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Maxwell Institute Scholars Speak At Fair Conference

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Scholars from the Maxwell Institute, as well as a number of authors who contribute to the institute’s publications, delivered papers at the recent FAIR conference held in Sandy, Utah, in August. The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of Latter-day Saint doctrine, belief, and practice.

International Librarians Visit Byu, Maxwell Institute

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

On June 18, 2007, a group of six librarians from various international institutions visited the Maxwell Institute’s Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (CPART) to learn more about the digital preservation of ancient texts at BYU. This visit was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State to further the professional development of these specialists. Visitors included Ioana Damian of the IAŞI (Romania), Billy Leung Tak Hoi of the University of Macau, Larisa Kislova of the Republic Library for Youth and Children (Kyrgyzstan), Tutu Mukherjee of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (India), D. B. Vuwa Phiri …

Skinner Concludes Museum Of Art Lecture Series

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

On March 21 Andrew C. Skinner, executive director of the Maxwell Institute and professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, addressed the topic of “Crucifixion and Resurrection” in the Museum of Art lecture series on the life of Christ. Skinner began by saying that “the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth are the lynchpin of everything we believe and everything we do in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Second Volume Of Maimonides Series Continues To Illuminate Ancient Medicine

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

With the publication of Medical Aphorisms: Treatises 6–9, the second volume of the Medical Works of Moses Maimonides series, the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI) at the Maxwell Institute continues its project of bringing to light original texts and translations from the scientific, philosophical, and theological traditions of the three great religious civilizations that trace their ancestry to Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Now with added funding from the Library of Congress, METI continues to actively edit and prepare for publication works in all three of these branches of faith-oriented learning.

Contributions Sought For Completion Of The Collected Works Of Hugh Nibley

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The scholars and staff at the Maxwell Institute have energetically set the goal of finishing the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley within the next three years. March 27, 2010, will be the 100th anniversary of Hugh Nibley’s birthday, and we would like to have the approximately 20-volume set completed by that date. Under the direction of John W. Welch, general editor of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, various supplemental electronic releases and a series of conferences in 2010 focusing on the lasting legacies of Nibley’s scholar-ship are also planned.

Institute Supports Graduates And Undergraduates

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute continues to encourage and support the work of graduate and undergraduate students through two funds.

Each year at this time we remind graduate students about the Nibley Fellowship Program and its application deadline. Named in honor of the late eminent Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley, this pro-gram provides financial aid to students enrolled in accredited PhD programs in areas of study directly related to the work and mission of the Maxwell Institute, particularly work done under the auspices of one department of the Institute, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, such as studies of the …

Maxwell Institute Well Represented At Fair Conference

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Several scholars associated with the Maxwell Institute spoke at the FAIR conference held in Sandy, Utah, in August. As explained on its Web site (www.fairlds.org), FAIR (the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research) is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of Latter-day Saint doctrine, belief, and practice.

Maxwell Institute Announces Valuable New Research Tool

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute and the Harold B. Lee Library have announced that a new electronic database, “Book of Mormon Publications, 1829–1844,” will soon be available to researchers and others interested in Mormon history. “We are excited about this collection,” notes M. Gerald Bradford, executive director of the Maxwell Institute, “because it brings together for the first time everything published about the Book of Mormon during Joseph Smith’s lifetime. Books, pamphlets, and articles from newspapers and periodicals are all included. This represents a major step forward for Mormon studies.”

Elder Hafen Speaks At Second Annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Defining his purpose as exploring “the relationship between the life of the mind and the life of the spirit, with some connection to Elder Maxwell’s life as a mentoring model,” Elder Bruce C. Hafen, of the First Quorum of the Seventy, spoke at the second annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture, held March 21, 2008.

New Director Appointed For The Maxwell Institute

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In June Brigham Young University announced the appointment of M. Gerald Bradford as the new executive director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. Bradford, previously associate executive director of the Maxwell Institute, replaces Andrew C. Skinner, who has accepted an assignment at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies and is returning to teaching and research.

Maxwell Institute To Sponsor Presentations At Education Week

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute is pleased to sponsor a series of presentations at Brigham Young University Campus Education Week, slated for August 19–22, 2008, in Provo, Utah. These presentations, given by members of the Institute’s administration and associated scholars, represent a range of the work done by the Maxwell Institute.

Rising Scholars Mentored Through Summer Seminar

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

A select group of graduate and advanced under- graduate students participated in a seminar on Mormon thought at BYU this past May and June. The participants’ papers presented at a public sym- posium on June 25 will be published in the near future.

Work Of The Maxwell Institute Highlighted In Presentations At Education Week

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Brigham Young University Campus Education Week, slated for August 17–21, 2009, will feature a series of presentations that represent the range of the work done by the Maxwell Institute.

Beginning Wednesday, August 19, at 11:10 in the Assembly Hall of the Hinckley Center, Paul Y. Hoskisson, D. Morgan Davis Jr., and Kristian S. Heal will present on the topic “The Work of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute at BYU.”

Nibley Fellowship Program Assists Rising Scholars

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

For a number of years the Maxwell Institute has sponsored a graduate fellowship program that gives financial aid to students pursuing advanced degrees in fields of special interest to the Institute. Named in honor of the late eminent Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh W. Nibley, this program fosters the next gen- eration of faithful scholars by providing financial aid to students enrolled in accredited PhD programs in areas of study directly related to the work and mission of the Maxwell Institute. Work done under the auspices of the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies and the Foundation for …

Mentoring Students At The Maxwell Institute

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

We have all felt the excitement that comes from seeing a great scholar at work, whether in the classroom or the archives. No less palpable is the thrill of a personal encounter with the past through direct contact with ancient texts or artifacts. Most of us can trace our fascination with the ancient world back to just such a personal encounter. One of our roles at the Maxwell Institute is to help inspire the next generation of young scholars. We do this by providing opportunities for BYU students to work directly with Institute scholars on new research, and thus to …

“Another Holy Land” Maxwell Institute Development Council Visits Turkey, Kristian Heal

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In September, Morgan Davis, Daniel Peterson, and I led a development council tour through some of Turkey’s most remarkable religious sites. In doing so, we followed in the footsteps of a fifth-century abbott called Daniel, who was told not to go to Jerusalem as he had planned, but instead to “go to Byzantium and you will see a second Jerusalem!” Daniel did indeed go to Byzantium, or Constantinople as it was called then, and found a city filled with Christian sites. Fifteen hundred years later, Maxwell Institute friends and scholars descended on Turkey to ex- plore the ancient ruins and …

Nibley Fellows, 2011–2012

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Each year the Maxwell Institute awards Nibley Fellowships to LDS students pursuing graduate degrees (usually PhDs) in fields of study directly related to the work of the Institute—primarily work on the Bible, the Book of Mormon, early Christianity, and the ancient Near East.