Mormon Studies Commons^™

On Music Angels: God Only Knows, David M. Kirkham

BYU Studies

The trek from my office at the Air Force Academy history department to the faculty parking lot was long enough--about a ten-minute walk--sufficient time for some substantive thinking. One winter evening in about 1992, as I made the walk, my Comparative Revolutions course weighed on my mind. As I pondered how I might introduce the next day's discussion on causes of revolutions, I climbed into my 1987 red Dodge Colt more out of habit than deliberation. At the turn of the ignition key, the radio's boom broke my reverie and jarred me back to the reality of my immediate surroundings. …

Sorting, In Evening Light, Dixie L. Partridge

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

The Misunderstood First Amendment And Our Lives Online, Cheryl B. Preston

BYU Studies

Certainly, we have always been warned about the harms of pornography. Jesus said, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:27–28). But the prophets have become increasingly insistent in their warnings during the last several decades. This spike in prophetic warning corresponds to the development of technology.

Religion, Politics, And Sugar: The Mormon Church, The Federal Government, And The Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907-1921, Matthew C. Godfrey, Barnard S. Silver

BYU Studies

Matthew C. Godfrey. Religion, Politics, and Sugar: The Mormon Church, the Federal Government, and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907–1921. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2007.

The Five Books Of Moses: A Translation With Commentary, Roger G. Baker, Robert Alter

BYU Studies

There are Bibles aplenty in our world, hundreds if Amazon.com is any guide. In late 2009, Amazon listed over one thousand books on its Bible hit list that have not even been released yet. Over one thousand new books of the roughly 450,000 listed Bible hits portend heavy reading this year for those who try to keep up with things biblical. A beneficial search in this swim through the Amazon of books is for new Bible translations, which now seem plentiful, although there were very few in the years after King James. An almost three-century gap separates the King James …

One Good Man, Christian Vuissa, Director, Christian Vuissa, Jim Dalrymple

BYU Studies

I had high hopes but reserved expectations while driving to see Christian Vuissa's latest film One Good Man. Though LDS cinema seems to have cooled and matured somewhat in recent years, it is nonetheless a movement that has generally been hit-and-miss at best. One Good Man comes as a welcome transition to deeper, more complex filmmaking. The film is far from perfect--it includes its fair share of cultural cliches and clunky sentimentality--but it also marks an insightful and timely turn toward a more intimate, nuanced exploration of LDS themes and culture.

One Good Man portrays a few days in …

The Frontier Guardian: Exploring The Latter-Day Saint Experience At The Missouri, 1849–1851, Susan E. Black

BYU Studies

As the largest Mormon primary source from 1849 to 1851, the Frontier Guardian is crucial to understanding the Latter-day Saint experience at the Missouri River. Until now, historians have extracted only small sections of the paper, such as marriage announcements, obituaries, and advertisements, because of the Guardian's size. Although it is only four volumes, the newspaper contains eighty-one issues, each spanning four pages in length and divided into six columns. This translates into roughly four thousand single-spaced pages on 8.5" x 11" paper. Fortunately, the recent publication The Best of the Frontier Guardian along with its searchable dvd-rom of …

The Ezekiel Mural At Dura Europos: A Witness Of Ancient Jewish Mysteries?, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

BYU Studies

One of the most stunning archaeological finds of the last century was the accidental discovery in 1920 of the ruins of Dura Europos, "a frontier town of very mixed population and traditions" located on a cliff ninety meters above the Euphrates River in what is now Syria. This Helenistic city had been abandoned following a Sassanian siege in AD 256–57 and was eventually buried by the shifting sands. Among the structures uncovered by excavation was a small Jewish synagogue with elaborately painted walls, preserved only because the building had been filled with earth as a fortification during the siege.

Twisted Thoughts And Elastic Molecules: Recent Developments In Neuroplasticity, James T. Summerhays

BYU Studies

During the twentieth century, many in the emerging fields of brain science operated under the assumption of absolute biological mate- rialism—the idea that all reality in life can be reduced to our natural, physical dimension. For example, some neuroscientists sought to explain the deep mysteries of human consciousness not as any cosmic intercon- nection of spirit and matter but merely as a series of chemical reactions in the brain. Such assumptions in reductive materialism and pure determin- ism may sometimes be necessary within the realm of controlled scientific inquiry; but when adopted as a way of life, determinism has profound …

Full Issue, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

The Tree House, Philip A. Snyder, Douglas Thayer

BYU Studies

Douglas Thayer. The Tree House: A Novel. Provo, Utah: Zarahemla Books, 2009.

Proclamation To The People: Nineteenth-Century Mormonism And The Pacific Basin Frontier, Kimberly W. Reid, Reid L. Neilson, Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp

BYU Studies

Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp (Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of Religion and Society in Frontier California) and Reid L. Neilson (Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Brigham Young University and author and editor of several books, including Taking the Gospel to the Japanese) combine their expertise in this latest volume, Proclamation to the People: Nineteenth-Century Mormonism and the Pacific Basin Frontier. The Pacific Basin extends "from the west coast of the United States and South America, across the Pacific Islands from Hawaii to Tahiti, down to New Zealand and …

A Different God? Mitt Romney, The Religious Right, And The Mormon Question, Roger Terry, Craig L. Foster

BYU Studies

As can be expected from a book published by Greg Kofford, Craig L. Foster's A Different God? is well researched and engaging. This book begins by examining the rise of the religious right and the power it exerts on the current political landscape. Foster presents a good deal of information that most Latter-day Saints will not be well acquainted with, such as the difference between evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, the emergence of the charismatic movement, the rise and fall of the Moral Majority, and the subsequent establishment of the Christian Coalition. This background is particularly pertinent to the majority of …

In God's Image And Likeness: Ancient And Modern Perspectives On The Book Of Moses, Michael D. Olsen, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

BYU Studies

Author Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, PhD in cognitive science and a senior research scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), has written professionally on various topics in human and machine intelligence, has presented at meetings of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR), and has published articles on Mormon themes appearing in 2009 and 2010. The central focus of this book is an exegesis of the "book of Moses, a revelatory expansion of the first chapters of Genesis" and "Joseph Smith's translation of the early narratives of Genesis."

At 1,102 pages, this tome is not for …

Understanding Same-Sex Attraction: Where To Turn And How To Help, John P. Livingstone, Shirley E. Cox, William C. Duncan, M. Gawain Wells, Kimberly W. Reid, Dennis V. Dahle, A. Dean Byrd, Doris R. Dant

BYU Studies

Readers looking for a book that supports the idea of homosexuality being an innate part of one's identity will not be interested in Understanding Same-Sex Attraction: Where to Turn and How to Help. Instead, the authors of this book assert the unpopular opinion, backed by scientific research, that same-sex attraction can be lessened or eradicated in those who desire change and are willing to try. Readers who empathize with the Church's position on homosexuality will likely find hope and useful ideas in this five-hundred-page compilation, authored by professional psychologists and scholars. The book presents three angles on the topic: the …

What's The Harm? Does Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Really Harm Individuals, Families Or Society?, Lynn D. Wardle, Paul A. Pratte

BYU Studies

Written by nineteen interdisciplinary authors and edited by BYU professor of family law Lynn D. Wardle, What's the Harm? responds to several questions concerning same-sex marriage: does legalizing same-sex marriage harm traditional families? Does it discourage responsible sexual behavior and procreation? How does it affect the meaning of marriage? Does it impair basic freedoms to citizens and institutions?

In this potpourri of scholarly and legal papers, attorneys, educators, family counselors, and even linguists document through scientific studies and court cases the consequences already inflicted on men, women, and innocent children through practices such as abortion and no-fault divorce. Because …

It Starts With A Song: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years Of Songwriting At Byu, Produced By Ron Simpson, Greg Hansen, Ron Simpson

BYU Studies

In the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, a musician and composer tries to write one memorable piece of music to gain fame. He takes a job as a high school music teacher to pay the bills and over time discovers unexpected and even greater fulfillment during his thirty-year teaching career.

Such a story has parallels to that of Brigham Young University's Ron Simpson, producer of this CD, general manager of Tantara Records, coordinator of the Media Music Division of BYU's School of Music, and music director of the Young Ambassadors. Simpson left a career as a studio owner, producer, …

Multiple Intelligences In The Gospel Classroom, John Hilton Iii

Faculty Publications

In a worldwide training broadcast, Elder W. Rolfe Kerr taught, “We cannot expect our students to learn all that we hope they will learn by just hearing a concept or principle one time. Multiple presentations, utilizing various approaches, often appealing to multiple senses, increase the likelihood of our students actually learning and internalizing the concepts we teach.”

Wilford Woodruff And The Rise Of Temple Consciousness Among The Latter-Day Saints, 1877-84, Richard E. Bennett

Faculty Publications

Historical evidence demonstrates that during the time Wilford Woodruff served as president of the St. George Temple, 1877-84, a profound change of attitude and a new understanding toward temple work developed among the Latter-day Saints. These years--highlighted as they were with completion of the St. George Temple; the introduction of endowments for the dead; the canonization of section 110 in the Doctrine & Covenants; and the construction of the Salt Lake, Manti, and Logan Temples--were critical to the formation of a new and rising temple consciousness and a growing sense of uniqueness among a people then undergoing a good deal …

Egyptian Papyri And The Book Of Abraham: Some Questions And Answers, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

In 1835 Joseph Smith began translating some ancient Egyptian papyri that he had obtained from an exhibitor passing through Kirtland, Ohio. He soon announced, “Much to our joy [we] found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham.” While we do not know how much the Prophet translated, we do know that some of his translation was published in serial form and eventually canonized as the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. For nearly one hundred years, it was thought that all these papyri had eventually made their way to the Wood Museum in Chicago, …

Joseph Smith And The First Principles Of The Gospel, 1820-29, Richard Bennett

Faculty Publications

So much of a biographical nature has been written lately on the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith that one may well wonder if there is anything new or important left to say about him. Dan Vogel and Richard Bushman, in their dramatically counterpoint interpretations of the Prophet--the former contending he was a "pious fraud" and the latter asserting he was a legitimate American prophet--have forced us to reconsider the earlier arguments and interpretations of Donna and Marvin Hill, Fawn Brodie, John Henry Evans, and George Q. Cannon. Yet the contrasting contributions of these latest two scholars, and the fervent, …