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Articles 151 - 180 of 332
Full-Text Articles in Mormon Studies
Full Issue
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
No abstract provided.
Reflections On Teaching, Paul V. Johnson, Scott C. Esplin
Reflections On Teaching, Paul V. Johnson, Scott C. Esplin
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Esplin: Thank you for allowing us to share your experiences as a religious educator, administrator, and commissioner of the Church Educational System with our readers. For those who may be unaware of your background, will you share your experience with Church education?
"The Lord Hath Made Bare His Holy Arm" Nephite Treatments Of Isaiah 52:7-10, Matthew Scott Stenson
"The Lord Hath Made Bare His Holy Arm" Nephite Treatments Of Isaiah 52:7-10, Matthew Scott Stenson
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
The Book of Mormon deliberately draws its readers’ attention to the writings of Isaiah from beginning to end.[1] The Nephites had access to these writings by means of the brass plates obtained from Laban. Much of the book of Isaiah can be found quoted, paraphrased, or alluded to in the pages of the Nephite record.[2]
Supporting Literacy And Comprehension In Religious Education, Stephen A. Nelson
Supporting Literacy And Comprehension In Religious Education, Stephen A. Nelson
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Imagine the following scenario unfolding in a seminary classroom: The assigned scripture block that day is James chapter 1, and the instructor is anxious to facilitate a meaningful discussion focusing on verses 5 and 6. To help his students identify the principle “God generously gives wisdom to those who ask of him in faith,” he writes the following question on the board: “What did James advise his readers to do to find answers to their questions?”[1] After a compelling readiness activity, the teacher invites a young man to read James 1:5–6 aloud while the rest of the class follows along …
Expanding Our Gratitude For Jesus Christ, Bret Gundersen
Expanding Our Gratitude For Jesus Christ, Bret Gundersen
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Some Latter-day Saints have an enduring appreciation for God and his Son, but others struggle to feel that strong sense of gratitude. As society moves away from religion in the United States[1] and elsewhere, if people want to increase their connection with Jesus Christ, the process may feel more elusive than ever. This essay is intended to help individuals expand their gratitude for Jesus Christ through an improved understanding of our deep individual need for his Atonement.
Using Church History Documents In Your Classroom, Keith A. Erekson
Using Church History Documents In Your Classroom, Keith A. Erekson
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Each of the standard works was compiled from previous historical documents. The Bible emerged from letters and writings selected and evaluated over hundreds of years. Joseph Smith received revelations for more than a decade before some were published in the Doctrine and Covenants. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles selected some of Joseph Smith’s other writings for inclusion in the Pearl of Great Price. Mormon and Moroni abridged Nephite records to prepare the plates that Joseph Smith translated as the Book of Mormon.
Feeling God's Love, Lindon J. Robison
Feeling God's Love, Lindon J. Robison
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Some of my family and friends have separated themselves from the gospel. Their reasons vary. However, they often share a common concern: if God loves all his children, all the time, everywhere, and no matter what—why can’t I feel it? In response to this question, I wrote this essay. In doing so, I found President Russell M. Nelson’s conference talk on divine love to be an important resource. President Nelson states that “while divine love can be called perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal, it cannot correctly be characterized as unconditional.” In grappling with the concept of conditional love and …
A Method For Evaluating Latter-Day Saint History, Anthony R. Sweat, Kenneth L. Alford
A Method For Evaluating Latter-Day Saint History, Anthony R. Sweat, Kenneth L. Alford
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Historical claims about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are repeatedly shared in classrooms, conversations, books, manuals, videos, podcasts, and online in a variety of ways. There is no shortage of information about the history of the Restoration. When you learn about Church history from these various sources, however, how do you know which claims to accept and which to question? Are all perspectives about Church history accurate and trustworthy? And, if all historical sources are not of the same value and veracity, what guidelines can be used to differentiate them?
The Story Of The Restoration Continues: Insights Into Saints, Volume 2, Matthew J. Grow, Scott A. Hales, Lisa Olsen Tait, Angela Hallstrom
The Story Of The Restoration Continues: Insights Into Saints, Volume 2, Matthew J. Grow, Scott A. Hales, Lisa Olsen Tait, Angela Hallstrom
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
On 12 February 2020, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the second volume in the Saints series. Subtitled No Unhallowed Hand, this volume begins with the Latter-day Saints leaving Nauvoo, Illinois, in early 1846, shortly after thousands of Church members received their endowments in the partially completed Nauvoo Temple. It tells the story of the settlement of territorial Utah and the surrounding areas; the expansion of missionary work around the globe, with a particular emphasis on Europe and the Pacific; the gathering of Saints to the American West; the lived reality of plural marriage and the national …
Being Divine Or Devilish: Which Is The Destroyer Riding Upon The Waters?, Seth N. Hord
Being Divine Or Devilish: Which Is The Destroyer Riding Upon The Waters?, Seth N. Hord
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
As Joseph Smith and several elders traveled from Missouri to Ohio, a series of events occurred that led some of the early Saints to be wary of traveling by water. The journey of Joseph and the elders started uneventfully as they traveled by canoe up the Missouri River, but by the third day contention and hard feelings developed within the group. At a particularly difficult stretch of the river, one of the canoes reportedly hit a hazard in the water (an uprooted tree called a sawyer) and nearly capsized. The group was frightened and made camp on the bank of …
Awakening To A Life Of Discipleship, Scott C. Esplin
Awakening To A Life Of Discipleship, Scott C. Esplin
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Because of publication schedules, an introduction like this for the Religious Educator is written months in advance of the issue appearing in print. Normally, that would not be a problem, as academic life typically has a predictable rhythm. But as all are keenly aware, the year 2020 has broken the pattern. “A virus 1,000 times smaller than a grain of sand,” remarked Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in the April 2020 general conference, has brought “entire populations and global economies to their knees.”1 Sadly, for those who love teaching, this has created empty classrooms. As scientists scramble for solutions to the …
Teaching Students To Deal With Questions And Doubts: A Perspective And A Pattern, Elder Bruce C. Hafen
Teaching Students To Deal With Questions And Doubts: A Perspective And A Pattern, Elder Bruce C. Hafen
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
The Church Board of Education’s 2019 “Guidelines for Strengthening Religious Education” include this new language among the “purposes” of religious education—to “strengthen [students’] ability to find answers, resolve doubts, respond with faith, and give reason for the hope within them in whatever challenges they may face.”
God Grants Unto All Nations, Robert L. Millet
God Grants Unto All Nations, Robert L. Millet
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Many years ago, I addressed a group of faculty and students at a university in New England. It was a fifty-minute presentation on “The Christ of the Latter-day Saints.” Questions and answers followed. One faculty member raised his hand and then made a comment: “I do have a question for you,” he said, “but first let me say that I have great difficulty taking seriously any religious group that dismisses out of hand two thousand years of Christian history.” His words jolted me at the time, and his choice of words still troubles me. His query brought to mind a …
Discussing Difficult Topics: The Book Of Abraham, Robin S. Jensen, Kerry Muhlestein, Scott C. Esplin
Discussing Difficult Topics: The Book Of Abraham, Robin S. Jensen, Kerry Muhlestein, Scott C. Esplin
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
SCOTT ESPLIN: I’m interviewing Robin Jensen from the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Kerry Muhlestein from the Ancient Scripture Department of Religious Education at Brigham Young University to talk with them about scholarship relative to the Book of Abraham. Thank you for your willingness to help our readers understand scholarship on this topic. The two of you model how to pursue a faithful study of the Book of Abraham from different backgrounds and approaches. Will you introduce yourselves to our readers and share the lens through which you study this text?
“For The General Good Of Mankind”: Why Joseph Smith’S Presidential Campaign Matters, Derek R. Sainsbury
“For The General Good Of Mankind”: Why Joseph Smith’S Presidential Campaign Matters, Derek R. Sainsbury
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Joseph Smith’s 1844 campaign for president of the United States is much more than a curious footnote in Latter-day Saint history. Recent scholarship, including Storming the Nation, confirms that the campaign aligned with the Restoration’s goals to gather Israel, establish Zion, and protect the rights of all humanity. By examining the reasons, means, and outcomes of Joseph’s campaign, we can highlight truths of the Restoration that are central to our students’ covenant responsibility to gather Israel and prepare the world for the Second Coming.
Was The Earth Formed From The Debris Of Other Planets, Trent Stephens
Was The Earth Formed From The Debris Of Other Planets, Trent Stephens
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
In the past, some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have believed that the earth was made from pieces of other worlds and that the fossil record can be dismissed because those fossils came from worlds that were broken up and reworked into our earth. I understand that sometimes this concept has been taught even in seminary, institute, and Sunday School classrooms. Because I have heard these ideas espoused, even recently, and because I have spent much of my career studying and teaching biology and the fossil record, I decided to initiate a search to discover …
Full Issue
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
No abstract provided.
New And Everlasting: The Relationship Between Gospel Covenants In History, Kerry Muhlestein, Joshua M. Sears, Avram R. Shannon
New And Everlasting: The Relationship Between Gospel Covenants In History, Kerry Muhlestein, Joshua M. Sears, Avram R. Shannon
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak of covenants in general, baptismal covenants, temple covenants, the new and everlasting covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, and the Mosaic or Sinai covenant. But what are these covenants, and how are they related to each other? Students in many settings experience confusion about these questions. Each book of scripture shares aspects of covenants that students may not understand as well as they could. Greater clarity will allow them to draw more power from scriptural and current prophetic teachings about the centrality of the covenant in every dispensation.
Recognizing The Everlasting Covenant In The Scriptures, Kerry Muhlestein
Recognizing The Everlasting Covenant In The Scriptures, Kerry Muhlestein
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
The Abrahamic, or new and everlasting, covenant is an important element of the Old Testament. In fact, the main way the Old Testament frames human relationships with God is whether people make and keep a covenant with him. Yet we often do not notice how much that theme is woven throughout all scripture. For example, the Book of Mormon title page specifically references the knowledge of the covenant as part of the purpose of writing and preserving the book, and the covenant is a major theme for many of its authors. The New Testament and the Doctrine and Covenants are …
Cut Off From The Face And Presence: Alma’S Use Of Hebraistic Idioms To Teach The Fall, Matthew L. Bowen
Cut Off From The Face And Presence: Alma’S Use Of Hebraistic Idioms To Teach The Fall, Matthew L. Bowen
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Alma’s teaching of the doctrine of the Fall of Adam and Eve to his troubled youngest son, Corianton, brings together and approximates two related Hebraistic idioms: “as they [Adam and Eve] were cut off [Hebrew: nikrātû] from the tree of life they should be cut off from the face of the earth [yikkārētû mēʿal pĕnê hāʾădāmâ]” and “our first parents were cut off both temporally and spiritually from the presence of the Lord [nikrātû . . . mippĕnê yhwh]” (Alma 42:6–7). In this brief article, I will attempt to show how Alma uses the multiple …
Religious Education In Byu’S Prophetic Historical Context, Elder Bruce C. Hafen
Religious Education In Byu’S Prophetic Historical Context, Elder Bruce C. Hafen
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Dean Daniel Judd has invited me to offer a historical perspective on Religious Education within BYU’s larger historical context. In doing so, I speak more from experience than with authority, having been blessed with some opportunities to learn about the subject at fairly close range for several decades.
Awakening To A Life Of Discipleship, Scott C. Esplin
Awakening To A Life Of Discipleship, Scott C. Esplin
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
In 1986, Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) challenged himself and his audience at Brigham Young University: “For me, the Book of Mormon is like a vast mansion with gardens, towers, courtyards, and wings. My tour of it has never been completed. Some rooms I have yet to enter, and there are more felicitous fireplaces waiting to warm me. Even the rooms I have glimpsed contained further furnishings and rich detail yet to be savored. . . . Yet we as Church members sometimes behave like hurried tourists, scarcely venturing beyond the entry hall.”
Contrasting The Leadership Styles Of Captain Moroni And Amalickiah, David L. Rockwood, J. Gordon Daines Iii
Contrasting The Leadership Styles Of Captain Moroni And Amalickiah, David L. Rockwood, J. Gordon Daines Iii
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
The Book of Mormon was written as another testament of Jesus Christ. It was also written by leaders and about leaders. One of the most well-known leaders and charismatic figures in the Book of Mormon is Captain Moroni (hereafter referred to simply as Moroni). His capable leadership enabled the Nephites to survive civil insurrection and invasion by the Lamanites. Mormon, the compiler of the Book of Mormon, holds up Moroni as one of the text’s exemplary leaders. He points to Moroni’s leadership and righteousness as the reason for Nephite success during this trying era.
The Book Of Mormon And The Academy, Nicholas J. Frederick, Joseph M. Spencer
The Book Of Mormon And The Academy, Nicholas J. Frederick, Joseph M. Spencer
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
It doesn’t take a lot of looking to see that something has changed—potentially for the better—about the scholarly world’s relationship to the Book of Mormon. Over the past twenty years, academic presses with no relationship to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have begun publishing serious and high-quality work on this sacred volume of scripture. Various journals have begun to do so as well. Several different scholarly editions of the Book of Mormon are now in print, and both the manuscripts for the Book of Mormon and the volume’s earliest historical editions are readily accessible. We have witnessed …
Full Issue
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
No abstract provided.
Alma’S Attempt To Loose Corianton’S Mind From Zoramite Chains, M. Scott Stenson
Alma’S Attempt To Loose Corianton’S Mind From Zoramite Chains, M. Scott Stenson
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
While Alma’s youngest son, Corianton, is on his mission among the apostate Zoramites, he falls into serious transgression and falls into complex doctrinal errors at the same time the Zoramites are “perverting the ways of the Lord” (Alma 31:11). As we learn in Alma 39–42, Corianton’s mind is greatly worried about many subjects relative to his soul. Apparently his confusion and doubts were aggravated because of his hostile religious environment: not only were there many contentions among the Nephites (35:15), but the Zoramites, Nephite separatists, were increasingly “angry because of the word, for it did destroy their craft” (35:3). Ultimately, …
The Nephite Prophets’ Understanding Of Faith And Faithfulness, Noel B. Reynolds
The Nephite Prophets’ Understanding Of Faith And Faithfulness, Noel B. Reynolds
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Readers of the Book of Mormon agree that faith in Jesus Christ is a basic principle of the gospel, or doctrine of Christ, taught therein. And they agree, at least superficially, on the meaning of the word faith to the extent that is allowed by their modern, westernized worldview and background in New Testament Christianity. However, as I engaged in an in-depth study of the gospel of Jesus Christ as the Nephites understood it, I realized that (1) our modern cultural understandings shield us from those of the Nephite prophets in many ways, (2) the Nephite concept of faith is …
Nephi And Effective Followership, Christopher J. Peterson
Nephi And Effective Followership, Christopher J. Peterson
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Who is the greatest leader who ever lived?” and “Who is the greatest follower who ever lived?” asked Stephen W. Owen, who in April 2016 was serving as the Young Men General President. The answer to both questions, he said, is Jesus Christ. “He is the greatest leader because He is the greatest follower. . . . In God’s eyes, the greatest leaders have always been the greatest followers.” As religious educators, we are given various opportunities to lead, whether on our faculties or in our classrooms. Those seeking to improve their leadership ability have access to innumerable books, articles, …
Twenty Years Of The Religious Educator, Brad Wilcox, Timothy G. Morrison
Twenty Years Of The Religious Educator, Brad Wilcox, Timothy G. Morrison
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
Where were you twenty years ago? That was before the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the heightened airport security that followed. Do you remember when the vote between George W. Bush and Al Gore dangled on a few hanging chads in Florida? President Gordon B. Hinckley was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2000 and dedicated the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Faith Hill was singing “Breathe,” and the Yankees beat the Mets in the 2000 World Series. The Sixth Sense was an Oscar-nominated movie that had us on the edge of our …
A Jershon Classroom, Scott Royal Bagley
A Jershon Classroom, Scott Royal Bagley
Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
A powerful tool for recruiting students can be our classroom environment. The scriptures give us a wonderful example of this idea. After the people of Ammon are given the land of Jershon, they are soon joined by religious refugees from among the Zoramites (Alma 35:6–9), fugitives from among the Lamanites (Alma 47:29), and Lamanite wartime prisoners (Alma 62:17, 27–29). The people of Ammon accept all of these people as their own. But the question is this: what was it about the people of Ammon that attracted these societal refugees? As we examine the people of Ammon and how they cared …