See the icons used for the links to the available media types for an article
Search the BYU Studies Bibliography
Advanced Search of the BYU Studies Bibliography
This form allows you to perform an advanced search. You only need to fill in one field below. This can be any field. If you select "not" as your match criteria, you must select at least one other field.
Brigham Young University Studies Vol. 1 (1959 — 1960)
Articles
Brigham Young University Studies Vol. 2 (1959 — 1960)
Articles
Articles
Brigham Young University Studies Vol. 3 (1960 — 1961)
Articles
Articles
Articles
Brigham Young University Studies Vol. 4 (1961 — 1962)
Articles
Articles
Articles
Brigham Young University Studies Vol. 5 (1962 — 1964)
Articles
Articles
Articles
Brigham Young University Studies Vol. 6 (1964 — 1965)
Articles
Articles
Articles
Brigham Young University Studies Vol. 7 (1965 — 1966)
Articles
Reprinted in Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 12, and Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless, 2nd ed.
When dealing with apocryphal texts, scholars can discount doctrines and themes that appear once or twice. However, themes that run consistently through many or most of the texts should be seriously considered. One such theme is that of a council in heaven in which a plan was presented and the opposition toward that plan. This article details the presence of these themes in ancient texts among various cultures.
“The Expanding Gospel” (1992)
“The Expanding Gospel” (2004)
Articles
Articles
Brigham Young University Studies Vol. 8 (1967 — 1968)
Articles
Articles
Includes pictures of the Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri and letter of sale given to the Church by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art on 27 November 1967.
Written on 27 November 1967. Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
Some 10 pages of this item consist of questions and answers.
Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham, articles from BYU Studies. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
Some thoughts on a fragment of parchment kept in the Church Historian’s Office.
Articles
One of the spectacular events of Latter-day Saint history unfolded as Oliver Cowdery walked into a conference session in progress at Council Bluffs in 1848 and was personally escorted to the stand by his friend Orson Hyde. No one in the group seems to have been more impressed than Reuben Miller, who at the same meeting had made his own public reconciliation with the Church. While Cowdery’s return itself is abundantly attested, no historical source but the Miller account adequately reveals Oliver Cowdery’s public testimony upon his return to the Church.
A contribution to the continuing debate over the Joseph Smith Papyri and the historical authenticity of the Book of Abraham.
Articles
This article will join the procession of articles dealing with the problem of scriptural change and its impact upon LDS theology. There will be concern to explain the nature of the material undergoing change, the historical, situations in which these changes occurred, and the impact of these facts upon a concept of revelation. As it is in the book of Moses that the most important changes have occurred, an explanation of how and why these changes were made in this text should satisfy the reader.
Brigham Young University Studies Vol. 9 (1968 — 1969)
Articles
This article examines the Inspired Version of the Bible translated by Joseph Smith, the first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Matthews compares Joseph’s Inspired Version with the Bernhisel Manuscript, which has never been published. He also illustrates how Joseph Smith’s revision of the Bible was significant to the establishment of the church.
Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham: Articles from BYU Studies. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
A review of a piece by Wallace Turner arguing against the authenticity of the Joesph Smith Papyri and the Book of Abraham, and a defense of the papyri and book themselves.
Articles
Robert J. Matthew’s first article in the Autumn 1968 issue of BYU Studies dealt primarily with the making of the Inspired Version of the Bible. It considered two major aspects: (1) the preparation of the manuscript notes by the Prophet Joseph Smith and his scribes, and (2) the publication of the printed editions by The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS). This article will discuss a number of passages that are unique to the Inspired Version and also some of the implications in the text that are frequently overlooked. There are at least three levels at which one may read the Inspired Version. The first and simplest level is to compare it with the King James Version to find the variant readings. The second and perhaps the most informative level is to analyze each variant to determine the actual change in meaning that resulted from the Inspired Version rendition. The third and most difficult level is to examine the Inspired Version not only for content but also for style. This level is not limited to what is said but also involves an analysis of how it is said. The third level is particularly important because it deals with the question of whether the Inspired Version is a restoration of the original text of the Bible. Although not all of the variants in the Inspired Version are suitable for this kind of critical examination, a number of passages are thus suited, and these are highly interesting and even provocative when analyzed. Such passages have characteristics about them which strongly suggest inspiration and even restoration of the original text in some instances.
Book of Mormon Scriptures > Ether
The wheel is a basic mechanical device regarded by most scholars as one indication of a higher civilization. The earliest known use of the wheel is depicted on a limestone relief in Mesopotamia and indicates the use of a cart dating c. 3500 BC. For many years, scientific investigation has failed to produce information supporting the use of the wheel in Ancient America. Lately, however, there have been some artifacts found which are of serious interest to the student in this field, which is further supported by
Articles
Articles
Reprinted in The Ancient State: The Rulers and the Ruled, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 10.
Nibley traces some interesting parallels in educational matters and especially in campus unrest in the decade after 1960 with the medieval world. — Midgley
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning > Brigham Young University (BYU)
Brigham Young University Studies Vol. 10 (1969 — 1970)
Articles
Articles
Articles
This article deals with defining the exact date of Alvin Smith’s death which helps the author to pinpoint the visits of Moroni.
While much that has been said regarding the origin of the Book of Mormon is beyond the experience of the average searcher, only as he accepts or rejects the credibility of the earliest witnesses, the existence of the book itself provides a common ground for careful investigation. But beyond this, some surviving, badly weathered fragments of the original manuscript permit a consideration of the Book of Mormon from a paleographic standpoint. It is the purpose of this study to review the history, and consider the handwriting and composition of the remaining segments of the original manuscript for what they may contribute to the credibility of early witnesses regarding the Book of Mormon origin.
The biographer of Joseph Smith’s early life will know his subject when he relies on sources that know their subject. This truism is more obvious in statement than application, for non-Mormon biography has not faced the severe limitations of the uniformly hostile affidavits taken by a sworn enemy of the Mormon Prophet. The image thus obtained is sharply discordant from the Joseph Smith documented in the 1830’s: a leader of physical prowess and vigorous manhood, a profound idealist with spontaneous humor and warmth, who displayed personal courage under tremendous odds. A similar youth in the 1820’s is discovered, not by editing out non-Mormon sources, but finding those non-Mormon sources that reflect definite contact with Joseph Smith. Such a study shows that collecting informed statements about the Prophet will produce a substantial favorable judgment. Although initial collection of statements against Joseph Smith is an oft-told story, its outline is a necessary background for the affidavits to be analyzed. D. P. Hurlbut, excommunicated twice by LDS tribunals for immorality; became so personally vindictive that he was put under a court order restraining him from doing harm to the person or property of Joseph Smith. He was next “employed” by an anti-Mormon public committee to gather evidence to “completely divest Joseph Smith of all claims to the character of an honest man. . . .” To achieve this goal he traveled to New York and procured statements at Palmyra Village, the largest business center adjacent to the Smith farm and also at Manchester, the rural district that included “Stafford Street.” Cornelius Stafford, then twenty, later remembered that Hurlbut arrived at “our school house and took statements about the bad character of the Mormon Smith family, and saw them swear to them.” The Painesville, Ohio, editor, E. D. Howe, replaced Hurlbut as a respectable author, and published the affidavits in Mormonism Unvailed (1834), laying the cornerstone of anti-Mormon historiography. Howe lived to see the solidity of the edifice, observing forty-four years afterward in his memoirs that the book “has been the basis of all the histories which have appeared from time to time since that period touching that people.” More accurately, Howe’s writing was insignificant, but the Palmyra-Manchester affidavits published by him have introduced Joseph Smith in every major non-Mormon study from 1834 to the present. Yet even supposedly definitive studies display no investigation of the individuals behind the Hurlbut statements, nor much insight into their community.
On September 2, 1829, a new paper was born in Palmyra, New York, called The Reflector and published by O. Dogberry, Jun. The object of the papers was to “correct the morals and improve the mind.” O. Dogberry was the pseudonym for a certain Esquire Cole, an ex-justice of the peace, who had obtained access on Sundays and evenings to the use of the idle E. B. Grandin & Co. press, the same press which was being used to print the Book of Mormon. Apparently rumors and gossip about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon were widespread; and Esquire Cole, who looked upon Joseph as an impostor, printed rather tart comments about him and the Book of Mormon.
With the many branch, ward, and stake organizations which currently bedeck the international scene of Mormonism, it is understandable that the activities of a small branch of Saints at Colesville, Broome County, New York, could have been virtually forgotten with the passage of time. Yet, at the close of 1830, it was one of some five principal branches serving as focal points for the gathering of the faithful in the new Church. Fayette, Seneca County, New York, served as the headquarters of the Church, while other branches existed at Colesville; Kirtland and Mentor, Geauga County, Ohio; and Warrensville, Cayahoga County, Ohio. The Colesville Branch was personally inaugurated by the Prophet Joseph Smith and its membership played a significant role in the initial years of the new dispensation. Drawn by Joseph’s affirmation of communication with the heavens and the supportive evidences contained in the Book of Mormon, the Colesville Saints gave impetus to the missionary zeal of the Restoration and provided elements of needed leadership for the rapidly expanding faith. From the very inception of “Mormonism,” the Saints comprising the Colesville Branch linked their lives inexorably with the Restored Gospel and the volume which had inspired their conversion, the Book of Mormon. They relinquished family, friends, homes and material comforts in pursuit of their testimonies. The Prophet Joseph Smith was not unmindful of these sacrifices. On August 22, 1842, while making entries in the Book of the Law of the Lord, he paid tribute to certain of the Colesville membership, which might well be applied to them all.
No abstract available.
Articles
No abstract available.
Old Testament Scriptures > Genesis
Old Testament Topics > Women in the Old Testament
No abstract available.
In 1880 James T. Cobb, a graduate of Dartmouth and Amherst colleges and a resident of Salt Lake City, was making an attempt to establish the falsity of the Book of Mormon through an extensive examination of its origins. Among those to whom he directed letters of inquiry was William E. McLellan, whose close association with Joseph Smith and the witnesses of the Book of Mormon in the early years of the Church made him an appropriate subject for correspondence. William E. McLellan joined the Church in 1831. Although he became an early critic of Joseph Smith and other Church leaders, he nevertheless progressed to top leadership positions and on February 15, 1835, he was ordained as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Yet due to his criticism of Church leadership he was excommunicated in 1838. The testimony reproduced in this article, written in reply to James T. Cobb’s inquiry, is significant because despite McLellan’s disillusionment with Joseph Smith, he nevertheless was unable to deny his conviction that the Book of Mormon was what it claimed to be.