Arts and Humanities Commons^™

That They May Be Light, Stephanie Hock

BYU Studies

When covenant women are together, they become each other’s shelter. The storms might be raging around them, but they don’t feel the rain or hear the thunder because they’re so busy laughing and loving each other. They carry burdens collectively as they walk forward toward the light. They encourage each other to keep going and lean on each other when it’s hard. I have found that walking through the storms of life with these women at my side has brought more relief than I could ever imagine.

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

"He Is God; And He Is With Them", Matthew L. Bowen

BYU Studies

The prophet Isaiah foretold to Ahaz and the house of David: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). Latter-day Saints often interpret and teach the “Immanuel” prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 as a simple, straightforward messianic prophecy with a single fulfillment in the birth of Jesus Christ. Most pay little attention to the historical circumstances in which Isaiah gave the prophecy—namely, the Syro-Ephraimite crisis prior to the Assyrian invasion in the eighth century BCE. The idea of a more immediate, contemporary fulfillment …

Weaving, Christine Bird

BYU Studies

Morning enters and splits the Hogan

and she wakes from dreams of mountains,

hungry for offerings tall for maize

her eyes hold visions until she sees

patterns her mother taught her

Embracing Our Highest Worship: Some Thoughts On Our Approach To The Temple, Tyler Johnson

BYU Studies

I understate the matter when I say the temple strikes different Church members differently. I have friends who entered the temple for the first time many years ago and felt immediately at home. Indeed, they resonate with President Henry B. Eyring, who once said, “The first time I walked just a few feet into the temple I had the feeling that I had been here before. In an instant, the thought came to me that what I recognized was a sense of peace beyond anything I had felt before in this life, but that I seemed to recognize, and almost …

Building An Innovative “Latter-Day Saints Without Borders” Organization, Warner Woodworth

BYU Studies

This article is a reflection and a call to action for many readers who may share a concern about how to reduce human suffering and empower the poor around the world. It is an attempt to describe stories of Latter-day Saints who became social entrepreneurs by laboring to practice our religion—that is, people willing to help the poor, feed the hungry, serve the homeless, and bless the sick everywhere. Attending sacrament meetings on Sundays, accepting a Church calling, doing weekly temple service, being a neighborhood ministering brother or sister, holding daily prayer and scripture reading—all are well and good. Yet …

Both Things Are True By Kate Holbrook, Katie Lewis

BYU Studies

Kate Holbrook was a professional historian (PhD, Boston University), a gospel scholar (MTS, Harvard Divinity School), a mother of three daughters, and a champion of Latter-day Saint women’s voices. She worked for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the managing historian of women’s history and edited several books in her efforts to amplify women in the Church. Before Holbrook’s life ended, Rosalynde Welch from the Maxwell Institute asked Holbrook if she would provide her own voice as well. Both Things Are True is Holbrook’s collection of personal essays edited and compiled by Rosalynde Welch, Jana Reiss, Jenny …

“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).

Puritans, Pagans, And Imperfect Christmas Gifts, David F. Holland

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Early American campaigns against Christmas illustrate both the irrepressibility of the impulse to celebrate Christ and what is lost when we reject the good that comes from suspect sources. Both lessons point us toward the Savior’s gracious acceptance of our own imperfect offerings.

Indigenous Peoples' Rights In Data: A Contribution Toward Indigenous Research Sovereignty, Maui Hudson, Stephanie Russo Carroll, Jane Anderson, Darrah Blackwater, Felina M. Cordova-Marks, Jewel Cummins, Dominique David-Chavez, Adam Fernandez, Ibrahim Garba, Danielle Hiraldo, Mary Beth Jäger, Lydia Jennings, Andrew Martinez, Rogena Sterling, Jennifer D. Walker, Robyn K. Rowe

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Indigenous Peoples' right to sovereignty forms the foundation for advocacy and actions toward greater Indigenous self-determination and control across a range of domains that impact Indigenous Peoples' communities and cultures. Declarations for sovereignty are rising throughout Indigenous communities and across diverse fields, including Network Sovereignty, Food Sovereignty, Energy Sovereignty, and Data Sovereignty. Indigenous Research Sovereignty draws in the sovereignty discourse of these initiatives to consider their applications to the broader research ecosystem. Our exploration of Indigenous Research Sovereignty, or Indigenous self-determination in the context of research activities, has been focused on the relationship between Indigenous Data Sovereignty and efforts to …

Affirming Care: Lessons From Minority Stress Model To Bolster Mental Health Outcomes For Lgbtq+ Youth In Primary Care, Kyrie Lampert

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Individuals in positions of power influence youth wellbeing, self-perception, and overall mental health. According to the minority stress model, individuals who hold marginalized identities, such as LGBTQ+ youth, face unique, chronic, and socially based additive stressors. Research shows that these additive stressors contribute to LGBTQ+ youth experiencing disproportionate rates of mental health concerns. Queer youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their non-queer identifying peers. Additive stressors that LGBTQ+ youth face include prejudiced events, stigma, decisions of concealment or disclosure, and internalized homophobia and transphobia. This paper will review and integrate research, utilizing the minority …

Feeling Analogue: Using Modular Synthesizers, Designing Synthesis Communities, Eliot Bates

Publications and Research

When Harald Bode nominally invented the modular synthesiser in 1960, it was not yet clear whether it was a musical instrument or a less-defined form of studio-sited audio technology (Subotnik 1970). Much of the technology, from the interface design to the specific parts, was shared with nonmusical test and measurement equipment. Sixty years later, hardware modular synthesis is used not just for musical creation but for noise, sound art and data sonification/visualization. Through an ethnographic study of the design and use of the Eurorack modular synthesis format, and of modular synthesis maker and user communities spread through North America, Europe …

Trans* Bambalinas: Del Freak Show Al Videoarte En El Documental Disidente Chileno, Ignacio A. Pastén López

Publications and Research

Este ensayo reseña los siguientes documentales:

El viaje de Monalisa. Dir. Nicole Costa. Prod. Gregory Costa y Daniela Camino. Nueva York, 2019, 93 min. https://ondamedia.cl/show/el-viaje-de-monalisa-1626213821621.

Casa Roshell. Dir. Camila José Donoso. Prod. Garbiñe Ortega, Juan Pablo Bastarrachea, Maximiliano Cruz y Sandra Gómez. Chile, 2017, 71 min. https://ondamedia.cl/show/casa-roshell.

Naomi Campbel. Dir. Camila José Donoso y Nicolás Videla. Prod. Catalina Donoso y Rocío Romero. Chile, 2013, 83 minutos. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=236699154110418.

En tránsito. Dir. Constanza Gallardo. Prod. Constanza Gallardo y Felipe Garrido González. Chile, 2017, 65 min. https://www.cclm.cl/cineteca-online/en-transito/.

El gran circo pobre de Timoteo. Dir. Lorena Giachino Torréns. Prod. Paola …

Anyone Can Make A Religious Object: Undoing Spirituality And Contemporary Art, Mark Graham, Clark Goldsberry, Isaac Calvert

Faculty Publications

The spiritual dimensions of art and education have been explored for their potential to offer different ways of understanding or representing knowledge and their potential to inspire transcendence or cultivate wholeness. This article examines connections between transcendent or sacred territories of human existence, teaching, and contemporary art. Experiences of walking in the Himalayan mountains with Tibetan Buddhist monks, conversing with rabbis in Jerusalem, and teaching in state school classrooms are used to illustrate connections between education, spirituality, religion, and contemporary art. We seek to understand how the spiritual dimensions of education and contemporary art could be understood through the lenses …