Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Edward L. Hart: A Conversation About Poetry, Casualene Meyer

BYU Studies

Poet Edward L. Hart wrote the lyrics to one of Mormonism's favorite hymns, "Our Savior's Love." As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hart gives his thoughts on the relationship between praise and poetry and how even secular poems can capture a sense of worship. He also discusses the inspiration behind subjects he's addressed in poetry, including nature and war; the background of some of his compositions; and his influences. He describes the power of poetic language this way: "The feel for human truths goes hand in hand with the language and all that the …

Voice Lessons, Melissa Helquist

BYU Studies

In this contest-winning personal essay, the author describes the challenge of undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer and coping with lasting scars, including an extra "smile" on her throat where an incision was made and a voice that functions only some of the time. She writes, "I smell the rainwater as it moves around the tires, the earthiness of smashed worms, and everything cold and soulful. The day says something to me, and I wish I could say something back." Using compelling imagery, she conveys what it's like to express herself through the calculated means of writing and playing the viola …

Our Savior's Love, Edward L. Hart

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Riding Backwards, R. A. Christmas

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Believing In The Atoning Power Of Christ, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

The book of Deuteronomy begins with a striking verse: "(There are eleven days journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea)" (Deuteronomy 1:2). Because this verse is set within parentheses and seems to relay minutia, it is easily passed over. But a close examination shows it to be one of the most thought-provoking verses in the Old Testament. Identifying two of the sites referred to in the verse makes this clear. Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai. Kadesh-barnea is the place where Moses and the children of Israel camped as they sent men into the promised …

Two Sides Of A River: Mormon Transmigration Through Quincy, Illinois, And Hannibal, Missouri, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

The infamous extermination order issued 27 October 1838 by Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs caused thousands of Latter-day Saints to flee the state and seek refuge in Illinois across the Mississippi River. Illinois, established in 1817, had high hopes for its future, but just two decades later it was smitten, like the rest of America, with the economic depression of 1837. In such a needy condition, the people Illinois welcomed the Mormon migrants for three central reasons. Financially motivated, the state viewed the Latter-day Saint influx as an opportunity to raise its population to boost the economy through the collection …

And I Saw The Hosts Of The Dead, Both Small And Great: Joseph F. Smith, World War I, And His Visions Of The Dead, Richard Bennett

Faculty Publications

As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great (D&C 138:11).

Index Of Utah Construction Company / Utah International Collection, 1900-1984 Ms 100, J. Michael Hunter

Faculty Publications

This is a detailed index of the Utah Construction / Utah International Collection or Manuscript Collection 100 (MS 100) housed in Special Collections at the Stewart Library, Weber State University. The collection comprises 275 boxes of records chronicling the activities of Utah Construction Company/Utah International. From these files comes a history of worldwide construction and mining activities undertaken by the company for nearly a century. Records of the Administrative Departments: meeting announcements, minutes, agendas, and financial files pertaining to the Board of Directors and Executive Committee. The collection also includes organizational charts, financial data, annual reports, daybooks, journals, ledgers, legal …

Was The Path Nephi Saw ‘Strait And Narrow’ Or ‘Straight And Narrow', Noel B. Reynolds, Royal Skousen

Faculty Publications

A complete analysis of the full range of usage patterns for all forms of strait and straight in the Book of Mormon provides sufficient contextual evidence for resolving the orthographical problems that were introduced through these homophones in the manuscripts and the 1830 edition. The article lists all 27 occurrences of some form of straight in the 1830 edition, indicating which ones were changed to strait and in which LDS editions they were revised. The evidence, we believe, indicates that most of these later changes were correct. But because the Book of Mormon usage introduced by Nephi was distinctive, and …

Dis-Semblances: Physiognomy And Fiction In Borges’S ​Historia Universal De La Infamia, David Laraway

Faculty Publications

Over a decade after publishing Ficciones and some six years after El Aleph made its way into print, Borges had occasion to write a new introduction to Historia universal de la infomia, his first extended exploration of the mechanisms of fictional narrative. It was, he reflected of the 1935 work, an "irresponsable juego de un timido que nose anim6 a escribir cuentos y que se distrajo en falsear y tergiversar [ ... ]. No es otra cosa que apariencia [ ... ] una superficie de imagenes" (Obras l: 291). There can be little question that, compared with Ficciones and El …

The Problem With Ya Literature, Chris Crowe

Faculty Publications

Despite their incredible success, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, which, now that Hariy is fourteen years old in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire can be comfortably considered YA literature, have had plenty of criticism. The cited faults of the Potter books are many, ranging from pedestrian writing to occult content.

Attacks on YA books are nothing new. For more than a century there have been vocal parents, teachers, and librarians who have attacked books written specifically for teenagers.

Ap And Ya?, Chris Crowe

Faculty Publications

Perhaps the most traditional, conservative bastions of literature in America are those that are home to the thousands of high school Advanced Placement English classes throughout the United States. In these classrooms, diligent students and teachers study "literature of enduring quality" in preparation for the rigorous AP English literature examination given each spring. Typically the curriculum of these courses relies heavily on the classics: works by Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Hugo, Austen, Hawthorne, Hemingway, and the rest of the authors enshrined in literature's pantheon. Of course, in recent decades the literary canon has loosened up enough to accept a handful of works …

Christian Petersen, Sculptor, J. R. Christianson

The Bridge

Christian Petersen (1885-1961), a native of Dybb0l in what was once Prussian Schleswig and today is Danish S0nderjylland, became the first artist-in-residence at any American college or university in 1934. The most recent book about him and his art, by Lea Rosson DeLong and others, places Petersen alongside Grant Wood, John Steuart Curry, and Thomas Hart Benton as one of the leading American Regionalists of the nineteen-thirties and 'forties. DeLong also reveals Petersen's strong Danish-American ties and some of the Danish elements that helped to shape his art.

"Give It All Up And Follow Your Lord": Mormon Female Religiosity, 1831-1843, Janiece L. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1750s American women have flocked to churches. Women have consistently been the majority in church populations. Religion was the central motivation of the female life experience. Likewise, women comprised a significant portion of the membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in its first decade. There exists little historical analysis of the contribution and experience of these women as a whole. As a result of this lack of research some historians have made erroneous assumptions of patriarchal oppression and a lack of commitment on the part of early Mormon women. This project closely examines the …

Religiosity And Delinquency: A Test Of The Religious Ecology Hypothesis, S. Cory Harmon

Theses and Dissertations

Research testing the relationship between adolescent religiosity and delinquent behavior is inconclusive. Some studies show a significant negative relationship while others indicate no relationship. Stark (1996) asserts that the relationship between religiosity and delinquency is a function of community religiosity as opposed to personal religiosity. Thus, in areas of high religiosity, there will be a strong relationship, while areas of low religiosity will show no relationship. This study looks at the relationship between religiosity and delinquency of LDS youth in four different religious ecologies: Utah County (high religious ecology), the East coast (moderate religious ecology), the Pacific Northwest (low religious …

Service Learning In Business Schools: What The H.E.L.P. Honduras Story Teaches About Building, Sustaining, And Replicating International Initiatives In Graduate Programs, Lisa Mali Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This document outlines the foundation and first year results of the H.E.L.P. Honduras organization, which was formed as a student-based, student-governed international outreach initiative at the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University. Specifically, in its first year the organization focused on providing microcredit and service relief to victims of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras.

After studying the case of H.E.L.P. Honduras, readers should conclude that educators interested in sponsoring sustainable student-run service learning organizations at private universities must address three primary issues: the problem of student selection and turnover, the need for administrative and faculty endorsement, and the need …

The Japanese Missionary Journals Of Elder Alma O. Taylor, 1901-10, Reid Larkin Neilson

Theses and Dissertations

On 14 February 1901, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the opening of the Japan Mission and the selection of Elder Heber J. Grant as its first president. The idea of sending Mormon missionaries to Japan had earlier been entertained by President Brigham Young and several other church leaders and lay members.

Until 1854, Japan was closed to western nations and their religious influences. Finally, Commodore Perry forced the Japanese to open their borders and minds to the economic and political entreaties of the United States. In time, other western nations and their …

Front Matter

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Editorial Statement

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Contributors

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

My Danish Background, Waldemar Westergaard

The Bridge

Editor's Note: This essay brought back fond memories for me, because I had the opportunity, some forty years ago, to meet Professor Waldemar Westergaard (1882-1963) in his pension in Store Kongensgade, near Kongens Nytoro in Copenhagen. It was the summer of 1962. My graduate school advisor, Professor Lawrence D. Steefel, was an old friend of his and recommended me to him. Professor Westergaard was eighty years of age but full of energy, charm, and good stories. He gave me the names of all kinds of people to contact in Copenhagen. The cordiality and intellectual acumen that characterize the following memoir …

Reviews

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

The Lynching Of An American Prophet, Warren A. Jennings

BYU Studies

In 1839, Mormon refugees made their way from Missouri to Montrose, Iowa, across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo, Illinois, where they would eventually settle. The man who laid out the city of Montrose, David Wells Kilbourne, disliked Mormons because of a land dispute, and he shared his anti-Mormon opinions in the paper. One of his sympathizers, Thomas Dent, was an Anglican parson in England who'd seen members of his community join the strange new sect. Seeking information about the Mormons, Dent corresponded with Kilbourne. Here the author shares three of Kilbourne's letters to Dent. While the letters include both fact …

“Sweeping Everything Before It”: Early Mormonism In The Pine Barrens Of New Jersey, Stephen J. Fleming

BYU Studies

In the summer of 1838, Elder Benjamin Winchester (fig. 1) ventured into Monmouth County, New Jersey, to preach to gospel. Winchester was the first Mormon missionary to make it into the Pine Barrens, an area so named because of its sandy, unproductive land. Soon "the news went abroad, that a Mormon preacher had made his appearance in the land." Winchester wrote, "As to [Mormon] principles, and rules of faith, the people knew nothing, except by reports... [and] the people flocked out, in crowds to hear, yet at this time, more out of curiosity than any thing else." Once Winchester began …

Alma O. Taylor's Fact-Finding Mission To China, Reid L. Neilson

BYU Studies

In 1909, after serving as a mission president in Japan for eight years, native Utah Mormon Alma O. Taylor visited China as directed by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to determine if Mormon missionaries should be sent there. Taylor did not speak Chinese, so he drew his conclusions by speaking to native English speakers living in China, often Protestant missionaries. Excerpts of Taylor's original report are published here, revealing some of the prejudices and perspectives Westerners had regarding China in the early 1900s. The author also supplies historical information about Mormon missionary work in Japan …

Mormons In The Press: Reactions To The 1901 Opening Of The Japan Mission, Shinji Takagi

BYU Studies

During the first month when a Mormon Apostle and three missionaries arrived to begin proselytizing work in Japan, the local and national press published at least 160 articles on Mormonism, many of the articles appearing on the front page. The media attention was unprecedented for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in that country. Here the author explores the reaction from the Japanese press toward Mormons, the social and historical context that led to such interest, and some of the media controversies that arose. The author concludes that one of the biggest reasons Mormons received such attention when …

Full Issue, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.