Religious Education Commons^™

“It Must Needs Be”, Eric Dahlin

BYU Studies

After speaking to his son Jacob about Jesus Christ’s redemption of mankind, the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi declares, “It must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Ne. 2:11). We often use the word opposition colloquially to explain the difficulties or challenges that we or others encounter. When others experience troubling times, we frequently, as well-intentioned members of the Church, remind them of this sentiment. Our aim is to provide solace for the one who is suffering by pointing out that facing opposition is a common feature of life (even if normalizing the suffering may …

Coming And Going To Zion: An Analysis Of Push And Pull Factors Motivating British Latter-Day Saint Emigration, 1840–60, Samuel Benson

BYU Studies

In 1863, acclaimed British writer Charles Dickens boarded a New York–bound emigrant ship docked at Liverpool. He was not a passenger but an observer; the subjects of his study were more than eight hundred Latter-day Saint emigrants aboard the ship Amazon. Dickens’s stated purpose, as he later wrote in The Uncommercial Traveller, was “to bear testimony against them if they deserved it,” but to his surprise, he instead found “the pick and flower of England.” Dickens lauded the Latter-day Saints’ politeness and their “aptitude for organisation,” and he praised their leader, Apostle George Q. Cannon. By the end …

Hope On The Hill, Miranda H. Lotz

BYU Studies

My children were grassy and wet that early fall day as they rolled down the hill over and over again. They giggled and slid down the muddy slope. This was not quite the experience I hoped to give when I dragged them from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., up to rural New York, but they seemed more pleased with this outcome than any other. Rain drizzled, and trees hung on to their green in a last attempt at modesty before their gorgeous reds and oranges were revealed.

Your Daddy Or Your Father?— Mimetic Desire Versus Christian Fatherhood, Bryce Dixon

BYU Studies

“The Yankees are my Daddy,” the Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez famously announced following the loss of some critical baseball games to their New York City rivals. The idiom “Daddy” refers to a victor’s domination over a loser in a competition. The winner becomes the Daddy, and the loser the submissive child. Ironically, a Red Sox player, David Ortiz—nicknamed “Big Papi,” or “Big Daddy” in Spanish—became the Yankees’ “Daddy” when his batting heroics led the Red Sox to a miraculous comeback win over the Yankees in the 2004 playoffs, reversing the “curse of the Bambino” that was believed to …

"Show Them Unto No Man", Barry R. Bickmore

BYU Studies

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) who attempt to educate themselves about the history of their religion can sometimes be confronted with a bewildering array of interpretations made by historians who range in perspective from traditional believers to atheists and include numerous variations in between. When asked about the origins of such discrepancies, the historians will naturally refer to biases exhibited by the others and perhaps even to their own possible sources of bias.

A Close Look At Scriptural Teachings Regarding Jesus Feeling Our Pains As Part Of His Atonement, Scott C. Woodward

BYU Studies

Scriptural teachings regarding the Atonement of Jesus Christ represent the most important and cherished doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Richard G. Scott emphasized its importance, stating, “The atonement of Jesus Christ is the single most significant event that ever has or ever will occur.” Elder Neal A. Maxwell called it “the central act in all of human history” and “the hinge on which all else that finally matters turned.” And Elder Bruce R. McConkie declared it to be “the center and core and heart of revealed religion.”

The Book Of Mormon Art Catalog, Jennifer Champoux

BYU Studies

You can learn much about a society from its religious art. Compare, for example, two images of Christ’s descent from the cross—one a Counter-Reformation Flemish painting and the other from just twenty years later in nearby Protestant Amsterdam. In the earlier piece, Peter Paul Rubens (fig. 1) creates a scene of movement, drama, vivid color, and swirling drapery and depicts the body of Christ as muscular and heroic. In the second, by Rembrandt (fig. 2), we see a somber, quiet, darkly monochromatic scene and Christ’s frail, sagging body. How might we account for such different visual interpretations of this pivotal …

End Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

What If I’D Not Been Raised To Know You?, Darlene Young

BYU Studies

I think I would have noticed.

Mary’S Assumption, Christopher Bissett

BYU Studies

On resurrection morning

surely He appeared to you,

His mother.

Mormon Envoy: The Diplomatic Legacy Of Dr. John Milton Bernhisel By Bruce W. Worthen, Matthew B. Christensen

BYU Studies

Mormon Envoy: The Diplomatic Legacy of Dr. John Milton Bernhisel by Bruce W. Worthen is an exploration of the life and diplomatic career of Dr. John Milton Bernhisel, a prominent—though perhaps lesser known—figure in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Worthen’s research and analysis shed light on Bernhisel’s role as a diplomat and advocate for the Latter-day Saint community during a important period in American and Utah history.

Restless Pilgrim: Andrew Jenson’S Quest For Latter-Day Saint History By Reid L. Neilson And Scott D. Marianno, Matthew B. Christensen

BYU Studies

Restless Pilgrim: Andrew Jenson’s Quest for Latter-day Saint History, written by Reid L. Neilson and Scott D. Marianno, is a captivating biography that delves into the remarkable life and passionate quest of Andrew Jenson, an assistant church historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1886 until his death in 1941.

Was Joseph Smith A Money Digger?, Steven C. Harper

BYU Studies

Was not Jo Smith a money digger?” It’s a legitimate, frequently asked question from Joseph Smith’s day to ours. An early Latter-day Saint newspaper, the Elders’ Journal, asked and then answered that question in a pair of articles published in 1837 and 1838. The first article teased readers with a list of provocative “questions which are daily and hourly asked by all classes of people whilst we are traveling,” then promised that answers would follow in a subsequent issue. The second article answered candidly: “Yes.” Joseph Smith was a money digger, meaning that he dug for buried treasure. “But,” …

Being Latter-Day Saints (1841–1857): Four Matriarchs In The Centreville, Delaware, Branch, Marie Cornwall

BYU Studies

After Joseph Smith established The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he began sending missionaries to the eastern states. It did not take long before small branches began popping up in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. While many of the new converts joined with the main body of the Saints, first in Missouri and later in Nauvoo, others remained in their communities. With few exceptions, much of the history of the Latter-day Saints focuses on the migrations to Nauvoo and settlements in Utah. Available histories offer few details about community life among Latter-day Saints who remained where …

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Approaching The Tree: Interpreting 1 Nephi 8, Edited By Benjamin Keogh, Joseph M. Spencer, And Jennifer Champoux, Sydney Gee

BYU Studies

Approaching the Tree: Interpreting 1 Nephi 8 is a collection of essays and artwork about Lehi’s dream compiled by Benjamin Keogh, a PhD candidate in systematic and historical theology at the University of St Andrews; Joseph M. Spencer, an associate professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University; and Jennifer Champoux, the director of the Book of Mormon Art Catalog. It focuses on “providing original readings” of 1 Nephi 8 from a variety of scholars and artists (xi).

Divine Attachment: A Canonical Model For Discipleship And Religious Education, Kristina Marie Freed

Dissertations

Problem

Christianity is in decline in the United States and, with it, discipleship engagement. While several explanations and many remedies have been offered as solutions to the problem over the last half-century, demographic research shows that the decline continues. The problem addressed in this dissertation is the lack of a theological model to augment psychological models of religious attachment theory. The research sought to identify a canonical model of divine attachment which may contribute to the revitalization of personal discipleship and religious education by offering a new relational context. This model is based on an understanding of God as an …

Moral Formation In A Culture Of Relativism: Correlates Of Universalism And Relativism In The Moral Outlooks Of Emerging Adults, Steven Crawford Hayward

Journal of Catholic Education

This study explores some of the demographic, personal, and experiential factors of emerging adults that correlate to a spectrum of moral outlooks ranging from moral universalism to moral relativism. Data was gathered from 466 volunteer undergraduate students. Respondents’ demographic, experiential, and personal factors served as independent variables. The relativism index score form Forsyth’s Ethics Position Questionnaire (1980) served as the dependent variable. Results suggest several conclusions: First, adults in the life of youth are a significant factor in moral outlook, exerting influence in both universalistic and relativistic directions. Second, religious practice and involvement contribute to a universal moral outlook. Third, …

Exploring The Status Of Transgender Students In Catholic High Schools, Dirk De Jong

Journal of Catholic Education

This paper reports on a recent survey of principals of Catholic high schools across the country regarding the existence of formal gender identity policies or informal practices with respect to the behavior and treatment of transgender students in their schools. The survey’s findings are discussed in the context of recent developments with respect to the science, clinical interventions, and legal accommodations surrounding gender variance. The paper also describes the political developments with respect to this issue and some of the pushback in communities of faith. It concludes by suggesting the need for receptivity to scientific findings as part of a …

Religiously Responsive Pedagogy In Christian Schools: A Qualitative Exploration Of Faculty Perceptions Of Faith Integration, Andrea R. Woodard

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study introduced a theoretical framework of Religiously Responsive Pedagogy (RRP) and explored the ways in which RRP is enacted in Christian schools, along with the barriers and supports that may exist for effective RRP within those schools. The study investigated PK-12 faculty perceptions of faith integration, responsiveness to students, and school support in order to develop this new framework. Twelve teachers participated in a semi-structured interview via Zoom, which included four scenarios to probe teacher perspectives on RRP. The data was coded recursively using Boeije’s (2002) constant-comparative method.

The primary research questions addressed were:

• How do teachers at …

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Evolution Of A Protestant Theology Institution In Croatia: From Private Church College To University Center, Lidija Matošević, Marina Schumann, Enoh Šeba

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The focus of this case study is the Faculty of Theology “Matthias Flacius Illyricus” (Teološki fakultet “Matija Vlačić Ilirik” – TFMVI) in Zagreb, founded by two minority religious communities: the Lutheran Church and the Baptist Union. The authors’ premise is that by examining over forty years of the institution’s existence, prominent trends and attitudes can be identified that continue to shape the interaction between churches and the state within Croatian society, where the Roman Catholic Church represents the overwhelming majority. The authors begin with a historical overview of the position of churches under the Communist regime in Yugoslavia, with particular …

A Distributional Synoptic Perspective On The So-Called "Historical Present" Tense Of Mark's Gospel, Oliver Glanz

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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.