Religious Education Commons^™

Joseph Smith, Jesus, And Satanic Opposition: Atonement, Evil, And The Mormon Vision, Steven L. Olsen, Douglas J. Davies

BYU Studies

Douglas J. Davies is one of the most insightful and prolific scholars of Mormonism working today. He is a professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham, UK. Two of his earlier studies--The Mormon Culture of Salvation (2000) and An Introduction to Mormonism (2003)--analyze foundational aspects of Mormonism from an engaging academic synthesis of history, religious studies, cultural studies, literary studies, theology, and philosophy. The breadth and depth of his scholarly background enable him to address new and crucial questions, yielding remarkable insights. For example, The Mormon Culture of Salvation proposes that the plan …

The Book Of Mormon: A Biography, Paul C. Gutjahr, Tod R. Harris

BYU Studies

There is something of a paradox prevalent in academic religious studies: in order to consider a community and its traditions objectively, one should not be a member of that community; yet the only way to understand fully and appreciate and therefore faithfully report about the community is to be a member. Many times this contradiction leads to the unfortunate situation where "outsiders" do not report their findings objectively or accurately and thus disappoint those hoping for fair and informative treatment, and where the work of members attempting serious scholarly analysis of their own community is viewed with suspicion and distrust …

Shakers, Mormons, And Religious Worlds: Conflicting Visions, Contested Boundaries, Matthew J. Grow, Stephen C. Taysom

BYU Studies

In Shakers, Mormons, and Religious Worlds, Stephen Taysom, an assistant professor of religious studies at Cleveland State University, has written an intriguing and theoretically rich monograph that compares Shaker and Mormon approaches to religious identity formation and boundary maintenance. Although Shakerism dwindled as a religious movement in the twentieth century, Shakers and Latter-day Saints in the nineteenth century stood out as examples of successful new movements on the American religious scene. Taysom's comparison of Latter-day Saints and Shakers places him within a select group of scholars, most notably Mario DePillis, Lawrence Foster, and Spencer Fluhman, who have studied Shakers and …

Brigham Young, Pioneer Prophet, John G. Turner, Thomas G. Alexander

BYU Studies

John G. Turner, an assistant professor of religious studies at George Mason University, used a novelist's convention by beginning his scholarly biography of Brigham Young near the end of the story. The opening paragraphs take the reader to St. George in 1877 and the dedication of Utah's first temple with the author summarizing Young's sermon.

From the St. George Temple dedication, the author essays on the founding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The summary includes Joseph Smith's discovery of the gold plates, their translation, and the controversy generated by his ministry.

I recommend this book for …

Exhibiting Mormonism: The Latter-Day Saints And The 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Marian Wardle, Reid L. Neilson

BYU Studies

"There is a natural and overwhelming curiosity to know what manner of creature a real live flesh and blood Mormon is," wrote an 1893 reporter for the Chicago Daily Tribune, quoted by Reid Neilson in his study of the participation by the LDS Church at the 1893 Chicago fair (131). Neilson is a scholar of Mormon religious history and current managing director of the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He convincingly argues that this participation with the larger world community helped Church leaders understand how they could improve the Church's public image. He …

Sacred Symbols: Finding Meaning In Rites, Rituals, And Ordinances, Alonzo L. Gaskill, Herman Du Toit

BYU Studies

The power and viability of symbolism is often lost on the American psyche and also finds mixed reception by American LDS audiences. It is as if the essential pragmatism of the American spirit militates against the very appearance of ambiguity in all its forms. Symbolism and metaphor comprise the tools-in-trade of skillful meaning making and the explication of profound truths in both word and image. Alonzo Gaskill, a professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University, makes the observation that Latter-day Saints do not always like symbolism. He references Truman Madsen, who recalled: "I had a built-in hostility …

Between Pulpit And Pew: The Supernatural World In Mormon History And Folklore, Curtis Ashton, Michael S. Van Wagenen, W. Paul Reeve

BYU Studies

In an address to a joint meeting of the Utah Historical Society and the Folklore Society of Utah in 1991, folklorist William A. Wilson applauded the two organizations for their cooperation over the previous twenty years and then urged even greater cooperation between history and folklore in Utah over the next twenty years. Between Pulpit and Pew serves as one benchmark for measuring just how seriously a rising generation of historians have taken Wilson's challenge. The editors, Paul Reeve and Michael Van Wagenen, are firmly planted in their chosen discipline, each with an impressive start to developing careers that explore …

Hell On The Range: A Story Of Honor, Conscience, And The American West, Daniel J. Herman, Taunalyn F. Rutherford

BYU Studies

In the introduction to Hell on the Range, Daniel Justin Herman informs readers that his account of Arizona's Rim Country War of the 1880s is more than revisionist critique; it is self-critique. Herman, an associate professor of history at Central Washington University, is an Arizonan who, like many growing up in the western United States, was "raised on its romance," and in his youth he viewed "Arizonans--especially cowboys--[as] made of sterner, stronger stuff than people who grew up elsewhere" (xxii). His view of Mormons and Mormonism--an important undercurrent animating much of this book--was informed by his experiences as a non-Mormon …

Still, The Small Voice: Narrative, Personal Revelation, And The Mormon Folk Tradition, Tom Mould, Jacqueline S. Thursby

BYU Studies

Tom Mould is an associate professor of anthropology and folklore at Elon University in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is the author of two books on Choctaw narrative: Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future (2003) and Choctaw Tales (2004). He has published articles on varied aspects of generic boundaries and constructed identities and has produced video documentaries for public television on folk art and culture in Indiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Mould is particularly focused on the study of oral narrative, and his interest in prophecy and sacred narratives led him to his work with the Latter-day Saints. His book …

Early Mormon Missionary Activities In Japan, 1901–1924, Reid L. Neilson, R. Lanier Britsch

BYU Studies

Reid L. Neilson, PhD, the managing director of the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is well known among LDS Asian and Pacific scholars as a gifted and productive editor and bibliographer. His research and writing on the history of the Church in Japan is informative, enlightening, and enriching. Although the topic of missionary work in Japan has been written about by other authors, Neilson's book adds much to what has already been written.

In Early Mormon Missionary Activities in Japan, 1901-1924, Neilson has created one of the few LDS books dealing with Mormon …

The Death Of A Disco Dancer; A Sense Of Order And Other Stories; The Scholar Of Moab, Shelah M. Miner, David M. Clark, Jack Harrell, Steven L. Peck

BYU Studies

DAVID CLARK. The Death of a Disco Dancer. Provo, Utah: Zarahemla Books, 2011.

JACK HARRELL. A Sense of Order and Other Stories. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2010.

STEVEN L. PECK. The Scholar of Moab. Torrey, Utah: Torrey House Press, 2011.

As an enthusiastic reader of literary fiction and as someone who is fascinated by Mormon culture, I am always on the lookout for works of literary fiction that contain Mormon themes or Mormon characters. While there are always plenty of new romances on the shelves at Deseret Book, and Mormon authors frequently find commercial and critical success writing science …

The Heresy Of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture's Fascination With Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding Of Early Christianity, Andreas J. Köstenberger, Michael J. Kruger, Noel B. Reynolds

BYU Studies

Readers interested in the ongoing debate over the reliability of the New Testament texts will find this new book to be an excellent contribution to the defense of those texts. Authors Kostenberger and Kruger are both allied personally and professionally with the contemporary movement that defends the inerrancy of scripture. Andreas J. Kostenberger is Professor of New Testament and Greek and director of PhD and ThM studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He is the editor of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society and is the author of books and articles on biblical texts …

Compromising Scholarship: Religious And Political Bias In American Higher Education, George Yancey, Bruce A. Chadwick

BYU Studies

George Yancey, a professor of sociology at the University of North Texas, has focused his research on racial and ethnic bias. His recent books include Interracial Families: Current Concepts and Controversies and Interracial Contact and Social Change. Yancey's newest study in Compromising Scholarship documents the bias of university faculty against members of various groups. Professor Yancey, aware that scientists, just like other Americans, are hesitant to reveal any prejudice or bias, focused his study on "collegiality" in an attempt to distract respondents from the research interest in bias. Yancey conducted his study via Internet survey and blog analyses in the …

Joseph Smith Papers. Manuscript Revelation Books, Facsimile Edition, Robin S. Jensen, James B. Allen, Robert J. Woodford, Steven C. Harper

BYU Studies

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our most precious founding documents are the handwritten manuscripts of the revelations that constitute the scriptures. However, like so many old manuscripts, those that are still extant are not available for public scrutiny, as constant handling could damage and perhaps even destroy them. The next best thing would be a near-perfect, full-size, full-color facsimile that could be examined at will by anyone. That is what the Church Historian's Press has provided with the publication of two manuscript revelation books dating from 1828 to 1834; these books were the basis for the …

Who Chose The Gospels? Probing The Great Gospel Conspiracy, Lincoln H. Blumell, C. E. Hill

BYU Studies

In Who Chose the Gospels? Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy, C. E. Hill, professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, challenges the seemingly pervasive view in scholarship that it was not until the fourth century, when Christian "orthodoxy" began to be firmly entrenched, that the four canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were selected by the church and raised to a status above all other competing Gospels. Hill argues that while this paradigm has become increasingly widespread in scholarship and is often propagated by the media or in popular culture (as in Dan Brown's The …

The Mormon Menace: Violence And Anti-Mormonism In The Postbellum South, Patrick Q. Mason, Heather M. Seferovich

BYU Studies

Relatively few stories in late nineteenth-century Mormon history are more riveting than those from missionaries serving in the American South. A handful of legendary Mormon personalities served there, such as J. Golden Kimball, B. H. Roberts, and John Morgan. There are countless inflammatory threats of violence, hundreds of instances of physical assault, and even a few murders. Although tragic on many levels, such violent elements are often the foundation of successful films, plays, and books.

The Lonely Polygamist, Brady Udall, Angela Hallstrom

BYU Studies

Brady Udall's The Lonely Polygamist, published in 2010, arrived amid a wave of pop-culture interest in the polygamist lifestyle: HBO's Big Love was gearing up for its finale; TLC's reality show Sister Wives had just hit the airwaves; and real-life stories of Warren Jeffs, child brides, and FLDS compounds were common tabloid fare. Although Udall had been at work on his novel for many years before polygamy became a hot cultural topic, some skeptical readers--Mormon and non-Mormon alike--wondered if the novel's intentions were more sensational than literary. Once reviews began rolling in, however, it became clear that The Lonely Polygamist …

Scribal Culture And The Making Of The Hebrew Bible, Karel Van Der Toorn, Robert L. Maxwell

BYU Studies

Karel van der Toorn, president of the University of Amsterdam and author of numerous books dealing with aspects of the Bible and ancient Israel, claims to have been writing an introduction to the Bible when he discovered that he was writing an altogether different book--an exploration of scribal culture in the Near East as a means to better understand the making of the Hebrew Bible. The developments he studies will be particularly interesting to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, since he explores the generations surrounding the Babylonian exile, including the time of the migration of …

Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul Of Mormonism And Parley P. Pratt And The Making Of Mormonism, Matthew J. Grow, Gregory K. Armstrong, Dennis J. Siler, Edward A. Geary, Terryl L. Givens

BYU Studies

Parley Parker Pratt (1807-1857) was among the most talented and influential figures in the formative period of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Apostle, missionary, theologian, poet, polemicist, pris!oner, explorer, polygamist, and finally, in the view of many, martyr. Pratt was born in central New York State to Jared Pratt--a weaver thrown out of employment in his trade by the Industrial Revolution--and his wife, Charity. Like the Prophet Joseph Smith, who was two years his senior, Parley P. Pratt grew up in a family on the margins of the rural economy. Jared Pratt moved from place to place …

Baptism In The Early Church: History, Theology, And Liturgy In The First Five Centuries, Everett Ferguson, Noel B. Reynolds

BYU Studies

A Restoration emphasis on baptism has distinguished the teaching and practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1829 to the present. In contrast to many Christian denominations, the Church does not condone infant baptism sprinkling, nor does it accept baptisms by other Christian groups that do not have the authority restored by John the Baptist to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. A further critical distinction is their insistence that baptismal ordinances are necessary for salvation. Nevertheless, Latter-day Saints are not completely alone in all their views; the Campbellite Churches of Christ also see themselves as a …

One Eternal Round, Hugh W. Nibley, Michael D. Rhodes, Gary P. Gillum

BYU Studies

Hugh Nibley began serious research on One Eternal Round as early as 1988. When Nibley's long-time colleague Michael D. Rhodes took over the project following Nibley's death in 2005, he was faced with thirty boxes of research notes and drafts, 450 computer files, and as many as twenty versions of one chapter. Fortunately, Michael is familiar with most of Nibley's prodigious output, as well as the subjects listed in the preface, which are a reflection of Nibley's mind and interests and which are all within the scope of One Eternal Round.

Throughout Nibley's long career, his critics have seen him …

Dispensation: Latter-Day Fiction, Scott Hales, Angela Hallstrom

BYU Studies

In her preface to Dispensation, Angela Hallstrom writes that "immersing oneself in a completely foreign place or time is one of the fundamental pleasures of reading good literature," which is certainly the lesson I learned from reading Hemingway, Steinbeck, and countless other writers in my teenage years. Even today, I make a habit of reading books by authors of various backgrounds so that my scope does not become too narrow, my worldview too restricted. But, like Hallstrom, I agree that "recognizing oneself in a work of fiction is an exhilarating experience, too." The good news is that I no longer …

The Introduction Of Mormonism To Finnish Society, 1840–1900, Kim Östman, Melvin J. Luthy

BYU Studies

If one were to ask a returned missionary from Finland, or even a member of the Church in Finland, when missionary work began in that country, a likely response would be that it began in 1946, when Elder Ezra Taft Benson dedicated the land for missionary work. The date is well known, and a small monument commemorating the event has been erected in Larsmo, a small town on Finland's northwestern shore. Although many consider missionaries who served in the years immediately following the dedication to be the first missionaries in Finland, there is a general understanding that some members in …

When Souls Had Wings: Pre-Mortal Existence In Western Thought, Jesse D. Hurlbut, James L. Siebach, David B. Paxman, Dana M. Pike, Terryl L. Givens

BYU Studies

Four experts in different branches of study review Terryl L. Givens's expansive new book When Souls Had Wings: Pre-mortal Existence in Western Thought.

Quotidiana, Eric D'Evegnee, Patrick Madden

BYU Studies

Some LDS readers have an intriguing tendency to venerate obviously scholarly research while turning up their noses at what they consider less "academic" work. These readers are missing out on a potentially impactful genre. Eugene England wrote, "It is the personal essay that seems to me to have the greatest potential for making a uniquely valuable Mormon contribution both to Mormon cultural and religious life and to that of others." If that notion is true, reading works like Pat Madden's collection of personal essays, Quotidiana, should be added to our academic diet to refine and broaden the value we place …

Now You See It, Now You Don't: Biblical Perspectives On The Relationship Between Magic And Religion, Shawna Dolansky, David A. Allred

BYU Studies

Defining terms is a foundational task in academic studies, and a clear example of its importance is in the ongoing debates on the relationship between magic and religion. Because of the various ways in which magic has been defined over time and because of the negative connotations that can accompany some definitions, explorations of magic and religion are rife with misunderstanding and ethnocentrism, most famously dating back to the milieu of cultural evolution that characterized nineteenth-century anthropology, especially in the works of Edward B. Taylor and James G. Frazer. However, questions about the relationship between magic and religion go back …

Understanding The Book Of Mormon: A Reader's Guide, Steven C. Walker, Grant Hardy

BYU Studies

Understanding the Book of Mormon may be the book for a lot of us. As often as we Latter-day Saints have read the Book of Mormon, we may yet read it better, read it with more understanding, if we were to read it with the benefit of the perceptive perspective that Hardy opens up for us with this volume. For all our Book of Mormon enthusiasms and even our critically careful analyses, we may have sometimes shortchanged ourselves in our readings in the same way Oliver Cowdery did in his translating: "Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that …

Bible: The Story Of The King James Version, 1611-2011; Begat: The Story Of The King James Bible And The English Language, Gordon Campbell, David Crystal, Brandie R. Siegfried

BYU Studies

GORDON CAMPBELL. Bible: The Story of the King James Version, 1611-2011. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010

DAVID CRYSTAL. Begat: The Story of the King James Bible and the English Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010

We are celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the first publication of the King James Version of the Bible, and Oxford University Press has published several books in support of that commemoration. I review two such here, both of which are intended for a general readership, well worth reading on a quiet Sunday afternoon. Each book provides a historical framework for understanding the continued influence …

Almost Christian: What The Faith Of Our Teenagers Is Telling The American Church, Cardell K. Jacobson, Linda C. Dean

BYU Studies

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were pleased about the results of a landmark study of the religiosity of the nation's youth, called the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Conducted from 2003 to 2005 by Christian Smith and others, the study was first reported in Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, published by Oxford University Press in 2005. (To read the book review of Soul Searching, see BYU Studies 45, no. 2 [2006]: 167-172.)

The current book, Almost Christian, by Linda Creasy Dean, is a follow-up from the same study. …

Mormons As Citizens Of A Communist State: A Documentary History Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In East Germany, 1945–1990, Raymond Kuehne, Norma S. Davis

BYU Studies

From 2002 to 2004, Kuehne served a second mission with his wife in the Freiberg Germany Temple. There he met Henry Burkhardt, who had served as a counselor in the North German Mission presidency for some thirty-eight years and was the first president of the Freiberg Temple. When Kuehne heard Burkhardt speak to the temple workers concerning the history behind the building of the temple, he wanted to read more on the subject. He was told that, although this temple was the only one built in a Communist country, very little had been published on the subject. Burkhardt gave Kuehne …