Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Remnant Or Replacement? Outlining A Possible Apostasy Narrative, Nicholas J. Frederick, Joseph M. Spencer

BYU Studies Quarterly

Since early in the twentieth century, it has been common for Latter- day Saints to speak of a “Great Apostasy” that occurred in the centuries following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Such a general apostasy has been viewed as providing the basic motivation for the Restoration, begun in earnest with Joseph Smith’s First Vision in 1820. The traditional apostasy narrative has centered on the argument that the church founded by Jesus Christ once possessed the same organization, doctrine, and authority restored in the nineteenth century but that, over time, these crucial components were either lost or corrupted. It …

The First Vision And The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Elder Legrand R. Curtis Jr.

BYU Studies Quarterly

I am grateful for the opportunity to be here with you. As was mentioned, I am the Church Historian and Recorder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In our Church, that position is an ecclesiastical calling. While I oversee the Church History Department—which is filled with trained historians, librarians, archivists, and other professionals— my own training is as a lawyer, and prior to being called to full-time church service as a General Authority, I practiced law for several years. My service as a General Authority has included being in the presidency of the Church’s Africa West Area …

Raising The Stakes: How Joseph Smith’S First Vision Became All Or Nothing, Steven C. Harper

BYU Studies Quarterly

Joseph Smith (1805–1844) inhabited a visionary world and belonged to a visionary family.¹ At about age twelve, he began to worry about his soul and started searching the Bible. As he compared the scriptures to the Christian denominations where he lived in western New York State, he found discord. For two or three years, he worried about “the darkness which pervaded the minds of mankind.” He became “exceedingly distressed” and “convicted” of his sins, a problem compounded by his inability to find any “society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new …

Foundations Of The Restoration: Fulfillment Of The Covenant Purposes, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

BYU Studies Quarterly

Craig James Ostler, Michael Hubbard MacKay, and Barbara Morgan Gardner, eds., Foundations of the Restoration: Fulfillment of the Covenant Purposes (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2016)

Schooling The Prophet: How The Book Of Mormon Influenced Joseph Smith And The Early Restoration, Mark L. Staker

BYU Studies Quarterly

Gerald E. Smith. Schooling the Prophet: How the Book of Mormon Influenced Joseph Smith and the Early Restoration.

Provo, Utah: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, BYU, 2016.

All That Was Promised: The St. George Temple And The Unfolding Of The Restoration, Bruce C. Hafen

BYU Studies Quarterly

Blaine M. Yorgason, Richard A. Schmutz, and Douglas D. Alder. All That Was Promised: The St. George Temple and the Unfolding of the Restoration.

Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013.

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 Quarterly

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.

Believing Adoption, Samuel M. Brown

BYU Studies Quarterly

Adoption theology is concerned with salvation and entry into the family of God. Early Latter-day Saint (Mormon) adoption theology taught by Joseph Smith came to include priesthood, baptism for the dead, temple rites, and more. The author concludes that this doctrine informs important questions, including: Are spirits born? What is the nature of salvation? What is the shape of the heaven family (the interlocking network of familial connections that will exist in the afterlife)? Adoption theology offers an alternative to the popular doctrine of spirit birth, one that is consistent with what Joseph Smith taught about the nature of God …

The Medical Practice Of Dr. Frederick G. Williams, Frederick G. Williams

BYU Studies Quarterly

Frederick Granger Williams (1787-1842) was a leader in the early days of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but also served as a justice of the peace, scribe, editor, and medical practitioner. In the early nineteenth century, the medical profession was in its infancy, beginning a slow shift from barbaric practices (generally bleeding and calomel) to herbal treatments that were at least mild if not particularly effective. Dr. Williams conscientiously followed the botanic methods and theories of Samuel S. Thomson, who published a book (The Thomsonian Materia Medica) and sold patents to those who read his …

A Poetics Of The Restoration, George B. Handley

BYU Studies Quarterly

George B. Handley, professor of humanities at Brigham Young University, discusses whether the world's cultural traditions should be considered as treasures that should be embraced by Latter-day Saints, or fallen philosophy and vain deceit. He argues that while culture might be the obstacle that blinds us, it must also become the means or language by which we can come to understand God's will. We can have a lifelong passion for learning both from the word of God—from revelation—and the word of men and women—from the world's cultures. The humanities—literature, philosophy, history, and the arts—help us to see how our own …

The Coming Forth Of The Book Of Mormon In The Twentieth Century, Noel B. Reynolds

BYU Studies Quarterly

The Book of Mormon was underutilized by most Latter-day Saints until interest in it surged during the second half of the twentieth century.

Symbols In Stone: Symbolism On The Early Temples Of The Restoration Matthew B. Brown And Paul Thomas Smith, Joseph Fielding Mcconkie

BYU Studies Quarterly

Matthew B. Brown and Paul Thomas Smith. Symbols in Stone: Symbolism on the Early Temples of the Restoration. American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, 1997. xi; 194 pp. Illustrations, appendixes, bibliography, index. $19.95.

Eyewitness Accounts Of The Restoration Milton V. Backman, Larry C. Porter

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

The Restoration Movement: Essays In Mormon History F. Mark Mckiernan, Alma R. Blair, And Paul M. Edwards, Chad J. Flake

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Where Were The Moroni Visits?, Russell R. Rich

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Restoration Scriptures: A Study Of Their Textual Development Richard P. Howard, Robert J. Matthews

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.