In a fitting tribute to the Prophet Joseph Smith, last month on June 27, 2023, the Joseph Smith Papers Project published the final print installment of the landmark documentary editing series. A launch event held at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City celebrated the occasion of the publication of Documents, Volume 15 of … Read more
Review of Brent J. Schmidt, Relational Faith: The Transformation and Restoration of Pistis as Knowledge, Trust, Confidence, and Covenantal Faithfulness. BYU Studies. 2022. 306 pp. + xiv, bibliography, index. $21.95. In 2015, Brent J. Schmidt, a faculty member of Brigham Young University—Idaho who teaches religious education and humanities courses, published Relational Grace: The Reciprocal … Read more
The subject of the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon continues to be a topic of considerable interest among researchers of Latter-day Saint history and readers of the Book of Mormon. Indeed, the lost 116 pages continue to tantalize modern readers of the Book of Mormon, prompting scholars to offer hypothetical reconstructions of … Read more
Review of Steven C. Harper, First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins (New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2019). 262 pp. + index. Print: $35.00. Ebook: $14.00. Oh, how lovely was the morning!Radiant beamed the sun above.Bees were humming, sweet birds singing,Music ringing thru the grove,When within the shady woodlandJoseph sought the God of love. … Read more
Review of Bruce A. Van Orden. We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps. Provo and Salt Lake City, UT. Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University and Deseret Book. 2018. 509pp. + index. $31.99. William Wines Phelps (1792–1872) is without a doubt one of the most colorful and fascinating figures in … Read more
[Crossposted from the Interpreter Blog] Review of Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days: The Standard of Truth: 1815–1846 (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2018). 586 pp., $5.75 print, $1.99 digital. Abstract: The new volume Saints: The Story of the Church of … Read more
The Neal A. Maxwell Institute’s Mormon Theology Seminar continues to release interesting publications highlighting and exploring key Mormon scriptural texts. The latest wave of publications, three volumes dedicated to analyzing 1 Nephi 1, Jacob 7, and Genesis 2–3, adds to this growing list and gives readers helpful new resources for better understanding these passages. In … Read more
Hugh Nibley once quipped that the controversy surrounding the Book of Abraham was “a great fuss . . . being made about a scrap of papyrus.” Were it not for the fact that it is tied up in religious polemics involving Joseph Smith, founder and first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day … Read more
The remarkable work of the Joseph Smith Papers Project has continued unabated since the publication of Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839 in 2008. Last year the Church Historian’s Press, which publishes the volumes of the series, released Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846. This landmark occasion has finally brought to light a set … Read more
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” So reads 1 Peter 3:15, the locus classicus when it comes to scriptural encouragement for Christians to engage in apologetics, … Read more
Section 42 of the Doctrine and Covenants is arguably one of the more seminal sections of this book of restoration scripture, alongside other important sections including 20 (the Articles and Covenants of the Church), 76 (the Vision), 110 (Kirtland Temple theophanies), 119 (revelation on tithing), 121 (Joseph Smith’s Liberty Jail pleadings), and 132 (the revelation … Read more
Joseph Smith’s Seer Stones (2016) At a church conference on October 25–26, 1831, the topic of the translation of the Book of Mormon arose and Joseph Smith was pressed to furnish the details pertaining thereto. According to the minutes taken at the conference, “Br. Joseph Smith jr. said that it was not intended to tell … Read more
Click to enlarge The Neal A. Maxwell Institute’s “Living Faith” series adds another volume alongside its already respectable roster of books with the publication of Let Your Hearts and Minds Expand: Reflections on Faith, Reason, Charity, and Beauty. The book is a collection of essays and poetry by Thomas F. Rogers, a Latter-day Saint playwright and … Read more