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Preliminary Reports Study Multiple Authorship Of Book Of Mormon Texts

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

The Book of Mormon, in many places, is textually complex. Careful study of the words and ideas in the book sometimes requires the reader to be sensitive to who wrote the words in question. Occasionally, for example, Mormon quoted the words of earlier prophets directly; other times, he or Moroni abridged or paraphrased those earlier statements. The task of attributing authorship to a particular verse or section can often become an intriguing and rewarding challenge.

Farms Lecture Series On Prophets Concludes

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

Lectures on Mormon and Moroni and a summary lecture complete the series focusing on The Prophets of the Book of Mormon and Their Messages (see the order form).

The Baptism Of Little Children In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Matthew P. Roper

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

In a letter to his son Moroni, Mormon warns against the practice of baptizing little children. He identifies two false assumptions of his day used to justify infant baptism: little children are born with sin (see Moroni 8:8) and will suffer divine punishment in hell if they die without having been baptized (see Moroni 8:13). While the exact nature of this aberrant practice is unknown, it was apparently common enough among the Nephites of Mormon’s day to warrant swift and unequivocal prophetic censure. Mormon describes the rite as particularly wicked and erroneous in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yale Conference On Mormon Perspectives, Matthew P. Roper

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

Between 250 and 300 people took part on 27–29 March 2003 in a conference in New Haven, Connecticut, devoted to the subject of “God, Humanity, and Revelation: Perspectives from Mormon Philosophy and History.” The conference, hosted by the Divinity School of Yale University, was organized by Kenneth West, a Latter-day Saint graduate student there. The Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts was one of the conference sponsors.

Firstlings, Sacrifices, And Burnt Offerings, Matthew Roper, John Tvedtnes

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

In abridging the account of the Nephite gathering under King Benjamin, Mormon stated, “And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses” (Mosiah 2:3). Under Mosaic law, first-lings, or firstborn animals, were dedicated to the Lord, meaning they were given to the priests, who were to sacrifice them and consume the flesh (see Exodus 13:12–15; Numbers 18:17). The exception to this rule was the firstborn lambs used for the Passover meal, which all Israel was to eat (see Exodus 12:5–7).

Farms Review Takes Up Doctrinal Issues, Restoration Accounts, Science Vs. Religion

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

As editor of the FARMS Review, Daniel C. Peterson is well acquainted with critics’ opinions about it, FARMS in general, and, by extension, the Maxwell Institute. In his introduction to the latest FARMS Review (vol. 18, no. 2, 2006), Peterson responds to the critics by exploring the meaning of the term apologetics (“arguing . . . for or against any position”) and demonstrating at length how the term applies to the Maxwell Institute and its publications. He cautions that the term is relevant only to a portion of the Maxwell Institute’s work. “The garden of faith, like most gardens, requires …

An Archive Of Poetry: Surviving Settlement, Upholding Feminine Virtue, And Practicing Narrative Discipline In Anne Bradstreet's And Eliza R. Snow's Poetry, Britta Karen Adams

Theses and Dissertations

Settlement is a frequent topic in scholarly conversations about early American literature. From studies about William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation to Anne Bradstreet's poetry, settlement is a consistent theme in texts written by early Americans and in scholarship written by experts about early American texts. Settlement is also a major theme in the poetry written by Eliza R. Snow after fleeing with the Latter-day Saints from Missouri and settling in Nauvoo, Illinois. Both Bradstreet and Snow lived through settlement crises, crises that incorporated and exacerbated religious tensions within their communities eventually taking the form of the Antinomian Controversy and the …

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.

What’S In A Name? Mormon—Part 2, Paul Y. Hoskisson

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

In part 1 of my discussion of the name Mormon, I presented the evidence that Joseph Smith did not originally write the letter published over his signature in the 1843 Times and Seasons, but that he made some corrections to the letter William W. Phelps had composed and then gave his approval to have it published. I also mentioned the fact that B. H. Roberts left most of the letter out of his History of the Church because he believed the full letter was “based on inaccurate premises and was offensively pedantic."

What’S In A Name? Mormon—Part 1, Paul Y. Hoskisson

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

Despite sporadic attempts to sideline the name Mormon in favor of “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter­day Saints,” it continues to be used as the most ubiquitous moniker for the Church. Members of the Church are known as “Mormons.” It appears in the title of the keystone publication of the Restoration, The Book of Mormon. Within the book bearing this name, Mormon is, firstof all, the name of the waters in the forest of Mormon (Mosiah 18:8; Alma 5:3) in the land of Mormon (Mosiah 18:30). Of course, Mormon is also the name of the military leader who abridged …

Women Of Faith Speak Up And Speak Out The Genesis And Philosophical Underpinnings Of Mormon Women For Ethical Government, Sharlee Mullins Glenn

BYU Studies Quarterly

Good government is ethical government. That is the premise upon which the nonprofit organization Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) was founded.

Like millions of people across the United States, I found myself growing increasingly alarmed during the 2016 U.S. election cycle as I watched the great rifts in our political landscape widen and deepen, abetted by the divisive and often vitriolic discourse on all sides. This division, combined with the flagrant flouting of basic human decency by some who were running for public office, awakened many of us to a sense of our duty as citizens.

Bending The Arc Of Politics Toward Zion Voices From Mormon Women For Ethical Government, Jennifer Walker Thomas, Emma Petty Addams

BYU Studies Quarterly

At the conclusion of the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956, Martin Luther King Jr. paraphrased the words of Theodore Parker to situate small battles for justice within a larger movement toward God’s ideal

world. Parker, a Boston abolitionist, beautifully described the ache of discipleship that results when spirits reach for worlds they cannot quite see: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience.

And from what I …

Prophetic Authority: Democratic Hierarchy And Teh Mormon Priesthood, Michael Hubbard Mackay

Books

No abstract provided.

"General Conference Talk": Style Variation And The Styling Of Identity In Latter-Day Saint General Conference Oratory, Stephen Thomas Betts

Theses and Dissertations

Despite its exceptional importance as a cultural performance event in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Conference has received little attention in Mormon studies, to say nothing of sociolinguistics. Situated within the larger question of how the public language of Mormon authorities has changed over time, this thesis seeks to discover style features of what impressionistically appears to be a unitary General Conference style since 1960 (the era of church "Correlation"). Statistical analysis is then used to determine which of five sociolinguistic factors and three pairwise interactions between four of the five sociolinguistic factors most saliently conditions …

Calvin S. Smith: 'Utah’S Fighting Chaplain', Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This article shares the World War I experiences of Chaplain Calvin S. Smith, son of Latter-day Saint Church President Joseph F. Smith. From 1910-1913 he served as a missionary from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chaplain Smith was one of three Latter-day Saint chaplains who served in WWI. After commissioning, he reported for service to Camp Lewis, Washington. He saw extensive combat during three major offensives: St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and Lys-Scheldt with service in France and Belgium. He was wounded twice. This article portrays the daily combat life of an American division chaplain, burial duty, support operations, …

“After This Manner Did He Speak”: Mormon’S Discourse On Faith, Hope, And Charity, Charles Swift

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Literary scholar Richard Dilworth Rust calls Mormon’s discourse in Moroni 7 “one of the most tightly woven and forceful sermons in the Book of Mormon.” It is a masterful example of a prophet not simply stating doctrinal truth but building a case for it. Mormon creates an argument that begins with teachings that seem almost completely unrelated to what he ends up saying in his conclusion, yet the argument is so tightly constructed that each step beautifully and powerfully leads to the next.

John E. Davis (William H. Norman) -- A Galvanized Yankee In Utah, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

An interesting and intriguing story about William H. Norman, who served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War as an infantry rifleman from Georgia, was captured by Union troops in December 1864 outside of Nashville, Tennessee, and was then incarcerated as a prisoner-of-war in Camp Douglas, Illinois. As a Confederate prisoner, the federal government gave him the option of remaining in the camp or renouncing his Confederate loyalty and enlisting in the Union Army. Like thousands of his fellow prisoners, he chose the second option and became a "galvanized Yankee." A few months later (after the end of …

"I Was Not Ready To Die Yet": William Stowell's Utah War Ordeal, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D., R. Devan Jensen

Faculty Publications

In the fall of 1857, young wives Cynthia Jane Stowell and Sophronia Stowell bade fare­well to their husband, William R. R. Stowell, a lieutenant in the Utah militia working to hinder the US Army from entering Utah Territory. That winter they received word that William had been captured and was being held prisoner at Camp Scott, in present-day Wyoming. The Utah War arose from a complex web of causes and motivations: federal and Utah territorial authorities often clashed regarding Mormon authority and influence in the territorial court sys­tem, the mail service, policies regarding American-Indian relations, polygamy, and the moral character …

Grace As Psychotherapy: Suggestions For Therapists With Latter-Day Saint Clients, Matthew R. Draper, James S. Mcgraw, Daniel Sturtevant, Richard D. Draper

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

There is a growing body of literature that shows how perfectionism has tremendous effects on a person’s well-being. Specifically, maladaptive perfectionism continues to have an alarming influence on many individuals’ experiences with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicidal ideations. Interestingly, for religious or spiritual individuals, perfectionism is often colored by profound religious themes that further complicate treatment. This paper seeks to explore this issue by introducing the case of Sister Vivi, a Mormon woman who suffered a great deal of depression and anxiety, and eventually a suicide attempt due to perfectionism entwined within her religious beliefs. In cooperation with her …

Micronesia's Coming Of Age: The Mormon Role In Returning Micronesia To Self-Rule, Devan Jensen

Faculty Publications

Mormons, or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have a distinguished history of service in the U.S. government. During a forty-year period following World War II, Mormon politicians played vital roles in transitioning several islands in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from a quasi-colonial status into the self-governing Federated States of Micronesia. This article briefly traces the complicated transition through the public service of four key Mormon administrators: Elbert D. Thomas, John A. Carver Jr., Stewart L. Udall, and Morris K. Udall. They served respectively as first civilian high commissioner of the Trust Territory, …

Creativity & Religion: A Self-Study Of Mormon Mindset In The Art Classroom, Shon Scot Feller

Theses and Dissertations

A high school art teacher investigates the relationship of his religious beliefs with his notions of what it means to be creative. This Mormon teacher examines his religious and experiential life through self-study, by drawing from autoethnographic and hermeneutic phenomenological strategies. He believes that everyone, including himself and his students, has a creative potential. He also analyzes how his Mormon religion affects his view of creativity and how creativity has affected his behavior as a Mormon. The conclusions he reaches uncover the need for balance between his creative self and his Mormon self and outlines several ways to merge these …

Organizing The Church In Afghanistan, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Development, history, and organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also sometimes referred to by the following nicknames: the Mormon Church or the LDS Church) among coalition forces serving in Afghanistan, 2001-2014. Discusses creation of the Kabul Afghanistan Military District, Relief Society in a war zone, the use of "Mormon Battle Buddies," proselyting and meeting restrictions, living the Word of Wisdom in a combat zone, etc.

The Gospel According To Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

Although scholarly investigation of the Book of Mormon has increased significantly over the last three decades, only a tiny portion of that effort has been focused on the theological or doctrinal content of this central volume of Latter-day Saints (LDS) scripture. This article identifies three inclusios which promise definitions of the doctrine or gospel of Jesus Christ and proposes a cumulative methodology to explain how these definitions work. This approach reveals a consistently presented, six-part formula defining ‘the way’ by which mankind can qualify for eternal life. In this way the article provides a starting point for scholarly examinations of …

In The World But Not Of It: Responses Of Lds Leaders To The Vietnam War, Luke Miller

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This poster presents a summary of original research based on public addresses given by LDS leaders during the Vietnam War era. It identifies and describes four different ideological perspectives on the Vietnam War that high-ranking LDS leaders publicly advocated during these years. Given the enormous amount of influence that LDS leaders in the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have over Mormons, an analysis of their views is critical to understanding the beliefs and opinions of LDS members. Understanding the main points of agreement and disagreement among LDS leaders serves as a starting point to elucidate the evolution …

Getting Into The Meat Of The Word Of Wisdom, A. Jane Birch

Faculty Publications

Doctrine & Covenants Section 89 is known as the "health code" for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In verse 13 of this scripture, the Lord states, “it is pleasing unto me that they [flesh of beasts and fowls of the air] should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine” (D&C 89:13). Judging from the variety of interpretations this single verse has inspired, it would appear to be deeply enigmatic. Interestingly, most interpretations have been put forward with little supporting evidence. This article is the first comprehensive analysis of the …

Questioning The Comma In Verse 13 Of The Word Of Wisdom, A. Jane Birch

Faculty Publications

The 1921 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants included an additional comma, which was inserted after the word “used” in D&C 89:13: “And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.” Later authors have speculated that the addition of the comma was a mistake that fundamentally changed the meaning of the verse. This article examines this “errant comma theory” and demonstrates why this particular interpretation of D&C 89:13 is without merit.

Linguistic Behavior And Religious Activity, Wendy Baker, David Bowie

Faculty Publications

Studies have found that Mormons and non-Mormons in Utah exhibit significant linguistic differences. We break this down further by investigating whether there are also differences between Mormons who actively participate in the religion and those who do not, and find significant differences with a medium or larger effect size between the groups for multiple variables. We conclude that when investigating the linguistic correlates of religious affiliation in a community, it is vital to elicit not just respondents’ religious affiliations, but also their level of participation within that religion.

Linguistic Behavior And Religious Activity, Wendy Baker-Smemoe, David Bowie

Faculty Publications

Studies have found that Mormons and non-Mormons in Utah exhibit significant linguistic differences. We break this down further by investigating whether there are also differences between Mormons who actively participate in the religion and those who do not, and find significant differences with a medium or larger effect size between the groups for multiple variables. We conclude that when investigating the linguistic correlates of religious affiliation in a community, it is vital to elicit not just respondents’ religious affiliations, but also their level of participation within that religion.

When Ye Are Assembled Together: Congregational Patterns And Worship Practices Of The Early Latter-Day Saints 1829-1846, Matthew Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The worship experience in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is inextricably linked to the ward or branch. This thesis examines the development of the Latter-day Saint congregation at the church centers from 1829 to 1846: Palmyra and Fayette, New York; Harmony, Pennsylvania; Kirtland, Ohio; Independence, Liberty and Far West in Missouri; and Nauvoo, Illinois. This work not only documents the creation and development of congregations, but also gives attention to the other important elements developed during the early years that are still associated with modern Latter-day Saint wards: meeting and worship patterns, physical locations where meetings took …

The First Mission Of The Twelve Apostles: 1835, Maclane Elon Heward

Theses and Dissertations

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an administrative and ecclesiastical quorum. The Church, first organized in 1830, did not organize the Quorum of Twelve Apostles until 1835. When it was organized, Joseph Smith outlined the quorum's responsibilities through revelation. The Twelve were assigned two unique and specific responsibilities: to take the gospel to the nations of the earth and to form a traveling high council for the regulating of the Church outside of its stakes. The first opportunity for the Twelve to fulfill their responsibilities was in May 1835 when …