Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“It Must Needs Be”, Eric Dahlin

BYU Studies

After speaking to his son Jacob about Jesus Christ’s redemption of mankind, the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi declares, “It must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Ne. 2:11). We often use the word opposition colloquially to explain the difficulties or challenges that we or others encounter. When others experience troubling times, we frequently, as well-intentioned members of the Church, remind them of this sentiment. Our aim is to provide solace for the one who is suffering by pointing out that facing opposition is a common feature of life (even if normalizing the suffering may …

Coming And Going To Zion: An Analysis Of Push And Pull Factors Motivating British Latter-Day Saint Emigration, 1840–60, Samuel Benson

BYU Studies

In 1863, acclaimed British writer Charles Dickens boarded a New York–bound emigrant ship docked at Liverpool. He was not a passenger but an observer; the subjects of his study were more than eight hundred Latter-day Saint emigrants aboard the ship Amazon. Dickens’s stated purpose, as he later wrote in The Uncommercial Traveller, was “to bear testimony against them if they deserved it,” but to his surprise, he instead found “the pick and flower of England.” Dickens lauded the Latter-day Saints’ politeness and their “aptitude for organisation,” and he praised their leader, Apostle George Q. Cannon. By the end …

Hope On The Hill, Miranda H. Lotz

BYU Studies

My children were grassy and wet that early fall day as they rolled down the hill over and over again. They giggled and slid down the muddy slope. This was not quite the experience I hoped to give when I dragged them from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., up to rural New York, but they seemed more pleased with this outcome than any other. Rain drizzled, and trees hung on to their green in a last attempt at modesty before their gorgeous reds and oranges were revealed.

Your Daddy Or Your Father?— Mimetic Desire Versus Christian Fatherhood, Bryce Dixon

BYU Studies

“The Yankees are my Daddy,” the Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez famously announced following the loss of some critical baseball games to their New York City rivals. The idiom “Daddy” refers to a victor’s domination over a loser in a competition. The winner becomes the Daddy, and the loser the submissive child. Ironically, a Red Sox player, David Ortiz—nicknamed “Big Papi,” or “Big Daddy” in Spanish—became the Yankees’ “Daddy” when his batting heroics led the Red Sox to a miraculous comeback win over the Yankees in the 2004 playoffs, reversing the “curse of the Bambino” that was believed to …

"Show Them Unto No Man", Barry R. Bickmore

BYU Studies

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) who attempt to educate themselves about the history of their religion can sometimes be confronted with a bewildering array of interpretations made by historians who range in perspective from traditional believers to atheists and include numerous variations in between. When asked about the origins of such discrepancies, the historians will naturally refer to biases exhibited by the others and perhaps even to their own possible sources of bias.

A Close Look At Scriptural Teachings Regarding Jesus Feeling Our Pains As Part Of His Atonement, Scott C. Woodward

BYU Studies

Scriptural teachings regarding the Atonement of Jesus Christ represent the most important and cherished doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Richard G. Scott emphasized its importance, stating, “The atonement of Jesus Christ is the single most significant event that ever has or ever will occur.” Elder Neal A. Maxwell called it “the central act in all of human history” and “the hinge on which all else that finally matters turned.” And Elder Bruce R. McConkie declared it to be “the center and core and heart of revealed religion.”

The Book Of Mormon Art Catalog, Jennifer Champoux

BYU Studies

You can learn much about a society from its religious art. Compare, for example, two images of Christ’s descent from the cross—one a Counter-Reformation Flemish painting and the other from just twenty years later in nearby Protestant Amsterdam. In the earlier piece, Peter Paul Rubens (fig. 1) creates a scene of movement, drama, vivid color, and swirling drapery and depicts the body of Christ as muscular and heroic. In the second, by Rembrandt (fig. 2), we see a somber, quiet, darkly monochromatic scene and Christ’s frail, sagging body. How might we account for such different visual interpretations of this pivotal …

End Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

What If I’D Not Been Raised To Know You?, Darlene Young

BYU Studies

I think I would have noticed.

Mary’S Assumption, Christopher Bissett

BYU Studies

On resurrection morning

surely He appeared to you,

His mother.

Mormon Envoy: The Diplomatic Legacy Of Dr. John Milton Bernhisel By Bruce W. Worthen, Matthew B. Christensen

BYU Studies

Mormon Envoy: The Diplomatic Legacy of Dr. John Milton Bernhisel by Bruce W. Worthen is an exploration of the life and diplomatic career of Dr. John Milton Bernhisel, a prominent—though perhaps lesser known—figure in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Worthen’s research and analysis shed light on Bernhisel’s role as a diplomat and advocate for the Latter-day Saint community during a important period in American and Utah history.

Restless Pilgrim: Andrew Jenson’S Quest For Latter-Day Saint History By Reid L. Neilson And Scott D. Marianno, Matthew B. Christensen

BYU Studies

Restless Pilgrim: Andrew Jenson’s Quest for Latter-day Saint History, written by Reid L. Neilson and Scott D. Marianno, is a captivating biography that delves into the remarkable life and passionate quest of Andrew Jenson, an assistant church historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1886 until his death in 1941.

Was Joseph Smith A Money Digger?, Steven C. Harper

BYU Studies

Was not Jo Smith a money digger?” It’s a legitimate, frequently asked question from Joseph Smith’s day to ours. An early Latter-day Saint newspaper, the Elders’ Journal, asked and then answered that question in a pair of articles published in 1837 and 1838. The first article teased readers with a list of provocative “questions which are daily and hourly asked by all classes of people whilst we are traveling,” then promised that answers would follow in a subsequent issue. The second article answered candidly: “Yes.” Joseph Smith was a money digger, meaning that he dug for buried treasure. “But,” …

Being Latter-Day Saints (1841–1857): Four Matriarchs In The Centreville, Delaware, Branch, Marie Cornwall

BYU Studies

After Joseph Smith established The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he began sending missionaries to the eastern states. It did not take long before small branches began popping up in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. While many of the new converts joined with the main body of the Saints, first in Missouri and later in Nauvoo, others remained in their communities. With few exceptions, much of the history of the Latter-day Saints focuses on the migrations to Nauvoo and settlements in Utah. Available histories offer few details about community life among Latter-day Saints who remained where …

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Approaching The Tree: Interpreting 1 Nephi 8, Edited By Benjamin Keogh, Joseph M. Spencer, And Jennifer Champoux, Sydney Gee

BYU Studies

Approaching the Tree: Interpreting 1 Nephi 8 is a collection of essays and artwork about Lehi’s dream compiled by Benjamin Keogh, a PhD candidate in systematic and historical theology at the University of St Andrews; Joseph M. Spencer, an associate professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University; and Jennifer Champoux, the director of the Book of Mormon Art Catalog. It focuses on “providing original readings” of 1 Nephi 8 from a variety of scholars and artists (xi).

Creating "Good Government", Linda Hoffman Kimball

BYU Studies

Creating an image that represents the quest for good government was a meaty challenge. There are so many opinions, so many priorities, so many personalities. How do power, choice, cooperation, force, fear, aspirations, and even geography impact how a society will structure itself and relate to others whose priorities vary?

March Morning, New York City, David Passey

BYU Studies

At last the earth lifts the cobbled street between Church and City Hall back in line with the sun.

The Role Of The Article Iii Judge, Thomas B. Griffith

BYU Studies

The Constitution says precious little about the role envisioned for federal judges in the new government that document created: “The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.”

Proclaim Peace: The Restoration’S Answer To An Age Of Conflict, Patrick Q. Mason, J. David Pulsipher, Kristine Haglund, Reviewer

BYU Studies

Let’s start at the end. The achievement of Proclaim Peace is particularly evident in its endnotes, which comprise balanced references to Restoration scripture, the Bible, Latter-day Saint authorities, and academic Mormon studies and peace studies literature. Scholars ranging from early Americanists like Bernard Bailyn to sociologist Max Weber and even geneticists like Marc Haber provide interdisciplinary contextual richness. There are references to thinkers from Catholic, Protestant, Latter-day Saint, Community of Christ, Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu traditions. This broadly informed and carefully applied framework for reading scripture and exploring a key aspect of the restored gospel and Church history is a …

End Matter

BYU Studies

BYU Studies publishes scholarship that is informed by the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Submissions are invited from all scholars who seek truth “by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118), discern the harmony between revelation and research, value both academic and spiritual inquiry, and recognize that knowledge without charity is nothing (1 Cor. 13:2).

The Orchid And The Missile, Paul Alan Cox

BYU Studies

The MX missile program was proposed by the United States as a response to a perceived missile gap with the Soviet Union in the late 1970s. The basing mode, consisting of multiple silos between which a single launch vehicle would be shuttled, would have consumed large portions of western Utah and eastern Nevada. Although touted as a counterforce weapon, the extraordinary accuracy of the MX would have resulted in the USA constructing an invisible first strike system, destabilizing the strategic balance. Stopping or even slowing the MX deployment seemed impossible before two unexpected events occurred: explicit opposition to the MX …

On The Necessity Of Loss, Shamae Budd

BYU Studies

The second night in the hospital after our son was born, I crept out of bed, hobbled a few feet across the linoleum, and curled up on the stiff pleather couch where Daniel was sleeping. Our son was in the NICU with a mild case of pneumonia, so it was just he and I in that little room. My body hurt. My heart, too. Daniel pulled me close on the little green hospital couch, and I wept. It felt like nothing would be good again—like we would never be the same.

New Deacon, Kevin Klein

BYU Studies

It is our son’s first trip down the chapel aisle / steering a silver tray of broken bread. / Repentant faces lift his way and smile.

Why Abraham Was Not Wrong To Lie, Duane Boyce

BYU Studies

The book of Genesis contains two well-known accounts of Abraham lying about his wife, Sarah (Gen. 12:10–20; 20:1–18).1 In each of them, Abraham reports that Sarah is his sister, 2 Sarah is then taken from Abraham, trouble ensues for those who have taken her, and Sarah is then returned to Abraham. The account in Genesis 20 also explicitly tells us that the Lord protected Sarah from being “touched” in the circumstances (v. 6), and the account in Genesis 12, too, tells us that the Lord intervened, presumably for the same purpose (v. 17).

From Cotton Mcgintey's Rain Sermon To Boy Scout Troop 167 At Agassiz Meadows, Hugh Uintas, Warren Hatch

BYU Studies

Remember how rain drummed your tent last night? And when you were outdoors, how it wrapped you up? Brightened every sniff of spruce and lightning-sparked ozone.

What Egyptian Papyri Did Joseph Smith Possess?, Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, John S. Thompson

BYU Studies

In early July 1835, Joseph Smith acquired some Egyptian papyri from which he claimed to translate the Book of Abraham. From historical evidence and the papyrus fragments that were returned to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in November 1967, we can piece together a profile of what papyri the Prophet is known to have possessed.

The "Kirtland Egyptian Papers" And The Book Of Abraham, Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, John S. Thompson

BYU Studies

Associated with the translation of the Book of Abraham is a collection of documents commonly known today as the “Kirtland Egyptian Papers.” This name was coined by Hugh Nibley in the early 1970s to describe a corpus of manuscripts that can be classified into, broadly, two categories: Book of Abraham manuscripts and Egyptian-language manuscripts (or manuscripts that “focus on alphabet and grammar material that the authors connected to the ancient Egyptian language”). Because some of these documents postdate the Kirtland period of Latter-day Saint history, and because the name coined by Nibley to describe this corpus is somewhat vague, the …

The Plain Of Olishem, Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, John S. Thompson

BYU Studies

The opening chapter of the Book of Abraham mentions a location called “the plain of Olishem” (Abr. 1:10). It isn’t clear from the text whether the plain itself was Olishem, or whether Olishem was some city or region in the area to which the plain was adjacent, or whether the plain takes its name from a major city on the plain. In any case, this “plain of Olishem” was near Abraham’s homeland of Ur of the Chaldees, according to the text.