BYU Studies
Alphabetical by Title

When the priesthood was extended to blacks in 1978, faithful followers rejoiced and a new day dawned in Africa. Senior missionary couples soon arrived in Ghana, and within a year four hundred people were baptized, many coming from congregations that were patterned after the Church and that had operated unofficially for more than a decade. With Church growth came persecution. Rumors spread that both the organization and the missionaries were American spies. In June 1989, the Ghanaian government instituted an eighteen-month “Freeze,” forcing all Church activities to cease. The Freeze was lifted in 1991. The number of stakes has now multiplied, with a temple dedicated in 2004. “Walking in the sand,” a Ghanaian expression meaning “alive and well,” aptly describes the Latter-day Saints in Ghana.

A story that includes spiritualist séances, conspiracy, and an important church trial, Wayward Saints chronicles the 1870s challenge of a group of British Mormon intellectuals to Brigham Young’s leadership and authority. William S. Godbe and his associates protested against Young because they disliked his demanding community and resented what they perceived to be Young’s intrusion into matters of personal choice. Excommunicated from the Church, they established the “New Movement,” which eventually faltered. Both a study in intellectual history and an investigation of religious dissent, Wayward Saints explores nineteenth-century American spiritualism as well as the ideas and intellectual structure of first- and second-generation Mormonism. A compelling story, and the author has a compelling way of drawing the reader into it. I recommend it. —Klaus Hansen, author of Mormonism and the American Experience

Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham: Articles from BYU Studies. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
A history of “The Book of Breathings” as well as a description of what it is.

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

During his lifetime, Joseph spoke fairly often about his First Vision. Historians have grouped these accounts by author: four written by Joseph, five composed by others, and a dozen later reminiscences by people who heard him tell of the experience.1 In addressing a variety of audiences, both formally and informally, these accounts consistently speak of the Father and the Son as two separate personages, who are described as having bodies and looking like each other. The Father called Joseph by name. They both spoke to him in English. He was told that his prayers were answered, that his sins were forgiven, that he should not join any of the existing churches, that he should keep God’s commandments, and many other things. He was left wholly exhausted but completely filled with love and joy, knowing that God had a work for him to do. In many ways, this experience was both spiritual and physical. Twenty-three years later, on Sunday, April 2, 1843, in Ramus, Illinois, Joseph spoke more clearly than ever before about the tangible nature of the exalted bodies of God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. He also stated how those two divine beings relate to and are different from the Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead. He said, “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit” (D&C 130:22).

This article deals with defining the exact date of Alvin Smith’s death which helps the author to pinpoint the visits of Moroni.

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.

The Willie Handcart Company offers new insights into the experiences of this group, which sailed from Liverpool, England, in May 1856 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley five months later. With limited funds and resources, these faithful Latter-day Saints pulled their belongings in handcarts over the Mormon Trail and endured some of the most severe hardships of all those who gathered to Zion. On September 7, for example, after the best oxen were lost in a stampede, flour was taken from one of the company’s few wagons and distributed among the handcarts, according to each man’s strength. James Hurren, age 29, put five of the 100-pound sacks on his handcart, along with his family’s baggage and two small girls who were unable to walk. This extra weight burdened his handcart considerably yet he didn’t complain. Later, on October 19, a member of the rescue party sent by Brigham Young gave Emily Hill, age 20, an onion because she looked starved. Instead of eating it, she gave it to a man who lay on the ground close to death. The man later said this kindness saved his life. These and other heroic sacrifices offer threads of devotion and courage that have enriched the tapestry of spiritual triumph for generations to follow. To illuminate the Willie Company’s daily experiences, Paul D. Lyman includes portions of journals, personal histories, newspapers, maps, and other historical documents. He also has compiled 89 new, detailed maps that show the company’s daily path and campsites. These maps contain modern driving routes and directions for those hardy enough to experience the Saints’ journey firsthand.

Throughout his long life, Martin Harris consistently testified that he knew Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon from golden plates. At first affiliated with Joseph Smith and the main body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for a time Harris associated with a schism led by James J. Strang. He served a mission in England in 1846 for the Strangites, but he claimed to the end of his life that he never preached against Mormonism or against the Book of Mormon. Indeed, he was a powerful witness of the Book of Mormon during his mission.

Here are the papers presented at the international academic conference held at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in recognition of the bicentennial of Joseph Smith’s birth. These remarkable articles aim to elucidate Joseph’s life and mission by positioning him—to the degree possible—within the larger framework of American spirituality and world religions. These papers examine the worlds of Joseph Smith, past, present, and future. Session 1 explores the early-nineteenth-century world of his day. Session 2 examines the ancient worlds with which he interacted. Session 3 introduces readers to Joseph Smith at a personal level, showing the breadth of his influence, the depths of his relationships, and the heights of his revelations. Session 4 explains the theological world that his revelations challenged, both temporally and spiritually. Session 5 develops issues ­relating to the future and his efforts to build up the kingdom of God and establish Zion throughout the world. Presenters included Latter-day Saint and other Christian scholars from Brigham Young University, Columbia University, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pepperdine University, Roanoke College, the University of Richmond in Virginia, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, and the University of Durham in England.

“Now for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.” So lamented Moses in utter humility after seeing in vision the complexities of the planet Earth and her countless inhabitants. Shortly thereafter Moses was to see once again the earth and her. Imagine, however, his profound astonishment when, in answer to his plea for an explanation, the Lord revealed himself to Moses and told him of even more wondrous creations. “And worlds without number have I created. . . . For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power.” Other heavens and earths had already expired. New heavens, star systems with inhabitable planets, would be born in the distant future. Moses would surely have felt even more insignificant had not the Lord reassured him with his presence and the counsel that “all things are numbered unto me.”