Mormon Studies Commons^™

Alma’S Cry For Salvation, Matthew L. Bowen

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Arguably the single greatest textual discovery in the Book of Mormon is John W. Welch’s discovery of a chiasm—a literary and rhetorical figure in which words and concepts are presented in a certain order and then presented again in reverse order—spanning the entirety of Alma 36.[1] Although alternative models of this chapter and refinements for Welch’s chiastic model have been proposed,[2] these still see Alma’s remembering and crying out to Jesus Christ as the χ (chi), or structural turning point, of the chiasm: And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed …

Learning From People Of Other Faiths, Joshua M. Sears

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Among all the religions in the world, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is unique in providing Restoration scripture, apostolic leadership, priesthood keys, the covenants and ordinances constituting the new and everlasting covenant, and a distinctive understanding of the plan of salvation.[1] However, when the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles released the bicentennial proclamation “The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” in April 2020, their affirmation of the unique gifts of the Restoration opened by declaring that “God loves His children in every nation of the world.”[2] Implicit in this declaration …

The Martyrdoms Of Ignatius, Polycarp, And Perpetua Windows Into Christian Discipleship In Ancient Rome, Nicholas W. Gentile

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

In January 2023 Elder Clark G. Gilbert, Commissioner of the Church Educational System for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave a landmark address at the Seminaries and Institutes of Religion Annual Training Broadcast. He invited religious educators to allow five themes from President Russell M. Nelson to guide their teaching of young adults, regardless of the courses they teach. As he explained, “In identifying these themes, we have focused on the prophet’s anchor message, ‘Choices for Eternity.’[1] . . . Each of these themes has been identified through careful review with the CES university presidents, including S&I’s …

The Family Proclamation The Secular And Spiritual Context, Michael A. Goodman, W. Justin Dyer

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Within the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” is arguably one of the most influential documents produced in the last hundred years. Since it was given in 1995, it has been cited more than 250 times in general conference, hangs on the walls of many Latter-day Saint homes, and is presented to leaders throughout the world. Indeed, in the first-ever meeting between a Pope and a President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson presented Pope Francis with two items: a Christus statue and a copy of the …

Winepress, Justin Collings

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Night is falling / Comes the hour /Cold fate calling / Dark with power / None to comfort / None to strengthen / Faint friends slumber

Full Issue

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Seership And World Conferences The Divine Origin And Inception Of The Family Proclamation, Byran B. Korth

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

In recent years, some of the surviving original authors of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (namely, President Russell M. Nelson and President Dallin H. Oaks) have felt the need to disclose important details about the line-upon-line revelatory process of the writing and announcement of this historic document.[1] The coming forth of the family proclamation includes the important details regarding not only its writing and announcement [2] but its origin (where it came or originated from) and inception (what initiated the conception and writing). An understanding of this revelatory process is further complemented by an awareness of significant details …

The Promise Of Prosperity Its Meaning And Relevance, Devon Cook

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

As religious educators, we have a responsibility to teach the doctrine “not so plainly that [students] can just understand, but [we] must teach the doctrines of the Church so plainly that no one can misunderstand.”[1] The concept of prosperity in the Book of Mormon is one of those doctrines that must be taught to youth and young adults in a way they don’t misunderstand what it means. Religious educators can help expand students’ understanding of prosperity lest they inadvertently reduce prosperity to mere financial success. If students always equate prosperity in the Book of Mormon with financial blessings, it could …

Increasing Our Capacity To Receive Revelation, Jeremiah Duersch

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

From my personal experiences as a religious educator, I have found that many students desire to increase their capacity to receive communication from their Father in Heaven, or, in other words, receive revelation.[1] The expediency of having the ability to help students achieve their desire seems to have heightened after President Russell M. Nelson warned, “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost. . . . I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation.”[2]

Helping Young Adults Work Through Complex Issues Of Faith, Daniel R. Winder

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

A few years ago, Chad Webb shared a story in which a medical examiner was able to determine that an unidentified person had lived their entire life in Los Angeles by examining the pollution found in his lungs. Webb said, “It has made me wonder if it were possible to do a spiritual autopsy, if someone could say, ‘I can tell from your attitudes about certain ideas and issues, that you must have lived on earth in 2019.’”[1] The spiritual “air quality,” so to speak, has changed over time, and as a result, so have the attitudes, beliefs, and moral …

Full Issue

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

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Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

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BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

“Dumb” Puns In Alma 30: A Mesoamerican Twist On Korihor’S Talionic Punishment, Mark Alan Wright, Neal Rappleye

BYU Studies

Evidence for the use of both puns and talionic (or reciprocal) punishment by peoples of the Book of Mormon is well attested. To complement previous research in these areas, which focused primarily on data from the ancient Near East, we argue that Mesoamerican wordplay and legal systems may also be evident in the account of Korihor recorded in Alma 30. Recognizing these connections to the text’s plausible cultural and linguistic context illuminates why Korihor receives the punishment he is given: it was no arbitrary consequence, but one tailored to his accusations in an irony-laden narrative that would have been easily …

Names And Titles Of Heavenly Father And Jesus Christ In The Book Of Mormon, Dru Brown

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

“Good morning, brothers and sisters. We welcome you to sacrament meeting. I am Bishop Evans and will conduct this meeting. We would like to recognize President Iverson from the stake presidency, who is presiding. We will open this meeting with hymn 100; Sister Clyde will conduct the music with Brother Langford on the organ.” An introduction of this kind is a familiar, nearly weekly ritual for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, someone new to the Church might be confused by the series of labels they just heard. What is a bishop? President of what …

Review: Don Argott, Dir. Keep Sweet. 44 Blue Productions, 2021., Stephanie Griswold

Mormon Studies Review

The recent documentary Keep Sweet, directed by Don Argott and produced by Glenn Meehan (not to be confused with the 2022 Netflix documentary Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey), recounts the producer’s experiences meeting members of the historically Fundamentalist Mormon community in Southern Utah known as Short Creek. The film is advertised as “rare access to current FLDS members” from “a producer embedded for over a decade.” The film follows the producer, Meehan, as he meets ex-members and followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) and depicts their experiences with the changes in their …

Review: Spencer Mcbride. Joseph Smith For President: The Prophet, The Assassins, And The Fight For American Religious Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021., Sara Georgini

Mormon Studies Review

Why would anyone want to be president of the United States? Joseph Smith knew. Spencer McBride’s biography of a unique political moment unfolds in Joseph Smith for President: The Prophet, the Assassins, and the Fight for American Religious Freedom. Harvesting an impressive cache of primary source material and dynamic new analysis, McBride uses Smith’s unlikely presidential run to investigate the political and religious systems of the day.

Review: James Simeone. The Saints And The State: The Mormon Troubles In Illinois. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2021., William P. Umphres

Mormon Studies Review

When Joseph Smith led his persecuted band of followers into western Illinois from Missouri in 1839, nothing overtly portended that within a few short years he and his brother would be assassinated by a mob and his oppressed followers would soon have to flee in the face of lawless violence against them. Instead, their new neighbors expressed along with the related Mormon theology on those topics, would have been illuminating at this point in the campaign story. Surely, it would have been a deciding factor for many potential voters. Overall, exploring Joseph Smith’s White House run tells us about a …

Review: John Corrigan. Religious Intolerance, America, And The World: A History Of Forgetting And Remembering. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2020., Andrea Radke-Moss

Mormon Studies Review

John Corrigan begins Religious Intolerance, America, and the World with the premise that the American past has been more characterized by religious intolerance and persecution than by tolerance and harmony, particularly of marginal groups. Even as Americans have “congratulated themselves” (2) on religious freedom as an exceptional ideal in the early republic, “religious violence came early and often as colonial New Englanders executed a series of devastating military campaigns against Native Americans” (3). Protestants later turned their persecutions to other undesirable religious minorities, including Catholics and Latter-day Saints.

Capitalism And Distributive Justice: Musings Of A Mormon Economist, Shinji Takagi

Mormon Studies Review

In this forum essay, I discuss capitalism and distributive justice from the standpoint of a neoclassical economist. I am motivated by the conflict between the purported virtues of a free-market system (and the income inequality such a system is known to generate) and the egalitarian principles espoused by Latter-day Saint scripture. This is a complex subject upon which no easy closure can be expected. Part of the difficulty comes from the fact that capitalism itself is an ill-defined concept. I use capitalism and free-market system almost interchangeably, consistent with the way they are generally understood in everyday discourse. It bears …

Front Matter

Mormon Studies Review

No abstract provided.

“I Dreamed Of An Alliance Between The Authority Of Dogma And Political Liberty”: Mormonism And Socialism In France In The Nineteenth Century, Christian Euvrard

Mormon Studies Review

Many historians and other scholars have noticed the social and political fervor observed in France between 1830 and 1870. This is also the period when Mormonism first arrived in the nation. Yet while the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints only achieved limited success in France, its doctrine and practices generated unusual interest, raising a number of important questions. What were the forces at work during this pivotal period? How can we reconcile the large cultural interest with the faith’s mediocre success? This essay offers several avenues of research.

Review: Carol Edison, Eric A. Eliason, And Lynne S. Mcneill, Eds. This Is The Plate: Utah Food Traditions. Salt Lake City: University Of Utah Press, 2020., Nora Rubel

Mormon Studies Review

Whimsically entitled This is the Plate—an homage to Brigham Young’s apocryphal words, “this is the place,” when he first saw the desert valley that would eventually become the state of Utah—this volume offers something for everyone. Editors Carol A. Edison, Eric A. Eliason, and Lynne S. McNeill have provided a well-integrated selection of essays, vignettes, and recipes (fifty-seven!) that showcase the historical, cultural, and religious foodways of Utah. McNeill’s introduction, “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, for Tomorrow You May Be in Utah,” sets the stage for an enjoyable romp through Utahn history, presenting the reader with a wide variety …

Review: Michael Harold Paulos And Konden Smith Hansen, Eds. The Reed Smoot Hearings: The Investigation Of A Mormon Senator And The Transformation Of An American Religion. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2021., Carter Charles

Mormon Studies Review

Before the clean-shaven and impeccably dressed David Oman McKay, it was Reed Owen Smoot who embodied Latter-day Saints as modern, mainstream, and American. The Reed Smoot Hearings remind us of this pivotal role that Smoot and others, like Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints president Joseph F. Smith, senators Fred E. Dubois and Albert J. Beveridge, and US president Theodore Roosevelt played in both Latter-day Saint and US religious history. The book is a welcome addition to works by Milton Merrill, Harvard Heath, and Kathleen Flake. Michael Harold Paulos and Konden Hansen Smith, editors as well as authors, are …

Reivew: Mark S. Diamond And Andrew C. Reed, Eds. Understanding Covenants And Communities: Jews And Latter-Day Saints In Dialogue. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, In Cooperation With The Central Conference Of American Rabbis, New York, 2020., Yaakov Ariel

Mormon Studies Review

Scholars, students, and religious leaders who take interest in interfaith dialogues, and especially in the interactions between Latter- day Saints and Jews, will welcome Understanding Covenants and Communities: Jews and Latter-day Saints in Dialogue. The compilation demonstrates both a continuation of and a breakthrough in the long history of the exchanges between the two communities of faith.

Full Issue

Mormon Studies Review

No abstract provided.

That They May Be Light, Stephanie Hock

BYU Studies

When covenant women are together, they become each other’s shelter. The storms might be raging around them, but they don’t feel the rain or hear the thunder because they’re so busy laughing and loving each other. They carry burdens collectively as they walk forward toward the light. They encourage each other to keep going and lean on each other when it’s hard. I have found that walking through the storms of life with these women at my side has brought more relief than I could ever imagine.

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

"He Is God; And He Is With Them", Matthew L. Bowen

BYU Studies

The prophet Isaiah foretold to Ahaz and the house of David: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). Latter-day Saints often interpret and teach the “Immanuel” prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 as a simple, straightforward messianic prophecy with a single fulfillment in the birth of Jesus Christ. Most pay little attention to the historical circumstances in which Isaiah gave the prophecy—namely, the Syro-Ephraimite crisis prior to the Assyrian invasion in the eighth century BCE. The idea of a more immediate, contemporary fulfillment …

Weaving, Christine Bird

BYU Studies

Morning enters and splits the Hogan

and she wakes from dreams of mountains,

hungry for offerings tall for maize

her eyes hold visions until she sees

patterns her mother taught her