BYU Studies
Alphabetical by Authors

The talks collected in this volume are drawn from John S. Tanner’s later years at Brigham Young University, prior to his appointment as president of BYU–Hawaii. They contain a record of how, as an administrator, he tried to keep the dream of BYU alive. More broadly, they speak to a vision of learning that has been central to Latter-day Saint doctrine and practice from the earliest days of the Church. He calls it learning in the light (see Psalm 36:9). Bruce C. Hafen observes, Since I began teaching at BYU forty-five years ago, I have heard many talks and read many essays about BYU’s spiritual and intellectual mission. I’ve not heard that mission described more eloquently or with more insight than in John’s work. At his best, he is reminiscent of Elder Neal A. Maxwell, with whom he has much in common—intuitive confidence in gospel premises as the best foundation for sound reasoning; a high degree of awareness about cultural context; equally fluent, even native-tongued, in both the language of the scriptures and the language of liberal education; meek, bright, and empathic.

Poetry. No abstract available.

The literary giants of early nineteenth-century England did not foster nor usher in the restoration of the gospel. Indeed, as we have seen, the only one of these giants who knew about Mormonism was Wordsworth, and his sole recorded response, on earth, was hostility. My aim, then, instead, is to explore what happened to prevent the kind of spiritual marriage between the gospel message and English poetry which would seem almost expectable and which Shelley even seems to have envisioned. I will suggest, and suggest only, for proof in matters of mental and artistic and social influences seems impossible, one key ingredient in the literary context of the day which seems likely to have poisoned the atmosphere which in so many other ways seemed so likely to be receptive. The element of the literary context on which I shall focus is the discovery of a variety of treasures of ancient writings, all of which are bound to remind us in one way or another of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

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.”

A previously unknown oil sketch by Minerva Teichert (1888–1976), the pioneering LDS woman artist, was recently acquired by an art collector when it came up for sale in Salt Lake City. This small painting depicts the temptation of Corianton, a son of Alma in the Book of Mormon. The painting had been owned for many years by a Wyoming rancher who received it from Teichert as a birthday gift when he was a boy in the early 1950s. This article introduces The Seduction of Corianton, including a full-color scan of the painting.

This popular text, used throughout the Church for the study of world religions, has been revised and expanded. Two additional authors, several new chapters, a number of new illustrations, and much updated material add fresh perspectives to the former edition’s tried-and-true approach. The result portrays the vivid spectrum of truth as it extends across cultures and religious systems. The book presents a…

In 1875, a few days before the first missionaries to Mexico were to depart, Brigham Young changed his mind: rather than have them travel to California where they would take a steamer down the coast and then go by foot or horseback inland to Mexico City, Brigham asked if they would mind making the trip by horseback, going neither to California nor Mexico City, but through Arizona to the northern Mexican state of Sonora—a round trip of 3,000 miles! He instructed them to look along the way for places to settle and to determine whether the Lamanites were ready to receive the gospel. But Brigham Young had other things in mind: the Saints might need another place of refuge, and advanced exploration was a logical course to pursue, should that need ever arise. The most promising site for such a refuge lay to the south, perhaps Mexico.

The sermons published here provide us with insight into what messages the Smiths might have heard at Western Presbyterian. At the very least, they provide the opportunity to examine the Presbyterian message—or, rather, one example of it—on its own terms rather than through the vituperative war of words between the early Latterday Saints and their detractors. The sermons are revealing not because of any unusual eloquence or contribution to Presbyterian theology, but rather because Townsend preached on very typical subjects: the sinfulness of all human beings, the urgency of repentance, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the sovereignty of God.

Though the Book of Mormon expressly states that it is written in the “language of the Egyptians,” (1 Nephi 1:2), nevertheless, it quite clearly reflects a number of Hebrew idioms and contains numerous Hebrew words. This is no doubt due to the fact that the Nephites retained the Hebrew language, albeit in an altered form (See Mormon 9:35). Moreover, it is not impossible that the plates themselves contained Hebrew words, idioms,and syntax written in Egyptian cursive script (Moroni’s “reformed Egyptian”—see Mormon 9:32). In this present treatise, we will not be concerned so much with the methodology involved in the writing of the Book of Mormon as with the evidence for the use of Hebrew expressions, or of expressions akin thereto. Only the more important examples will be cited.