Mormon Studies Commons^™

Doctrinal Insights From Joseph Smith’S First Vision, Robert L. Millet

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The appearing of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith is the foundation of this Church,” President David O. McKay stated. “Therein lies the secret of [the Church’s] strength and vitality. . . . What God is, is answered. His relation to his children is clear.” President Ezra Taft Benson pointed out, “Sometimes I think we are so close to [the First Vision] that we don’t fully appreciate its significance and importance and the magnitude of it.” President Benson then added, “The first vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith is bedrock theology in this Church.”

Is Sure Knowledge An Ideal For Everyone Or One Spiritual Gift Among Many?, Blair Dee Hodges, Patrick Q. Mason

BYU Studies

“I’d like to bear my testimony. I know the Church is true. I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and restored the Church on the earth. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that the Church is led by living prophets today. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

The Joseph Smith Translation Of The Bible: Ancient Material Restored Or Inspired Commentary? Canonical Or Optional? Finished Or Unfinished?, Jared W. Ludlow

BYU Studies

Joseph Smith began an ambitious program to revise the biblical text in June 1830, not long after the organization of the Church of Christ and the publication of the Book of Mormon. While the result came to be known as the Joseph Smith Translation (JST), it was not a literal word-for-word translation of ancient biblical languages from a manuscript but more of an inspired revision or paraphrase based on the King James Version in English, carried out primarily between June 1830 and July 1833.¹ Since Joseph Smith never specifically addressed how or exactly why he made the particular changes …

“Oh Say, What Is Truth?”: Approaches To Doctrine, Michael Goodman

BYU Studies

The restored gospel of Jesus Christ, like other religious traditions, claims to be based on true doctrines.² The above hymn, included in the first edition of the Pearl of Great Price, encapsulates the deep longing for truth by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Statements by Church leaders abound extolling the virtue and power of truth, but such statements often beg the question, What is truth? Scripture states that “truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.”³ Church curricular material further states that “divine …

Is The Song Of Solomon Scripture?, Dana M. Pike, Eric A. Eliason

BYU Studies

Many Latter-day Saint youth may have had their first exposure to the Song of Solomon in seminary or on a mission. “Tear it out of your Bible,” “Staple the pages together,” or “Write ‘DO NOT READ’ on the title page with your red scripture marker!” are variants of stories passed on about what seminary teachers or mission presidents have advised. Since such sensational admonitions are almost guaranteed to pique teenagers’ curiosity, they are presumably more alive in student rumors than in the actual practice of seminary and institute instructors or mission leaders. Such stories may be reactions to Bruce R. …

The Saints And The State : The Mormon Troubles In Illinois, James Simeone

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

A compelling history of the 1846 Mormon expulsion from Illinois that exemplifies the limits of American democracy and religious tolerance.

When members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (known as Mormons) settled in Illinois in 1839, they had been persecuted for their beliefs from Ohio to Missouri. Illinoisans viewed themselves as religiously tolerant egalitarians and initially welcomed the Mormons to their state. However, non-Mormon locals who valued competitive individualism perceived the saints‘ western Illinois settlement, Nauvoo, as a theocracy with too much political power. Amid escalating tensions in 1844, anti-Mormon vigilantes assassinated church founder Joseph Smith and …

Clark Memorandum: Spring 2021, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Byu Law School Alumni Association, J. Reuben Clark Law Society

The Clark Memorandum

• Rooting Out Racism
• How Do We Practice Our Religion While We Practice?
• Hope in Hardship
• The Unity Paradox

Read on Issuu

What Her Missionary Son’S Letter Didn’T Say, Darlene Young

BYU Studies

Rain hangs in the air. Even my underwear feels wet.

I listen to the tapping fingertips of the bodies of bugs hitting netting at night. Gray water. Bare floors.

Shoulders, Bethany Sorensen

BYU Studies

"We” are taking a nap, but she’s the only one sleeping. The canvas shade above our heads and the subtle breeze off the water make the 95-degree heat tolerable. The gentle rocking of the houseboat lulls us both into a trance.

Manuscripts, Murder, And A Miniseries: A Personal Essay, Richard E. Turley Jr.

BYU Studies

On March 3, 2021, a three-part miniseries on the Mark Hofmann forgery-murder case of the 1980s premiered on Netflix, a popular subscription-based streaming service. The three-part miniseries, titled Murder among the Mormons, quickly catapulted into the top echelon of most-watched Netflix programs in the United States.1 Because I appeared in the miniseries, many people began asking me questions about this criminal case I have followed since it first attracted widespread public attention.

Raised Unto Eternal Life: The Principle Of Ascension In The Revelations Of The Restoration, William Perez

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, “When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation.” This step-by-step ascension is both literal and symbolic. Ascension was woven throughout ancient scripture and climaxed in Jesus Christ’s physical ascension into heaven. What does ascension represent for Latter-day Saints? How are we to understand its implications in our own salvific journey? The answers to these …

Latter-Day Saints In Washington, D.C., Tina Hawley

BYU Studies

Latter-day Saints in Washington, D.C., is edited by Brigham Young University professors of Church history and doctrine Kenneth L. Alford, Lloyd D. Newell, and Alexander L. Baugh. This volume collects essays written by the faculty of the Department of Church History and Doctrine at BYU after they traveled to D.C., attending a symposium in the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors’ Center. The essays are organized into three sections—“History,” “People,” and “Places”—aiming to educate readers about the intriguing, complicated relationship between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the United States federal government.

Innovating Institute, Ryan J. Wessel

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Seminaries and Institutes (S&I) recently began a process to innovate the institute experience. There was a general concern among the leaders of S&I that while participation in institute seemed to have a meaningful, positive impact on students’ lives, the institute experience appealed to too few of the young single adults in the Church. At the time, about half of young adults who participated in the Church enrolled in institute each year. Perhaps institute could be updated to more effectively teach the restored gospel within the context of current technological and demographic trends, and with a greater understanding of students’ circumstances …

The Haifa, Israel, Missionary Graves And The Byu Jerusalem Center, Kent P. Jackson

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Many Latter-day Saints have heard the story that graves of Latter-day Saint missionaries who died and were buried in Haifa, Israel, made possible Brigham Young University’s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. The story goes like this: The graves of missionaries who died in the 1890s provided evidence of a Latter-day Saint presence in the Holy Land before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, which evidence was required for the Church to be recognized in Israel and/or for BYU to obtain approval for the construction of the Jerusalem Center.

The story is not true.

Hugh Nibley Observed, David R. Seely

BYU Studies

As a tribute to Hugh Nibley the editors of this volume have collected forty essays written by Nibley’s family, peers, colleagues, students, and friends. The title of the book is a play on the title of Nibley’s autobiographical film, The Faith of an Observer: Conversations with Hugh Nibley. As described in the introduction, this volume contains “a kaleidoscope of portraits, perspectives, and memories from family, friends, and colleagues—observers, as it were, of a preeminent observer.”

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

A Teacher’S Plea, Tyler Johnson

BYU Studies

Modernity surges from change to change.

The last thirty years, after all, have seen the advent of the smartphone, the proliferation of the internet, the democratization of the press, the dawn of social media, the creation of eBay and Amazon, the beginning of Google, and the birth of the post-9/11 world order.

Captain Moroni And The Sermon On The Mount: Resolving A Scriptural Tension, Duane Boyce

BYU Studies

A natural tension seems to exist between two important features of the Book of Mormon. On one hand, Mormon includes in his record a version of the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus gave to the Nephites—an address that sets the standard for discipleship and that contains teachings obviously opposed to violence.1 In it, we hear about not resisting evil, turning the other cheek, going another mile when compelled to go one, loving our enemies—and so forth (3 Ne. 12:39–44). On the other hand, Mormon also presents various Nephite leaders as righteous even though they were immersed in violence. Captain …

Defend Your Families And Love Your Enemies: A New Look At The Book Of Mormon’S Patterns Of Protection, J. David Pulsipher

BYU Studies

A primary purpose of the Book of Mormon, as described on its title page, is to show “what great things the Lord hath done.”1 The whole narrative serves that goal, being saturated with frequent examples of divine goodness and guidance. Then, in the book’s stunning climax, God’s presence is made most explicit through the personal appearance of the resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ, during which he displays the physical emblems of his compassion and redemption, heals broken bodies and souls, and invites everyone to become “even as I am” (3 Ne. 27:27). The power of divine love is clearly a central …

Moon To Moon Nights, Dixie Partridge

BYU Studies

like time-lapse film, signify now a moment, now a lifetime. A bonedrift of stone shapes pale and rise like years along garden’s edge. . . .

Desert Harvest, Ben De Hoyos

BYU Studies

At last, it came, The cleansing rain at the fading Of this long, parched day.

Murder Among The Mormons: Reflections On The Docuseries— And On Its Historical And Theological Implications, J. B. Hawes

BYU Studies

You know that you’ve hit upon something when a docuseries you have produced soars to number two on Netflix’s weekly list of most-watched shows. That is the place where Jared Hess and Tyler Measom found themselves with their film Murder among the Mormons in mid- March 2021.1 Their retelling of the tragic deaths of Steven Christensen and Kathleen Sheets at the hands of Mark Hofmann—and the police investigation that exposed Hofmann as a forger and murderer—made for compelling television, and millions of Netflix customers agreed.

Trinity And Monotheism: A Historical And Theological Review Of The Origins And Substance Of The Doctrine, Jason Robert Combs

BYU Studies

The history of Christian beliefs about the nature of God is complex. It would be helpful for Latter-day Saints and other Christians to have a simple, straightforward introduction to this topic. A. Keith Thompson, professor of law and the associate dean at the Sydney School of Law of the University of Notre Dame Australia, who previously worked as international legal counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, set out to write such a book. Motivated in part by his interfaith work and by his own religious beliefs as a Latter-day Saint, Thompson wrote Trinity and Monotheism to …

Watchman On The Tower: Ezra Taft Benson And The Making Of The Mormon Right Thunder From The Right: Ezra Taft Benson In Mormonism And Politics, Roger Terry

BYU Studies

Although I was already fairly well acquainted with the activities and rhetoric of Ezra Taft Benson, a controversial twentieth-century Apostle, what surprised me when reading these two books about him was their relevance to what is happening in the United States today. Historian Matthew L. Harris authored the biography of Benson titled Watchman on the Tower and edited the anthology Thunder from the Right. They help explain not only Benson’s life and times but also political conservatism and paranoia about government conspiracy among American Latter-day Saints today.

Adopting And Adapting In Our Teaching, Scott C. Esplin

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

“We first adopt, then we adapt,” President Dallin H. Oaks once observed when answering a question about the balance in pursuing a prepared lesson and following a prompting to change from what may have been planned. “If we are thoroughly grounded in the prescribed lesson that we are to give, then we can follow the Spirit to adapt it.”

The Book Of Mormon: A Powerful Model For Distance Education, Adam R. Jardine

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many within the Church Educational System to participate in online delivery for classroom instruction. Success has varied, and many teachers have faced not only the difficulties of a new and possibly unfamiliar delivery method but also the challenge of becoming online course designers. The realities of COVID-19 forced educational systems, both secular and religious, to pivot their educational strategy, causing online delivery to become the primary educational delivery method in many areas. What many educators initially experienced during the pandemic was not regular online delivery, but rather “emergency remote teaching.” Though the COVID-19 pandemic produced …

Scripture Note: Alma’S And Helaman’S Priestly Blessings, Jesus’S Divine Acts In 3 Nephi 19:25, 30, Matthew L. Bowen

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

A few years ago, Matthew J. Grey drew renewed attention to the language of 3 Nephi 19:25 as reflecting the language of Numbers 6:24–27,2 a text sometimes called the Priestly Blessing. As far as I am aware, no study has thus far examined the influence of the Priestly Blessing in the Book of Mormon beyond 3 Nephi 19. Nevertheless, it appears that such influence exists. In this brief study, I examine how the influence of the Priestly Blessing in the Book of Mormon extends beyond Mormon’s description of Jesus’s priestly ministration at the temple in Bountiful to at least three …

Accomplishing The Will Of The Father: A Historical And Theological Examination Of Doctrine And Covenants 19, Ryan H. Sharp, Aaron Mark Coombs

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The year 1830 was an exciting time in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Five thousand copies of the Book of Mormon had just rolled off of the press in March, the first conference was held in April wherein the Church was officially organized, and the early members were thrilled that the Lord was again speaking to them through a chosen seer. The Doctrine and Covenants captures the revelations being poured out and the excitement, as well as the challenges, of early Church leaders. One of the early Saints who was immersed in these events, …

The Process And Power Of Hope, Kevin J. Worthen

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Welcome to the new school year—one unlike any other we have experienced. As we start the year, we face some challenges and problems that have never been encountered before on this campus, as evidenced by the unique setting for this devotional. The circumstances in both the world and in our personal lives sometimes seem daunting and difficult, especially in the midst of a pandemic. Each of us may wonder from time to time why we have to deal with such challenges and problems.