Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Saints And The State: The Mormon Troubles In Illinois, James Simeone, Brent M. Rogers, Reviewer

BYU Studies Quarterly

The history of the Latter-day Saint experience in Nauvoo, Illinois, still has a great deal to teach us. It is not just the simplistic story of religious persecution and expulsion that is often rehearsed. In seven dense chapters, James Simeone, professor of political science at Illinois Wesleyan University, unveils a complex political milieu to explain the tension that led to the 1846 departure of the Saints from Illinois—and ultimately the United States. Relying on political theory and philosophy and his deep knowledge of politics in frontier Illinois, Simeone unpacks the paradox of a developing democracy, which he defines as the …

Sixty Years Of Byu Studies Quarterly, 1959–2019 The Narrative And The Numbers, Brad Wilcox, Timothy G. Morrison, Kyle C. Lyons, Jake M. Robins

BYU Studies Quarterly

Publishing for scholarly audiences has a long history. Some propose that the first learned society on record was founded in Toulouse, France, in 1323. The Royal Society of London was established in 1660 and published Europe’s first scholarly journal five years later. In 1848, the American Association for the Advancement of Science published the journal Science, and since that time, the number of academic journals has proliferated. According to Philip G. Altbach and Hans de Wit, over thirty thousand academic journals are in circulation today; Ben Mudrak mentions the appearance of many free open-access journals on the internet since 2006. …

The Early Development Of Latter-Day Saint Women’S History An Interview With Jill Mulvay Derr, Cherry Bushman Silver

BYU Studies Quarterly

This piece is half of an interview conducted by Cherry B. Silver on August 8, 2019, in the BYU Studies offices. The second half of the interview was published in BYU Studies Quarterly 59, no. 3. Many thanks to Laurel Barlow for transcribing the recording.

Why Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

BYU Studies Quarterly

Although it is a bit disconcerting to admit it, I am most widely known today not for my books, but for a single sentence. You’ve probably seen it: Well-behaved women seldom make history. I don’t get royalties when somebody prints my words on mugs, T-shirts, bumper stickers, greeting cards, or any of the other paraphernalia sold in gift shops or on the internet, but I sometimes get thank-you notes or snapshots of fans carrying hand-lettered signs in marches. One of my favorite examples of the latter shows a bright pink poster in a crowd near Wellington Arch in London. …

The First Vision Of Joseph Smith Jr.: 200 Years On, Richard E. Bennett

BYU Studies Quarterly

This special issue of BYU Studies Quarterly features the proceedings of a conference held at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of Joseph Smith’s First Vision. In presenting slightly modified transcripts of the papers delivered at this conference, we hope BYU Studies Quarterly readers will gain insights into both this experience of Joseph Smith’s and the various ways scholars have come to view it.

The First Vision As A Prehistory Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Kathleen Flake

BYU Studies Quarterly

Most scholarly attention to the First Vision is dedicated to determining whether it happened or whether whatever happened is reliably described in the few primary accounts we have of it. My interests lie in a different direction. I am interested in the First Vision accounts insofar as they tell us something about religion, not about history, and not least because my wager is that this story, as a story, exceeds the limits of history, especially when it becomes understood as scripture. Which is to say, I want to better understand the work done by this story among the members of …

Using Science To Answer Questions From Latter-Day Saint History, Ugo A. Perego

BYU Studies Quarterly

DNA testing has been employed to study the ancestry and posterity of Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the Mormon movement. Thanks to information found on the paternally inherited Y chromosome, for example, researchers have been able to establish a likely Irish origin for the Smith line. Y chromosome testing has also been helpful in resolving a number of paternity cases involving men who were allegedly sons of Joseph through polygamous unions. To date, all of the tests for these candidates have borne negative results.

Moramona: The Mormons In Hawai‘I, Alec J. Harding

BYU Studies Quarterly

Moramona is the quintessential history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hawai‘i. The book journeys from the first missionaries arriving on the islands in 1850 and their initial struggles to maintain a foothold there to the eventual success of the Church on the islands. The book concludes with a summary of the current prosperity of the Church in Hawai‘i, including the successes of Brigham Young University– Hawai‘i, the Kona Hawai‘i Temple, and the rich culture of faith among today’s members.

From The Editor, John W. Welch

BYU Studies Quarterly

In a revelation that has served as an educational handbook for the Church, Joseph Smith aimed for all learners to “be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient,” so that as they face the “perplexities of the nations,” they might “be prepared in all things” (D&C 88:78–80). In finalizing this issue of BYU Studies Quarterly, I am gratified to see how its helpful array of contents meets these aspirations of the Prophet.

What Happened To My Bell-Bottoms?: How Things That Were Never Going To Change Have Sometimes Changed Anyway, And How Studying History Can Help Us Make Sense Of It All, Craig Harline

BYU Studies Quarterly

Craig Harline explains perhaps the most valuable and fundamental benefit of studying history is the insight it can offer into change, including change that people once thought would never occur. What can be learned from such changes by people of the present, as they argue about potential changes in their own world? Harline offers historical examples of change in Western Christianity regarding acceptable views of language, left-handedness, sacred music, slavery, interracial relations, and usury, and viewing them in the context of changes still being heavily or somewhat debated by Christians, such as women's role, evolution, and more. He shows that …

Historical Context Of The Doctrine And Covenants And Other Modern Scriptures, Volume 1, Kurt Elieson, J. B. Haws

BYU Studies Quarterly

Kurt Elieson's Historical Context of the Doctrine and Covenants and Other Modern Scriptures is a nice self-published surprise. Elieson, a Texas attorney, saw a hole in the corpus of Doctrine and Covenants commentaries and study guides, and he aimed to fill it. He has succeeded on several fronts.

...Elieson has woven together in one helpful book an up-to-date and remarkably thorough collection of diary accounts and documentary evidence to give depth and context to the story of the receipt (and, importantly, the early circulation) of Joseph Smith's revelations. Because of that, Elieson's book should earn a place on many desks …

Between Pulpit And Pew: The Supernatural World In Mormon History And Folklore, Curtis Ashton, Michael S. Van Wagenen, W. Paul Reeve

BYU Studies Quarterly

In an address to a joint meeting of the Utah Historical Society and the Folklore Society of Utah in 1991, folklorist William A. Wilson applauded the two organizations for their cooperation over the previous twenty years and then urged even greater cooperation between history and folklore in Utah over the next twenty years. Between Pulpit and Pew serves as one benchmark for measuring just how seriously a rising generation of historians have taken Wilson's challenge. The editors, Paul Reeve and Michael Van Wagenen, are firmly planted in their chosen discipline, each with an impressive start to developing careers that explore …

One Eternal Round, Hugh W. Nibley, Michael D. Rhodes, Gary P. Gillum

BYU Studies Quarterly

Hugh Nibley began serious research on One Eternal Round as early as 1988. When Nibley's long-time colleague Michael D. Rhodes took over the project following Nibley's death in 2005, he was faced with thirty boxes of research notes and drafts, 450 computer files, and as many as twenty versions of one chapter. Fortunately, Michael is familiar with most of Nibley's prodigious output, as well as the subjects listed in the preface, which are a reflection of Nibley's mind and interests and which are all within the scope of One Eternal Round.

Throughout Nibley's long career, his critics have seen him …

The Current State Of Primary Historical Soures Online, Richard Hacken

BYU Studies Quarterly

As a vital first step in substantiating and documenting historical details, there can be no substitute for a primary source derived from as close and contemporaneous an observation of a given event as possible. A historian unable to consult authoritative and honest voices from the past can verify little but is left to tinker with tradition and supposition. Until quite recently, the main mode of examining a primary source has been one on one—one scholar face-to-face with one original document in one physical space. Historiography has been slowed by travel expenses, time constraints, vagaries in obtaining permission, and other logistical …

The Bible In English: Its History And Influence. By David Daniell, Richard Y. Duerden

BYU Studies Quarterly

David Daniell. The Bible in English: Its History and Influence. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003

Joseph Smith's Many Histories, Richard L. Bushman

BYU Studies Quarterly

In 1992 my wife, Claudia, published a book titled America Discovers Columbus: How an Italian Explorer Became an American Hero. The book argued that until the American Revolution, Columbus was almost completely neglected in histories of the British colonies. Not until three centuries after the fact did North Americans honor him as the discoverer of America. Even in 1792, it required a stretch of the imagination to give him the credit, since he never touched foot on the North American continent and for centuries the British had distanced themselves from the hated Spanish exploiters of the New World. But …

“The Scriptures Is A Fulfilling”: Sally Parker's Weave, Janiece L. Johnson

BYU Studies Quarterly

Sally Bradford Parker is not a name most LDS Church members recognize, but her faith, exemplified through the letter featured below, weaves an important fabric distinctive to early Latter-day Saint women. The limited number of known early Mormon women's voices, especially prior to the organization of the Relief Society in 1842, makes this document particularly valuable. As Sally shares her experience, she augments and supports the testimony of Hyrum Smith as a Book of Mormon witness and particularly the witness of another woman—the Prophet's mother, Lucy Mack Smith. When Sally arrived in Kirtland she was in awe of the many …

“Twenty Years Ago Today”: David O. Mckay's Heart Petals Revisited, Mary Jane Woodger

BYU Studies Quarterly

David Oman McKay and Emma Ray Riggs were married January 2, 1901, making them, as David noted, the first couple sealed in the Salt Lake Temple in the twentieth century. As David's public profile rose with his call as Apostle in 1906 and then as President of the Church in 1951, the McKays became known popularly as the Church's happiest couple. During their marriage, President McKay wrote poems and other expressions of endearment for Emma Ray. He delivered these "heart petals," as he called them, from the Tabernacle pulpit and in the Deseret News Church Section on their anniversary, her …

Memoirs Of The Relief Society In Japan, 1951-1991, Yanagida Toshiko

BYU Studies Quarterly

My poems are my tears,

as my eyes are moistened at once

in joy and in sorrow.

—Yanagida Toshiko

Cholera And Its Impact On Nineteenth-Centry Mormon Migration, Patricia Rushton

BYU Studies Quarterly

Nineteenth-century migrants traveling across America suffered from many diseases as they journeyed to new homes in the West. The disease that was most common and caused the highest rate of illness and death was cholera. Historian Robert Carter notes, "It was a disease with which people were... familiar, yet it was little understood. It would strike suddenly, with no warning, often killing the victim within hours of the first symptoms. It was so uncontrollable that often entire families, even whole emigrating companies, would be wiped out." While cholera was not always fatal, it brought fear and suffering into the lives …

What Does God Think About America?: Some Challenges For Evangelicals And Mormons, Richard J. Mouw

BYU Studies Quarterly

I visited an Evangelical church once in my younger years where the sermon of the day featured a straightforward exposition of the teachings associated with dispensationalist premillennialism. The signs of the time are clear, the preacher said. Wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes and famine. Widespread lawlessness. The prophetic clock is ticking. God's plan for the future of the earth centers on the Jewish people, who will eventually recognize the true Messiah and inherit all the earthly promises given to them of old. All other nations are doomed to pass away. The destiny of Gentile Christians is a spiritual and …

“Every Book…Has Been Read Through” The Brooklyn Saints And Harper's Family Library, Lorin K. Hansen

BYU Studies Quarterly

On February 4, 1846, two groups of Latter-day Saints in the United States began their emigration out of the United States. The main body of the Church was leaving from Nauvoo, Illinois, under the leadership of Brigham Young, going overland to the West. The same day, also under instructions from Brigham Young. Samuel Brannan led a group from New York aboard the ship Brooklyn, going by sea around Cape Horn to San Francisco Bay.

An Examination Of The 1829 “Articles Of The Church Of Christ” In Relation To Section 20 Of The Doctrine And Covenants, Scott H. Faulring

BYU Studies Quarterly

The 1829 "Articles of the Church of Christ" is a little-known antecedent to section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants. This article explores Joseph Smith's and Oliver Cowdery's involvement in bringing forth these two documents that were important in laying the foundation for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

European Views Of Egyptian Magic And Mystery: A Cultural Context For The Magic Flute, Kerry Muhlestein

BYU Studies Quarterly

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Emanuel Schikaneder lived and created during the height of eighteenth-century interest in and fascination with Egypt. The Magic Flute's Egyptial setting would therefore evoke in their contemporaneous audience notions of a distant land with an exotic and magical culture. The numerous Egyptian elements of the world are representative of its era and are situated near the end of a continuum of European thought about ancient Egypt before the solid foundation of modern day Egyptology had been laid. To Europeans, Egypt was a murky and mysterious landscape, one that easily lent itself to imaginative …

“We Navigated By Pure Understanding”: Bishop George T. Sevey's Account Of The 1912 Exodus From Mexico, Michael N. Landon

BYU Studies Quarterly

During July and August 1912, thousands of Mormon colonists fled the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution (fig. 1). As bishop of the Colonia Chuichupa ward, George Sevey led his ward members out of war-torn Mexico and into the United States. The scene was not unfamiliar. During the nineteenth century, Latter-day Saints had fled from Missouri and Illinois, and thousands more had experienced the great exodus across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. Such epic events enrich the heritage of Latter-day Saints, providing cultural meaning and shared identity forged by hardship and tragedy. Perhaps the effort to chronicle flight from …

Heber J. Grant's European Mission, 1903-1906, Ronald W. Walker

BYU Studies Quarterly

Elder Heber J. Grant landed in Liverpool, England, in November 1903, and by the first of the year he officially assumed his new position as president of the European Mission. The mission began at Tromso, Norway; and ran to Cape Town, South Africa; with Iceland and India serving as distant east-west meridians. While the church had branches in each of these extremities, Grant's field of labor was more compact. Most of the mission's effort was reserved to the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia, and Switzerland, where he had a general superintendency, and especially in the British Isles, where he had duties that …

The Roman Province Of Judea: A Historical Overview, John F. Hall

BYU Studies Quarterly

Rome's acquisition of Judea and subsequent involvement in the affairs of that long-troubled area came about in largely indirect fashion. For centuries Judea had been under the control of the Hellenistic Greek monarchy centered in Syria and known as the Seleucid empire, one of the successor states to the far greater empire of Alexander the Great, who conquered the vast reaches of the Persian empire toward the end of the fourth century B.C. as thee decaying Seleucid monarchy disintegrated, Rome was compelled to take control of the eastern littoral of the Mediterranean and its hinterland in order to prevent ambitious …

Oh! Brother Joseph; Historian's Corner, Ronald W. Walker, David H. Pratt

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Finalizing Plans For The Trek West: Deliberations At Winter Quarters, 1846-1847, Richard E. Bennett

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Authorship Of The History Of Joseph Smith: A Review Essay, Howard C. Searle

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.