Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Salt Lake School Of The Prophets, Hannah Charlesworth

BYU Studies

In 1833, Joseph Smith established the first School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio. The school was a place where men in the Church of Christ, founded by Smith in 1830, met to learn about spiritual and secular matters and to prepare for missionary work. During these meetings, Joseph Smith saw many visions and received revelation. The Kirtland school ended in 1837, but thirty years later, Brigham Young revived the School of the Prophets in Utah. This school was called the Salt Lake School of the Prophets and is the main subject of Devery Anderson’s new book Salt Lake School …

Full Issue

BYU Studies

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 …

Sirani, Iole And Protofeminism In Early Modern Bologna, Heather Elizabeth White

Theses and Dissertations

Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665), a Bolognese artist, significantly contributed to the Italian protofeminist tradition through her three depictions of the classical figure Iole. These images are drastically different than other depictions of the time period because Sirani shows Iole as an isolated figure removed from her turbulent relationship with Hercules. By focusing on Iole as an individual, Sirani allowed Iole to be seen away from the male gaze; in doing so, Iole encompassed masculine characteristics while maintaining her sovereignty and femininity. Sirani's paintings of the strong and confident Iole are clear evidence that not only was Sirani inspired by the receptive …

The Hero's Mother, Rosalyn Joy Ribeira

Theses and Dissertations

Sixteen-year-old Drea Grimm’s mother walked out of their family home at midnight seven years ago. All she left behind were notebooks full of made up stories and a family that Drea, being the oldest, was now in charge of. One day, Drea finds a mysterious letter with her name on it written in her mother’s handwriting and everything she thought was true is destroyed. With the help of her partner on a school project, Ian, Drea uses her mom’s stories and clues from her last moments to heal her family and maybe bring her mother home. But there is someone …

"Our Leaders Were Mighty": Identifying Modern Leadership Philosophies In The Book Of Mormon, Christopher J. Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides a multitude of leadership opportunities to its members. Although many valuable leadership training resources are available, the Book of Mormon is surprisingly absent as a source material on leadership. Written by and about leaders in the ancient Americas, it seems like the Book of Mormon should contain important principles on how to lead within the context of building God’s kingdom that could be instructive. The Book of Mormon was not preserved to teach modern leadership styles, nor does its usefulness depend on how it does or does not connect to these …

"Come To The Knowledge Of Their Redeemer": The Book Of Mormon's Message To The House Of Israel, Kevin Leon Clawson

Theses and Dissertations

One of the major themes in the Book of Mormon is the promises of the Lord to the house of Israel. Even before Lehi and his family left the promised land, Lehi and Nephi prophesied of the future scattering and gathering of Israel. After the family of Lehi arrived on the Americas, prophets continued to teach about God’s covenants with Israel. The destiny of the house of Israel was a major theme in the books of 1 and 2 Nephi, and also at the end of the Book of Mormon in the teachings of Jesus Christ, Mormon, and Moroni.In Lehi’s …

Front Matter

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

I See You, God, John S. Tanner

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Aloha! I am both honored and a bit daunted to be invited to speak to you about the reason for the hope that is in me. The topic seems to call for a talk in a personal vein. So I shall speak autobiographically about the reasons for the hope I felt as a young man preparing to go on a mission and for the hope I feel today. I also will touch upon larger epistemological questions about how I know. I have entitled my talk “I See You, God” for reasons that will become clear later.

What We Learn From Alma’S Messages To His Sons, Richard G. Moore

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The transformation of Alma the Younger from a person “seeking to destroy the church of God” (Alma 36:6) to a spiritually powerful prophet was dramatic and extraordinary. To go from being among the “vilest of sinners” to wishing he could be an angel (Mosiah 28:4; Alma 29:1) so he might speak with even more power demonstrates the absolute effective impact repentance through faith in Christ’s Atonement can have for any individual. Alma’s conversion begins with a frightening appearance of an angel, declaring to Alma in a voice of thunder that if he does not cease his efforts to destroy the …

“A Teacher Come From God”, Marlin K. Jensen

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

One of the desires of the heart that I’ve had since being called at age eighteen to teach a youth Sunday School class is the desire to become a good teacher. Chapter 3 of John’s Gospel is best known for the exchange between the Savior and Nicodemus about the need to be born again. For me, however, the most moving part of that dialogue has always been the way Nicodemus greeted the Savior. He began with the salutation, “Rabbi,” which, as you scholars know, is the Jewish title for “master” or “teacher.” He continued, “We know that thou art a …

Scripture Note: A Fresh Approach To Moroni’S Promise, Alan Taylor Farnes

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Moroni’s promise is a well-known and much-loved passage of scripture to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has been called “probably the most celebrated and oft-cited verses in the Book of Mormon.”¹ Most missionaries know it by memory and often challenge their investigators to take “Moroni’s challenge.” Moroni tells his readers that when they read the Book of Mormon they should ponder on the Lord’s mercy since the Creation and then ask God if the Book of Mormon is not true. Then comes Moroni’s promise: “If ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with …

Can You Hear The Music?, Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

My beloved brothers and sisters, my dear friends, Sister Uchtdorf and I are so grateful to be with you today. We bring you the love and greetings of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. You young people are the strength and future of the Church of Jesus Christ all around the earth. You are the Latter-day Saints who will be a blessing to the world. We love and admire you!

Finding Documents On The Joseph Smith Papers Website, Kenneth L. Alford

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The Joseph Smith Papers website (josephsmithpapers.org) is a wonderful resource. With thousands of documents and hundreds of resource pages, though, it can sometimes feel like you’re searching for a needle in a haystack. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how you might use the website to learn more about quotations and documents associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Using The Joseph Smith Papers Website: An Introduction, Nathan N. Waite

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

There is something special about original historical documents. I have seen it again and again in my own life and in sharing my work on The Joseph Smith Papers with others: people are drawn to the tangible connection to the past provided by these seemingly ordinary, often faded pages. As the Library of Congress puts it, “Primary sources help students relate in a personal way to events of the past and promote a deeper understanding of history as a series of human events.” They inspire people to find out more, to think critically about what they read, and to take …

End Matter

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Sex And Death On The Western Emigrant Trail: The Biology Of Three American Tragedies, Melvin L. Bashore

BYU Studies

Who would be more likely to survive in a wilderness setting, beset by starvation and extreme cold? Women or men? Single individuals or families? Would age make a difference? In Sex and Death on the Western Emigrant Trail, Donald Grayson looks at who died and who lived in three mid-nineteenth-century emigrant groups. An emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Washington, Grayson began looking at patterns of death in the Donner Party, publishing his findings in 1990 and 1993. Curious if those same patterns of death were manifest in another emigrant group, Grayson began looking at the 1856 …

Full Issue

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

"Unsteady Characters", Adam Brantley

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Voice From The Dust, Darren Parry

BYU Studies

Darren Parry is the chairman of the Northwest Band Tribal Council of the Shoshone Nation. On November 8, 2018, at Brigham Young University, he presented this talk for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies.

He is working to create the Boa Ogoi [Big River] Cultural Interpretive Center, an educational center that will share the story of the Bear River Massacre. On January 29, 1863, the U.S. Army attacked the Shoshone encamped at the Bear River, near present-day Preston, Idaho, and slaughtered 250 to 500 Shoshone people, including women and children. Public reports of this massacre were officially given by …

She Will Find What Is Lost: Brian Kershisnik’S Artistic Response To The Problem Of Human Suffering, Cris Baird

BYU Studies

In March 2014, my wife, Janae, and I purchased Brian Kershisnik’s masterpiece She Will Find What Is Lost and immediately loaned it to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for display in the Church’s Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.1 In this essay, I tell the story of how we came to own the painting, what it means to us, and why I believe the painting has a spiritually important and universally applicable message.

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Academic Pathway To Teaching In Utah: Does Alternative Certification Alleviate Teacher Shortages?, Laura Michelle Wilde

Theses and Dissertations

The Academic Pathway to Teaching (APT) licensure was introduced in 2016 to expand the supply of teachers in Utah. Since then, there has been no formal evaluation of the licensure or the teachers teaching with an APT license. The goals of this study were to explore the effects of the APT licensure on teacher turnover in Utah and to analyze how mentoring experience and teacher self-efficacy were related to the attrition of this population of teachers. This mixed-methods study used data from the Utah State Board of Education to calculate rates of teacher turnover of APT candidates (N=456) for each …

1930s Gold Digger Films And #Metoo: Collaging Modernist Moments, William Drew Chandler

Theses and Dissertations

Susan Friedman's recent theory of planetary modernisms, from her book Planetary Modernisms: Provocations on Modernity Across Time, holds that modernism as a distinguishable period, and modernity, as the characteristics of said period, can take place at any point in time and in any place that is experiencing rupture and upheaval. Planetary modernisms studies de-colonizes and de-centralizes traditional modernism and opens it up to logical and important new horizons. It encompasses not only literary output, but all forms of cultural production, including theatre and film. I use this theory to identify and compare two unique moments of modernism which until now …

History Of Latter-Day Saint K-12 Education, Eric Tonini, Casey Griffiths

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Republic of Kiribati is a nation consisting of thirty-three coral atolls. While twenty-one of the atolls are inhabited, a majority of the population lives on the main island known as South Tarawa. This major population on South Tarawa have moved from outer islands in the past few decades in search for economic and educational opportunities that are found on the main island. Primary education is free and expected for all kids, with schools located on most islands, while secondary and university education is limited to mostly South Tarawa.

Yellowstone National Park: Photography Then And Now, Tressa Roberts, Robert Graham

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My project was inspired by something I learned in my history of photography class; we learned about the first people to discover some of the national parks, including Yellowstone. No one had traveled to The West, and the way people around the world were able to see what it looked like was through photography. With National Parks becoming more a tourist destination, I wanted to compare what the parks looked like when first discovered to how they look now.

Open-Source Consistency Evaluation For Chinese Word Segmentation, Blake Smith, Robert Reynolds

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Chinese in its written form, whether typed or penned, does not separate its characters by spaces. Imagine if this were the case with English, and a sign for a job fair were to display “opportunityisnowhere.” Regardless of the intent being to announce that “opportunity is now here,” the ambiguity caused by the lack of spacing also enables a negative reading. Figuring out where the spaces, or word boundaries, belong in Chinese can even be tricky on occasion even for native speakers. Imagine then how difficult this task is for computers. And so, machines need to be able to decipher word …

Morphological Parsing And Segmentation, Kyle Roth, Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Morphological parsing is a task where a computer recognizes the meaning that parts of a word contribute to its overall meaning and role in the sentence. Morphological segmentation simply means splitting words up into their component parts, and is simpler than parsing.

The result of my research is two-fold: I applied a VoCRF to morphologically parse a new Basque corpus, and demonstrated the e ectiveness of a paradigm-based approach to morphological segmentation. Initially, I set out to improve upon the VoCRF algorithm to account for previously-known information; unfortunately, the expected improvements to the VoCRF algorithm could not be made because …

Remembering “The Good Life”, Colby Sanford, Joseph Ostraff

Journal of Undergraduate Research

They’re selling the family farm. In the summer of ‘73 my Grandparents left their home in Connecticut to follow the ideologies of Helen and Scott Nearing “to take [their] life into [their] own hands and live it in the country, in a decent, simple, kindly way” (Nearing, 11). My Grandparent’s intentional lifestyle has always been a standard for my own. I’ve long wanted to be with them and paint from their everyday lives. Because of their age and the farm’s physical demand, they have been considering moving to the Midwest to be closer to family so, I didn’t have long.

Women Of The Grand Tour: Travel, Space, And Representation Of Women In Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour Portraiture, Anne Totten, Dr. Martha Peacock

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Grand Tour was a quintessential part of eighteenth-century English culture. A trip that lasted from six months to three years, the purpose of this journey was for young men to supplement their education with exposure to the art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance as well as Ancient Greece and Rome. While the Tour was traditionally traveled by young men, many women also took the journey to the “continent.” The purpose of this project is to explore the experience of eighteenth-century English female travelers during the Grand Tour through artist Pompeo Batoni’s portraits of female grand tourists, and to …