Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Death Of A Disco Dancer; A Sense Of Order And Other Stories; The Scholar Of Moab, Shelah M. Miner, David M. Clark, Jack Harrell, Steven L. Peck

BYU Studies

DAVID CLARK. The Death of a Disco Dancer. Provo, Utah: Zarahemla Books, 2011.

JACK HARRELL. A Sense of Order and Other Stories. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2010.

STEVEN L. PECK. The Scholar of Moab. Torrey, Utah: Torrey House Press, 2011.

As an enthusiastic reader of literary fiction and as someone who is fascinated by Mormon culture, I am always on the lookout for works of literary fiction that contain Mormon themes or Mormon characters. While there are always plenty of new romances on the shelves at Deseret Book, and Mormon authors frequently find commercial and critical success writing science …

Byu And Religious Universities In A Secular Academic World, Alan L. Wilkins, David A. Whetten

BYU Studies

How unique is BYU? This article examines the secularization of American higher education during the early twentieth century, then compares BYU to eight other major religiously affiliated research universities. The comparison reveals that BYU is very different from other universities in both its mission and in the way it views and offers a higher learning experience.

The Heresy Of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture's Fascination With Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding Of Early Christianity, Andreas J. Köstenberger, Michael J. Kruger, Noel B. Reynolds

BYU Studies

Readers interested in the ongoing debate over the reliability of the New Testament texts will find this new book to be an excellent contribution to the defense of those texts. Authors Kostenberger and Kruger are both allied personally and professionally with the contemporary movement that defends the inerrancy of scripture. Andreas J. Kostenberger is Professor of New Testament and Greek and director of PhD and ThM studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He is the editor of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society and is the author of books and articles on biblical texts …

Within These Prison Walls: Lorenzo Snow's Record Book, 1886–1897, Jill N. Crandell, Richard N. Holzapfel, Andrew H. Hedges

BYU Studies

Andrew H. Hedges, historian and editor for the Joseph Smith Papers Project, and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University, present in this volume a window to the thoughts and feelings of Lorenzo Snow during a particularly challenging time in his life. This record book contains some of his writings while he was in prison, having been convicted of three counts of unlawful cohabitation. Although a prison diary written by a polygamist of this time period is not unusual, Snow's record book is particularly interesting because he was an Apostle of The Church of …

Compromising Scholarship: Religious And Political Bias In American Higher Education, George Yancey, Bruce A. Chadwick

BYU Studies

George Yancey, a professor of sociology at the University of North Texas, has focused his research on racial and ethnic bias. His recent books include Interracial Families: Current Concepts and Controversies and Interracial Contact and Social Change. Yancey's newest study in Compromising Scholarship documents the bias of university faculty against members of various groups. Professor Yancey, aware that scientists, just like other Americans, are hesitant to reveal any prejudice or bias, focused his study on "collegiality" in an attempt to distract respondents from the research interest in bias. Yancey conducted his study via Internet survey and blog analyses in the …

Parallels And Convergences: Mormon Thought And Engineering Vision, A. Scott Howe, Douglas M. Chabries, Richard L. Bushman

BYU Studies

The essays contained in this text grew from an initial discussion between Richard L. Bushman and NASA engineer A. Scott Howe, a discussion that delved into the ways theology and engineering converge. That conversation led to a subsequent meeting, which was held at Claremont Graduate University in March 2009. There, LDS engineers from a variety of technical backgrounds representing such fields as computer programming, physics, and artificial intelligence presented their views relating to modern scripture and its harmony with science. Though at times the language contains some technical terms, the articles provide insight into general areas of faith that are …

Why Things Move: A New Look At Helaman 12:15, David A. Grandy

BYU Studies

A verse from the Book of Mormon says, "And thus, according to his word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun" (Helaman 12:15). The verse has been commonly understood to mean that its author, Mormon, had a heliocentric view of the cosmos. David Grandy explores why that may not be the best way to read the passage and we need not place the words in the context of modern physics. Grandy explains that Mormon is …

World Trade And Biological Exchanges Before 1492, Eric N. Jellen, John L. Sorenson, Carl L. Johannessen

BYU Studies

This book by John L. Sorenson (emeritus professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University) and Carl L. Johannessen (emeritus professor of geography at the University of Oregon) presents a comprehensive, well-referenced, and intriguing overview of historical and archeological evidence for pre-Columbian exchange of plants, microfauna, and animals between the Old and New Worlds. Its style is more encyclopedic than narrative, resembling an expanded, annotated bibliography. I read with interest the sections dealing with the crops that I have researched genetically--Amaranthus and Chenopodium--as well as several other crops that I am very familiar with, such as cotton.

Textual Similarities In The Words Of Abinadi And Alma's Counsel To Corianton, John Hilton Iii

BYU Studies

John Hilton examines textual similarities between two texts found in the Book of Mormon: the words of Abinadi in Mosiah 12–17 and the words of Alma the Younger in Alma 39–42. Hilton used both human-based and computer-based techniques to search for textual matches.

Spirit, Mark D. Bennion

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Rediscovering Provo's First Tabernacle With Ground-Penetrating Radar, John H. Mcbride, Emily Utt, R. William Keach Ii, Benjamin C. Pykles

BYU Studies

During the early morning hours of December 17, 2010, fire broke out in the Provo (Utah) Tabernacle, virtually gutting the historic building and leaving only the exterior walls standing in stable condition. On October 1, 2011, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that the ruined tabernacle will be restored as a temple, the Provo City Center Temple, giving a second life to the tabernacle. However, this building is not the first tabernacle on that square.

Tempering: Of Tree Houses And Tragedies, Kylie N. Turley

BYU Studies

This personal essay recounts a mother's worst nightmare: her seven-year-old son's 22-foot fall from a tree house onto a railroad tie, resulting in multiple skull fractures and serious brain trauma. The essay, however, is more than a recitation of the ride in the ambulance, the short stay in the emergency room, and the helicopter trip from Provo to Salt Lake City. The author delves into her own feelings and gives a candid, even brutal, self-analysis of her response to the unfolding tragedy: "They say you can tell who a person really is in a crisis. If they are right, then …

The Right Place, Sally Stratford

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Rabbi, Where Dwellest Thou?, Mark D. Bennion

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Joseph Smith Papers. Manuscript Revelation Books, Facsimile Edition, Robin S. Jensen, James B. Allen, Robert J. Woodford, Steven C. Harper

BYU Studies

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our most precious founding documents are the handwritten manuscripts of the revelations that constitute the scriptures. However, like so many old manuscripts, those that are still extant are not available for public scrutiny, as constant handling could damage and perhaps even destroy them. The next best thing would be a near-perfect, full-size, full-color facsimile that could be examined at will by anyone. That is what the Church Historian's Press has provided with the publication of two manuscript revelation books dating from 1828 to 1834; these books were the basis for the …

Who Chose The Gospels? Probing The Great Gospel Conspiracy, Lincoln H. Blumell, C. E. Hill

BYU Studies

In Who Chose the Gospels? Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy, C. E. Hill, professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, challenges the seemingly pervasive view in scholarship that it was not until the fourth century, when Christian "orthodoxy" began to be firmly entrenched, that the four canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were selected by the church and raised to a status above all other competing Gospels. Hill argues that while this paradigm has become increasingly widespread in scholarship and is often propagated by the media or in popular culture (as in Dan Brown's The …

The Mormon Menace: Violence And Anti-Mormonism In The Postbellum South, Patrick Q. Mason, Heather M. Seferovich

BYU Studies

Relatively few stories in late nineteenth-century Mormon history are more riveting than those from missionaries serving in the American South. A handful of legendary Mormon personalities served there, such as J. Golden Kimball, B. H. Roberts, and John Morgan. There are countless inflammatory threats of violence, hundreds of instances of physical assault, and even a few murders. Although tragic on many levels, such violent elements are often the foundation of successful films, plays, and books.

The Lonely Polygamist, Brady Udall, Angela Hallstrom

BYU Studies

Brady Udall's The Lonely Polygamist, published in 2010, arrived amid a wave of pop-culture interest in the polygamist lifestyle: HBO's Big Love was gearing up for its finale; TLC's reality show Sister Wives had just hit the airwaves; and real-life stories of Warren Jeffs, child brides, and FLDS compounds were common tabloid fare. Although Udall had been at work on his novel for many years before polygamy became a hot cultural topic, some skeptical readers--Mormon and non-Mormon alike--wondered if the novel's intentions were more sensational than literary. Once reviews began rolling in, however, it became clear that The Lonely Polygamist …

To The Peripheries Of Mormondom: The Apostolic Around-The-World Journey Of David O. Mckay, 1920–1921, Kaitlyn S. Hedge, Hugh J. Cannon, Reid L. Neilson

BYU Studies

An around-the-world journey made by an Apostle may not be something extraordinary today, but in 1920 it was monumental. Hugh J. Cannon's To the Peripheries of Mormondom details the historic trip of Elder David O. McKay--the first Apostle to make a journey of this magnitude and to visit most of the places he did. He and Hugh J. Cannon were called on a one-year fact-finding mission to visit the Church's non-North American congregations and to study the customs and needs of the people at each place. This mission was the beginning of a major push toward the globalization of the …

Surviving By Faith: German Latter-Day Saints And World War Ii, Lynn M. Hansen, Faith D. Hansen

BYU Studies

There were more than ten thousand Latter-day Saints in Germany before World War II. Lynn M. Hansen and Faith D. Hansen were sent in 2008 as missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to gather oral histories of Mormons who had lived through World War II.

A History Of Nahom, Warren P. Aston

BYU Studies

Around 700 BC, a wealthy man in southern Arabia donated three limestone altars to a temple dedicated to Ilmaqah, the moon god. Inscribed on each altar was a text identifying him as the grandson of Naw'um of the Nihm tribe. The three altars were unearthed in 1988 by German archaeologists amid the ruins of the Bar'an temple near Marib, in modern Yemen. They provide the earliest known reference to the Nihm, who today, nearly three millennia later, retain the name and are one of Yemen's largest tribes.

Scribal Culture And The Making Of The Hebrew Bible, Karel Van Der Toorn, Robert L. Maxwell

BYU Studies

Karel van der Toorn, president of the University of Amsterdam and author of numerous books dealing with aspects of the Bible and ancient Israel, claims to have been writing an introduction to the Bible when he discovered that he was writing an altogether different book--an exploration of scribal culture in the Near East as a means to better understand the making of the Hebrew Bible. The developments he studies will be particularly interesting to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, since he explores the generations surrounding the Babylonian exile, including the time of the migration of …

Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul Of Mormonism And Parley P. Pratt And The Making Of Mormonism, Matthew J. Grow, Gregory K. Armstrong, Dennis J. Siler, Edward A. Geary, Terryl L. Givens

BYU Studies

Parley Parker Pratt (1807-1857) was among the most talented and influential figures in the formative period of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Apostle, missionary, theologian, poet, polemicist, pris!oner, explorer, polygamist, and finally, in the view of many, martyr. Pratt was born in central New York State to Jared Pratt--a weaver thrown out of employment in his trade by the Industrial Revolution--and his wife, Charity. Like the Prophet Joseph Smith, who was two years his senior, Parley P. Pratt grew up in a family on the margins of the rural economy. Jared Pratt moved from place to place …

Understanding Christian Baptism Through The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds

BYU Studies

Early Christianity saw a wide proliferation of theories and practices concerning baptism, and now many Christians, including Mormons, commonly understand it as a means to repent and wash away one's sins. But the Book of Mormon prophets taught that baptism is a covenant and a witnessing to God that one has already repented and commits to follow Jesus Christ, and that sins are remitted by the Holy Ghost.

Pools Of Living Water: No Longer A Thirsty Land?, Bruce C. Hafen

BYU Studies

St. George native Bruce Hafen tells how the settlers of this southern Utah town shaped and were shaped by the harsh terrain. His ancestors, who were among those Mormon pioneers who settled here, brought with them principles of faith, sacrifice, and hard work. It is crucial that today's people pass those principles to future generations through example and sharing family histories. Hafen compares the southern Utah desert landscape to Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia, especially as both are changed by rare occasions of rain that create "pools of living water" (D&C 133:29). This talk was presented at the annual meeting …

Baptism In The Early Church: History, Theology, And Liturgy In The First Five Centuries, Everett Ferguson, Noel B. Reynolds

BYU Studies

A Restoration emphasis on baptism has distinguished the teaching and practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1829 to the present. In contrast to many Christian denominations, the Church does not condone infant baptism sprinkling, nor does it accept baptisms by other Christian groups that do not have the authority restored by John the Baptist to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. A further critical distinction is their insistence that baptismal ordinances are necessary for salvation. Nevertheless, Latter-day Saints are not completely alone in all their views; the Campbellite Churches of Christ also see themselves as a …

Anticipating The Year 2000: Howard Nielson, Byu, And Statistics, Natalie J. Blades, G. Bruce Schaalje

BYU Studies

In the 1950s, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints considered creating BYU satellite campuses around the western United States and asked BYU President Ernest Wilkinson to recommend locations. At the same time, Stanford researcher Howard Nielson created a careful projection of future demand for wood in America that drew much attention. Wilkinson hired Nielson to create a projection of future growth of the Church and demand for a BYU education. Upon learning that Nielson was a member of the Church, Wilkinson invited him to join the faculty of BYU, and the BYU Department of Statistics was …

The Record Of The Twelve, 1835: The Quorum Of The Twelve Apostles' Call And 1835 Mission, Ronal K. Esplin, Sharon E. Nielsen

BYU Studies

In 2011, the Joseph Smith Papers Project of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made public a document created in 1835 by Orson Hyde and William E. McLellin. That document is presented in its entirety here with an introduction and editorial notes. Ronald Esplin and Sharon Nielsen, members of the editorial team of the Joseph Smith Papers, give historical context of the document: in 1835, twelve men were called as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Joseph Smith instructed the quorum to keep a record of their meetings and actions; the document presented in this article is that …

The Medical Practice Of Dr. Frederick G. Williams, Frederick G. Williams

BYU Studies

Frederick Granger Williams (1787-1842) was a leader in the early days of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but also served as a justice of the peace, scribe, editor, and medical practitioner. In the early nineteenth century, the medical profession was in its infancy, beginning a slow shift from barbaric practices (generally bleeding and calomel) to herbal treatments that were at least mild if not particularly effective. Dr. Williams conscientiously followed the botanic methods and theories of Samuel S. Thomson, who published a book (The Thomsonian Materia Medica) and sold patents to those who read his …