Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Stranded In The Stars, Sheldon Lawrence

BYU Studies

My wife asked me if I had the keys, but only after the car door locked shut, so her question was asked in suspense and hope—waiting to see what damage had been done to our trip to the sand dunes. I did not have the keys. I had left them in the car so they would not get lost in the sand. Our spontaneous trip to the dunes just got more interesting.

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

From The Editor, John W. Welch

BYU Studies

This issue of BYU Studies Quarterly proudly leads off with the 2015 Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecture by political science professor David Magleby. I am confident that all current readers will enjoy and benefit from the timely insights that this speech offers regarding the persistent pressures on political parties to justify their existence and to seek opportunities for mutually beneficial accommodations and compromises.

Grace In The Book Of Mormon, Brent J. Schmidt

BYU Studies

This chapter is excerpted from Relational Grace: The Reciprocal and Binding Covenant of Charis, by Brent J. Schmidt (BYU Studies, 2015).

Santa Biblia: The Latter-Day Saint Bible In Spanish, Joshua M. Sears

BYU Studies

After the release of the first Latter-day Saint edition of the Bible in 1979 and a new edition of the Triple Combination containing the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price in 1981, Elder Boyd K. Packer declared:

With the passing of years, these scriptures will produce successive generations of faithful Christians who know the Lord Jesus Christ and are disposed to obey His will. . . . The revelations will be opened to them as to no other in the history of the world. . . . They will develop a gospel scholarship beyond that …

For Zion: A Mormon Theology Of Hope, Lauren Mccombs

BYU Studies

For Zion: A Mormon Theology of Hope, by Joseph M. Spencer (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2014)

Nauvoo & Hancock County, Illinois: A Guide To Family History And Historical Sources, Gerrit Van Dyk

BYU Studies

Nauvoo & Hancock County, Illinois: A Guide to Family History and Historical Sources, by Kip Sperry. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, 2014.

Kirtland Temple: The Biography Of A Shared Mormon Sacred Space, Elwin C. Robinson

BYU Studies

David J. Howlett, a professor and member of the Community of Christ, opens up a view of the Kirtland Temple that is not often considered by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Howlett chronicles the various ways that the Kirtland Temple has been a point of conflict and confluence, influencing the interaction between faith traditions stemming from Joseph Smith’s religious experiences.

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, …

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 …

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 …

Ender's Game, Orson S. Card, Scott R. Parkin, Gavin Hood

BYU Studies

Orson Scott Card might well be the most versatile, and one of the most Mormon, fiction authors writing today--a true "storyteller in Zion," as suggested by the title of one collection of his essays. Though primarily known as an author of science fiction and fantasy, Card has also written historical, slice-of-life, literary, and horror fiction for print, stage, and screen, as well as a wealth of essays, reviews, and social commentary. He has been recognized for his excellence by such diverse organizations as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and the Association for Mormon Letters (AML).

Yet …

Violence And Disruptive Behavior On The Difficult Trail To Utah, 1847–1868, David L. Clark

BYU Studies

One aspect of the Mormon pioneer experience has not been studied: violence. Did the pioneers have problems with fighting and other aggressive behavior? How did company leaders prevent problems and handle disputes when they inevitably arose? This article reports pioneer records mentioning arguments, punishments, and other violent actions. The stories range from a threatened whipping for children who dallied behind their group to the heartbreaking tale of handcart pioneers being whipped to keep them moving along a frozen trail. While sickness, hunger, accidents, and weather took their toll on the Mormon pioneers, violence was not a major issue. Although records …

The Children Of Lehi And The Jews Of Sepharad, Shon D. Hopkins, D. Chad Richardson

BYU Studies

The Book of Mormon strongly asserts a gathering, not only of Lehi's scattered seed but also of the "Jews." Both Lehi (quoting Joseph of Egypt) and the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel prophesied of a running together of the children of Joseph and the children of Judah. This paper proposes one way in which this prophesied unification of Joseph and Judah into "one nation" may have been in part fulfilled, namely in a joining of the Jews of Sepharad (Sephardic Jews) with the children of Lehi. This occurred when the Sephardic Jews (coming primarily from Spain and Portugal) intermarried with the …

Mitt, Greg Whiteley, Hunter Phillips

BYU Studies

Independent of political ideology, the 2012 election signified the apex of the "Mormon Moment," a period during which The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints occupied a greater space in the public consciousness than perhaps ever before. This moment was defined largely by Republican candidate Mitt Romney, arguably the most wellknown Mormon to those outside the Church. His ascendance to the presidential nomination was a historic moment for the Church and its members, for whom national relevance represents a major shift in their self-awareness. Despite his own ubiquity during the election cycle, Romney remains an enigma to the average …

The Mormons: An Illustrated History Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Roy A. Prete, Herman Du Toit

BYU Studies

Many predicted that the printed book would be doomed by developments in digital media. Far from it. This sumptuously illustrated "coffee table" hardcover publication by Merrell, an independent British publisher, testifies to the value of the printed book. The materiality of the medium emphasizes the synthesis of the complex visual and textual content of this publication--stressing the fact that this is a book and not a digital file after all. Stephen Hales Creative Inc., a design company in Provo, Utah, was responsible for the appealing visual design and layout of the book. The hard cover and dust jacket are both …

Full Issue, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

David Hale's Store Ledger: New Details About Joseph And Emma Smith, The Hale Family, And The Book Of Mormon, Mark L. Staker, Robin S. Jensen

BYU Studies

In December 1827, Joseph and Emma Smith arrived in Harmony, Pennsylvania, to live while Joseph translated the gold plates. Harmony was the home of Emma's family, and Emma's brother David Hale had a small store that was used for trading goods and work among the neighbors. David kept a ledger that records Joseph's purchases of leatherwork, a shovel, a pocketbook, a pocketknife, and a comb. Joseph sold some pork and traded his own labor, and also hired others to help him with heavy chores. The ledger is now in the collections of Brigham Young University. This document provides a unique …

Emma Lou Thayne And The Art Of Peace, Casualene Meyer

BYU Studies

BYU Studies poetry editor Casualene Meyer interviews well-known LDS poet Emma Lou Thayne. In addition to writing poetry, Thayne has been a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother; engaged in antinuclear activism; taught English at the University of Utah; and served on the Young Women's General Board and the Deseret News editorial board. Meyer's interview unfolds the story behind the lyrics for the beloved LDS hymn "Where Can I Turn of Peace?" and explores Thayne's involvement in international antinuclear conferences and causes, including her receipt in 2013 of the Gandhi Peace Award. Accompanying this interview are two new original poems, "One …

Loyal Opposition: Ernest L. Wilkinson's Role In Founding The Byu Law School, Galen L. Fletcher

BYU Studies

Ernest L. Wilkinson is best known for being the president of Brigham Young University for twenty years (1951–1971). He should also be remembered for his role as catalyst for the existence of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU. Wilkinson's diaries and personal papers tell the story of the J. Reuben Clark Law School founding prior to its March 9, 1971, public announcement. This article discusses the first mention in Wilkinson's papers of a law school at BYU, Wilkinson's work behind the scenes for a year to start it, and his important contributions to the law school's early foundation. …

Suffrage By Jenifer Nii, Directed By Cheryl Ann Cluff, Melissa L. Larson, Cheryl Ann Cluff, Jenifer Nii

BYU Studies

Jenifer Nii's new and original play Suffrage, set in 1880s territorial Utah, is the story of Frances (played by April Fossen) and Ruth (played by Sarah Young), two plural wives in a household under siege by the federal government. Their husband, Benjamin, is in prison awaiting trial, and his five wives and numerous children must find ways to make ends meet. Frances is stalwart and traditional, loving her sister wives' children as she does her own and thinking constantly of her dear husband and his welfare. Considerably younger, Ruth is a firecracker of high ideals and modern thought, getting deeply …