Religious Education Commons^™

The Psalm Of Nephi In An Age Of Anxiety And Division, Patrick Q. Mason

BYU Studies

It is probably fair to say that readers over the years have responded more positively to the Book of Mormon’s religious teachings and spiritual power than to its purely literary merits. When Parley P. Pratt famously wrote that “sleep was a burden when the night came, for [he] preferred reading to sleep,” it was not because of the Book of Mormon’s page-turning plot. Rather, Pratt testified, “As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true.” On the other hand, those uninspired by what they discovered in the book’s …

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.

One Day’S Return, Long Past Childhood, Dixie L. Partridge

BYU Studies

You walk out beyond pasture

to see where it will take you. Dawn

blossoms from the hilltops. No breeze.

You come to still drowsing fields, a rock slope

with buttercups congregating.

Knit Together, Liz Busby

BYU Studies

The unusual thing about knit fabric is that it’s one continuous strand. Woven fabric consists of a warp and weft where individual strands arranged in a grid weave in and out, touching but ultimately separate. The knit fabric on everything from an ugly Christmas sweater to your favorite soft t-shirt looks like it’s made of hundreds of little “v” shapes, but it’s not. It loops in and through itself over and over and over, but it’s all connected. One long piece of yarn.

When Paul wrote to the Colossians that we should have our hearts knit together in love, did …

Forgiveness, Erik Jacobsen

BYU Studies

To release

some clutched pebble

or rock

or boulder.

Susa Young Gates: Daughter Of Mormonism By Romney Burke, Dave Hall

BYU Studies

Years ago, I asked a pioneering historian of Latter-day Saint women why there was no biography of Susa Young Gates. She replied that Gates’s reputation for being difficult meant no one was eager to spend enough time with her to write one. But the lack of a biography of this key figure among second-generation Church leaders left a serious gap in the historical literature. Recently, Romney Burke, a retired physician and great-grandson- in- law of Gates, sought to fill that gap with his Susa Young Gates: Daughter of Mormonism.

The Mormon Military Experience: 1838 To The Cold War By Sherman L. Fleek And Robert C. Freeman, Kenneth L. Alford

BYU Studies

The Mormon Military Experience, written by Sherman L. Fleek and Robert C. Freeman, is the first book to provide a comprehensive review of the Latter-day Saint military experience. The authors are to be applauded for undertaking a book of such an expansive nature and managing the subject matter as thoroughly as they have done.

End Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Stiff-Necked, Darlene Young

BYU Studies

Caught in the drainpipe

of this tin-can quick-charge one-use world,

I’ve had enough.

Blast me, Lord; tear the roof right off.

Crack me open

like a bookspine puckered new; splay me.

Dog-ear me.

Slavery In Zion: A Documentary And Genealogical History Of Black Lives And Black Servitude In Utah Territory, 1847– 1862 By Amy Tanner Thiriot, Matthew B. Christensen

BYU Studies

Slavery in Zion: A Documentary and Genealogical History of Black Lives and Black Servitude in Utah Territory, 1847–1862 is an important and carefully researched book by Amy Tanner Thiriot. Delving deep into an often-overlooked and lesser-known aspect of Utah’s history, Thiriot explores the intricate dynamics of slavery and servitude in the region during the period spanning from the Saints’ arrival in the mountain west to 1862. Thiriot is an independent historian and adjunct instructor in the BYU– Idaho Family History Research program.

The Last Leaf, Ben De Hoyos

BYU Studies

Shadows strained eastward as the yielding sun,

In solemn salute, frosted Nebo’s peaks

In glowing hues of squash and melon and

The last leaf dropped. Like fine pink sugar spun

Streaming With Butterflies: A Whole School Stream Project, Carey L. Averill, Janet M. Herrelko

Journal of Catholic Education

This study explores the commitment of a school faculty to use the pedagogical practices needed to employ a project-based unit of Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STREAM). The unit of study concentrated on environmental sustainability of butterflies through project-based learning (PBL). Teacher interviews were analyzed to reveal the similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses in the teachers’ reactions to implementing a cross-curricula content unit designed for a pre-kindergarten (PK) to eighth grade school. Analysis of teacher data and classroom artifacts provided evidence of: content mastery at the student levels; implementation of scaffolding for developmental levels; and the need …

The Christian Liberal Arts Tradition Can Appeal To Christians And Non-Christians Alike, Joseph Clair

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

College and university professors in the liberal arts (humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences) are almost entirely left-leaning, liberal, or progressive, and this is especially true among faculty in the humanities and social sciences. The trend is even more pronounced in certain selective schools. Students who attend liberal arts colleges or universities often adopt more liberal or progressive points of view as a result of their education. There are many great literary depictions of this transformation and the ensuing alienation that often results when such students return home from college. (My favorite is in Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Revelation,” where …

To Make The Attempt, Isaac James Richards

BYU Studies

Fall, not spring.

Idaho, not New York.

Dusk, not dawn.

Still, a prayer

Reclaiming The “Primary Question”: A New Beginning For Joseph Smith’S First Vision, William G. Perez

BYU Studies

In October 2019, Russell M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, reminded Church members that “in the springtime of the year 2020, it will be exactly 200 years since Joseph Smith experienced the theophany that we now know as the First Vision. God the Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph, a 14-year- old youth. That event marked the onset of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness, precisely as foretold in the Holy Bible.” President Nelson then designated 2020 as a bicentennial year and invited listeners to …

After Anger, Daniel Teichert

BYU Studies

Where are the angels? In the kitchen’s brittle light hard words are fallen and the angels have retreated, but not far.

The Dance, Michelle Forstrom

BYU Studies

Growing up, I was the singer and my sister was the dancer. I would practice my art songs, arias, and Broadway ballads, and Danielle would drill away at her ballroom dance routines with her partner. While I would memorize lyrics, get into character, and be cast in local musicals, Danielle would compete in Dancesport at the Brigham Young University Marriott Center. She would cheer me on at my plays, and I would be at all her dance competitions with water bottles and a towel. I would spray on her tans, sew on her rhinestones, and glue on her fake eyelashes. …

Let’S Talk About Series, Matthew B. Christensen

BYU Studies

A couple of years ago, Deseret Book began publishing the Let’s Talk About series, books designed to help readers learn about interesting—and potentially difficult—topics. The books are relatively short, ranging from 130 to 168 pages. Each book measures 4¼ × 7 inches, making them the perfect size to fit into a pocket or purse. The tone of each book is conversational and engaging. The authors are as varied as the subjects, recognized authorities in their respective fields and believing Latter-day Saints. The series began in 2021, and nine volumes have been published as of summer 2023.

Becoming A Stem-Focused Catholic School: Insights Into Adopting A Curricular Specialization, Julie W. Dallavis

Journal of Catholic Education

School choice policies seek to increase access to educational opportunities and stimulate innovations in schooling. This study examines the early stages of one such innovation—school-wide curricular specialization—in three Catholic elementary schools adopting a STEM focus and uses interviews to consider how and why different levels of support exist for the shift and under what conditions private and religious schools are prepared to make significant changes in instructional practice. Findings suggest that school resources—material, human, and social along with professional development—play an important role in shaping engagement in the adoption of a school-wide curricular focus.

Does Homework Work Or Hurt? A Study On The Effects Of Homework On Mental Health And Academic Performance, Ryan Scheb

Journal of Catholic Education

St. Patrick's Catholic School is a coeducational Catholic preparatory school located in a large northeastern city. The school serves an exclusively non-white, working-class student population who demonstrates the motivation and potential to attend and graduate from college. The school’s mission calls for its staff to be guided by cura personalis, meaning they will care for the whole person; yet, data show that the school’s students were extremely stressed out and that much of their stress was attributable to homework. This study sought to determine if reducing the amount of homework could improve students’ mental health while not negatively impacting …

Recorded In Heaven, Scott Hales

BYU Studies

Len and Mary Hope were African American Latter-day Saints who joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Alabama (Len in 1919, Mary in 1925) and later raised their children in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Hopes’ story was recently featured in Saints, Volume 3: Boldly, Nobly, and Independent, introducing the couple’s experiences as Black Latter-day Saints in the early twentieth century to Church members around the world.

Salad Days, Alixa Brobbey

BYU Studies

There used to be smoke standing on every corner and hovering just behind each shoulder, sitting politely at round tables ordering food from teenaged waiters.

Joseph Smtih And The Mormons By Noah Van Sciver, Scott Hales

BYU Studies

Readers have been anticipating Noah Van Sciver’s graphic novel Joseph Smith and the Mormons since 2011, when the cartoonist first published a story about Joseph Smith and Latter-day Saint origins in his indie comics anthology Blammo. In the story, Van Sciver offset a rather straightforward account of the First Vision and translation of the Book of Mormon with his signature visual style, an arresting combination of the primitive and the grotesque. The result was an artistically intriguing retelling of early Church history, and readers wanted more. When Van Sciver subsequently published graphic novels about Abraham Lincoln (The Hypo: …

Every Needful Thing: Essays On The Life Of The Mind And The Heart, Edited By Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye And Kate Holbrook, Susan Elizabeth Howe

BYU Studies

This important collection of essays is the result of the inspiration and insight of two generous and faithful scholars, Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye and Kate Holbrook. Melissa has an appointment as a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland and is a historian for the Church History Department. Kate, who passed away in 2022, was also a historian, who worked on such important books as The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History and At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women. Together, Melissa and Kate have sought out essays “on …

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

A Prophet’S Journey: The Journals Of Spencer W. Kimball, Jeffery L. Anderson, Brandon J. Metcalf

BYU Studies

The Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently released the journals of President Spencer W. Kimball online. President Kimball is well known for his advocacy of keeping personal journals and histories. He passionately preached about their worth and importance. “We renew our appeal for the keeping of individual histories and accounts of sacred experiences in our lives—answered prayers, inspiration from the Lord, administrations in our behalf, a record of the special times and events of our lives,” he taught. “Stories of inspiration from our own lives . . . are powerful teaching tools. I …

The Place—Or The Tribe—Called Nahom? Nhm As Both A Tribal And Geographic Name In Modern And Ancient Yemen, Neal Rappleye

BYU Studies

For decades, Latter-day Saint scholars have argued that “the place . . . called Nahom” in the Book of Mormon (1 Ne. 16:34) is the Nihm region in Yemen, located northeast of Sanaʿa, west of Maʾrib, and south of the Wadi Jawf. The location fits well both with the directions provided for getting to and from Nahom in the Book of Mormon (1 Ne. 16:13–14, 33; 17:1) and with inscriptions dated to Lehi’s time referring to a person called a nhmyn, translated as “Nihmite,” confirming that the name goes back to the right time period. Publications by Princeton, Oxford, …

“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.

A Register Analysis Of Public Prayers, Lindsey Newton, Brett Hashimoto

BYU Studies

Prayer, as defined by scholars Corwin and Brown, is “a form of ritual language . . . [that] affords humans the possibility to communicate with non-human others.” As a linguistic register (that is, a variety of language defined by an area of use, such as academic research articles, text messages, sermons, or blog posts), it denotes communication with an unseen being, primarily in a religious context. However, “despite the importance of religion and ritual in anthropology, prayer, a key component of religious practices and institutions, has received very little empirical attention.” This is partially because the complexity of religion as …