Mormon Studies Commons^™

Freemasonry And The Origins Of Latter-Day Saints Temple Ordinances, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Interpreter Foundation Books

My first exposure to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came in 1988 when I first met my future wife, a dedicated member of the Church. She was pleased to answer any questions I had and to share insights into her beliefs, but I was uninterested in pursuing any serious inquiry into their teachings.

Full Issue

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

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Latest Occasional Papers Highlights Biblical Scholar

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

A new publication from the Institute highlights the biblical research of a prominent British scholar. Kevin Christensen’s “Paradigms Regained: A Survey of Margaret Barker’s Scholarship and Its Significance for Mormon Studies,” the second issue of the FARMS Occasional Papers, compares the works of Margaret Barker with the writings of many Latter-day Saint researchers, including Hugh W. Nibley, Daniel C. Peterson, and John W. Welch.

New Resource On Ancient Maya Writing Released

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

A new volume published under the Institute’s Research Press imprint is A Thematic Bibliography of Ancient Maya Writing, by Stephen D. Houston and Zachary Nelson. “Many people don’t know about the quantity of research on ancient Maya writing,” says Houston, a BYU professor of anthropology who is an authority on Maya writing. “In fact, the literature is overwhelmingly large. This bibliography provides a roadmap through that literature.”

‘Scourged’ Vs. ‘Scorched’ In Mosiah 17:13, Royal Skousen

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

Very often in my work on the critical text of the Book of Mormon, I have discovered cases where the text reads inappropriately. Book of Mormon researchers have typically attempted to find some circumstance or interpretation to explain a difficult reading, but in many cases I have found that difficult readings are actually the result of simple scribal errors.

Full Issue

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

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Love Vs. Hate: An Analysis Of Helaman 15:1–4, David E. Bokovoy

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

Few literary genres from the ancient world stand out so prominently as the Near Eastern vassal treaty. Scholars have shown that these political contracts formed between vassal kings and suzerain provided the conceptual background for the book of Deuteronomy. “The assumption is that Israel conceived of its relation to Yahweh as that of subject peoples to a world king and that they expressed this relationship in the concepts and formulas of the suzerainty treaty.”

Lds Scholars Embrace Historicity Of Scripture, David E. Bokovoy

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

In defense of the historicity—the historical actuality—of scriptures embraced by Latter-day Saints, several BYU and Institute scholars have contributed to a collection of essays published recently by BYU’s Religious Studies Center. Edited by Paul Y. Hoskisson, Historicity and the Latter-day Saint Scriptures contains 11 essays that explore this topic.

Symposium Reports Research On Abraham Traditions

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

A FARMS symposium at BYU on Saturday, 26 January, highlighted findings from a years-long effort to collect, translate, and publish ancient accounts of the early life of the patriarch Abraham. Titled “Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham,” the free public event featured presentations by John Tvedtnes, Brian Hauglid, and John Gee, compilers and editors of a new book of the same title published by the Institute under the FARMS imprint.

Full Issue

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

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Forthcoming Publications

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

The Hôr Book of Breathings: A Translation and Commentary, by Michael D. Rhodes, treats the fragments of the Joseph Smith Papyri associated with Facsimiles 1 and 3 of the Book of Abraham. Available in March 2002.

Book Of Mormon Word Usage: “Seal You His”, John Gee

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

The verb to seal occurs some 34 times in the Book of Mormon. In most of these instances the verb takes (is followed by) a direct object referring to such things as the law, a book, records, words, an account, an epistle, an interpretation, revelation, the truth, and the stone interpreters. Twice, however, the verb to seal takes a person as a direct object that is qualified by a possessive pronoun:

Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be …

“Let Us Stain Our Swords No More”, David Linn, Kevin Barney

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

In Alma 24 we read of the courage of the people of Anti- Nephi-Lehi, Lamanites who had converted to the Lord. Their king pleaded with them, “Let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren” (Alma 24:12). So great was their faith that they covenanted never to take up arms again and buried their weapons of war. When the unconverted Lamanites came against them, the Anti-Nephi- Lehies, rather than resist their attackers, prostrated themselves on the ground to pray and allowed their brethren to slay them.

Researchers Share, Test Ideas With Peers

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

Each semester the Institute sponsors an average of six brown bag presentations (so named because they are informal lectures delivered during the noon hour). Held on the BYU campus, these events are conducted largely for the benefit of scholars and other specialists who are invited to report on research projects they are pursuing and papers they are writing. At the conclusion of their presentations, the speakers respond to questions and constructive comments from the audience. These events enable researchers to test and explore the ideas and insights they are developing on a host of topics related to the work of …

Latest Review Rolls Off Press

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

The FARMS Review of Books has a long tradition of providing its readers with insightful and substantive reviews of books on the Book of Mormon, Mormon studies, and Christian studies, as well as those books that attack the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The latest issue does not disappoint. It contains reviews and responses to 18 books or articles on diverse topics, such as ancient Nephite culture, the conversion of Alma, hidden ancient records, the temple, the LDS concept of the nature of God, and the ark of the covenant.

Full Issue

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

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From Other Publishers

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

Dead Sea Scrolls Reader, edited by Donald W. Parry and Emanuel Tov, presents all of the nonbiblical Qumran texts along with English translations. Published by Brill Academic Publishers of the Netherlands, this six-part edition of the nonbiblical scroll fragments is an outgrowth of the FARMS Dead Sea Scrolls database. Parts 1 (religious law), 2 (exegetical texts), and 4 (calendrical and sapiental texts) are available now; parts 3 (parabiblical texts), 5 (poetic and liturgical texts), and 6 (additional genres and unclassified texts) will be available in spring 2004.

Forthcoming Publications

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

The FARMS Review (vol. 15, no. 2), edited by Daniel C. Peterson, features reviews and articles on DNA issues, the Mountain Meadows massacre, and secret combinations, as well as responses to a so-called insider’s view of Mormon origins. Available February 2004.

Byu Journal Explores Hebrew Law In The Book Of Mormon

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

In February 2001, a conference titled “Hebrew Law in the Book of Mormon” was held at Brigham Young University under the sponsorship of FARMS (see “BYU Conference on Hebrew Law a Success,” Insights 21/4 [2001], available on the FARMS Web site). Among the papers presented there were studies by seven BYU students on aspects of ancient law that might be reflected in the Book of Mormon. These papers are now available in a special issue, copublished by FARMS, of the student journal Studia Antiqua. They treat such topics as slavery, the Noachide laws (minimum standards of social and moral conduct …

New Reader’S Edition Of The Book Of Mormon, Louis Midgley

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

With the recent publication of The Book of Mormon: A Reader‘s Edition, Grant Hardy has provided the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a remarkable new version of their founding text. Although Hardy gears his book to a broad readership, those who truly love the Book of Mormon, seek to be serious students of it, or both will find A Reader’s Edition well worth owning. Why? Because in this edition the text is displayed not in verse format but in discrete, sub-headed sections of greater length with ease of reading the end in view.

Investigating New World Volcanism At The Time Of Christ’S Death

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

A recent article in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies reported that ice cores taken from Greenland and Antarctica yield evidence broadly consistent with the 3 Nephi 8 account of cataclysmic New World events—presumably including a violent volcanic eruption—at the time of Christ’s death (Benjamin R. Jordan, “Volcanic Destruction in the Book of Mormon: Possible Evidence from Ice Cores,” JBMS 12/1 [2003]: 78–87). What other methods might yield corroborating evidence of
such an eruption? Two possibilities are the analysis of tree rings and sea and lake sediments.

Project Report: Chiasmus Archive

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

Over three decades ago, John W. Welch’s publication of “Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon” opened a new chapter in Mormon studies. The 1969 article in BYU Studies announced his 1967 discovery of the presence of this literary form in the Book of Mormon. From that time to the present, the significance of Welch’s extraordinary observation has been discussed at many levels by Latter-day Saint lay readers as well as career academicians.

“O Ye Fair Ones”: An Additional Note On The Meaning Of The Name Nephi, Matthew L. Bowen

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

An earlier Insights article noted a possible wordplay in the first verse of the Book of Mormon that provides internal textual evidence that the name Nephi derives from the Egyptian word nfr. While nfr denotes “good, fine, goodly" of quality, it also signifies “beautiful, fair” of appearance. Assuming that at least some senses of the Egyptian word passed into Nephite language and culture, this second sense of nfr may have influenced Nephite self-perception. Several Book of Mormon passages evidence the affiliation.

New Book Offers Views Of Jerusalem As Lehi Knew It

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

Nephi and his brothers referred to Jerusalem as “that great city” (1 Nephi 2:13). Their opposing views about it became a point of contention that tore Lehi’s family in two, and their memories of it influenced the cultural perspective of their descendants in the New World for dozens of generations. The people known as Lamanites longed after it as a lost paradise and named one of their lands of settlement in its honor (Alma 21:1). Among the Nephites it exemplified the dire consequences of unbelief (Helaman 8:20). But what was the Jerusalem of Lehi’s day really like?

The Temple Symbols, Sermons & Settings, Stephen D. Ricks, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Interpreter Foundation Books

Inside Jerusalem and Its Temple When they reached the fork in the road, Joseph and Mary trudged ahead up the ever steeper incline toward the top of the Mount of Olives.1 Their breathing grew more labored, as did that of their twelve-year-old son. But he was taking the climb easier than they were. Young, nimble legs. Their destination lay to the west, the city of Jerusalem with its spectacular temple. At the fork, the other road led southward toward the town of Bethany, where Jesus would raise from the dead a family friend named Lazarus more than twenty years later. …

Ancient Names In The Book Of Mormon, Matthew L. Bowen

Interpreter Foundation Books

Through many years of scholarly exploration, Matthew Bowen has unveiled new layers of meaning in many Book of Mormon passages in which the use of names appears to employ literary tools of ancient Hebrew writers, including a wide variety of wordplays. Every chapter here breaks substantial new ground in terms of revealing how Book of Mormon authors wove proper names and titles, along with their meanings, into their writings.

The Bright And Morning Star, Breck M. England

Interpreter Foundation Books

The temple is a place of revelation. For me, that has always been a striking reality. It struck me again one day as I sat in the temple instruction room for the presentation I had seen before so many times—and I saw something new. I was reflecting on the many visions of the prophets, experiences we call “apocalypses,” when the Lord opens the veil to show them the entire panorama of His plan of happiness. I thought of Abraham, Enoch, Moses, Lehi, and Joseph Smith, and how they described the grand spectacle of creation, tribulation, atonement, and exaltation that I …

Startup Culture: Mlms, Mormons, And Entrepreneurship, Deborah Whitehead

Mormon Studies Review

The 2021 Amazon Prime series LuLaRich (reviewed in this volume) chronicled the meteoric rise and fall of LuLaRoe, a billion-dollar multilevel marketing (MLM) company founded in 2013 by DeAnne and Mark Stidham that specializes in women’s clothing. The series explored the company’s founding, growth, corporate culture, and recruitment and marketing strategies, as well as the particular appeal of the garments themselves. LuLaRoe’s success in the 2010s can be attributed to the convergence of several factors: the growth of social media, the rise of athleisure wear, the economic impact of the 2008 recession, the company’s ability to tap into a large …

Review Of R. Gordon Shepherd, A. Gary Shepherd, And Ryan T. Cragun, Eds. The Palgrave Handbook Of Global Mormonism. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2020., Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

Mormon Studies Review

At 868 pages, this volume is more comprehensive than any that have come before, with thirty-one chapters written by forty-two authors on three restoration traditions, discussing over forty countries and even more ethnic and cultural groupings. The editors have brought together not only scholars from the fields already well represented within Mormon studies (history, religious studies, sociology, anthropology, studies of gender, race, and culture) but also scholars with provocative perspectives from geography, demography, and corporate research. There is a pleasing mix of new and familiar names.

Reviewing a book such as this one could easily consume the allotted space with …

Review: Taylor G. Petrey And Amy Hoyt, Eds. The Routledge Handbook Of Mormonism And Gender. New York: Routledge, 2020., Brenda R. Weber

Mormon Studies Review

Taylor Petrey and Amy Hoyt’s The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender is a veritable gold mine of material for scholars interested in the historical and contemporary consideration of gender and gender identity as it relates to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, here referred to as the Mormons. Putting together a volume such as this requires an adroit balance, since the editors and authors must be aware of larger field questions related to gender studies, social science methodologies, religious studies and theological approaches to scholarship, and, obviously, discussions in Mormon studies and Mormon history. Mormonism itself is …