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Articles 31 - 60 of 289
Full-Text Articles in Mormon Studies
Volunteers Translate A Popular Video Transcript
Volunteers Translate A Popular Video Transcript
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Thanks to the generous efforts of some student volunteers, the transcript of one of the more popular videos in the FARMS Book of Mormon Lecture Series has been translated into both German and Spanish. Daniel C. Peterson's "A Scholar Looks at Evidences for the Book of Mormon" discusses recent research that supports the spiritual witness for the Book of Mormon, including such things as the translation process, studies of chiasmus, possible locations for events, ancient manuscripts that document practices and beliefs of past civilizations that are consistent with Book of Mormon accounts, Joseph's supposed misnaming of Jesus' birthplace, Joseph's lack …
Revelation And The Urim And Thummim, Matthew Roper
Revelation And The Urim And Thummim, Matthew Roper
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In the past most biblical scholars viewed the Urim and Thummim as a rather mechanical device used merely to obtain a yes or no answer, similar to casting lots. This is quite different from the function of the device described in the Book of Mormon as "interpreters" and by the Prophet Joseph Smith as the "Urim and Thummim." In these descriptions of the use of the Urim and Thummim, revelation played a large role. For example, accounts of the translation of the Book of Mormon indicate that Joseph Smith could not translate without the Spirit and that a great deal …
Elder L. Tom Perry Examines The Personalities Involved In The Translation Of The Book Of Mormon And In The Restoration Of The Church
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In his address to the friends and supporters of FARMS at the Foundation's 1995 annual banquet, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve expressed his interest in the human chemistry found in organizations and examined the early history of the Church from this perspective. He spoke of the challenges that Joseph Smith faced as a young husband with a skeptical father-in-law who thought Joseph should be doing something more productive than sitting around the house translating golden plates. He reflected on the challenges that Martin Harris faced in helping to finance the work on the Book of …
The Joseph Smith Translation Of The Four Gospels: A Harmony
The Joseph Smith Translation Of The Four Gospels: A Harmony
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
For a limited time you can purchase through FARMS this useful scripture study tool at a 30% discount. Compiled and published in 1989 by Steven J. Hite and Julie Melville Hite, it displays the full text of the four New Testament gospels in parallel columns, with the additions and deletions made by Joseph Smith highlighted by bold or strikethrough text.
Joseph's Translation Seems To Differ From Kjv Usage, Terrence L. Szink
Joseph's Translation Seems To Differ From Kjv Usage, Terrence L. Szink
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In Mosiah 1:14, King Benjamin reminds his son Mosiah that if the Lord "had not extended his arm in the preservation of our fathers they must have fallen into the hands of the Lamanites." The English words used in this translation of the ancient record differ from those used for the same concepts in the English translation in the King James Version (KJV) of the Old Testament, thus shedding light on how independent Joseph Smith may have been from KJV phraseology in his translation.
Old World People In The New? (Part 1), John L. Sorenson
Old World People In The New? (Part 1), John L. Sorenson
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Joseph Smith is said, in 1842, to have "quoted with approval from the pulpit reports of certain Toltec legends which would make it appear that those people had come originally from the Near East in the time of Moses"; he did not connect the purported migration at all to the Book of Mormon.
Denver Stakes Host Symposium On Book Of Mormon
Denver Stakes Host Symposium On Book Of Mormon
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In an effort to spark interest in the Book of Mormon and to increase missionary endeavors, the Denver Stake sponsored a three-day Book of Mormon Symposium in September, ending on September 22 to commemorate the anniversary of the date Joseph Smith received the gold plates from the angel Moroni to begin the translation of the Book of Mormon.
Emma And The Joseph Smith Translation, Scott H. Faulring
Emma And The Joseph Smith Translation, Scott H. Faulring
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Recently, researcher examining the original "New Translation" or Joseph Smith Translation (JST) manuscripts discovered evidence of a scribe whose work on the manuscripts had previously only been supposed. Emma Smith, the Prophet's wife, recorded more than two pages of the JST document on a certain day during the first months of the translation. Although only a small percentage of the overall content, Emma's scribal contribution tangibly displays the realization of an earlier revelatory assignment given her by the Lord.
Brown Bag Lectures Continue To Inform
Brown Bag Lectures Continue To Inform
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Two outstanding Brown Bag lectures were presented in February. Louis C. Midgley, professor of Political Science at BYU, discussed "The Authorship Debate: Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?" This lecture was based on a paper Midgley has submitted for publication in a new FARMS collection of essays on the authorship issue. Midgley gave a history of attempts to dismiss Joseph Smith's explanation for the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. In his paper, Midgley writes: "Those who fashion ... naturalistic explanations [of the Book of Mormon's origin] are faced with, among other challenges, the task of uncovering in …
Authorship Essays Reprinted
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Since 1830, millions of people have read the Book of Mormon and have been convinced that Joseph Smith's account of its origins is correct-that it is an ancient document given to him for a season by a divine messenger to translate by the gift and power of God. Critics, however, have argued that the book must be a fraud.
Research On Joseph Smith Refutes The Claims Of Critics
Research On Joseph Smith Refutes The Claims Of Critics
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In response to a number of requests for information related to criticisms of the Prophet Joseph Smith, FARMS offers the following reprints (see the order form). We are encouraged by the apparent interest in this topic and hope these reprints will help answer questions about Joseph Smith's first vision accounts, his character and reputation, his 1826 trial, and the issue of prophecy.
Reprint Rebuts Critics' Claims, Reveals Tactics
Reprint Rebuts Critics' Claims, Reveals Tactics
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
FARMS is pleased to offer a reprint of Offenders for a Word, by Daniel C. Peterson and Stephen D. Ricks. This book explains the tactics many anti-Mormons employ in attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It also answers critics' objections to Latter-day Saint beliefs in the Godhead, polygamy, salvation by grace and works, eternal progression, the idea of a premortal existence, the role of Joseph Smith, the nature of the Holy Ghost, and much more.
Did Joseph Smith Know Egyptian?
Did Joseph Smith Know Egyptian?
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In a letter addressed to Grant S. Heward of Midvale, Utah, an outspoken critic of the book of Abraham, William Foxwell Albright, the doyen of American ancient Near Eastern studies, wrote: "There does appear to be evidence that Joseph Smith had studied some Egyptian. For one thing, he undoubtedly spent a great deal of money and effort in trying to master Egyptian, but, as you know, when the Book of Mormon was written, Egyptian had just begun to be deciphered and it is all the more surprising that there are two Egyptian names, Paanchi and Pahor(an) which appear together in …
What The Original Book Of Mormon Manuscript Is Not, John W. Welch
What The Original Book Of Mormon Manuscript Is Not, John W. Welch
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
For well over a decade, FARMS has sponsored extensive research on the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon. About 25 percent of the pages that were written by Oliver Cowdery and other scribes as Joseph Smith dictated the Book of Mormon in 1829 have survived down to the present day. While much has been written and said about what the original manuscript is, perhaps just as significant is a collection of facts about what it is not.
Grammar And The Book Of Mormon
Grammar And The Book Of Mormon
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In a discourse delivered at the Old Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on 15 November 1863, President George A. Smith addressed a criticism that is repeated today by detractors of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.
Joseph Smith And Mohammed
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In his book The World and the Prophets, Hugh Nibley observes that critics are not slow to point out superficial resemblances between our modern prophets and other men of their time. For example, Joseph Smith founded a church, and so did other men; he claimed revelation from heaven, and so did they; he was persecuted, and so were they; he read the Bible, and so did they; and because they were impostors, so accordingly was he. This last point, of course, is not supported by the superficial resemblances. What we must ask in the case of the modern prophet …
Ancient Manuscripts Fit Book Of Mormon Pattern, John Gee, John A. Tvedtnes
Ancient Manuscripts Fit Book Of Mormon Pattern, John Gee, John A. Tvedtnes
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Prophet Joseph Smith's claim that he translated an ancient text from gold plates he had found buried in the ground was greeted with disbelief in the press and in early anti-Mormon literature. Alexander Campbell, a prominent American religious leader who wrote the first book critical of the Book of Mormon, scoffed at the fact that it had been translated "from the reformed Egyptian!!!" Critics derided the Book of Mormon by calling it the "gold Bible," reflecting the skepticism about scripture being written on metal plates.
New Research On Hidden Books In Ancient Times
New Research On Hidden Books In Ancient Times
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In The Book of Mormon and Other Hidden Books: "Out of Darkness unto Light," a new book from FARMS, John A. Tvedtnes, associate director of research at FARMS, demonstrates how "various elements of the Book of Mormon story have antecedents in the ancient world that were not known to Joseph Smith or his contemporaries."
Abraham In Egypt
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
This revised and polished edition of Abraham in Egypt combines Hugh Nibley' s greatest lectures on Abraham with several new chapters that originally appeared in the Improvement Era from 1968 to 1970 as the series "A Look at the Pearl of Great Price." In this volume Nibley counters the attacks of critics and demonstrates how the Book of Abraham is just what Joseph Smith claimed it to be.
Honorary Volume Focuses On Church History And Doctrine
Honorary Volume Focuses On Church History And Doctrine
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Richard Lloyd Anderson - known as a devoted teacher, careful writer, and perfect gentleman - has had a great impact on the study of LDS Church history. In The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, one of two Festschrift volumes published in recognition of his work, friends and colleagues have written 18 scholarly studies in his honor. Several of these papers were presented on 8 March 1997 at a conference titled "Pioneers of the Restoration."
New Volume Honors Truman G. Madsen
New Volume Honors Truman G. Madsen
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The distinguished career of Truman G. Madsen has earned him wide respect in and outside of LDS circles as an outstanding teacher, scholar, researcher, speaker, university administrator, church leader, and religious ambassador. With the publication of Revelation, Reason, and Faith: Essays in Honor of Truman G. Madsen, the Institute pays tribute to this remarkable man whose many accomplishments include helping to advance Book of Mormon scholarship and related interests of the Institute.
Joseph Smith Right On Target, New Book Shows
Joseph Smith Right On Target, New Book Shows
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In his writings over the years, Hugh Nibley has often pointed out “hits” and “bull’s-eyes” in the Book of Mormon—details about the ancient world that were unknown until recent times but that Joseph Smith got right anyway. Serious Book of Mormon research took shape in the early 1900s but has accelerated in recent decades, establishing an entire field of scholarly endeavor and yielding many clues to the book’s ancient origins.
New Book A Milestone In Mormon Studies, Louis C. Midgley
New Book A Milestone In Mormon Studies, Louis C. Midgley
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Latter-day Saint scholar Terryl L. Givens has recently made two extraordinary contributions to Mormon studies. The first, Viper on the Hearth: Mormons,Myths, and the Construction of Heresy, was published by the prestigious Oxford University Press in 1997 and received virtually uniformly glowing reviews. If one wishes to understand the complex of interests and motivations—pecuniary, personal, and ideological—that fuel both sectarian and secular anti-Mormonism, Viper is the book to consult. The editors at Oxford appreciated the merits of this well-written, informative book and invited Givens to publish again with them. The result is By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture …
Freemasonry And The Origins Of Latter-Day Saints Temple Ordinances, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
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.
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.
Review: Mark L. Staker And Donald L. Enders. Joseph And Lucy Smith’S Tunbridge Farm: An Archaeology And Landscape Study. Independence, Mo: John Whitmer Books, 2021., Mark P. Leone
Mormon Studies Review
Joseph and Lucy Smith’s Tunbridge Farm by Mark L. Staker and Donald L. Enders is a chapter in a Latter-day Saint Book of Hours (a meditative guide to be read throughout the day filled with prayers meant to focus on guidance from God). Staker and Enders’s volume uses archaeology and landscape to ponder a moment in God’s intervention in the course of human life. The authors are ordinary, honest archaeologists digging at a founding and farming site in the lives of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. The Smiths were the parents of ten children, including Joseph Smith Jr., …
Review: Samuel Morris Brown. Joseph Smith’S Translation: The Words And Worlds Of Early Mormonism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020., Douglas J. Davies
Review: Samuel Morris Brown. Joseph Smith’S Translation: The Words And Worlds Of Early Mormonism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020., Douglas J. Davies
Mormon Studies Review
Why do we write books? Why did Joseph Smith write his, and why does Samuel Brown write on Smith writing his? I suppose this regressive query may sound mildly absurd coming from one academic to others, largely alert to career, pride, obligation and, optimistically, to the love of shared knowing. Perhaps I have written too many myself, read far more and—just now—for whatever reason, find this rhetorical question springing to mind. By contrast, it is usually easy to answer the question of how someone has written their book, ascertain its genre, and comment on its single disciplinary driver or, as …
Richard Bushman’S Byu Years: The Beginnings Of An Influential Career, J. B. Haws
Richard Bushman’S Byu Years: The Beginnings Of An Influential Career, J. B. Haws
BYU Studies
The case can be made—and has been made—that Richard Lyman Bushman has been as influential as anyone in his generation in shaping the way that Latter-day Saints think about, write about, and talk about our shared history. His seminal books on Joseph Smith, his essays on historical philosophy, his two decades of mentoring graduate students every summer—all of these have had a real and discernible impact on Church publications and paradigms.
“Show Them Unto No Man”: Part 2. The Book Of Moses And The Early Jewish Christian Esoteric Tradition, Barry R. Bickmore
“Show Them Unto No Man”: Part 2. The Book Of Moses And The Early Jewish Christian Esoteric Tradition, Barry R. Bickmore
BYU Studies
There can be no question but that the Restoration was in many ways strange for its time and place, and this can make life difficult for anyone attempting to track the history of Latter-day Saint religious beliefs. Its very strangeness makes it difficult for historians who do not believe Joseph Smith’s teachings were divinely inspired to pinpoint plausible, mundane sources of inspiration.
The Pure Language Project, Dan Belnap, Michael Mackay
The Pure Language Project, Dan Belnap, Michael Mackay
Faculty Publications
In the summer of 1835, Joseph Smith and his associates purchased four mummies and some papyri scrolls from Michael Chandler.1 That summer Joseph would participate in a project that would produce a fascinating set of texts, referred to today as the Egyptian Language Documents (ELD), used and compiled mostly in Kirtland, but also consulted and expanded in Nauvoo.2 These documents, which include three incomplete variants of what was called an “alphabet” as well as an incomplete “grammar,” integrated a series of characters with explanations.