Mormon Studies Commons^™

Mormon Studies Center Created In Great Britain

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

Nottingham University has established a Centre for Mormon Studies, which is a good sign of the Church's increased visibility-and to some extent acceptability-in Great Britain. The Church Educational System has provided them a basic library of Church-related materials, with the logistical support of the local CES coordinator, Brother David Cook.

Electronic Bulletin Board Formed

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

F.A.R.M.S. has received notice of the formation of MORMON-L, an electronic bulletin board on Mormon studies. The organizers indicate that it is open to all persons, Mormons and non-Mormons alike, who wish to engage in substantial discussion of topics relating to Mormonism. The following guidelines will regulate the bulletin board.

Encyclopedia Of Mormonism Is Available Again

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

Macmillan has reprinted the 4-volume set of the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. F.A.R.M.S. will again be able to provide this significant resource at a discount. See the order form.

Lectures Highlight Connections Between Scrolls And Mormonism

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

Selections from the March conference entitled "LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls" are now available for purchase on video and audiotape. The presentations teach about the ancient scrolls and how they contribute to LDS understanding of gospel teachings, the Bible, and other aspects of biblical life.

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.

Scholars Testify Of Connections Between Faith And Scholarship

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

Twenty-four LDS scholars express their thoughts and deepest feelings on faith and scholarship in a new book scheduled for release next month. Expressions of Faith: Testimonies from LDS Scholars, edited by Susan Easton Black, professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU, is being copublished by FARMS and Deseret Book.

Several Significant Historical And Anthropological Essays Of John Sorenson Gathered In Two New Volumes

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

Nearly two dozen essays by John L. Sorenson, professor emeritus of anthropology at Brigham Young University, have been conveniently gathered into two paperback volumes by a Salt Lake publisher, New Sage Books. Some of these essays will be familiar to FARMS readers, but many will be new. Both collections can be obtained at a discount from FARMS using the enclosed order form.

New Book Of Visual Aids Facilitates Book Of Mormon Study, Teaching

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

Students and teachers of the Book of Mormon will find a new FARMS book by John W. and J. Gregory Welch to be a valuable resource. Charting the Book of Mormon: Visual Aids for Personal Study and Teaching is a collection of more than 175 visual aids that promote deeper understanding and appreciation of the Book of Mormon. Designed for multiple use as study guides, handouts, and masters for creating projectable images, the charts convey a wealth of information that will enrich personal study and teaching.

Why Nephi Wrote The Small Plates: The Political Dimension, John W. Welch

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

To conclude our reflections on when, where, and why Nephi wrote his final small plates account, we can now turn attention to three political dimensions of those plates. Once again, the real-life situations of Nephi and his people supply important contexts that bring interesting things to light.

Why Nephi Wrote The Small Plates: Serving Practical Needs, John W. Welch

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

Nephi wrote his small plates soon after important events such as Lehi's death, Nephi's separation from his rebellious brothers, and the establishment of the reign of kings (see last month's research update). Recognizing when he wrote, we can better appreciate not only Nephi's stated reasons for writing the small plates but also subtle underlying motivations behind his inspired selection and treatment of this material.

When Did Nephi Write The Small Plates?, John W. Welch

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

In reading 1 Nephi, few people stop to think when Nephi actually wrote this account of his family's flight from Jerusalem and journey across the sea to a land of promise. Knowing when Nephi began to write the small plates (beginning with the account we now have in 1 Nephi) clarifies the purposes that stand behind that record and influenced its final form and content.

Study Guides On New Testament Themes Available

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

Richard Lloyd Anderson, professor emeritus of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University, has made available two outstanding course supplements on the New Testament. His expansive knowledge of the New Testament and early Christianity is readily apparent in Guide to the Life of Christ and Guide to Acts and the Apostles' Letters.

Tents In The Book Of Mormon, John L. Sorenson

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

Rerences to New World tents in the Book of Mormon raise legitimate questions about whether tents are known from scholarly sources on Mesoamerica. The earliest evidence comes from historical documents written around the time of the Spanish conquest in 1521, or more than one thousand years after the demise of the Nephite civilization. These records indicate that different kinds of tents and tent-like structures were in regular use by Aztec armies and that, when the Spaniards saw them, they immediately labeled them tiendas, "tents."

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 …

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 …

Summer Seminar Mentors Rising Scholars

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

Ten graduate and advanced undergraduate students selected from more than half a dozen institutions participated in the Mormon Scholars Foundation summer seminar held this past May and June under the auspices of the Maxwell Institute.

Mormon Studies: A Critical History By Ronald Helfrich Jr., Roger Terry

BYU Studies

This short but dense critical history of Mormon studies is unique in several ways. First, author Ronald Helfrich Jr. is a self-described “Gentile” scholar who spent “probably far too many years,” including a year as a visiting professor in the Department of Sociology at Brigham Young University, researching and writing this history. Second, the book is surprisingly thorough. I have been the editorial director at BYU Studies for the past sixteen years and thought I had a fairly decent grasp of Mormon studies, past and present, but Helfrich repeatedly describes the work of historians and other scholars with whom I …

The Sticks Of Judah And Joseph: Reflections On Defending The Kingdom, Joseph M. Spencer

Faculty Publications

I wish to pursue two tasks simultaneously in this essay. First, in line with its title, I will address a very old matter of interpretation. I aim to explain as definitively as possible how to make sense of the relationship between Ezekiel 37:15–19, with its talk of the sticks of Judah and Joseph, and the claims of the Restoration, which include somehow connecting the stick of Joseph to the Book of Mormon. Second, in line with the subtitle of this essay, I wish to draw a crucial lesson from the history of how Latter-day Saints have dealt with this issue …

Teachings Of Church Leaders On Christ’S Final Seven Statements, John Hilton Iii, Megan Cutler, Emily K. Hyde

Faculty Publications

In 1929 Reverend James Reid wrote about the Savior’s directive from the Sermon on the Mount to “pray for them that despitefully use you” (Matthew 5:44). Although many might feel this is an impossible task, Reid offers a reminder: “Yet the words stand, and challenge us today, because He who spoke them passed His own test, and passed it triumphantly. . . . For, as [Luke] tells us, when they crucified Him, and had done their devilish work on his poor body. . . . His first word [on the cross] was a literal prayer for His enemies, ‘Father, forgive …

“Wicked Traditions” And “Cunning Arts”: Wise Men, Sorcery, And Metalwork In Nephite Society, Dan Belnap, Daniel L. Belnap, Daniel Belnap, Dan Belnap

Faculty Publications

In the ninetieth year of the reign of the judges, four years after the ministry of Samuel the Lamanite, the “great signs and wonders” that he had prophesied of concerning the coming of Christ began to appear. Yet even as they convinced some, others expressed doubt as to what the signs meant, believing instead that the coming of Christ was a “wicked tradition, which has been handed down unto us by our fathers, to cause us that we should believe in some great and marvelous thing which should come to pass . . . therefore they can keep us in …

“They Are Of Ancient Date”: Jaredite Traditions And The Politics Of Gadianton’S Dissent, Dan Belnap, Daniel L. Belnap

Faculty Publications

In 2018 Abinadi: He Came Among Them in Disguise was published as what was hoped would be the first in a series of volumes by the Book of Mormon Academy (BOMA).1 Established in 2013 at Brigham Young University, this consortium of Religious Education faculty was created to foster critical thinking about the Book of Mormon and to make their academic, theological, and pedagogical research available to the wider public through publications and presentations. This second volume in the series, Illuminating the Jaredite Records, continues that tradition by exploring the Jaredite record and its impact on the later Nephite and Lamanite …

“Wissenschaft Des” Mormonism: Jewish Studies As A Framework For Exploring Mormon Studies, Trevan Hatch

Faculty Publications

Recently, a significant amount of attention has been directed at the who, what, where, and how of Mormon studies. For example, since 2009, at least six major forums, comprising sixty-two essays and presentations (with dozens of other stand-alone pieces appearing in other venues), were dedicated to discussing the nature and future of Mormon studies as an academic field. Many of these essays discuss the definitions, challenges, opportunities, research gaps, sources, and disciplines of Mormon studies from a variety of angles. Some are highly nuanced treatments of particular aspects of Mormon studies, and others are more general. This article presents the …

Review: Ronit Y. Stahl. Enlisting Faith: How The Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion And State In Modern America. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 2017., Patrick Q. Mason

Mormon Studies Review

Pop quiz: What do Mormons, Eastern Orthodox, and Buddhists have in common? Answer: For much of the twentieth-century, members of all three groups were classified as “Protestants” by the United States military. Why? Because in the “Protestant-Catholic-Jew” schema of “tri-faith America” that dominated for many decades, if you weren’t Roman Catholic or Jewish, you must have been Protestant. American historian Ronit Stahl has elevated this and many other head-scratching bureaucratic idiosyncrasies into a readable and insightful analysis of how the military chaplaincy both reflected and shaped the dynamic relationship of religion and the state in twentieth-century America. Enlisting Faith is …

Recognizing The Everlasting Covenant In The Scriptures, Kerry Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

The Abrahamic, or new and everlasting, covenant is an important element of the Old Testament. In fact, the main way the Old Testament frames human relationships with God is whether people make and keep a covenant with him. Yet we often do not notice how much that theme is woven throughout all scripture. For example, the Book of Mormon title page specifically references the knowledge of the covenant as part of the purpose of writing and preserving the book, and the covenant is a major theme for many of its authors. The New Testament and the Doctrine and Covenants are …

Joseph Smith, Gethsemane, And The Crucifixion Of Jesus Christ, John Hilton Iii

Faculty Publications

The Savior’s Atonement is central to the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote, “We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”1 On another occasion, he revealed that those inheriting the celestial kingdom are “made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:69).

New And Everlasting: The Relationship Between Gospel Covenants In History, Kerry Muhlestein, Joshua M. Sears, Avram R. Shannon

Faculty Publications

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak of covenants in general, baptismal covenants, temple covenants, the new and everlasting covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, and the Mosaic or Sinai covenant. But what are these covenants, and how are they related to each other? Students in many settings experience confusion about these questions. Each book of scripture shares aspects of covenants that students may not understand as well as they could. Greater clarity will allow them to draw more power from scriptural and current prophetic teachings about the centrality of the covenant in every dispensation.

Mormon Studies In Latin America And The Caribbean: State Of The Field As Of 2018, Carter Charles

Mormon Studies Review

Renewed interest in a global approach to Mormon studies calls for an assessment of the scholarship available on Latin America and the Caribbean in order to provide direction for future research in this subfield, which is still in its infancy. After some remarks on methodology, existing contributions to the subfield will be introduced, followed by a subjective conclusion.

Review Of Mormonism And The Making Of A British Zion, By Matthew Lyman Rasmussen, Douglas J. Davies

Mormon Studies Review

Through eight chapters and four appendixes, Rasmussen develops a book from a previous postgraduate dissertation on the emergence and organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain. As with numerous regional-national histories of Mormonism, Mormonism and the Making of a British Zion includes basic elements of Mormonism’s emergence in the US, but always with a keen

eye on the UK and, more specifically still, on North West England. While Liverpool was the key seaport for early missionaries traveling to the UK, and for the emigration of converts to the US in the last half of …

Review Of Charles Ellis Johnson And The Erotic Mormon Image, By Mary Campbell, Leigh E. Schmidt

Mormon Studies Review

Through the lens of photographer Charles Ellis Johnson (1857– 1926), Mary Campbell captures the subtleties of Mormon visual culture at the turn of the twentieth century as the Latter-day Saints struggled to jettison plural marriage and adapt themselves to the demands of American citizenship. In Johnson’s vast stereographic archive, Campbell has a treasure trove, which she frequently alchemizes into interpretive gold on everything from Victorian tourism to chorus-girl sexuality to Mormon historical memory to women’s rights activism. Hers is a visually sumptuous book, filled with close and often sparkling explications of particular images. At its center is the enigmatic Charles …

Review Of Why Liberals Win (Even Win They Lose Elections): How America’S Raucous, Nasty, And Mean ‘Culture Wars’ Make For A More Inclusive Nation, By Stephen Prothero, Neil J. Young

Mormon Studies Review

Depending on how one feels about the 2016 election, reading a book titled Why Liberals Win (Even When They Lose Elections) might seem like either a deluded endeavor or much-needed balm. In his latest work, Stephen Prothero argues that liberals stand on the victorious side of history, if not always the ballot box, because they have won every culture war battle since the nation’s founding. Liberals win, Prothero contends, because conservatives launch culture wars to preserve a way of life that has already begun to change, an ill-fated effort that cannot turn back the progressive forces of history that churn …