Donald W. Musser and David L. Paulsen, eds. Mormonism in Dialogue with Contemporary Christian Theologies. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2007

Donald W. Musser And David L. Paulsen, Eds. Mormonism In Dialogue With Contemporary Christian Theologies, Douglas J. Davies

BYU Studies

Donald W. Musser and David L. Paulsen, eds. Mormonism in Dialogue with Contemporary Christian Theologies. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2007

What Hymns Early Mormons Sang And How They Sang Them, Michael Hicks

BYU Studies

Hymns reveal a denomination's minds and hearts, but not every published hymn is sung frequently—or at all. Hicks claims that to understand early Mormon thought and belief, one must not only study published Mormon hymnals but also consider which hymns were favored by congregations. He examines the few meeting notes that exist as well as over two hundred Saints' diaries to get a small sample of what hymns Mormons sang. Among the favorites were "The Spirit of God" and "Adam-ondi-Ahman." Hicks also discusses the kinds of hymns sung in home devotionals and other informal meetings and the way Mormon congregations …

Sacred Sound: Experiencing Music In World Religions. By Guy L. Beck, Editor, Greg Hansen

BYU Studies

Guy L. Beck, editor. Sacred Sound: Experiencing Music in World Religions. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006.

The Forging Of Races: Race And Scripture In The Protestant Atlantic World, 1600-2000. By Colin Kidd, Armand L. Mauss

BYU Studies

Colin Kidd. The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600–2000. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

The Reverend Dr. Peter Christian Kierkegaard's "About And Against Mormonism" (1855), Julie K. Allen, David L. Paulsen

BYU Studies

Born on July 6, 1805, the Danish Lutheran priest Peter Christian Kierkegaard, brother of philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, was an exact contemporary of Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both men devoted their lives to the refinement and advancement of their religious beliefs, albeit within very different sociohistorical contexts, and both had profound impacts on the shape of the religious landscape in their home countries. While Peter Christian Kierkegaard, as the most eloquent and influential advocate of the views of the controversial nineteenth-century Danish religious reformer N. F. S. Grundtvig, concentrated on bringing …

Book Notices, Doris R. Dant, Carl Cranny, Steven C. Harper, J. Michael Hunter, John M. Murphy, Saul A. Speirs, Jennifer Hurlbut

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Joseph Smith And The United Firm: The Growth And Decline Of The Church's First Master Plan Of Business And Finance, Ohio And Missouri, 1832-1834, Max H. Parkin

BYU Studies

The United Firm was a business management company established by Joseph Smith (founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) that oversaw both the Church's economic pursuits, such as maintaining properties, and some spiritual matters, such as publishing revelations and planning the city of Zion. Its board of managers essentially fulfilled roles later taken on by Church leaders when quorums were created. The term "United Firm" does not appear in the scriptures, and therefore the organization's role has been misunderstood and underestimated. One of Joseph Smith's pseudonyms for the United Firm was the United Order, but the United …

The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, The Investigation, And The Evidence That Could Change History. By Simcha Jacobovici And Charles Pellegrino, Kent P. Jackson

BYU Studies

Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino. The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2007

Pandemonium: A Review Essay Of Douglas J. Robinson, Who Translates? Translator Subjectivities Beyond Reason, Daryl R. Hague

BYU Studies

In 1975, Cambridge’s George Steiner published After Babel. That book, now in its third edition, is considered a classic for several reasons. For translation scholars, however, After Babel’s principal contribution is that it legitimized translation studies as a discrete academic field rather than as a mere appendage to comparative literature, linguistics, or language studies. Shortly after Steiner’s work was published, two other influential works on translation appeared: Louis Kelly’s The True Interpreter (1979) and Susan Bassnett-McGuire’s Translation Studies (1980). Together, these three works provided a historical and theoretical foundation on which translation scholars could build.

Contemporary Mormonism: Latter-Day Saints In Modern America. By Claudia L. Bushman, Armand L. Mauss

BYU Studies

Claudia L. Bushman. Contemporary Mormonism: Latter-day Saints in Modern America. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2006

The "Beautiful Death" In The Smith Family, Samuel Brown

BYU Studies

Despite thoughtful attempts by Douglas Davies to situate death at the center of the Mormon “culture of salvation,” the exploration of death in early Mormonism has been somewhat limited to date, particularly as it relates to the Smith family and the earliest years of Mormonism. Against this relative silence stands the testimony of the Smiths themselves, who were deeply concerned with questions of mortality. Joseph Smith was unequivocal on this point during his 1843 funeral sermon for James Adams: “All men know that all men must die. What is the object of our coming into existence then dying and falling …

Understanding Mazmuur Naafi: The Arabic Psalm Of Nephi, Josh E. Probert

BYU Studies

Arabic calligraphy is arguably the defining form of Islamic art. Jamal Qureshi has combined this centuries-old tradition and the geometric forms of Ottoman architecture with one of the richest passages from the Book of Mormon, the Psalm of Nephi (2 Nephi 4:16–35), to create an artwork rich in meaning. The artwork is visual praise; and it represents the way in which religious artforms are fluid, transgenerational, and adaptable to new meanings. This short essay explains the artwork by contextualizing it in both Islamic and Mormon traditions.

Transforming Swampland Into Nauvoo, The City Beautiful: A Civil Engineering Perspective, Kyle M. Rollins, Richard D. Smith, M. Brett Borup, E. James Nelson

BYU Studies

The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints includes a number of significant engineering accomplishments. The Salt Lake Tabernacle was designated a national historic landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers because of the innovative bridge truss system used to support its roof. Latter-day Saints also pioneered a technique known today as dynamic compaction in their efforts to improve the soil below the foundation of the St. George temple. A one-thousand-pound cannon was repeatedly dropped from a height of twenty to thirty feet to drive lava rock into the soil below the foundation level. One of …

God And Country: Politics In Utah. By Jeffrey E. Sells, Ed, Jacob W. Olmstead

BYU Studies

Jeffery E. Sells, ed. God and Country: Politics in Utah. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2005.

Not For Tourists: Richard Bushman's Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, David J. Whittaker

BYU Studies

Richard Bushman’s Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

Book Notices, Craig Foster, Jana Lloyd, Liza Olsen, Nathan B. Orman, Josh E. Probert, James T. Summerhays

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

A Jesuit Interpretaion Of Mid-Nineteenth-Century America: "Mormonism In Connection With Modern Protestantism", Mark A. Noll

BYU Studies

As historians of Mormonism have long since established, Europeans took note of Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints almost from the beginning. Mormon missionaries, converts, and expatriates, as well as European visitors to the United States, put the church on the European map early on. The result was a great deal of animated European commentary on, interest in, and interaction with Mormonism itself. Such engagement was illustrated in 1854 when, after a decade in the United States, the ecclesiastical polymath Philip Schaff returned to his native German-speaking regions …

Judas In The New Testament, The Restoration, And The Gospel Of Judas, Frank F. Judd-Jr.

BYU Studies

This article discusses the Gospel of Judas, an Early Christian text found in Egypt about 1978 and published in 2006 with much media attention. The text of the Gospel of Judas can be evaluated by comparing New Testament scriptures. The author examines canonical references to Judas and concludes that Latter-day Saints may benefit from studying the Gospel of Judas to better understand the nature of the apostasy that occurred after the death of Christ's apostles. However, the author reaffirms that Latter-day Saints should not scour this and other noncanonical books looking for the plain and precious truths believed to be …

Jesus Christ As Elder Brother, Corbin Volluz

BYU Studies

Mormons believe that their spirits are sons and daughters of Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ was the firstborn Son in a premortal existence. As such, He is commonly referred to by Mormons as their elder brother. However, the title does not appear in scripture or in the writings of Joseph Smith. The author traces the first documented usages of the term "elder brother" among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and examines its usage throughout the Church's history. He also considers alternative doctrinal and scriptural interpretations that refute the idea of all mortals being literal …

The Apocryphal Judas Revisited, John W. Welch

BYU Studies

This article discusses the Gospel of Judas, an Early Christian text found in Egypt about 1978 and published in 2006 with much media attention. What drove the writers of the Gospel of Judas to paint the betraying Apostle in a positive light will most likely remain a mystery. One motive may have been the Gnostic obsession with finding new truths and solving mysteries. Another could have been the Gnostics' rejection of mainstream Christianity and its foundation on Apostles like Peter and Paul. Whatever their motives, the writers of the most recently discovered gospel were not the first to fabricate stories …

Francis Webster: The Unique Story Of One Handcart Pioneer's Faith And Sacrifice, Chad M. Orton

BYU Studies

Francis Webster was a member of a group of Mormon pioneers who in 1856 encountered severe early winter weather and suffered many casualties. Webster is remembered among Mormons as the man who stopped a Sunday School class from criticizing leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for allowing the two ill-fated handcart companies to begin their journey so late in the summer. Webster's paraphrased statement, recorded by a member of the Sunday School class, has come to represent the sentiments of all handcart pioneers in most Mormons' minds, but Chad Orton refutes the idea that the whole …

The Gnostic Context Of The Gospel Of Judas, Gaye Strathearn

BYU Studies

This article discusses the Gospel of Judas, an Early Christian text found in Egypt about 1978 and published in 2006 with much media attention. Discussions about the Gospel of Judas raise questions about Gnosticism. Gaye Strathearn explains that Gnosticism is a name scholars, beginning in the eighteenth century, apply to the teachings of groups outside mainstream Christianity. The Gospel of Judas and the Nag Hammadi texts reveal the Gnostics' unorthodox views, including Judas being a hero, the serpent in Eden being good, and an emphasis on the pursuit of knowledge. Some of their beliefs seem to parallel modern Latter-day Saint …

Full Issue, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.