Mormon Studies Commons^™

Inscribed Gold Plate Fits Book Of Mormon Pattern, John A. Tvedtnes

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

An inscribed gold plate 2.2 centimeters in length has been uncovered in a third-century ad Jewish burial. The burial, that of a young child, is located in a Roman cemetery in Halbturn, Austria. The news was released by archaeologists at the University of Vienna’s Institute of Prehistory and Early History.

A Note On Volcanism And The Book Of Mormon, Matt Roper

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

The account of the great destruction at the death of Christ in Third Nephi relates that many cities at the time were destroyed by fire (3 Nephi 8:14; 9:3, 9–11). In an article published in 1998, geologist Bart Kowallis argued that the destructive events, including the burning of cities described there, are consistent with the effects of a significant volcanic event. The volcanic interpretation fits particularly well in a Mesoamerican setting where volcanic events are historically common. Additional support for this interpretation can be found in Mormon’s description of the aftermath of these events. In his abridgement of the subsequent …

Book Of Mormon Critical Text Project Completes Text Analysis

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

The Maxwell Institute and Brigham Young University are pleased to announce the publica- tion of part 6 of volume 4 of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon. Part 6 analyzes the text from 3 Nephi 19 through Moroni 10.

Neal A. Maxwell Institute Hosts Conference On Avicenna

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

There are few figures in the history of Islamic thought whose stature can rival that of Ibn Sina (980–1037), or Avicenna, as he came to be known in the Latin West. Educated at Bukhara, in modern-day Uzbekistan, Avicenna was, by his own admission, a prodigy and recognized as such early on. If there is a certain lack of modesty in his making that claim, there is no disputing that he had the credentials to back it up. He was forced by the turbulent politics of his day to move a number of times, but through it all he never stopped …

An Early Islamic Challenge To Christian History, D. Morgan Davis

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

One of the great lessons to be drawn from the Islamic world of the Middle Ages is that in order for people of varying faiths and persuasions to coexist peacefully, it is not necessary that significant differences between them be settled or even downplayed. Islamic society was vibrant with debate and ideological rivalry. But there was a framework of tolerance that allowed for these differences while preserving basic modes for coexistence. For example, the Islamic caliphates (beginning in the seventh century and continuing into the early modern period) treated the Jews and Christians living within their domains as ahl al-kitab …

The Perspective Of History, D. Morgan Davis

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

The perspective of history can be sobering, even humbling. Not so recently, two men from the same faith tradition but different perspectives joined in a debate about whether and how a man whom they both acknowledged as a prophet could have seen what he said he saw and be who he claimed to be. As it unfolded, their discussion touched upon many aspects of what it means to have faith in such a person and in his revelations. The role of reason in relation to revelation, the relevance of history to faith, and the connection of language to perception were …

New Mormon Studies Review A Scholarly Feast

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

Emerging from a 22-year tradition of penetrating scholarly reviews and essays is the new Mormon Studies Review. Formerly titled The FARMS Review, it sports a sleeker design and larger format and promises to survey a broader spectrum of topics. In his editor’s introduction, Daniel C. Peterson reprises the Review’s history and attainments during the past two decades. He notes how it will continue to defend LDS scripture and faith claims through the kind of “vigorous and learned discourse” tempered with satire and wit that has set it apart from the beginning.

Moses Maimonides’ On Hemorrhoids And The History Of Textual Reception, D. Morgan Davis

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

There are unpleasant topics, and then there are Unpleasant Topics. The latest volume to appear in the Medical Works of Moses Maimonides, On Hemorrhoids, seems the perfect occasion to modestly avert our attention from the actual subject of the book and consider instead the question of its reception. When referring to the reception history of an antique text, scholars have in mind the journey the text has taken. During its long life, what paths have a given text traveled, so to speak? By this we mean not just where has a given physical document turned up, but also where and …

What’S In A Name? Mormon—Part 2, Paul Y. Hoskisson

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

In part 1 of my discussion of the name Mormon, I presented the evidence that Joseph Smith did not originally write the letter published over his signature in the 1843 Times and Seasons, but that he made some corrections to the letter William W. Phelps had composed and then gave his approval to have it published. I also mentioned the fact that B. H. Roberts left most of the letter out of his History of the Church because he believed the full letter was “based on inaccurate premises and was offensively pedantic."

Mormon Women And Polygamy: Creating A Better Future With The Past, Mia Seegmiller

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Review: Terryl Givens. Mormonism (Or The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints): What Everyone Needs To Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020., Jill Peterfeso

Mormon Studies Review

Terryl Givens’s new book Mormonism (Or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints): What Everyone Needs to Know is a resource guide that seeks to explain the LDS Church’s history, beliefs, and practices, and in so doing clarifies items of confusion and controversy. The book is organized into topic-driven chapters (such as “History,” “Polygamy,” “Organization,” and “Conflicts and Challenges”), which unfold in a question-and-answer format. The questions Givens tackles range from predictable (“Why did the Latter-day Saints practice polygamy?” “What is the church’s relationship to Christianity?”) to unexpected (“What do Latter-day Saint scriptures teach about peace and war?” “Does …

The Saints And The State: The Mormon Troubles In Illinois, James Simeone, Brent M. Rogers, Reviewer

BYU Studies

The history of the Latter-day Saint experience in Nauvoo, Illinois, still has a great deal to teach us. It is not just the simplistic story of religious persecution and expulsion that is often rehearsed. In seven dense chapters, James Simeone, professor of political science at Illinois Wesleyan University, unveils a complex political milieu to explain the tension that led to the 1846 departure of the Saints from Illinois—and ultimately the United States. Relying on political theory and philosophy and his deep knowledge of politics in frontier Illinois, Simeone unpacks the paradox of a developing democracy, which he defines as the …

Life In Utah As An Apostate Plural Wife, Markelle Jensen

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Review: Spencer W. Mcbride, Brent M. Rogers, And Keith A. Erekson, Eds. Contingent Citizens: Shifting Perceptions Of Latter-Day Saints In American Political Culture. Ithaca, Ny: Cornell University Press, 2020., R. Marie Griffith

Mormon Studies Review

There has been no shortage of books devoted to studying the intersections of religion and politics across US history. And the interest has cut across several scholarly fields: no more is religion the possession only or even predominantly of religious studies and anthropology, nor politics sequestered within the high and inward-looking walls of political science. Social history, a guild whose members once exuded a kind of deathly allergy to religion, has perhaps seen the greatest transformation; indeed, the field of history broadly speaking has experienced an unexpected gush of attention to religion and politics. Some of the historians new to …

Review: W. Paul Reeve, Project Manager And General Editor. Century Of Black Mormons. J. Willard Marriott Library, University Of Utah. Https://Exhibits .Lib.Utah.Edu/S/Century-Of-Black-Mormons/Page/Welcome., Lauren Cooper

Mormon Studies Review

W. Paul Reeve opens the statement of purpose on the Century of Black Mormons’s “About” page by capturing the mainstream media and pop culture commentators’ disbelief that a population of Black Mormons exists. In statements culled from sources during the 2012 US presidential election with Mitt Romney, a White Mormon, running against the reelection of Barack Obama, an African American Protestant, comedians describe Black Mormons as “mythical creatures” and news broadcasters speculate there may be “between 500 to 2,000.” In actuality, according to a 2009 Pew Research Study that Reeve references, the estimated Black Mormon population is between sixty thousand …

Moving Histories: On Mobility, Materiality, And Experience In Mormon Heritage, Simon Coleman

Mormon Studies Review

In her engaging account of the intersections of Mormon history, memory, and place across the American West, Sara Patterson often returns to a striking narrative—one that is well known within LDS Church circles. It describes the occasion in 1847 when Brigham Young is said to have looked out at the Salt Lake Valley and declared, “This is the place.” From one perspective, Young’s words—both description and prescription—could hardly have been more unequivocal. They came at the end of a difficult journey and signaled the burgeoning fulfilment of Young’s vision of a Mormon Zion. Nowadays, the spot where he is assumed …

The Early Development Of Latter-Day Saint Women’S History An Interview With Jill Mulvay Derr, Cherry Bushman Silver

BYU Studies

This piece is half of an interview conducted by Cherry B. Silver on August 8, 2019, in the BYU Studies offices. The second half of the interview was published in BYU Studies Quarterly 59, no. 3. Many thanks to Laurel Barlow for transcribing the recording.

Sixty Years Of Byu Studies Quarterly, 1959–2019 The Narrative And The Numbers, Brad Wilcox, Timothy G. Morrison, Kyle C. Lyons, Jake M. Robins

BYU Studies

Publishing for scholarly audiences has a long history. Some propose that the first learned society on record was founded in Toulouse, France, in 1323. The Royal Society of London was established in 1660 and published Europe’s first scholarly journal five years later. In 1848, the American Association for the Advancement of Science published the journal Science, and since that time, the number of academic journals has proliferated. According to Philip G. Altbach and Hans de Wit, over thirty thousand academic journals are in circulation today; Ben Mudrak mentions the appearance of many free open-access journals on the internet since 2006. …

Orson Pratt And The Expansion Of The Doctrine And Covenants, Brian C. Passantino

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a faith that is distinguished by its religious texts. The nickname "Mormon," that has been applied to adherents of the faith, comes from the name of its most cherished canonical book, the Book of Mormon. Aside from the Bible and the Book of Mormon, Latter-day Saints accept two other books of scriptures – the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants. These four books constitute the authorized scriptures of the faith, or as they refer to them, "the standard works."

My thesis focuses on the book entitled the Doctrine …

Why Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

BYU Studies

Although it is a bit disconcerting to admit it, I am most widely known today not for my books, but for a single sentence. You’ve probably seen it: Well-behaved women seldom make history. I don’t get royalties when somebody prints my words on mugs, T-shirts, bumper stickers, greeting cards, or any of the other paraphernalia sold in gift shops or on the internet, but I sometimes get thank-you notes or snapshots of fans carrying hand-lettered signs in marches. One of my favorite examples of the latter shows a bright pink poster in a crowd near Wellington Arch in London. …

The First Vision As A Prehistory Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Kathleen Flake

BYU Studies

Most scholarly attention to the First Vision is dedicated to determining whether it happened or whether whatever happened is reliably described in the few primary accounts we have of it. My interests lie in a different direction. I am interested in the First Vision accounts insofar as they tell us something about religion, not about history, and not least because my wager is that this story, as a story, exceeds the limits of history, especially when it becomes understood as scripture. Which is to say, I want to better understand the work done by this story among the members of …

The First Vision Of Joseph Smith Jr.: 200 Years On, Richard E. Bennett

BYU Studies

This special issue of BYU Studies Quarterly features the proceedings of a conference held at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of Joseph Smith’s First Vision. In presenting slightly modified transcripts of the papers delivered at this conference, we hope BYU Studies Quarterly readers will gain insights into both this experience of Joseph Smith’s and the various ways scholars have come to view it.

Review: Richard Neitzel Holzapfel And David M. Whitchurch, Eds. My Dear Sister: Letters Between Joseph F. Smith And His Sister Martha Ann Smith Harris. Salt Lake City And Provo, Ut: Deseret Book And Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2019., Natalie Rose

Mormon Studies Review

decades of letters exchanged between the sixth church president and his sister from the 1850s to the 1910s. A majority of these letters are provided by Carole Call King, the great-granddaughter of Martha Ann Harris, who had the well-preserved letters in her possession. Following her father’s death in 1993, King inherited several items from her father including these letters that remained in a box left “on a closet shelf ” in her home for some time (xiv). In the box were almost one hundred letters written to her great-grandmother Martha Ann Harris by Harris’s brother Joseph F. Smith, the nephew …

"The Finest Of Any In The World": Silk Production And The Politicization Of Women In Utah, Hannah Chapman

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Using Science To Answer Questions From Latter-Day Saint History, Ugo A. Perego

BYU Studies

DNA testing has been employed to study the ancestry and posterity of Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the Mormon movement. Thanks to information found on the paternally inherited Y chromosome, for example, researchers have been able to establish a likely Irish origin for the Smith line. Y chromosome testing has also been helpful in resolving a number of paternity cases involving men who were allegedly sons of Joseph through polygamous unions. To date, all of the tests for these candidates have borne negative results.

Finding Documents On The Joseph Smith Papers Website, Kenneth L. Alford

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The Joseph Smith Papers website (josephsmithpapers.org) is a wonderful resource. With thousands of documents and hundreds of resource pages, though, it can sometimes feel like you’re searching for a needle in a haystack. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how you might use the website to learn more about quotations and documents associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Using The Joseph Smith Papers Website: An Introduction, Nathan N. Waite

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

There is something special about original historical documents. I have seen it again and again in my own life and in sharing my work on The Joseph Smith Papers with others: people are drawn to the tangible connection to the past provided by these seemingly ordinary, often faded pages. As the Library of Congress puts it, “Primary sources help students relate in a personal way to events of the past and promote a deeper understanding of history as a series of human events.” They inspire people to find out more, to think critically about what they read, and to take …

Moramona: The Mormons In Hawai‘I, Alec J. Harding

BYU Studies

Moramona is the quintessential history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hawai‘i. The book journeys from the first missionaries arriving on the islands in 1850 and their initial struggles to maintain a foothold there to the eventual success of the Church on the islands. The book concludes with a summary of the current prosperity of the Church in Hawai‘i, including the successes of Brigham Young University– Hawai‘i, the Kona Hawai‘i Temple, and the rich culture of faith among today’s members.

“Line Upon Line”: Joseph Smith’S Growing Understanding Of The Eternal Family, R. Devan Jensen, Micheal A. Goodman, Barbara Morgan Gardner

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” So begins L . P. Hartley’s novel The Go-Between. This statement reminds religious educators to study history as it unfolded and to avoid presentism, or “an attitude toward the past dominated by present-day attitudes and experiences.” Latter-day Saint doctrines did not spring up fully formed, as we have them today. The historical record shows that Joseph Smith did not begin with a full understanding of the doctrines of eternal families and sealing ordinances as we teach them today. In fact, the Prophet Joseph Smith dictated a revelation on …

Faith-Promoting History/ History-Promoting Faith, Martin E. Marty

Mormon Studies Review

An excerpt from a long poem by W. H. Auden comes to mind as a framework for assessing these two publications featuring Mormon historian Leonard J. Arrington. He was poised—we might say surefooted—in his Mormon faith and by commitments to the church. At the same time, Arrington consistently made clear that his calling was to be a scholar who excelled in the writing of history in modes acceptable among university-based researchers and writers of many faiths, or of non-faith. There was never any doubt that he pursued his vocation imaginatively and steadfastly through the decades. While these books give evidence …