Dadson shares his experience of gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon while a young teenager at boarding school in Ghana. He was blessed through clean living, studying the Book of Mormon, and paying his tithing.

Dahl reviews many of the major works of numerous authors who between 1800 and 1840 were using archaeology and conjecture to explain the origins of the mound-builders. He compares these works to Bryant’s poems “The Prairies” and “Thanatopsies” Concerning the Book of Mormon, Dahl writes that it is “certainly the most influential of all Mound-Builder literature,” and that “whether one wishes to accept it as divinely inspired or as the work of Joseph Smith, it fits exactly into the tradition”

The concept of hell plays a prominent role in the Book of Mormon. The term “hell” is attested sixty-two times in the Book of Mormon. Addresses the following questions regarding hell: Is hell temporary or permanent? What does it mean to die in our sins? Can one repent in hell? Can one receive the gospel and improve his/her condition between death and the resurrection?

Larry Dahl explores some of the teachings of the Book of Mormon concerning faith, hope, and charity. He discusses the meanings of these words, their relationships to each other, how they are acquired, and what their fruits are. Faith, hope, and charity must be centered in Christ. The first principle of the gospel is not just faith, it is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must obtain not just hope, but a hope in Christ. Likewise, charity is not just love, it is the pure love of Christ.

Este texto de la presentation en video fue preparado por la facultad del Instituto de Religion de Portland.

The Lectures on Faith are among the oldest of LDS writings. They formed the basis for doctrinal studies in the School for the Elders during the winter of 1834–35 and ever since have been highly valued in the Church. They constitute a substantial historical and doctrinal heritage from early Restoration years. Bringing together in one volume the background, the history, the text, and an informed and stimulating commentary, this book makes a major contribution to an understanding of the subject and therefore to the reader’s efforts to live the great principle of faith in Jesus Christ. ISBN 0-8849-4725-4

After the announcement of the intent to rebuild the Nauvoo Temple, there was much discussion in the town about why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would want to build such a large building in such a small place and what impact it might have on Nauvoo. Questions were raised about the vast potential increase in the number of visitors to Nauvoo, as well as whether large numbers of Church members would come to settle in Nauvoo permanently, significantly affecting the political and cultural environment. Additional interest focused on the whole history of the Mormons in Nauvoo. Those ideas, attitudes, and feelings of residents were captured in this collection of interviews. Twenty-six Nauvoo residents were interviewed and their answers recorded in this volume. ISBN 978-0-8425-2526-8

Abstract: In this article, we offer a general critique of scholarship that has argued for Joseph Smith’s reliance on 1 Enoch or other ancient pseudepigrapha for the Enoch chapters in the Book of Moses. Our findings highlight the continued difficulties of scholars to sustain such arguments credibly. Following this general critique, we describe the current state of research relating to what Salvatore Cirillo took to be the strongest similarity between Joseph Smith’s chapters on Enoch and the Qumran Book of Giants — namely the resemblance between the name Mahawai in the Book of Giants and Mahujah/Mahijah in Joseph Smith’s Enoch account. We conclude this section with summaries of conversations of Gordon C. Thomasson and Hugh Nibley with Book of Giants scholar Matthew Black about these names. Next, we explain why even late and seemingly derivative sources may provide valuable new evidence for the antiquity of Moses 6–7 or may corroborate details from previously known Enoch sources. By way of example, we summarize preliminary research that compares passages in Moses 6–7 to newly available ancient Enoch texts from lesser known sources. We conclude with a discussion of the significance of findings that situate Joseph Smith’s Enoch account in an ancient milieu. Additional work is underway to provide a systematic and detailed analysis of ancient literary affinities in Moses 6–7, including an effort sponsored by Book of Mormon Central in collaboration with The Interpreter Foundation.

Review of Colby Townsend, “Returning to the Sources: Integrating Textual Criticism in the Study of Early Mormon Texts and History.” Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies 10, no. 1 (2019): 55–85, https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/imwjournal/vol10/iss1/6/.
Abstract: Textual criticism tries by a variety of methods to understand the “original” or “best” wording of a document that may exist in multiple, conflicting versions or where the manuscripts are confusing or difficult to read. The present article, Part 1 of a two-part series by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and Ryan Dahle, commends Colby Townsend’s efforts to raise awareness of the importance of textual criticism, while differing on some interpretations. Among the differences discussed is the question of whether it is better to read Moses 7:28 as it was dictated in Old Testament 1 version of the Joseph Smith Translation manuscript (OT1) that “God wept,” or rather to read it as it was later revised in the Old Testament 2 version (OT2) that “Enoch wept.” Far from being an obscure technical detail, the juxtaposition of the two versions of this verse raises general questions as to whether readings based on the latest revisions of Latter-day Saint scripture manuscripts should always take priority over the original dictations. A dialogue with Colby Townsend and Charles Harrell on rich issues of theological and historical relevance demonstrates the potential impact of the different answers to such questions by different scholars. In a separate discussion that highlights the potential significance of handwriting analysis to textual criticism, Bradshaw and Dahle respond to Townsend’s arguments that the spelling difference between the names Mahujah and Mahijah in the Book of Moses may be due to a transcription error.

Review of Colby Townsend, “Returning to the Sources: Integrating Textual Criticism in the Study of Early Mormon Texts and History,” Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies 10, no. 1 (2019): 55–85, https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/imwjournal/vol10/iss1/6/.
Abstract: In the present article, Part 2 of 2 of a set of articles supporting Colby Townsend’s efforts to raise awareness of the importance of textual criticism, we focus on his argument that Joseph Smith created the Book of Moses names Mahijah and Mahujah after seeing a table of name variants in the Hebrew text of Genesis 4:18 in a Bible commentary written by Adam Clarke. While we are not averse in principle to the general possibility that Joseph Smith may have relied on study aids as part of his translation of the Bible, we discuss why in this case such a conjecture raises more questions than it answers. We argue that a common ancient source for Mahujah and Mahijah in the Book of Moses and similar names in the Bible and an ancient Dead Sea Scrolls Enoch text named the Book of Giants cannot be ruled out. More broadly, we reiterate and expand upon arguments we have made elsewhere that the short and fragmentary Book of Giants, a work not discovered until 1948, contains much more dense and generally more pertinent resemblances to Moses 6‒7 than the much longer 1 Enoch, the only ancient Enoch text outside the Bible that was published and translated into English in Joseph Smith’s lifetime.

If you will remain on the Lord’s side of the line, the adversary cannot come there to tempt you.

Early Semitic temple and religious practices one thousand years before Israel entered Canaan

This article gives evidence that indicates that cotton seeds from the Old World were transported across the ocean and interbred with wild cotton plants to produce a superior New World plant that was then cultivated.

Let us establish clearly our priorities in life. Let us go to the sacrament table repenting of our sins and renewing our covenants on a weekly basis. Let us serve others. Let us fast from critical talk and worldly behavior. Let us feast upon the Word.

We want to see Jesus for who He is and to feel His love.

Abstract: Dr. Michael Coe is a prominent Mesoamerican scholar and author of a synthesis and review of ancient Mesoamerican Indian cultures entitled The Maya.
Dr. Coe is also a prominent skeptic of the Book of Mormon. However, there is in his book strong evidence that favors the Book of Mormon, which Dr. Coe has not taken into account. This article analyzes that evidence, using Bayesian statistics. We apply a strongly skeptical prior assumption that the Book of Mormon “has little to do with early Indian cultures,” as Dr. Coe claims. We then compare 131 separate positive correspondences or points of evidence between the Book of Mormon and Dr. Coe’s book. We also analyze negative points of evidence between the Book of Mormon and The Maya, between the Book of Mormon and a 1973 Dialogue article written by Dr. Coe, and between the Book of Mormon and a series of Mormon Stories podcast interviews given by Dr. Coe to Dr. John Dehlin. After using the Bayesian methodology to analyze both positive and negative correspondences, we reach an enormously stronger and very positive conclusion. There is overwhelming evidence that the Book of Mormon has physical, political, geographical, religious, military, technological, and cultural roots in ancient Mesoamerica. As a control, we have also analyzed two other books dealing with ancient American Indians: View of the Hebrews and Manuscript Found. We compare both books with The Maya using the same statistical methodology and demonstrate that this methodology leads to rational conclusions about whether or not such books describe peoples and places similar to those described in The Maya.

Abstract: We do not have the Book of Mormon metal plates available to us. We cannot heft them, examine the engravings, or handle the leaves of that ancient record as did the Three Witnesses, the Eight Witnesses, and the many other witnesses to both the existence and nature of the plates. In such a situation, what more can we learn about the physical nature of the plates without their being present for our inspection? Building on available knowledge, this article estimates the total surface area of the plates using two independent approaches and finds that the likely surface area was probably between 30 and 86 square feet, or roughly 15% of the surface area of the paper on which the English version of the Book of Mormon is now printed.

Abstract: Dr. Michael Coe is a prominent Mesoamerican scholar and author of a synthesis and review of ancient Mesoamerican Indian cultures entitled The Maya.
Dr. Coe is also a prominent skeptic of the Book of Mormon. However, there is in his book strong evidence that favors the Book of Mormon, which Dr. Coe has not taken into account. This article analyzes that evidence, using Bayesian statistics. We apply a strongly skeptical prior assumption that the Book of Mormon “has little to do with early Indian cultures,” as Dr. Coe claims. We then compare 131 separate positive correspondences or points of evidence between the Book of Mormon and Dr. Coe’s book. We also analyze negative points of evidence between the Book of Mormon and The Maya, between the Book of Mormon and a 1973 Dialogue article written by Dr. Coe, and between the Book of Mormon and a series of Mormon Stories podcast interviews given by Dr. Coe to Dr. John Dehlin. After using the Bayesian methodology to analyze both positive and negative correspondences, we reach an enormously stronger and very positive conclusion. There is overwhelming evidence that the Book of Mormon has physical, political, geographical, religious, military, technological, and cultural roots in ancient Mesoamerica. As a control, we have also analyzed two other books dealing with ancient American Indians: View of the Hebrews and Manuscript Found. We compare both books with The Maya using the same statistical methodology and demonstrate that this methodology leads to rational conclusions about whether or not such books describe peoples and places similar to those described in The Maya.

Fellow graduates, think for a moment upon ways in which you have been blessed. Perhaps foremost among our blessings, and far more valuable than an automobile, is an education at one of the finest institutions in the world.

When we are modest, we reflect in our outward actions and appearance that we understand what God expects us to do.

As you stand as a witness, obey the commandments, and press forward with “a steadfastness in Christ,” you will never be alone.

Stand firm. Be steadfast. “Stand for truth and righteousness.” Stand as a witness. Be a standard to the world. Stand in holy places.

Believe in yourselves. Believe that you are never alone. Believe that you will always be guided.

Your personal virtue will … enable you to make the decisions that will help you be worthy to enter the temple.

Prepare now so that you may qualify to receive all the blessings that await you in the Lord’s holy temples.

You may not have heard the Lord call you by name, but He knows each one of you and He knows your name.

You reflect His light. Your example will have a powerful effect for good on the earth.

Do you understand why it is so important to remain clean and pure?

How can a father raise a happy, well-adjusted daughter in today’s increasingly toxic world? The answer has been taught by the Lord’s prophets.

As daughters of God, you were born to lead.

You can press forward with vision. The Holy Ghost will help you remain steadfast, and your testimony of the Savior will help you proceed with a perfect brightness of hope.

You have been reserved to be here now on account of your exceeding faith in the premortal existence in our Heavenly Father’s plan. Your life also has a plan, and, as you trust in the Lord, you will see that plan unfold in miraculous ways.

There is no more beautiful sight than a young woman who glows with the light of the Spirit, who is confident and courageous because she is virtuous.

Now is the time for each of us to arise and unfurl a banner to the world calling for a return to virtue.

Sometimes we think we can live on the edge and still maintain our virtue. But that is a risky place to be.

As daughters of God we are each unique and different in our circumstances and experiences. And yet our part matters—because we matter.

Temple work is the work that we have been prepared to do. It is a work for every generation, including and especially the youth.

I truly believe that one virtuous young woman or young man, led by the Spirit, can change the world! But before we can change the world, we must change ourselves.

The gospel of Jesus Christ gives us the strength and the eternal perspective to face what is coming with good cheer.

We cannot choose to serve God and the world at the same time.

It is beneficial for all of us to examine periodically where we spend our time and money and realize that this denotes the state of our hearts. As we adapt to simplicity, we feel more joy and gratitude. We appreciate more fully what we already have.

To help celebrate our 50th anniversary, Doris R. Dant has compiled a new book of personal essays titled Adventures of the Soul: The Best Creative Nonfiction from BYU Studies. Expect startling disclosures if you open this book, for these are personal essays—the reality show of literature. Sometimes with brutal candor, these essays trace gospel messages in the lives of the humble. A Xhosa black man with three teeth and a perfectly round head becomes the Savior of all races. A young mother recognizes her entire body belongs to her children—“take, eat!” A harmonica player is awakened and washed by irrigation water, the water of life. A returned missionary learns to see God’s mysterious hand in the life of a former foe. Miracles, love, pain, the substance of life—all can be found in these stories. “Adventures is a page-turner! When there is a point to be illustrated in a talk or a family home evening discussion, readers are likely to reach for this book.” — Karen Lynn Davidson author of Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and the Messages and coeditor of Eliza R. Snow: The Complete Poetry “The stories are compelling because we see ourselves in them and sometimes the author sounds just like us.” — Richard Neitzel Holzapfel Director, Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University “The essays in this volume will provoke reactions from tears to laughter and give readers a window into the richness of the Mormon experience in the modern world.” — Nathan B. Oman Assistant Professor at William and Mary Law School

Since 1998 the Brigham Young University Museum of Art has hosted the biennial Art, Belief, Meaning Symposium. The purpose of the symposium is to provide an opportunity for Latter-day Saint artists, critics, and commentators to contribute to the ongoing discussion about issues related to art and spirituality. Our goal is to articulate our interest in the making of art that not only is relevant and meaningful for our day, but which also bears witness and gives perspective to the realities that flow from the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The symposium provides a welcome forum for discussion regarding issues that have always concerned serious religious artists: • What is the role of the artist in relation to the mission of the Church? • What is the place of self expression, belief, and inspiration in religious art? • Do artists have a “mission” through their work? • How does individual testimony find expression in the work of the artist? • Does religion create untenable tensions in the expression of the artist? • What is the relationship between idea and technique in religious art? • Can religious art find expression through contemporary art movements? This series provides an opportunity for like-minded believers, those with deep and often passionate interests in the arts, to come together, reason together, and benefit from each others’ points of view. Hopefully others who find themselves confronted by similar issues will benefit from a careful reading of these essays.

Elder M. Russell Ballard once said, Inspired art speaks in the language of eternity, teaching things to the heart that the eyes and ears can never understand. Students and scholars at Brigham Young University discuss art in our theology in this new publication entitled Art, Belief, Meaning. The articles in this volume come from the proceedings of the 2003 Art, Belief, and Meaning symposium. This volume starts by analyzing some of the challenges of being a Latter-day Saint artist. Examples include Pat Debenham’s “Seduction of Our Gifts” and Tanya Rizzuti’s “Imparting One to Another: The Role of Humility, Charity, and Consecration within an Artistic Community.” The next section deals with the aesthetics of art. Articles in this section like Grant L. Lunds’s “What Makes a Good Image? What Makes a Good Life?” and Bruce H. Smith’s “What Can You Do with an Eclair?” help us to understand what makes art beautiful. The last section looks at the role of postmodernism in art. Some articles include “Taking Off Our Shoes: On Seeing the Other Religiously” by Keith H. Lane, and Nancy Andruk’s “Accountability, Efficacy, and Postmodernism.”

For Minerva Teichert there were only two reasons to paint--“either a thing must be very beautiful or it must be an important story.” She loved and lived the truths of the Book of the Mormon; it was the important story she felt determined to tell through her masterful art. The Book of Mormon Paintings of Minerva Teichert is her complete series of Book of Mormon murals--each one a story by itself. From the sons of Lehi, presenting their wealth to Laban in exchange for the brass plates, to Christ appearing at the temple in Bountiful, Minerva Teichert captured the teachings and drama of the Book of Mormon. From the beginning her dream was to teach the Book of Mormon through her painting. She adopted a statement from the dean of American mural painters, Edwin H. Blashfield, as her own: “The decoration in a building which belongs to the public must speak to the people--to the man on the street. It must embody thought and significance, and that so plainly that he who runs may read.” This was her goal for her Book of Mormon murals. She also dreamed of publishing the series in a book but never realized that goal. This publication is, in some measure, a fulfillment of that dream. One hundred color plates, assembled here for the first time, tell the story Teichert felt inspired to share through her painting. An overview of Teichert’s mural techniques and personal motivations complements the paintings and sketches. Scriptures, captions, and excerpts from her letters enrich the presentation of these works throughout the book. The Book of Mormon Paintings of Minerva Teichert is certain to inspire any reader--expert or novice. More important, this collection displays the truths that Teichert so strongly believed: that Jesus is the Christ and the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

From living in a dugout called the Castle of Spiders to eating so many weeds their skin took on a green cast to losing four children in just a few weeks to diphtheria, nearly everything imaginable happened to the Mormon settlers of Utah Territory. Here are the details of the lives of the common people⿿what they ate, wore, lived in, and celebrated, how they worshipped, and why they endured. Here are the details of the lives of the common people, those who traveled in the dust of the leaders. What they ate, wore, lived in, and celebrated. How they worshiped. Why they endured. This volume begins with Marlin K. Jensen’s eulogy of the uncommonly heroic common Saint. Twenty-one renowned historians then apply nearly every type of source and method imaginable to capture pioneer life’s ordinary rhythms and cycles. In Nearly Everything Imaginable, you’ll find hundreds of vignettes from Utah’s early settlers, including these: Old and young would gather for dancing; everybody came early and left about the midnight hour. The bedrooms opening from the hall were generally filled with babies snugly tucked away, while the mothers enjoyed the dance. The huge fireplaces at either end of the hall were piled high with dry cedar fagots, the flames from which leaped and danced up the chimneys. Candles held in place by three nails driven into wooden brackets were ranged high along the walls. Tickets were paid for in any kind of produce that the fiddlers could be induced to accept. Usually a couple of two-bushel sacks could be seen near the door, into which the dancers deposited their contributions. Father made a plow out of a big forked stock and we boys held it in place while our father pulled it. The stock plow was made of quaking aspen. He fastened it to himself by a strap. We plowed two and a half acres that way, and planted wheat. I always remembered that picture of my father doing the work of a horse.

To create a home-court advantage for every member of the campus community, organizational efforts must be matched by individual efforts. This is a one-on-one, personal, individual ministry, and we need everyone!

Discusses attempts to discredit the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Refers to Alexander Campbell, the Spaulding theory, and the Woodbridge Riley Theory. The best evidences of the divinity of the Book of Mormon are found within its own pages.

The Book of Mormon came by way of the Gentiles because of the destruction of the Nephites and rejection by the House of Israel. The book is to be used to gather Israel.

A dictionary dealing with angels. Includes an entry on Moroni, describing him as “the Mormon angel of God, son of Mormon, the last great leader of the Nephites” Notes the statue of Moroni on the Hill Cumorah.

A church member who has loved the Book of Mormon since childhood and who takes it for granted that the Book of Mormon is central to LDS class instruction, general conference addresses, and missionary discussions is likely to be surprised that we have only six Book of Mormon hymns in our 1985 hymnbook. Early hymn writers turned to the Book of Mormon itself for their texts. Twelve Book of Mormon hymns were introduced into Mormon hymnody by Emma Smith’s first hymnal, but the Book of Mormon as a theme almost disappeared from later hymnals. Only one hymn relating to the Book of Mormon was among the forty-nine new hymns added to the 1985 hymnal. In this article, Book of Mormon hymns are listed, discussed, and categorized. Most of the Book of Mormon hymns that have been written are narrative, rather than devotional. Each new hymnbook must meet the needs of its age. Devotional hymns are likely to be more forthcoming as literary appreciation of the Book of Mormon continues to grow.

Hymns by Eliza R. Snow—such as “O My Father,” “Behold the Great Redeemer Die,” and “How Great the Wisdom and the Love”—evoke powerful religious imagery. In her hymns and in her hundreds of other poems, Snow captured nineteenth-century Mormonism, where revelation and history intersected and Latter-day Saints labored for the meeting of heaven and earth they named Zion. Snow’s poems convey many sublime truths about the human condition. As Zion’s honored spokeswoman, no public event in the Mormon community from the 1840s to the 1880s was complete without a contribution from her. “Through [Snow’s poems] the names of many of the actors in the drama of Mormonism, will be handed down to posterity,” wrote Emmeline B. Wells. Intelligent, well-read, and articulate, Snow also had an understanding of the scriptures. Through her position in the inner circles of church leadership, her poetry, and her gifts as a spokeswoman, she became one of the most influential and best-known women in Mormon history. As a result, this collection is as much biographical, historical, and theological as literary.

Review of Sweet is the Word: Reflections on the Book of Mormon? Its Narrative, Teachings, and People (1996), by Marilyn Arnold

The wife of Solomon Spaulding, Matilda Spaulding Davidson, provides reasons why Spaulding wrote Manuscript Found. She believes that the Book of Mormon is built on Manuscript Found and that Sidney Rigdon had access to the manuscript left by Spaulding at the printing office of Mr. Patterson sometime between the years 1812 and 1816.

The wife of Solomon Spaulding, Matilda Spaulding Davidson, provides reasons why Spaulding wrote Manuscript Found. She believes that the Book of Mormon is built on Manuscript Found and that Sidney Rigdon had access to the manuscript left by Spaulding at the printing office of Mr. Patterson sometime between the years 1812 and 1816.

The wife of Solomon Spaulding, Matilda Spaulding Davidson, provides reasons why Spaulding wrote Manuscript Found. She believes that the Book of Mormon is built on Manuscript Found and that Sidney Rigdon had access to the manuscript left by Spaulding at the printing office of Mr. Patterson sometime between the years 1812 and 1816.

The wife of Solomon Spaulding, Matilda Spaulding Davidson, provides reasons why Spaulding wrote Manuscript Found. She believes that the Book of Mormon is built on Manuscript Found and that Sidney Rigdon had access to the manuscript left by Spaulding at the printing office of Mr. Patterson sometime between the years 1812 and 1816.

A presentation of Davies’s testimony of the divinity and truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

Fawn Brodie’s statement in her book No Man Knows My History that “it may in fact have been [Ethan Smith’s] View of the Hebrews that gave Joseph Smith the idea of the Book of Mormon” is not based upon sound reasoning nor is it a historical fact.

Worship is essential and central to our spiritual life. It is something we should yearn for, seek out, and strive to experience.

As we solidify in our lives the practice of listening to and heeding the voice of the living prophets, we will reap eternal blessings.

Our Heavenly Father doesn’t need you to be mighty, intelligent, well dressed, well-spoken, or well inherited. He needs you to incline your hearts to Him and seek to honor Him by serving Him and reaching out in compassion to those around you.

As followers of the Savior, we have a personal responsibility to care for the poor and needy.

Let us accept the Savior’s invitation to come unto Him. Let us build our lives upon a safe and a sure foundation.

A polemical attack on various religious groups that the author considers heretical. Chapter seven is devoted to Mormonism. He finds repugnant the LDS “doctrine of progressive revelations” and considers the Book of Mormon to be a forgery that plagiarizes the Bible, Shakespeare and the Westminster Confession of Faith. This work is reviewed in B.015.

In this tract the author sets about to prove that Mormonism is false and that the Book of Mormon is “a silly fabrication of falsehood and wickedness” States that the Book of Mormon story is fictitious and believes that it represents a plagiarism of Solomon Spaulding’s Manuscript Found.

Mormon scriptures are unusual, unique from any other. They claim the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, the translation of which was done through the Urim and Thummim. The book purports to be the records of pre-Columbian Americans. In reality, it is a fraud or forgery. Mormons have a large amount of written material in their canon that has become as important as the biblical writings.

Over the course of his forty-year career, S. Kent Brown, professor of religious studies, has taught and inspired thousands of students at Brigham Young University and has produced over one hundred publications and several films in the fields of early Christian, Near Eastern, and Mormon studies. Twenty-four scholars, including Leslie S. B. MacCoull, Robert Millett, and Jacob Neusner, have contributed articles to this volume in honor of Brown. Essay topics include archaeology, biblical studies, Coptic studies, early Christian studies, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, Mormon studies, and Quran studies. In addition to these pieces, the book includes a bibliography of works by Brown himself, a citation index, and a subject index. A wonderful testament to Brown’s legacy as a scholar and teacher, Bountiful Harvest provides a variety of perspectives on a broad range of subjects.

The Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, which pub­lishes texts and accompanying English translations of important works of philosophy, theology, science, and mysticism from the classical Islamic period (roughly the 9th through 14th centuries), has announced the publication of a new title in its Islamic Translation Series. Avicenna: The Physics of The Healing, translated by Jon McGinnis, an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy of the University of Missouri, St. Louis, brings to 16 the total number of volumes pub­ lished by METI in its various series.

One of the great lessons to be drawn from the Islamic world of the Middle Ages is that in order for people of varying faiths and persuasions to coexist peacefully, it is not necessary that significant differences between them be settled or even downplayed. Islamic society was vibrant with debate and ideological rivalry. But there was a framework of tolerance that allowed for these differences while preserving basic modes for coexistence. For example, the Islamic caliphates (beginning in the seventh century and continuing into the early modern period) treated the Jews and Christians living within their domains as ahl al-kitab (“People of the Book”), a Qur’anic designation that recognized that these communities, too, worshipped the God of Abraham and had at least part of his truth revealed to them and recorded in their scriptures—the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, respectively. Therefore, these non-Muslims, though not accorded the same legal or social status as Muslims, were nevertheless allowed to practice their religions freely and openly and to participate in the pursuit of knowledge.

Consider this picture: A sandy courtyard some- where on the outskirts of a desert village. A group of boys—ages perhaps 8 to 16—are gathered outside the entrance to a simple, well-worn little building. They are seated or kneeling in the sand, huddled in the last vestiges of the late morning shade. Each holds a text or a tablet. Some are reading, some are looking out to where the pale sky meets a broken line of housetops and trees, reciting, in a quiet murmur to themselves, the words of the book they are holding. Some gently rock back and forth as they read, letting the cadence of their movement compliment the rhythm of the words on the page. Others are writing on tablets of slate or wood. These writers are likewise engaged in the exercise of recitation, but with the pen, setting down line after line from memory. One boy uncrosses his legs, stands up, and steps toward a man who is seated on a little chair in front of the group. As the boy steps forward, his teacher rises and the boy presents his tablet to him. It is written front and back in neat lines of Arabic. Both the teacher and the boy are careful not to smudge the words on the slate. They are sacred words, revealed to a prophet named Muhammad long ago in Mecca, a town on the western edge of Arabia, toward which they have both been praying every day since they were very young.

There are unpleasant topics, and then there are Unpleasant Topics. The latest volume to appear in the Medical Works of Moses Maimonides, On Hemorrhoids, seems the perfect occasion to modestly avert our attention from the actual subject of the book and consider instead the question of its reception. When referring to the reception history of an antique text, scholars have in mind the journey the text has taken. During its long life, what paths have a given text traveled, so to speak? By this we mean not just where has a given physical document turned up, but also where and by whom were the words and ideas it contained copied, translated, paraphrased, summarized, or argued with? Information was precious in the premodern age. The painstaking work required to hand copy or translate texts of any significant length ensured that only those writings that were in real demand received such attention.