Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Birth, Meaningful Viability And Abortion, David Jensen

Faculty Publications

What role does birth play in the debate about elective abortion? Does the wrongness of infanticide imply the wrongness of late-term abortion? In this paper, I argue that the same or similar factors that make birth morally significant with regard to abortion make meaningful viability morally significant due to the relatively arbitrary time of birth. I do this by considering the positions of Mary Anne Warren and José Luis Bermúdez who argue that birth is significant enough that the wrongness of infanticide does not imply the wrongness of late-term abortion. On the basis of the relatively arbitrary timing of birth, …

Utah’S Role In Protecting The Mormon Trail During The Civil War, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This chapter (from the 2015 book “Far Away in the West: Reflections on the Mormon Pioneer Trail” published by the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center) sets the stage for Utah Territory’s role protecting the Mormon Trail during the Civil War by outlining the Utah War (1857-1858). This essay begins by comparing and contracting Washington, DC’s wartime interest in the trail with that of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Utah Territory. The essay then outlines the changing parties who were responsible for the trail between 1861 and 1865 – the U.S. Army (spring-summer 1861), no one …

The Agentive Play Of Bishop Henry Yates Satterlee, Richard Benjamin Crosby

Faculty Publications

The epigraph comes from the section of the Pentateuch in which Moses descends Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments and communicates the will of God to the children of Israel. God has been speaking with Moses for forty days and nights and has conferred on him the authority to serve as revelator and prophet of the children of Israel. In this passage, Moses has become the literal conveyance for God's word, a conduit for the divine Logos. Perhaps the detail that gets the least attention in this familiar story is Moses's veil. The image suggests a deliberate self-effacement. The veil, …

Toward A Practical Civic Piety: Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, And The Race For National Priest, Richard Benjamin Crosby

Faculty Publications

In 2008, two of the leading presidential candidates emerged from controversial, outsider religious groups—Mormonism and the black church tradition. Dogged by ongoing questions from the media, each candidate produced a high-profıle public address. In this article, I argue that Mitt Romney’s “Faith in America” and Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” craft competing visions for American civic piety. Drawing on recent literature in the area of practical piety, I read the speeches as evidence that civic piety may be more than a subordinating, pragmatic agreement between church and state. It may instead be read as a spiritually substantive space of …

Icarus: For Solo Viola And Orchestra, John C. Leavitt, Devan Freebairn

Faculty Publications

Out of class, student-led project to compose and perform a new viola concerto, with an all-volunteer (mostly student) orchestra. Composition is based on the story of Icarus, his imprisonment with his father in the labyrinth of Crete, their escape, and Icarus’ downfall when he flew too close to the sun.

Using Text Sets To Foster Critical Inquiry, Dawan Coombs, Devery Bellingham

Faculty Publications

This article explores three ways a teacher incorporated text sets into her seventh-grade classroom to foster authentic inquiry. Student reflections suggest this approach helped them cultivate questioning, researching, and cooperative learning skills that became lasting habits of inquiry and helped them succeed on core tests.

L1, L2, And Cognitive Development: Exploring Relationships, Troy L. Cox, Dan P. Dewey, Ray Clifford

Faculty Publications

Second language learners often express frustration over the reality that their limited second language (L2) skills prevent them from full participation in intellectual discussions, and some have exclaimed, “Hey, I’m smarter than I sound!” Those who have had this experience recognize that a relationship exists between one’s language ability and other’s perceptions of one’s cognitive abilities. In daily life, this relationship between language and cognition is so prevalent that it is often ignored, or the abilities are simply conflated. For example, calls by employers to improve the critical thinking skills of college graduates are typically exemplified by statements about language …

Factors Affecting Language Use Outside The Esl Classroom: Student Perspectives, Norman W. Evans, Elena Shvidko, K. James Hartshorn

Faculty Publications

Policies governing language use in and out of the ESL classroom are controversial. While some scholars claim that an English-only policy is necessary to maximize language development, others argue that native language (L1) use is an inevitable part of teaching and learning. This debate continues in intensive English programs, particularly regarding policies governing language use within school precincts but outside of the classroom. English-learning institutions implement various language policies, but few are informed by empirical research that reflects learner perspectives. Accordingly, many policies are enforced in ways that undermine the positive environment needed to maximize language learning. Unfortunately, the literature …

“Readers’ Disappointed Expectations: Religious Symbols In ‘The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall’”, Rachel I. Gessel

Student Works

The short story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter is the account of a devout Catholic woman on her death bed who dwells on being jilted at the altar sixty years earlier. It is commonly accepted among scholars that the “jilting” in the title also refers to a second jilting at the end of the story. Although it could be debated that the jilting referred to in the title could only refer to Granny’s jilting at the altar, over ten peer-reviewed articles about this short story suggest or acknowledge that the jilting also refers to Christ jilting …

Science As Storytelling, David A. Grandy, Barry R. Bickmore

BYU Studies

Much if our modern world revolves around something called "science." But what is science? Interestingly, this turns out to be a very difficult question to answer because every definition seems to include something we don't consider science or seems to exclude something we do consider science. In this essay, the authors present their own definition: Science is the modern art of creating stories that explain observations of the natural world and that could be useful for predicting, and possibly even controlling, nature. They then refine this definition by offering seven rules that scientific storytelling must follow to distinguish it …

Mortality On The Mormon Trail, 1847–1868, Melvin L. Bashore, Byu Pioneer Mortality Team, H. Dennis Tolley

BYU Studies

Over two decades, staff and volunteers at the Church History Department compiled a database of thousands of pioneer records, now available at http://history.lds.org/overlandtravels(link is external), containing diaries and company reports of known Mormon pioneers from 1847 to 1868 (56,042 of them). Data were then compiled in tabular format in an Excel file, available at http://statistics.byu.edu/news(link is external). Researchers working with BYU actuarial students analyzed these data and report their findings: Slightly more males than females made the journey. Fully 45% of the immigrants were under age twenty. For about 25% of known pioneers, no death date is available, …

Pedagogical And Ekphrastic Elements In The Story Of The Predestined Pilgrim And His Brother Reprobate By Father Alexandre De Gusm, M Cecilia Fischer

Theses and Dissertations

The object of this thesis is to analyze the presence of the pedagogical ekphrastic elements in the novel The Story of The Predestined Pilgrim and his Brother Reprobate by Father Alexandre de Gusmmão. In the past this novel has been an obscure masterpiece outside the circle of those who study early Portuguese language works. In the last half century there has been a crescendo of the study of this novel as more scholars have taken an interest in the pilgrimage motif and in particular using this novel in comparative literature. A monumental contribution to bring this novel out of obscurity …

The Multidimensional Quality Metric (Mqm) Framework: A New Framework For Translation Quality Assessment, Valerie Ruth Mariana

Theses and Dissertations

This document is a supplement to the article entitled “The Multidimensional Quality Metric (MQM) Framework: A New Framework for Translation Quality Assessment”, which has been acepted for publication in the upcoming January volume of JoSTrans, the Journal of Specialized Translation. The article is a coauthored project between Dr. Alan K. Melby, Dr. Troy Cox and myself. In this document you will find a preface describing the process of writing the article, an annotated bibliography of sources consulted in my research, a summary of what I learned, and a conclusion that considers the future avenues opened up by this research. Our …

Conscience And Context In Eastman Johnson's The Lord Is My Shepherd, Amanda Melanie Slater

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis considers the experiences that motivated the creation of an 1863 painting by American artist Eastman Johnson entitled The Lord is My Shepherd. An examination of the painting—which depicts a black man reading a Bible—reveals multiple artistic, social, political, and spiritual influences. Created in the midst of the American Civil War, the painting's inspiration derived from Johnson's New England childhood, training in Europe, encounters with the Transcendentalist movement, and his abolitionist views. As a result, The Lord is My Shepherd is a culminating work in Johnson's oeuvre that was prompted by years of experience and observations in an age …

Investigaciónn De Actitudes Sociolingüísticas Hacia El Valenciano Y El Castellanoen Agost, José Manuel Hernández Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the attitudes of the inhabitants of Agost towards Castilian and Valencian Catalan. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire distributed among a representative sample of Agostenses between April and June 2013 and analyzed according to three independent variables: sex, age and education. It was hypothesized that attitudes would covary with these variables and, in general, this proved to be the case.

Zadie Smith's Nw And The Edwardian Roots Of The Contemporary Cosmopolitan Ethic, Laura Domenica Marostica

Theses and Dissertations

British contemporary writer Zadie Smith is often representative of cosmopolitan writers of the twenty-first century: in both her fiction and nonfiction, she joins a multicultural background and broad, varied interests to an ethic based on the importance of interpersonal relationships and empathetic respect for the other. But while Smith is often considered the poster child for the contemporary British cosmopolitan, her ethics are in fact rooted in the one rather staid member of the canon: EM Forster, whose emphatic call to ‘only connect’ grounds all of Smith's fiction. Her latest novel, 2012's NW, further expands her relationship to Forster in …

Transcription And Translation Of A Yearly Letter From 1619 Found In The Japonica Sinica 71 From The Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Jason Michael Wilber

Theses and Dissertations

This project is a transcription and translation of a 21-page annual letter written about the Cochinchina mission for the year 1619 by the Jesuit missionary João Rodrigues Girão. In 1619 the Cochinchina mission consisted of central and southern Vietnam. The two Jesuit residents at this time were located in the city of Faifo, in the province of Cacham, and Nuocman, in the province of Pulocamby. A semi-diplomatic and diplomatic transcription style is used for the transcription, with a dynamic-equivalent (sense-for-sense) style used for the translation.

Dark Satire As Political Criticism In Dias' Gomes O Bem-Amado , Mark Jeffrey Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the Dias Gomes' play turned telenovela, O Bem-Amado, to demonstrate the use of satire and dark humor to make political commentary during the tumultuous sociopolitical era in Brazil from the early 1960s through the late-1970s. This era in Brazil is characterized by the overthrow of the leftist democratically elected civilian government by a corporate-backed hardline military dictatorship in the early part of 1964, which lasts for approximately 20 years. The result of this authoritative military rule causes many artists and intellectuals that oppose the dictatorship's repression to flee into exile abroad or adapt to the changing sociopolitical …

Inheriting The Library: The Archon And The Archive In George Macdonald's Lilith, Lauran Ray Fuller

Theses and Dissertations

George MacDonald's novel Lilith relates the story of a young man inheriting his deceased father's estate and coming in contact with its remarkable library and mysterious librarian. The protagonist's subsequent adventures in a fantastical world prepare the young Mr. Vane to assume authority over his inherited archive and become an archon. Jacques Derrida's exposition of the responsibilities of the archon including archival authority, domiciliation, and consignation illuminate the mentoring role of the elusive librarian Mr. Raven in Vane's adventures. By using Derrida's deconstruction of archives to unpack the intricacies of knowledge transfer in MacDonald's novel, the lasting impact of the …

Jade Cabbage, Daniel Marriott

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Life Revised, Martha A. Parker

BYU Studies

The author of this personal essay describes how, at age nineteen, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Four years later, the unthinkable happened. After losing her ability to walk, she was informed by her doctor that she was one of only 350 out of 110,000 people currently taking Tysabri worldwide who had developed a condition called Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML), a brain infection. Her cerebellum was slowly being eaten alive. Of those 350 people, only 15 percent had survived. In other words, her chances were slim. This essay is the story of her battle with PML and the impressive lessons …

Psalm Of The Expectant Mother, Maria Davis

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

"The Redemption Of Zion Must Needs Come By Power": Insights Into The Camp Of Israel Expedition, 1834, Matthew C. Godfrey

BYU Studies

The story of the Camp of Israel, better known as Zion's Camp, has been told many times. The tale of Joseph Smith leading a group of over two hundred individuals to Missouri to reclaim Mormon lands lost after Jackson County mobs forced the Saints from the county has assumed almost mythical status. Yet details about some aspects of the camp are still somewhat murky, especially in terms of its membership, its funding, its provisioning, and its intentions. Those of us working on the Joseph Smith Papers have discovered many new insights as we have examined documents pertaining to the camp. …

The Tiptoe, Robbie Taggart

BYU Studies

"My theology stresses the reality of continued, continuing revelation," writes the author of this essay. "God speaks, not spake. . . . But it is sometimes a real wrestle to know when he is speaking and what he wants. It takes attentiveness, and patience. Sometimes weeks pass without a whisper." He illustrates this idea with a story about stalking squirrels with his four-year-old son. After almost seeing one, the author, who has asked God to grant his son this simple wish, prays in silent resignation, "Well, thanks for trying." But then the wish is granted in a spectacular manner.

"A Peculiar People": Anti-Mormonism And The Making Of Religion In Nineteenth-Century America, J. Spencer Fluhman, George L. Mitton

BYU Studies

Latter-day Saints were often surprised or astonished at the amount of anti-Mormon rhetoric and sentiment that seemed to come out of the woodwork during the Romney candidacies. While to a varying degree there has always been an obvious anti-Mormon backdrop, it is an awakening to realize the strong, latent undercurrent that surfaces at times. J. Spencer Fluhman's book on anti-Mormonism in the nineteenth century is a helpful contribution to an understanding of the origins, sources, trends, and implications of such religious aversion. Fluhman is a professor of history at Brigham Young University and editor of the Mormon Studies Review. The …

"Use Of The Useless": Assessing Depictions Of Disability In The Zhuangzi, Crismon Lewis

Library Research Grants

This thesis analyzes how persons with disability are portrayed by the philosopher Zhuangzi in the canonical Daoist text which bears his name. In his elucidation of Daoist thought, Zhuangzi draws upon examples of a physically-deformed man, men who are missing feet due to criminal punishment, and a hunchback. While disability carried a stigma in ancient China (be it congenital or through mutilating impairment), Zhuangzi breaks from conventional attitude by depicting disability as an enabling quality for one to harmonize with the universal force known as the dao, or “The Way.” Zhuangzi also uses irony to show how disability endows …

From The Editor, John W. Welch

BYU Studies

I am excited about possibilities. Hamlet's line "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (Hamlet 1.5.167-68) invites us to look for answers: What more is there? How do we find it? Probing the possibilities keeps our minds open to helpful prospects. If you thrive on such enrichments, I'm confident that you will enjoy the ideas presented in this issue of BYU Studies Quarterly. Let me point out just a few.

The illuminating article by David Grandy about the latest scientific understandings of the behavior of light offers insightful analogical realizations about …

Physical Light And The Light Of Christ, David A. Grandy

BYU Studies

Light is puzzling. For the last century, surprises have repeatedly upended older understandings of light. What is more, these surprises have, among scientists and nonscientists alike, triggered a great deal of philosophical and theological commentary. Physical light resonates metaphysical overtones, some of which may be considered theological or spiritual. Light travels at its characteristic speed only in a vacuum; when moving through air, its speed is reduced. Material bodies can slow, block, and even extinguish light, giving light a seemingly subordinate role in our material world. But special relativity's portrayal of light breaks the frame of mechanistic thought and thereby …

Goodness And Truth: An Essay On Ralph Hancock's The Responsibility Of Reason, Joseph M. Spencer

BYU Studies

Joseph Spencer explains the shift in thinking that occurred about five hundred years ago: very generally speaking, premoderns took the ideal to be metaphysically fundamental, and moderns take the physical to be metaphysically fundamental. Latter-day Saint thinkers may fall into one camp or the other. Ralph Hancock's The Responsibility of Reason is a defense of a premodern conception of the world, mobilized by an attempt to reveal real problems in certain modern conceptions of the world. But Hancock's view that the moral order is total and consistent proves to be limiting. The Restoration not only took its rise in the …

The Myth Of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology And The Roots Of Modern Conflict, William T. Cavanaugh, Bryan W. Cottle

BYU Studies

Whether or not religion is essentially prone to violence is not a new debate within academia. While many scholars argue religion creates more violence in the world than any other institution, others argue that secular movements are by far the greater culprit, and the remainder struggle to find a middle ground. Despite disagreements, the scholarly discussion has largely hinged on the formation of a religious versus secular dichotomy. Does this paradigm damage our appraisal of religious violence, and are there alternative paradigms to consider?

William Cavanaugh's work, The Myth of Religious Violence, answers in the affirmative. Cavanaugh, a professor …