Mormon Studies Commons^™

The Creation Of Our Universe: How Science And Our Religious Beliefs Align, Dan Broadbent

Faculty Publications

This presentation describes the author's opinions about how the creation of our universe may align with theories of the multiverse and the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Mormons And Their Neighbors, Marvin E. Wiggins

ScholarsArchive Data

The included files contain a list of books about members and history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

On The Varieties Of Religious Experience In Latter-Day Saint Temples, 1836–1940, Jared Gage Bennett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

From 1836 to the present, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have constructed and undertaken rituals in buildings called temples. In the first temple in Kirtland, Ohio, its 1836 dedication was the scene of visions and speaking in tongues, much like those the apostles had at Pentecost in Acts 2. The second temple in Nauvoo, however, had none of these, and the third set of temples built in Utah, with the first completed in 1877, again saw a number of religious experiences but of a radically different form: mainly the appearance of the spirits of …

A Man Born When He Is Old, Gabriel González Núñez

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Bedeviled Beauty: My Journey Through White American Theater Institutions, J'Aila C. Price

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Game console: Oculus Quest

World: American Theater Institutions

Player: Minority

Place: United States

Level: “Ain’t no way.”

This thesis explores the contrast between the Westernized philosophies ingrained in my education and my identity as a Black female artist. It sheds light on the difficulties of pursuing higher education in the arts and the gaps that arise from limited exposure to culturally diverse Black resources, revealing the systemic issues in Western performance education. The paper also discusses the insights gained from my journey as a Black female artist, focusing on my thesis performance of Blood at the Root, which is …

“Guard Your Virtue With Your Life”: Purity Expectations And Dynamics Of Purity And Gender-Based Violence For Latter-Day Saint (Lds) Girls And Women, Reilly H. Brady

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Senior Honors Papers

This study investigates purity expectations directed towards girls and women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), approaching a largely underresearched topic and establishing findings such as the mutual embeddedness of purity and gender-based violence for girls and women in the LDS Church. Through a discourse analysis, this study creates a historical timeline of over 100 years of documents, including church-produced media as well as separate writings by LDS women, focusing on how purity has changed and has been politicized over time within various historical moments. While most survey participants in this study described never having heard …

A Relational-Cultural Approach To Examining Concealment Among Latter-Day Saint Sexual Minorities, Samuel Skidmore, Sydney A. Sorrell, Kyrstin Lake

Psychology Student Research

Sexual minorities often conceal their sexual identity from others to avoid distal stressors. Such concealment efforts occur more frequently among sexual minorities in religious settings where rejection and discrimination are more likely. Using a sample of 392 Latter-day Saint (“Mormon”) sexual minorities, we assess (a) the effect of religious affiliation on concealment efforts, (b) the relationship between social support, authenticity, and religious commitment on concealment, and (c) the moderating effect of authenticity on religious commitment and concealment. Multi-level model analyses revealed that religious affiliation alone accounted for over half (51.7%) of the variation in concealment efforts for Latter-day Saint sexual …

Stirreth Up The People, Lindon J. Robison

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Relationships between people are influenced by what they share, their commonalities. Empathy is an important commonality enabling people to internalize each other’s well-being and create empathetic networks that can provide important economic and social advantages. Shared antipathy for another person or group is another commonality enabling people to create cheap networks. Cheap networks are inexpensive to create, but they are unlikely to provide the economic and social advantages of empathetic ones. Cheap networks focus mainly on defensive and destructive acts that often produce costly consequences. In addition, they can be taken over by strong leaders who use them to pursue …

Seminary Life Preparation Lessons, Kenneth L. Alford

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The Church recently announced that seminary classes throughout the world will include “Life Preparation lessons” in their weekly curriculum. In the following interview, Chad H Webb explains how and why these lessons were developed, expectations for them, and their importance in helping meet the needs of the rising generation.

On The Road With Richard Bushman, Grant Wacker

BYU Studies

Richard Bushman invited me to respond to his essay, given my long-standing interest in the Protestant encounter with world religions. With this very short essay of my own, I am pleased to offer a few words of appreciation and thoughts about further inquiries.

Front Matter

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Learning From Spiritual And Secular Sources Orchestrating Inspired Discussions While Teaching In The Savior’S Way, Damon L. Bahr

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

One of the important topics of Teaching in the Savior’s Way is orchestrating gospel discussions. As teachers, leading a successful discussion is critical to helping class members “Hear Him.” This article begins by talking about two of President Nelson’s talks that describe how to integrate learning from spiritual and secular sources and show that what is learned from secular sources can inform learning from spiritual ones. Spiritual guidance for orchestrating discussions is provided, which is then augmented by some secular guidance from educational research about orchestrating classroom discussions.

Walk With Me Towards A Christ-Inspired Shepherd-Leader Apprenticeship Model Of Leadership Development, J. Gordon Daines Iii, David L. Rockwood

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

This paper reviews the literature on leadership development that focuses on Jesus Christ, then introduces a Shepherd-Leader Apprenticeship (SLA) model of leadership development. The SLA model describes how Jesus Christ develops leaders. It builds on previous scholars’ work on Christ’s leadership development approach and adds the concept of situated cognition and iterative (as opposed to linear) steps. The scriptures show how Christ used this model to develop the leadership skills of his disciples who served in a variety of capacities and roles. Christ used the SLA model with a variety of individuals who felt varying degrees of comfort with their …

Rahab And The Perpetuation Of Deliverance, Amy H. Fisher

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Deliverance is clearly the major theme of the memorable Exodus story, but the Exodus is not the only Old Testament account that teaches profound lessons about God’s redemption. The story of Rahab—the woman of Jericho—is situated in relation to the Exodus through shared images and narrative elements to highlight additional insights about God’s power to save. Specifically, the Rahab story shows that God continues in the temporal, collective delivery of his covenant people even after Egypt. God is also interested in both the temporal and spiritual deliverance of individuals, as shown in the life of Rahab herself. Finally, the story …

It Helps To Have A Village, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

In preparing the next generation, it really is helpful when parents don’t stand alone and they have the help of others outside the family. This is one of the reasons why the seemingly growing gulf between gospel values and the values of the societies around us is such a cause for concern: “The truths and values we embrace are mocked on ev’ry hand.”1 All of us have benefited from innumerable influences—from teachers in and out of the Church, from writers, from youth leaders, from coaches, from role models of all kinds. We may even have forgotten many of those influences, …

Uncanonized Revelations, Kent P. Jackson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

In an important new volume, we now have easy access to revelations received by the Prophet Joseph Smith that were not included in the Doctrine and Covenants.

“I Shall Gather In”: The Name Joseph, Iterative Divine Action, And The Latter-Day Harvest Ingathering Of Israel As Themes In 3 Nephi, Matthew L. Bowen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

The identity of “the people of Nephi who were spared, and also those who had been called Lamanites, who had been spared” (3 Nephi 10:18) as “a remnant of the seed of Joseph” (3 Nephi 5:23; 10:17; compare Alma 46:23–27; Ether 13:6–10) or “a remnant of the house of Joseph” (3 Nephi 15:12) is key to understanding Jesus’s Isaiah-based teaching at the temple in Bountiful in 3 Nephi. That teaching emphasizes iterative divine action (implied in the name Joseph [yôsēp], compare yôsîp) to restore and gather Israel and Judah. Like Mormon’s prophecies in 3 Nephi 5:23–26 and 26:8, Jesus’s sermon …

Nameless: Mormon’S Dramatic Use Of Omission In Helaman 2, Nathan J. Arp

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

There are many reasons why a narrator may choose to provide or withhold the names of various characters. This article hypothesizes that Mormon intentionally omitted the name of a key character from the book of Helaman related to the origin of the Gaddianton robbers. While it is not possible to know exactly what information Mormon and other Nephite recordkeepers had or preserved, it is at least plausible that Mormon might have intentionally omitted the name of a clandestine operative in the first two chapters of Helaman as a specific strategy to emphasize this operative’s secrecy and allow the reader to …

Lds Perspectives On The Atonement?, Blake T. Ostler

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Latter-day Saint Perspectives on Atonement promises to provide new perspectives on the atonement that reflect awareness of scriptural and theological scholarship. The essays on the scriptural background are solid. The essays providing theological perspectives are uneven, at best. Indeed, the theological essays show little awareness of the major works in philosophical theology in the last sixty years—with one notable exception. Moreover, a feminist perspective that argues against seeing Christ’s blood that he shed as an appropriate basis for atonement theory receives the greatest attention. This review elucidates, explores, assesses, and critiques these approaches.

Did Korihor Usurp The Words Of Zeniff?, Elliott Jolley

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

The Book of Mormon contains several instances where a speaker or author in the Book of Mormon quotes a previous one. This article presents one such example: It appears that Korihor usurped the words of Zeniff, quoting some of them for his own purposes. The context of this reference to Zeniff’s words lies in Korihor’s claims that the Nephites were in bondage to the priests, just as the Lamanites wanted to bring Zeniff’s people into bondage. The connections between these two passages cross multiple generations and narrative events internally, and multiple pages of translated, dictated manuscript by Joseph Smith. It …

Insights Into The Story Of Korihor Based On Intertextual Comparisons, Noel Hudson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

A brief outline of the saga of Korihor, the Anti-Christ, is provided along with a discussion of his affinities with other Book of Mormon anti-Christs, including those in the order of Nehors. Literary allusions suggesting Korihor as a foil to the king of the Lamanites are examined. Evidence of a schism among the order of Nehors leading to violence is discussed. Korihor’s unusual death is examined within the context of the theme of crushing the serpent from the stories of Adam, Eve, and Cain.

The Man With No Name: The Story Of The Brother Of Jared As An Anti-Babel Polemic, Walker Wright

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Within the text of the Book of Mormon, the name of Jared’s brother is never revealed. Various reasons have been offered for the lack of a name, but nothing conclusive has been offered. Taking a cue from the polemical nature of Old Testament theology, this paper argues that the opening of the book of Ether is a polemic against Babel, with the brother of Jared being contrasted against the people and ruler of Babel. Led by the mighty hunter Nimrod, the people of Babel refused God’s command to multiply and fill the earth. Instead, they gathered together, built a tower …

A Model For Looking Deeply And Deeply Looking, Godfrey J. Ellis

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Peter Williams, an independent biblical scholar, has written an analysis of the parable of the prodigal son in a fascinating attempt to demonstrate two truths. The first is that one of the most overlooked attributes of the Savior is his brilliant and analytical mind. In the process, Williams reveals many intricacies hidden in the parable. He also reminds readers of the role of the Old Testament in the understanding and appreciation of the teachings of Jesus. These contributions, by themselves, demonstrate the value of the book. The second truth is that Jesus, himself, and not the gospel writers or the …

More Evidence For Alma As A Semitic Name, Neal Rappleye, Allen Hansen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Beginning with Hugh Nibley, several Latter-day Saint scholars have highlighted a deed found among the Bar Kokhba documents as evidence of the name Alma as a Jewish male name in antiquity. Here we highlight a second attestation of the same name used for a Jewish male from a slightly earlier period, as well as other evidence from Hebrew toponymy that helps corroborate not only that Alma is a Hebrew name, but also supports the etymology proposed by Latter-day Saint scholars and is suggestive of wordplays previously identified in the Book of Mormon text. Past critics have mocked the name Alma …

Nurture And Harvest: A Continued Conversation With The Annotated Book Of Mormon, Kevin Christensen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Because Grant Hardy’s important book deliberately contextualizes the Book of Mormon in light of “the generally agreed upon findings of modern biblical scholars and historians,” it invites further discussion on points in which the Book of Mormon and other significant biblical scholars and historians challenge those findings. Hardy also declares that his commentary “is consistently focused on the plain meaning of the text,” which is understandably appealing, but which is in tension with Joseph Smith’s foundational observation that “the different teachers of the religion understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the …

Aftermath Of The Martyrdom: Aspirants To The Mantle Of The Prophet Joseph Smith, R. Jean Addams

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

In the weeks, months, and years following the murders of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, several aspirants stepped forward to claim the mantle of the prophet. Who were these individuals with claims to the leadership of the church? What were their motives? How were these men able to inspire large numbers of saints to follow them? What became of their efforts and how are their works manifest in the present day? The reasons that members or prospective members chose or rejected the claims of these aspirants are examined, as are the churches of the organizations that were …

The Anomaly: Elliott West’S Continental Reckoning And Its Latter-Day Saints, Robert Swanson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

This review explores how Latter-day Saints are portrayed in a new landmark history of the American West. Noting the author’s generally accurate portrayal of the Saints, this review focuses on some areas that were missing in this Bancroft Prize winning book that has numerous implications for Latter-day Saint studies.

“That They May Know That They Are Not Cast Off Forever”: Jewish Lectionary Elements In The Book Of Mormon, Bradley J. Kramer

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

It is not uncommon for Jews who join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to notice connections between certain events in the Book of Mormon and modern Jewish practices associated with the feasts of Passover, Weeks, Tabernacles, and Rosh Hashanah. Aware that traditional Christianity holds not only that Jews were ousted from God’s covenant but that Jewish traditions in support of that covenant are spiritually worthless, these Jews find great comfort in these connections as well as in Book of Mormon statements that affirm their continued inclusion in that covenant. But aren’t there also connections to the modern …

Restoring Melchizedek Priesthood, John S. Thompson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Church historical sources make four differing claims as to when, how, and by whom Melchizedek priesthood was restored. These seemingly conflicting sources have led to many theories about what happened, including the idea that Joseph Smith changed his narrative and rewrote history as his ideas of priesthood evolved. A closer look at the sources, more carefully defining the terminology, and being more aware of ancient patterns provide a better solution for understanding the purpose and relationship of these four narratives and thus the nature of the Melchizedek priesthood Joseph Smith restored.

Full Issue

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.