Religion Commons^™

Scholars Focus Conference On Third Nephi

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies hosted a two-day conference on 3 Nephi at the end of September 2008. Entitled “Third Nephi: New Perspectives on an Incomparable Scripture,” the conference consisted of a plenary session with an introductory address by John W. Welch, subsequent presentations by 21 distinguished scholars covering six themes, and a concluding session featuring a panel discussion.

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Maxwell Institute Well Represented At Fair Conference

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Several scholars associated with the Maxwell Institute spoke at the FAIR conference held in Sandy, Utah, in August. As explained on its Web site (www.fairlds.org), FAIR (the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research) is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of Latter-day Saint doctrine, belief, and practice.

A Chat With The New Editors Of The Maxwell Institute Journals

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Accompanying this issue of Insights is volume 17 (combining numbers one and two) of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies; however, readers will note that the Journal now carries a new name, the Journal of the Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture. In connection with this change, the Institute asked Andrew H. Hedges, an associate professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU, to become the new editor, replacing Professor S. Kent Brown, who served as editor and associate editor for many years, and who recently retired from the university. The new associate editors are Grant Hardy, professor of …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Book Of Mormon Project Continues With New Volume

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute and Brigham Young University are pleased to announce the release of part 5 of volume 4 of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon. Part 5 analyzes the text from Alma 56 through 3 Nephi 18.

New Director Appointed For The Willes Center And The Foundation For Ancient Research And Mormon Studies

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Recently the Brigham Young University administration announced the appointment of Professor Paul Y. Hoskisson as the new director of the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies at the Maxwell Institute, effective September 1. Professor S. Kent Brown, who previously headed up these operations, retired from the university at the end of August.

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Joseph Smith Papers Project, Ronald K. Esplin

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Joseph Smith Papers Project seeks to do for Joseph Smith what has been done (and is being done) for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and other important early Americans: Make their papers easily accessible and more intelligible by publishing them in a carefully prepared, comprehensive scholarly edition. Historians rely on documents to gain insight into the facts, relationships, and other realities of the past, the raw materials from which they construct their narratives and interpretations. The task of scholars functioning as documentary editors is to help readers and other scholars understand the documents without getting too much in …

Maxwell Institute Announces Valuable New Research Tool

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute and the Harold B. Lee Library have announced that a new electronic database, “Book of Mormon Publications, 1829–1844,” will soon be available to researchers and others interested in Mormon history. “We are excited about this collection,” notes M. Gerald Bradford, executive director of the Maxwell Institute, “because it brings together for the first time everything published about the Book of Mormon during Joseph Smith’s lifetime. Books, pamphlets, and articles from newspapers and periodicals are all included. This represents a major step forward for Mormon studies.”

New Nibley Volume Features Temples, Biographies, Reviews

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Fans of Hugh Nibley’s writings will welcome volume 17 in the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, copublished by Deseret Book and FARMS. Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple is a compilation of materials, many of which have been published previously out-side the Collected Works.

Elder Hafen Speaks At Second Annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Defining his purpose as exploring “the relationship between the life of the mind and the life of the spirit, with some connection to Elder Maxwell’s life as a mentoring model,” Elder Bruce C. Hafen, of the First Quorum of the Seventy, spoke at the second annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture, held March 21, 2008.

New Book Examines Trials In The Book Of Mormon

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

John W. Welch has studied two main topics throughout his career: the law and the Book of Mormon. Welch, a professor of law at Brigham Young University and the founder of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, has now prepared the culminating volume of decades of research into the trials and other legal procedures in the Book of Mormon. The Maxwell Institute is pleased to announce its publication as The Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon.

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Willes Center Awards Research Grants

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies announces five faculty research grants for the 2008–2009 academic year: Susan Easton Black and Andrew C. Skinner, “The Phrase ‘This Land’: Doctrinal and Geographical Implications for Latter-day Saints” (a book-length study).

New Director Appointed For The Maxwell Institute

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In June Brigham Young University announced the appointment of M. Gerald Bradford as the new executive director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. Bradford, previously associate executive director of the Maxwell Institute, replaces Andrew C. Skinner, who has accepted an assignment at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies and is returning to teaching and research.

Farms Review Stresses Biblical Studies, Remembrance, And Church History

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Issue 19/2 of the FARMS Review, which is now available, follows a long tradition of dealing with a wide variety of fascinating topics. Of particular interest in this issue is a series of articles on pre-serving and enlarging the memory of the Saints. As Louis Midgley notes in his introduction to this section, “In the April 2007 General Conference, Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy delivered a powerful sermon entitled ‘Remember and Perish Not,’ in which he urged the Saints to pay close attention to the ways of remembrance in our scriptures” (p. 23). At the next conference, President …

Book Of Mormon Swords In Mesoamerican Antiquity, Matthew Roper

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Swords are an important weapon in the Book of Mormon narrative. The prophet Ether reported that in the final battle of the Jaredites, King Coriantumr, with his sword, “smote off the head” of his relentless enemy Shiz (Ether 15:30). Swords were also used by the earliest Nephites (2 Nephi 5:14) and were among the deadly weapons with which that people were finally “hewn down” at Cumorah by their enemies (Mormon 6:9–10). While the text suggests that some Jaredites and early Nephites may have had metal weaponry (1 Nephi 4:9; 2 Nephi 5:14; Mosiah 8:10–11; Ether 7:9), references to metal weapons, …

Maxwell Institute To Sponsor Presentations At Education Week

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute is pleased to sponsor a series of presentations at Brigham Young University Campus Education Week, slated for August 19–22, 2008, in Provo, Utah. These presentations, given by members of the Institute’s administration and associated scholars, represent a range of the work done by the Maxwell Institute.

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Inscribed Gold Plate Fits Book Of Mormon Pattern, John A. Tvedtnes

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

An inscribed gold plate 2.2 centimeters in length has been uncovered in a third-century ad Jewish burial. The burial, that of a young child, is located in a Roman cemetery in Halbturn, Austria. The news was released by archaeologists at the University of Vienna’s Institute of Prehistory and Early History.

Mesoamerican “Cimeters” In Book Of Mormon Times, Matthew Roper

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Book of Mormon first mentions a weapon called a cimeter during the time of Enos (some time between about 544 and 421 bc). Speaking of his people’s Lamanite enemies, Enos says, “their skill was in the bow, and in the cimeter, and the ax” (Enos 1:20). Later, in the first and second centuries bc, the weapon was part of the armory of both Nephites and Lamanites in addition to swords and other weapons (Mosiah 9:16; 10:8; Alma 2:12; 43:18, 20, 37; 60:2; Helaman 1:14).

Institute Supports Graduates And Undergraduates

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute continues to encourage and support the work of graduate and undergraduate students through two funds.

New Series Launched With Book On Dna Research

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In the last few years, the topic of how DNA research fits in with the text of the Book of Mormon has become increasingly divisive. On the one hand, critics of the Church seize on recent DNA studies to claim that Native Americans are descended from Asian, not Middle Eastern, ancestors. On the other hand, faithful LDS scholars, including some of the most respected DNA researchers in the country, say the data from recent research is insufficient to deny or confirm the claims of the Book of Mormon.

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Japanese Buddhist Women In Hawai‘I: Waves Of Change, Karma Lekshe Tsomo

Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

Beginning in the latter half of the nineteenth century, successive waves of Japanese Buddhist immigrants settled in the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, bringing with them a variety of Japanese Buddhist schools and traditions. Overcoming many hardships, Japanese immigrant women worked with great devotion to help establish numerous temples in the Hawai‘i through Buddhist women’s associations known as Fujinkai. These dedicated women not only maintained ancestral Buddhist practices but also integrated Japanese Buddhist, native Hawaiian, and other cultural elements in ways that were entirely new. Persevering through the war years and through successive waves of cultural adaptation, they transmitted and protected Buddhist …

From Paternalism To Superiority: Colonial Ideologies Of The New Norcia Mission, 1847-1974, Evie Levin

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

The Revealing Art Of Film: A Review Of Seeing Is Believing, Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Goodwin believes that great films are great art, and as such, are able to move viewers affectively and even change their lives."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the book Seeing is Believing from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/the-revealing-art-of-film-a-review-of-seeing-is-believing/

How Servant Leaders Navigate Conflict: An Analysis Of Acts 15:36–41, Joshua D. Henson, Justin R. Craun

Selected Faculty Publications

Greenleaf’s foundational work on servant leadership has evolved considerably over the past 50 years. Servant leadership has been found to have positive outcomes on group and organisational effectiveness. While servant leadership characteristics and outcomes have been measured, is a need to be better understand how servant leaders navigate when they disagree. Using a social and cultural analysis, the conflict between Paul and Barnabas is explored. Social and cultural analysis allows interpreters to understand what the characters in the narrative ‘see and hear.’ The analysis of Acts 15:36–41 yielded three emerging themes related to how these servant leaders navigated conflict: (1) …

People And Places: The Evidence Of Holiness, Hannah Landman, Kara Jasper

Student Work

"Gilded altars, carved marble, nuances of light, brilliant colored glass contribute to telling a story—the story of scripture and the story of the church in this place."

Posting about reflections of the choir's European tour from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/people-and-places-the-evidence-of-holiness/