This article provides insights on the story of Aaron and the golden calf in the Bible, explaining why Aaron may have decided to make it and why his punishment for doing so was minor in comparison to other biblical reprimands.

Review of Richard Abanes. One Nation under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church.

Todd Parker discusses the meaning of Abinadi’s name and compares his circumstances to those of John the Baptist and his message to that of King Benjamin. He points out legal pretexts for Abinadi’s trial from Old Testament passages, and demonstrates how the priests of King Noah misunderstood the function of prophecy. Abinadi provides several examples of types and shadows pointing to the mission of Christ.

Review of “The Use of Egyptian Magical Papyri to Authenticate the Book of Abraham: A Critical Review” (1993), by Edward H. Ashment.

Idrimi of Alalakh lived in Syria about a century after Abraham and left an autobiographical inscription that is the only such item uncovered archaeologically from Middle Bronze Age Syro-Palestine. The inscription of Idrimi and the Book of Abraham share a number of parallel features and motifs. Some of the parallels are a result of similar experiences in their lives and some are a result of coming from a similar culture and time.

Blake Ostler examines what relationship exists between the papyri of the ancient Egyptian Book of Breathings possessed by Joseph Smith and the Book of Abraham. Ostler finds that Joseph Smith, in associating vignettes of the Book of the Dead to explain Abraham’s experiences, was actually duplicating an ancient practice about which he could not have known from secular sources available in his day.

Stories about Abraham circulated in ancient times and were continued into the medieval period. Many of these accounts were then lost and have come to light only recently. John Tvedtnes examines several such stories— ranging from creation accounts to the attempted sacrifice of Abraham— and shows how they support the Book of Abraham.

Hugh Nibley discusses how Abraham was an ordinary man who held no office and worked no miracles, and yet he was one of the greatest minds of the last forty centuries. Nibley discusses Abraham’s relationship with the temple and gives an overview of the ancient temple. He also shows how the Book of Abraham answers what Nibley calls the “terrible questions”: Where do I come from? Why am I here? How does the universe figure in the gospel? How did it all begin, and how will it all end? Nibley argues that the vision given to Abraham in the Book of Abraham contains stage directions indicating that the vision is dramatized, and the Book of Abraham includes the script.

The prophet Nephi declared that the Lord speaks to his people “according to their language, unto their understanding” (2 Nephi 31:3). Religious beliefs are an integral part of a culture’s shared “language,” and the ways in which individuals interpret supernatural manifestations is typically mediated through their cultural background. The hierophanies recorded in Latter-day Saint canon directly reflect the unique cultural background of the individuals who witnessed them. This paper analyzes several distinct hierophanies witnessed by prophets in both the Old and New Worlds and discusses the cultural context in which such manifestations occur, which aids modern readers in obtaining a greater understanding of the revelatory process recounted in these texts.

This article discusses the importance of recording sacred experiences and preserving other written records.

Utilizing techniques adapted from literary criticism, this paper investigates the narrative structure of the Book of Mormon, particularly the relationship between Nephi’s first-person account and Mormon’s third-person abridgment. A comparison of the order and relative prominence of material from 1 Nephi 12 with the content of Mormon’s historical record reveals that Mormon may have intentionally patterned the structure of his narrative after Nephi’s prophetic vision—a conclusion hinted at by Mormon himself in his editorial comments. With this understanding, readers of the Book of Mormon can see how Mormon’s sometimes unusual editorial decisions are actually guided by an overarching desire to show that Nephi’s prophecies have been dramatically and literally fulfilled in the history of his people.

Butler discusses the premises of the DNA argument between supporters and critics of the Book of Mormon.

In response to the articles in this issue, Peterson notes that Latter-day Saints do not extend themselves to expose and attack other faiths. He further discusses, among other things, an open canon and continuing revelation, salvation as outlined in the scriptures, the ordinances of the gospel, revelation following the incarnation and resurrection of Christ, the biblical canon, inerrancy, biblical texts, the Book of Abraham, and the nature of God.

It is very important for Latter-day Saints to keep pace, more or Less, with the fast-moving developments in the fields of Bible and related studies. By failing to do this we run the risk of laboring to accommodate our religion to scientific and scholarly teachings that have long since been superceded, altered, or completely discarded.

Testifying of the purifying power of Christ in an address entitled “Oh How Surely Christ Sanc­ tifies His Own,” Alan C. Ashton, cofounder of WordPerfect Corporation and Thanksgiving Point, gave the seventh annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture on April 12, 2012.

Review of Step by Step through the Book of Mormon: The Story in Scriptures? A Geographical, Cultural, and Historical System of Understanding (1996), and Step by Step through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary, Part 1?Through the Wilderness to the Promised Land (1996), by Alan C. Miner

Review of “A Hemeneutic of Sacred Texts: Historicism, Revisionism, Postitiveism, and the Bible and Book of Mormon” (1989), by Alan Goff.

After Joseph Smith received the gold plates from the angel Moroni, he had to take great measures to protect them from people who wanted to steal them for their monetary value. Although Joseph did not leave much documentation of such experiences, the people who were closely associated with him at the time did. Using what records still exist, Hedges pieces together some of the stories of Joseph’s challenges in obtaining and protecting the gold plates.

Review of Fun for Family Night: Book of Mormon Edition (1990), by Allan K. Burgess and Max H. Molgard.

Review of Living the Book of Mormon: A Guide to Understanding and Applying Its Principles in Today's World (1991), by Allen K. Burgess.

Review of Timely Truths from the Book of Mormon (1995), by Allan K. Burgess

In the Book of Mormon, the allegory of the olive tree—written by a prophet named Zenos and later quoted by the prophet Jacob to his people—stands out as a unique literary creation worthy of close analysis and greater appreciation. Besides its exceptional length and exquisite detail, this text conveys important teachings, deep emotion, and wisdom related to God’s tender devotion and aspirations for the house of Israel on earth. In The Allegory of the Olive Tree, 20 scholars shed light on the meaning, themes, and rhetorical aspects of the allegory, as well as on its historical, cultural, and religious backgrounds. In so doing, they offer answers to questions about the significance of olive tree symbolism in the ancient Near East, who Zenos was, the meaning of the allegory, what it teaches about the relationship between God and his people, how it might relate to other ancient texts, the accuracy of the horticultural and botanical details in the text, and much more.

Catherine Thomas places Alma and his teachings within the context of the premortal existence to show his concern for the plan of redemption. She notes that some spirits were notably more responsive in their faith than others and that Israel was there organized. Alma’s discourses are set against his dramatic conversion, from a condition of abject wickedness to that of a highly motivated saint. His transformation serves as a model of encouragement for the lost soul seeking a higher state.

In Alma 21 a new group of troublemakers is introduced—the Amalekites—without explanation or introduction. This article offers arguments that this is the same group called Amlicites elsewhere and that the confusion is caused by Oliver Cowdery’s inconsistency in spelling. If this theory is accurate, then Alma structured his narrative record more tightly and carefully than previously realized. The concept also challenges the simplicity of the good Nephite/bad Lamanite rubric so often used to describe the players in the book of Mormon.

Alma The Younger’s missionary journey to Ammonihah is one of the most disturbing episodes in the Book of Mormon: scriptures are burned (Alma 14:8); converted males are “cast out” and stoned by former friends (Alma 14:7); Amulek, a respected citizen, and Alma, high priest of the church and retired chief judge, are spit upon, mocked, imprisoned, stripped naked, humiliated, starved, and beaten (Alma 14:4-22); and innocent women and children are “cast into the fire” and burned to death (Alma 14:8). Alma and Amulek are “carried… forth to the place of martyrdom;’ and forced to “witness” (Alma 14:9) the “pains of the women and children’’ as they are “consuming in the fire” (Alma 14:10). These events, the Ammonihahite disregard for human life, and the fire are horrifying and extraordinarily cruel.

Alma’s distinctive use of the word state in the Book of Mormon is present in his unique concentration of state, his tendency to reword with state, and his treatment of a shared topic involving state.

Review of “Is Mormonism Christian?” (2002), by Craig L. Blomberg

Ammon, a Nephite missionary who chose to serve a Lamanite king as his servant, gained fame by cutting off the arms of the king’s enemies. The practice of smiting off arms of enemies as trophies fits a cultural pattern known among the later Aztecs and Maya in pre-Spanish Mesoamerica.

Review of Charting the Book of Mormon (1999), by John W. Welch and J. Gregory Welch

The term Christology refers to the presentation of the life and nature of Jesus Christ. The purpose of this essay is to explore King Benjamin’s Christology (see Mosiah 3), to consider its similarities to that found in the Gospel of Mark, and to explore some implications of Benjamin’s Christology. Christology is often described as being on a continuum from low (which emphasizes the human nature of Jesus) to high (which emphasizes his divine nature). It is definitely the case that Benjamin’s description of Jesus contains elements of a high Christology since he begins by describing Jesus as “the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity” (Mosiah 3:5). Yet the very next line describes Jesus as “dwell[ing] in a tabernacle of clay” (Mosiah 3:5), which reflects a decidedly low Christology. This emphasis on the mortal nature of Jesus continues as Benjamin relates at length Jesus’s physical suffering (see Mosiah 3:7).

Nephite kings were expected to fulfill the same roles that kings played in other ancient civilizations— commander of the military forces, chief judicial official, and leader of the national religion. A king’s success depended not only on the extent to which he performed each role, but also on the motives behind his service. Selfless rule by Benjamin-type kings commanded the respect and praise of the people, while King Noah’s quest for personal gain roused Old World disdain for the monarch. The Nephite experiment with kingship confirms that between “kings and tyrants there’s this difference known; kings seek their subject’s good; tyrants their own” (Robert Herrick, 1591–1674).

This paper is an expanded version of a paper presented earlier at the Library History Seminar VI in March 1980.
This paper deals with the persistence of a strange documentary custom of the Mesopotamian kings, which led to numerous burials of metallic documents (often encased in stone boxes or other special containers) and were concealed in the foundations or other inaccessible recesses of temples and palaces.

Daniel Peterson discusses recent research that supports a spiritual witness for the Book of Mormon, including the following: Joseph Smith’s lack of schooling, his supposed misnaming of Jesus’ birthplace, the translation process, studies of chiasmus, possible locations for Book of Mormon events, and ancient manuscripts that are consistent with Book of Mormon accounts about document practices and beliefs of past civilizations.

Attention to exegesis in and of the Hebrew Bible has much to offer Latter-day Saint students of scripture in their efforts to understand the biblical text.*Exegesis is the explanation or interpretation of a text. The word is derived from Greek, meaning literally “to lead out (of).” The general study of biblical exegesis has come to incorporate at least three subdivisions, each having direct relevance for Latter-day Saints: inner-biblical allusion, biblical and postbiblical exegesis, and scribal comments and corrections.

Review of Finding Biblical Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon (1999), by Hugh W. Pinnock

Although much attention has been paid to those who have possessed the Joseph Smith Papyri in modern times, relatively little attention has been paid to the ancient owners of the papyri. This lecture examines the ancient owners, the world in which they lived, and their contact with the Book of Abraham.

By Miles Gerald Bradford, Published on 01/01/97

In the past, experts have assumed that primitive sailors would have found it impossible to cross the oceans between the Old World and the New. However, John Sorenson here concludes that the evidence for transoceanic contacts now drowns out the arguments of those who have seen the New World as an isolated island until ad 1492. Sorenson’s arguments are based on evidences from Europe, Asia, and Polynesia of the diffusion of New World plants and infectious organisms. His research identifies evidence for transoceanic exchanges of 98 plant species, including tobacco and peanuts. The presence of hookworm in both the Americas and the Old World before Columbus also serves as evidence to establish transoceanic contact.

Thanks to the work of Hugh Nibley, Paul Hoskisson, Terrence Szink, and others, the plausibility of Alma as a Semitic name is no longer an issue. Hoskisson has noted that “Alma” derives from the root ‘lm (< *ǵlm) with the meaning “youth” or “lad,” corroborating Nibley’s earlier suggestion that “Alma” means “young man” (cf. Hebrew ‘elem,עלם). Significantly, “Alma” occurs for the first time in the Book of Mormon text as follows: “But there was one among them whose name was Alma, he also being a descendant of Nephi. And he was a young man, and he believed the words which Abinadi had spoken” (Mosiah 17:2; emphasis in all scriptural citations is mine). This first occurrence of “Alma” is juxtaposed with a description matching the etymological meaning of the name, suggesting an underlying wordplay: Alma (‘lm’) was an ‘elem. A play on words sharing a common root is a literary technique known as polyptoton.

For the Nephites, the sixteenth year of the reign of the judges was tremendously difficult. The arrival of the people of Ammon, in itself an incredible disruption of Nephite society, precipitated a battle, which Mormon describes as a “tremendous battle; yea, even such an one as never had been known among all the people in the land from the time Lehi left Jerusalem’’ (Alma 28:2). The dead, we are told, were not counted due to their enormous number. These events compounded the pre-existing struggles that resulted from the sociopolitical fallout from the reforms of Mosiah. Though Alma 30:5 suggests that all is well in Zarahemla during the seventeenth year of the reign of the judges, the events of the next year and half, the eighteenth year, belie this peace. Within this span, the Nephites exploded in two separate, but related, political conflagrations: (1) the secession of the inhabitants of Antionum from the greater Nephite community, and (2) the civil war spearheaded by Amalickiah. But prior to both of these events came Korihor.

Critical to understanding the widespread symbolism and imagery pointing to Jesus Christ in the New Testament is an exegetical grasp of the content--that is, an understanding of the historical, literary, and theological context of the language. The image of water recurs frequently throughout the New Testament Gospels as a symbol of the Savior’s purity, cleansing power, true doctrine, and so forth. Similarly, blood is used often to reflect the sacred mission of Christ and the price of our salvation. This article investigates this imagery, particularly as used by Apostle John, to explain the significance of the Savior’s mission in mortality and the miracle of his mercy in immortality.

A summary of the scriptural and historical evidences concerning the Arabian Bountiful, with an evaluation of all possible coastal locations on the Arabian peninsula based upon exploratory fieldwork by the authors in the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Yemen from 1984 to 1990. The study concludes that an objective and precise identification of Bountiful with a present-day location is now feasible and introduces data on physical traces revealing very early human involvement at the site.

With the intent of probing the lives of Christ and Joseph Smith, Richard Lloyd Anderson, emeritus professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, gave the third annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture, held March 20, 2009. Anderson discussed the reliability of the documentary process by which we know of events in the New Testament and in the early years of the Restoration.

A number of texts from the Qumran scrolls demonstrate the community’s interest in heavenly ascent and in communion with angels. This article lays out a pattern observable in some of the poetic/liturgical texts (for example, the Hodayot and other noncanonical psalms) in which the leader of the community is taken up into the divine council of God to be taught the heavenly mysteries, is appointed a teacher of those mysteries, and is then commissioned to share the teachings with his followers. Upon learning the mysteries, the followers are enabled to likewise ascend to heaven to praise God with the angels. In some texts, the human worshippers appear to undergo a transfiguration so that they become like the heavenly beings. This article further illustrates how these elements can be found together in a liturgical text known as the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice; their collective presence suggests that all were part of a ritual sequence. Finally, the article argues that these same elements, or traditions related to them, can be found in passages from the Old Testament.

This annotated bibliography compiled by John Sorenson makes accessible a range of information about animals in the Book of Mormon. It also includes an appendix of animal references in the Book of Mormon.

Rust, in the third annual FARMS Book of Mormon lecture delivered on 27 February 1990, examin3ed literary aspects of the book that develop the primary purposes set out on the title page. He discussed the elements characteristic of an epic that will allow modern-day Lamanites to trust in the Lord's deliverance and detailed literary (especially poetic) presentations of the covenants in the Book of Mormon. Literary elements combine with the influence of the Spirit to testify of the purposes of the Book of Mormon.

In September, Morgan Davis, Daniel Peterson, and I led a development council tour through some of Turkey’s most remarkable religious sites. In doing so, we followed in the footsteps of a fifth-century abbott called Daniel, who was told not to go to Jerusalem as he had planned, but instead to “go to Byzantium and you will see a second Jerusalem!” Daniel did indeed go to Byzantium, or Constantinople as it was called then, and found a city filled with Christian sites. Fifteen hundred years later, Maxwell Institute friends and scholars descended on Turkey to ex- plore the ancient ruins and religious sites of this other holy land.

The fragmentary text on a stele erected at Karnak seems to be connected with the volcanic eruption on Thera. The phraseology in many instances bears uncanny resemblance to the Book of Mormon account of the destruction in the Americas at the time of the crucifixion.

The Book of Mormon is clearly a didactic text, with its narrators using plainness, explicitness, and repetition to keep the message clear and straightforward. However, Hardy offers a more in-depth analysis of the text’s rhetorical design that also reveals it as a literary text. The Book of Mormon is both a primer for judgment and a guidebook for sanctification. Parallel narratives are compared through clusters of similar narrative elements or phrasal borrowing between the multiple accounts. In Mosiah, Mormon tells the story of the bondage and delivery of Alma and his people after recounting the story of the bondage of the people of Limhi. Hardy explains that ambiguity, indirection, comparison, and allusions are all used to suggest the larger context of these two narratives. The ability to read the book as a guidebook for sanctification, rather than just as a straightforward didactic primer, will provide insight and guidance in the process of living a faithful life.

Review of Temple Themes in Christian Worship (2008), by Margaret Barker.

Prophesying of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, Nephi foretold that an unlearned man would be asked by God to read the words of a book after a learned man had failed to do so. The unlearned man was initially unwilling, claiming, “I am not learned” (2 Nephi 27:19). One interpretation of Nephi’s account is that Joseph Smith could not translate the Book of Mormon before the meeting of Martin Harris and Charles Anthon. Early historical accounts are consistent with this interpretation. However, according to Joseph Smith—History 1:64, Harris did take a translation to Anthon. Although this translation has not been found, evidence exists of similarities between this document and documents produced during the preliminary stages of the translation of the Book of Abraham. These similarities suggest that the document taken to Anthon was a preliminary and unsuccessful attempt to translate the Book of Mormon, during which Joseph Smith studied the translation problem out in his own mind as he qualified himself to receive the revealed translation from God.

Review of Parallel Histories: The Nephites and the Americans (1989), by Anthony E. Larson.

Review of The Mormon Defenders: How Latter-day Saint Apologists Misinterpret the Bible (2001), by James Patrick Holding

Review of The 1996 Directory of Cult Research Organizations: A Worldwide Listing of 752 Agencies and Individuals (1996), by Keith Edward Tolbert and Eric Pement

A recent New York Times article reported new developments in the research on two ancient silver scrolls discovered in Jerusalem’s Hinnom Valley in 1979 and subsequently dated to the late seventh century BC . They were engraved with words that appeared to be text from Numbers 6:24–26. How-ever, because of the aging of the metal, researchers were unable to read several of the inscriptions and thereby confirm the age of the scrolls.

In Understanding the Book of Mormon, Grant Hardy applies his unusual background in the history of historiography to the Book of Mormon, using the same techniques of literary analysis that are fruitfully employed in the study of classical Chinese, classical Greek, and other historical writing. He is able to identify very distinct historiographical approaches for Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni. While he brackets the question of whether or not they were actually distinct historical persons, the most intuitively obvious reading of his work strongly suggests that they were—a proposition that has profound implications for the controversy surrounding the origin and authorship of the Book of Mormon

Review of “Apologetic and Critical Assumptions about Book of Mormon Historicity” (1993), by Brent Lee Metcalfe.

Cooper addresses the claim that Thomas Murphy’s DNA research is a “Galileo event.” He provides information on Galileo’s life to show that Galileo was not against religion and that the Catholic Church was not against science. Cooper then parallels that information with the Murphy situation. Like Galileo, Murphy has not taken a stance against religion, only against a particular religious text

A discussion of evidence of the Book of Mormon’s authenticity.

Michael Lyon examines the importance and significance of hypocephali as works of art and expressions of religious belief. Facsimile 2, associated with the Book of Abraham, belongs to this class of documents. Lyon illustrates that hypocephali symbolize the sacred center of the universe, expressed in Facsimile 2 as well as in the shield of Achilles and the mandala tradition.

Since 1989, the Review of Books on the Book of Mormon has published review essays to help serious readers make informed choices and judgments about books and other publications on topics related to the Latter-day Saint religious tradition. It has also published substantial freestanding essays that made further contributions to the field of Mormon studies. In 1996, the journal changed its name to the FARMS Review with Volume 8, No 1. In 2011, the journal was renamed Mormon Studies Review.
A review of A Guide to the Joseph Smtih Papyri (2000) by John Gee.

Review of New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology (1993), edited by Brent Lee Metcalfe.

Review of John Gee and Brian M. Hauglid, eds. Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant.

According to the Book of Mormon, a land named “Bountiful” was a fertile site on the Arabian Peninsula with timber, fresh water, and ore where Nephi built a ship to carry Lehi’s group to the New World. In the seemingly barren land of the southern Arabian peninsula, a site that appears to correspond to the description in Nephi’s record has been identified on the remote southern coast of the country of Oman. Kharfot may not be the exact location of Bountiful, but its discovery does show that a place matching the criteria for Bountiful does exist.

Seasoned archaeologist Jeffrey R. Chadwick responds to studies done by Warren Aston (see page 8), Richard Wellington and George Potter (see page 26), and Kent Brown (see page 44) pertaining to the trail that the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi took after fleeing Jerusalem. Chadwick uses his archaeological, historical, and scriptural knowledge to comment on the claims made by the other scholars. He specifically analyzes Lehi’s life in Jerusalem, the route Lehi took from Jerusalem to the Red Sea, the Valley of Lemuel, the route from Shazer to Nahom, the route from Nahom to Bountiful, and the building of the ship at Bountiful.

The archaeology of New York—and specifically the Hill Cumorah—is persuasive evidence that Book of Mormon peoples did not live in that region. By implication, the Cumorah of the golden plates is not the Cumorah of the final battles—Mormon’s hill and Moroni’s hill are not one and the same. These conclusions follow from a few basic points and assumptions that the author explores in this article.

Archaeology has much to offer as a scientific means of gathering independent evidence of the Book of Mormon’s authenticity. But one must look in the right place. A cautionary tale is the failed Cluff expedition of 1900, which, assuming a “hemispheric model” of Book of Mormon geography, traveled from Provo as far as Colombia looking for the city Zarahemla. Yet in 1842 the Times and Seasons (under Joseph Smith’s editorship) had printed excerpts from a popular book on Mesoamerican archaeology that demonstrated a surprisingly high level of civilization, implying that Nephite lands did not extend into South America, thus supporting the theory of a ”limited” geographic model. Both sides believe that archaeology is on their side. Book of Mormon critics also claim that archaeology is on their side, but decades of archaeological investigation in Mesoamerica and in the Old World has shown a pattern of increasing convergence that favors Book of Mormon authenticity. Evidences discussed include, among others, metal records in stone boxes, ancient writing, warfare, the tree of life and other metaphors, Old and New World geography, and cycles of civilization. In a sidebar article, the findings of an amateur archaeologist challenge a popular assumption that the hill was the scene of the final battles depicted in the Book of Mormon.

In my work as editor of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project (which began in 1988), I was initially interested in discovering the original English-language text of the book. But I soon came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to fully recover the original text by scholarly means, in large part because only 28 percent of the original manuscript is extant. In addition, there are obvious errors in the original manuscript itself that require conjectural emendation. As I have worked on the text of the Book of Mormon, I have come to some surprising conclusions regarding the nature of the original text itself, conclusions that I had not at all expected when I started my work transcribing the original and printer’s manuscripts of the Book of Mormon.

Review of Tudor Parfitt. The Lost Ark of the Covenant: The Remarkable Quest for the Legendary Ark.

Review of Kim B. Clark. Armor: Divine Protection in a Darkening World.

Arno Schmidt (1914-1979) was one of the most important, prolific, and original of postwar German authors. His magnum opus, Zettels Traum (1970), appeared in 1,360 large-font, signed typescript copies that each weighed 12 kilos and resembled another intimidating modernist text, James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, in its experiments with genre, fascinating density, multilingual citations, jokey allusiveness, and mythic grandeur. Like Joyce, Schmidt pushed boundaries of all kinds and sometimes got into hot water with those who found his writings sexually and religiously indecent. As an author, his work is hard to classify; he is sometimes called an “avant-garde traditionalist:’ In personal belief, he was an atheist, though one who was curious about the many forms that belief can take; he opens his essay on the Book of Mormon, for instance, by confessing his soft spot for holy books. A fierce critic of both West and East Germany, he was politically neither a Marxist, nor a social democrat, nor a straight-up conservative, though his attacks on mass society and choice to live his last two decades in relative isolation in a remote hamlet in Lower Saxony have led some critics to detect conservative sympathies. But he was also a clear anti-Nazi and was disgusted at what his country had done. Perhaps by living in a remote spot with his wife, Alice, also a writer whose work was not appreciated until later, he simply wanted to maintain his artistic integrity and stay aloof from the cultural establishment. By any account, he was a lone wolf, anxious not to be pinned down.

Review of Lehi's Isle of Promise: A Scriptural Account with Word Definitions and a Commentary.

In 1830 the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation that became known as the Articles and Covenants, later included in the Doctrine and Covenants as section 20. In this paper Scott Faulring discusses the emergence and significance of that revelation that would become a constitutional and procedural guide to regulating church affairs.

The idea that King Noah’s life was to be valued “as a garment in a hot furnace” is a type of simile curse. He would suffer death by fire, which was a just punishment for the wicked.

The Book of Mormon prophets were intentionally plain in their language even when using figurative language; they generally avoided using obscure figures with hidden meanings. In this paper, Kelly Ogden lists metaphors used in the Book of Mormon along with the plain definitions the prophets gave to explain the figurative language they used. Ogden notes that when teaching doctrine the prophets would often repeat concepts using different words so the people could not misunderstand.

Review of Grant H. Palmer. An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins.

Republished in King Benjamin’s Speech Made Simple and Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple.
A look into what makes King Benjamin’s address to his people not only an assembly but also an atonement.

Originally published in King Benjamin’s Speech: That Ye May Learn Wisdom.
A look into what makes King Benjamin’s address to his people not only an assembly but also an atonement.

The attitude held by certain sectors of the anti-Mormon crowd has changed over the years, even to the point where some no longer deny the literary merit and beauty of the Book of Mormon. Although an assessment of the impact of Jack Welch’s work and writing on chiasmus may be premature, it is clear that his work on the subject incited the expansion of other literary analyses of the Book of Mormon and encouraged the publication of their results. Welch’s work influenced studies and analyses on chiasmus in Classic Mayan texts, and his publications have contributed much to the discipline of chiastic analyses.

Review of Douglas E. Cowan. Bearing False Witness? An Introduction to the Christian Countercult.

Review of Religion, Feminism, and Freedom of Conscience: A Mormon/Humanist Dialogue (1994), edited by George D. Smith.

In 1988 Hugh W. Nibley noted that the use of terms based on the word atone (atonement, atoning, atoned, etc.), while used in the Old Testament mostly in association with rites performed in the tabernacle of Moses, clearly tied the Nephites to preexilic Israel, that is, prior to the Babylonian captivity of the Jews in 587 bc. He found that most of the occurrences were “in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, where they explicitly describe the original rites of the tabernacle or temple on the Day of Atonement.”

Robert Millet shows that Christ’s atonement is central to the Book of Mormon, particularly as it pertains to the fall. He illuminates the nature of the “good news” of the gospel—the hope of redemption through Christ. Without the atonement all other facets of our religion are bereft of ultimate power, and we remain in our sins. He explains that the atonement is infinite in several ways and that the Book of Mormon both extends an invitation to come unto Christ and teaches how to do so. Grace and works each play an important role in our salvation.

Skeptics have misused some historical sources as they attempt to reverse the Eight Witnesses’ statements about their physical contact with the Book of Mormon plates. The Eight Witnesses speak of viewing the plates themselves with unobstructed vision. They left 10 specific statements of handling the plates. This article provides an overview of the statements and experiences of the Eight Witnesses and the arguments of their critics, both then and now. Their unequivocal testimonies resist revisionists’ attempts to portray their experience as mere illusion or deception.

Daniel Peterson examines the book of Mosiah as an initial step in determining the overall doctrine of priesthood in the Book of Mormon. He attempts to account for every verse in the book of Mosiah that deals, either directly or indirectly, with questions of priesthood and authority. He discusses the priesthood in the small plates, the roles of priests, whether early Nephite priests were ordained, and the church in the days of Mosiah2.

This article examines the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon in order to study the doctrine and pres-ence of the priesthood in Book of Mormon times.

Review of The Lord's University: Freedom and Authority at BYU (1998), by Bryan Waterman and Brian Kagel

Support for the single authorship theory of Isaiah

Noel Reynolds discusses scholarship in the Latter-day Saint community, particularly with respect to the question of the authorship of the Book of Mormon. In this overview of the book, Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited, Reynolds discusses the research of Richard L. Bushman, Richard L. Anderson, Royal Skousen, Hugh Nibley, and others.

Review of The Book of Isaiah: A New Translation with Interpretive Keys from the Book of Mormon (1998), by Avraham Gileadi

Review of The Book of Isaiah: A New Translation with Interpretive Keys from the Book of Mormon (1998), by Avraham Gileadi

Review of The Literary Message of Isaiah (1994), by Avraham Gileadi.

Review of Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1875-1896 (1998), by David L. Bigler

Brigham Henry Roberts, a Book of Mormon scholar in the early twentieth century, was a pioneer in his field. He conducted research regarding the culture and the geography of the Book of Mormon peoples in an attempt to determine the setting of the Book of Mormon. His extensive work in this area has significantly influenced the progress of Book of Mormon research. Roberts also enthusiastically defended the book when others criticized it. He was able to do so effectively because of his study of and familiarity with the Book of Mormon. Roberts did, however, have a few limitations, the most detrimental being his unfounded assumption that “the narrow neck of land” in the Book of Mormon is the Isthmus of Panama. Yet, Roberts’s pioneering efforts remain today a crucial catalyst to modern analytical studies of the Book of Mormon.

To help mitigate the soteriological problem of evil, that one having had no chance to hear the gospel would be sent to hell, many early Christians practiced baptism for the dead. The only reference to this in the New Testament comes in 1 Corinthians 15:29, a scripture that some scholars attempt to reinterpret or repunctuate to dismiss baptism for the dead but that most scholars defend as a legitimate reference. Further strengthening the historicity of the practice are references by early writers such as Tertullian and Ambrosiaster. The quest for authenticating the practice of baptism for the dead should rest on these and other historical references, not on retroactively applied standards of orthodoxy.

In a letter to his son Moroni, Mormon warns against the practice of baptizing little children. He identifies two false assumptions of his day used to justify infant baptism: little children are born with sin (see Moroni 8:8) and will suffer divine punishment in hell if they die without having been baptized (see Moroni 8:13). While the exact nature of this aberrant practice is unknown, it was apparently common enough among the Nephites of Mormon’s day to warrant swift and unequivocal prophetic censure. Mormon describes the rite as particularly wicked and erroneous in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Anti-Mormon criticisms of the Book of Mormon are frequently based on a questionable set of assumptions concerning the nature of historical and archaeological evidence, the role of governing presuppositions, and the nature of historical proof. Using arguments found in a recent anti-Mormon critique by Luke Wilson as a foundation, this article analyzes difficulties of reconstructing ancient geographies, problems with the discontinuity of Mesoamerican toponyms, the historical development of the idea of a limited geography model, and challenges of textual and artifactual interpretation when trying to relate the Book of Mormon to archaeological remains.

Review of John W. Welch. The Sermon on the Mount in the Light of the Temple.

Review of Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon: Insights from Prophets, Church Leaders, and Scholars (1999), by K. Douglas Bassett

Review of Fair Gods and Feathered Serpents; A Search for the Early Americas' Bearded White God (1997), by T. J. O'Brien

The Book of Mormon provides many good examples to Latter-day Saint writers of how to magnify their work. By following the patterns of the Book of Mormon, writers can understand what to emphasize and how to include the Spirit in their writing.

Leather-bound copies of the first edition of the 586-page Book of Mormon were published and sold beginning March 26, 1830. Before there was a prophet, there was a translator-legally the “author and proprietor” of the Book. The title page told of the plates written “by the spirit of Prophecy and Revelation’’ from which the Book originated. Before the publication was complete, Joseph Smith had encouraged Oliver Cowdery that “a great call for our books” had already commenced. The Book emerged before there was any church to join. The rest would come later; initially individuals decided how they would respond to this “Golden Bible.” Was it counterfeit or divine? Was it the “greatest piece of superstition’’ or a “revelation from God”? What would it be to them?

Royal sonship is a key theme of Mosiah 1–6, including King Benjamin’s seminal address at the temple in Zarahemla (Mosiah 2–5) on the occasion of his son Mosiah’s enthronement. Benjamin, however, caps this covenant sermon, not with an assertion of his son’s royal status and privileges, but with a radical declaration of his people’s royal rebirth (or adoption) as “ the children of Christ, his sons and his daughters” (Mosiah 5:7) and their potential enthronement at God’s “ right hand” (5:9). Similar to rhetorical wordplay involving proper names found in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and other ancient texts, Benjamin’s juxtaposition of “sons”/“daughters” and the “right hand” constitutes a deliberate wordplay on his own name, traditionally taken to mean “son of the right hand.” The name of Christ, rather than Benjamin’s own name, is given to all his people as a new name—a “throne” name. However, he warns them against refusing to take upon them this throne name and thus being found “on the left hand of God” (5:10), a warning that also constitutes an allusion to his name. Benjamin’s ultimate hope is for his people’s royal, divine sonship/daughterhood to be eternally “sealed.”

Critics of the Book of Mormon often cite genetic evidence in their attacks on the historicity of the text, saying that the lack of any Near Eastern–American Indian DNA links conclusively proves that no emigration ever occurred from the Near East to the Americas. Their simplistic approach—that the Book of Mormon purports to be a history of the entire American Indian race—is not supported by archaeological or Book of Mormon evidence. The authors pose and respond to questions about the geographical scene, the spread of Book of Mormon peoples, Latter-day Saint traditions about the scenes and peoples of the Book of Mormon, the terms Nephites and Lamanites, the possible presence of others in the land, ocean travel, Mesoamerican native traditions, languages of the Western Hemisphere, Old World peoples coming to the Americas, archaeological evidence, and ethnically distinct populations in ancient American art. These questions set out the social, cultural, and geographical contexts that are necessary for geneticists to understand before reaching major conclusions.

Review of Joel P. Kramer and Scott R. Johnson. The Bible vs. the Book of Mormon.

The following is part 1 of a two-part series of articles written by S. Kent Brown, executive producer of Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God. During production he was director of the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies and FARMS at the Maxwell Institute. Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God, a documentary produced by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, the College of Religious Education, and BYU Broadcasting, received a sneak preview at BYU’s Education Week in August. For the first time ever, teachings of the restoration, sound academic views from faithful Latter-day Saint scholars, and state-of- the-art documentary production have been combined to produce this seven-part series on Jesus Christ, the Messiah. BYUTV will air the documentary beginning on January 10, 2010, and copies will be available for purchase in the spring.

The following is part 2 of a three-part series of articles written by S. Kent Brown, executive producer of Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God, a Neal A. Maxwell Institute, BYU Broadcasting, and Religious Education production. BYU Television will air part of the series on December 6, 2009. The entire seven-part documentary will air beginning on January 10, 2010. Copies will be available for purchase in the spring. This second article explores the path by which the film climbed from a simple concept to a completed project.

The following is part 3 of a three-part series of articles written by S. Kent Brown, executive producer of Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God, a Neal A. Maxwell Institute, BYU Broadcasting, and Religious Education production. BYU Television will air the seven-part documentary beginning on January 10, 2010. Copies will be available for purchase in the spring. This third article reviews unusual occurrences tied to the early filming in Egypt and Israel.

According to the non-Mormon historian Jan Shipps, “the mystery of Mormonism cannot be solved until we solve the mystery of Joseph Smith.” Stated more casually, this is called the “prophet puzzle,” and it is sometimes suggested that Latter-day Saints will understand themselves only to the degree that they understand Joseph Smith. The classic definition of the role played by Joseph Smith was contributed by LDS leader B. H. Roberts in the late nineteenth century: “What was Joseph Smith’s mission? It was the mission of Joseph Smith, under God’s direction, to establish the Church of Christ and the Kingdom of God upon the earth; and to the accomplishment of this work he devoted the whole energy of his life and was faithful until the end.”2 What Roberts meant by this is that Smith restored organizations, roles, priesthoods, sacraments, and so forth that had been previously present among God’s people in all ages. Smith was particularly clear that Jesus had established this church in his own period. To the extent that information about this part of the Christian past is preserved, it is to be found particularly in the New Testament.

Robert Millet begins by reviewing what we know of King Benjamin’s life prior to his great sermon and covers some of the highlights of what he taught. Millet explains what the name Jesus Christ means according to the Hebrew background, and delineates the importance of that name. He explains some of the benefits of the atonement, including that it covers those who have sinned in ignorance.

Review of The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power (1997), by D. Michael Quinn.

This talk was given on 26 October 1973 to the Pi Sigma Alpha honor society in the Political Science Department at Brigham Young University. It first appeared in BYU Studies 15/1 (1974) and was reprinted in Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1978) and in the second edition of that volume in 2004. It is reprinted here with minor technical editing.
In most languages, the Church is designated as that of the last days, so this speech—which is only a pastiche of quotations from its founders—is unblushingly apocalyptic. Did our grandparents overreact to signs of the times? For many years, a stock cartoon in sophisticated magazines has poked fun at the barefoot, bearded character in the long nightshirt carrying a placard calling all to “Repent, for the End is at Hand.” But where is the joke? Ask the smart people who thought up the funny pictures and captions: Where are they now?

The vibrant fields of narratology and biblical narrative criticism provide common ground from which scholars who either accept or reject the historical reality of the Book of Mormon may speak to one another. To encourage research that may speak across divisions, this article provides a theoretical overview of some of the major areas within the narrative-critical approach (i.e., the intricacies and subtleties of setting, plot, narrative time, characters, point of view, narrators, and implied readers). The applied analysis of select Book of Mormon passages that accompany these overviews illustrates how borrowing from more established fields may expose new considerations, explain different aspects of the text, make familiar narratives fresh, and stimulate greater appreciation for its literary design.

The enigmatic relationship between the Book of Mormon and the Bible goes all the way back to one of its earliest reviewers, Restorationist Alexander Campbell, who noted inconsistencies between the two. Campbell addressed the Book of Mormon text’s conflation of the Old and New Covenants, differing on details such as Jesus’s birthplace and, in particular, how much the Book of Mormon’s pre-Christian peoples anticipated New Testament events. The Book of Mormon prophet Lehi, Campbell wrote, “developed the records of Matthew, Luke, and John, six hundred years before John the Baptist was born.” From the time of Campbell and into the present day, much of Book of Mormon scholarship has pivoted around this issue. How could a text that claims origins prior to the canonization of the New Testament interact so explicitly with the New Testament text? And what of the Old Testament content, in particular Isaiah, strewn throughout its pages? For many years, those who saw the Book of Mormon as purely the product of the mind of Joseph Smith interpreted these interactions as a sign of indirect influence at best and plagiarism at worst. In response, those who were willing to subscribe to divine origins developed several possible solutions, such as the ideas that Book of Mormon authors had access to “untainted” biblical manuscripts that have since disappeared; or that they had a level of prescience in writing. However, in recent years, this apologetic-or-critical sentiment of arguing why the Bible is present in the Book of Mormon has begun to wane in favor of further exploring how the Bible is present in the Book of Mormon. The intent of this literature review is to lay out the different scholarship trajectories related to the presence of the Bible in the Book of Mormon.

Review of The Bible Code (1997), by Michael Drosnin

Review of The Bible II (1991). This book is in actuality the Book of Mormon with some differences.

Review of Joel P. Kramer and Scott R. Johnson. The Bible vs. the Book of Mormon.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2015 annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting, November 23, 2015, in Atlanta, Georgia. 1. See Noel B. Reynolds, “The Gospel of Jesus Christ as Taught by the Nephite Prophets;’ BYU Studies 31/3 (1991): 31-50; and Noel B. Reynolds, “The Gospel according to Mormon;’ Scottish Journal of Theology 68/2 (2015): 218-34 doi:10.1017/ S003693061500006X. 2. Inclusio is a common technique used by biblical writers to mark off a text unit by repeating at the end of the unit a word or phrase or sentence used at the beginning. These three Book of Mormon passages are marked off with obvious inclusios featuring “the doctrine of Christ;’ “this is my doctrine;’ and “this is my gospel” respectively. While Nephi constructed the first, the second two are embedded in the material quoted from Jesus Christ. In “Chiastic Structuring of Large Texts: Second Nephi as a Case Study;’ publication pending, I demonstrate that 2 Nephi can be read as a series of thirteen inclusios arranged to provide a chiastic structure to the book that also communicates his principal thesis.

During the week of 5–9 May, the Institute sponsored a visit by British biblical scholar Margaret Barker to Brigham Young University. Each morning, Barker offered a seminar (usually three hours in length) to a group of invited faculty and guests in which she summarized her research and numerous publications. She also delivered a university forum address during her stay, as well as an evening public lecture in the auditorium of the Harold B. Lee Library.

Bibliography of Sidney B. Sperry’s writings.

Review of Paul Copan and William Lane Craig. “Craftsman or Creator? An Examination of the Mormon Doctrine of Creation and a Defense of Creatio ex nihilo.” In The New Mormon Challenge: Responding to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement

Review of Questions to Ask Your Mormon Friend: Challenging the Claims of Latter-day Saints in a Constructive Manner (1994), by Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson

Review of Questions to Ask Your Mormon Friend: Effective Ways to Challenge a Mormon's Arguments without Being Offensive (1994), by Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson.

Genesis 22 records that God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac upon an altar but intervened at the last moment, providing instead a ram for the actual sacrifice and greatly blessing Abraham for passing what has come to be viewed as the ultimate test of obedience to God’s will. The account, simple enough in outline, is nevertheless seen by different religious traditions as profoundly symbolic and even enigmatic, its moral and religious implications having spawned numerous interpretations.

Review of Written by the Finger of God: A Testimony of Joseph Smith's Translations (1993), by Joe Sampson.

When Carr traveled to the Middle East, he observed the local birds. In this article, he suggests the possibility that the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi and his family relied on birds for food and for locating water. Carr discusses the various birds that Lehi’s family may have seen on their journey and the Mosaic law pertaining to those birds.

Review of Robert V. Remini. Joseph Smith.

Review of Answering Mormon Scholars: A Response to Criticism of the Book “Coving Up the Black Hole in the Book of Mormon” (1994), by Jerald and Sandra Tanner.

In June of 1830, the first Latter-day Saint missionary Samuel Smith journeyed through the backcountry of western New York hoping to find parties interested in the recently published Book of Mormon. Advertising the volume as “a history of the origin of the Indians;’ he attempted to sell copies of the book his brother Joseph claimed to have translated from golden plates given to him by an angel. An etiological tale of the ancient inhabitants of the continent, the Book of Mormon described the emergence of two tribes: the righteous Nephites and wicked Lamanites. After the Lamanites’ rebellion against their relatives, the Book of Mormon recounted how God afflicted them for their iniquity. Whereas they were once “white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome;’ they became cursed with “a skin of blackness.” In the ensuing ethnic conflict, the black-skinned Lamanites ultimately triumphed over their “white” kin, overrunning and annihilating the Nephites to become the ancestors of modern-day Native Americans.

Review of To Mothers & Fathers from the Book of Mormon (1991), by Blaine Yorgason and Brenton Yorgason.

Review of Blake T. Ostler. Exploring Mormon Thought: The Attributes of God. and Blake T. Ostler. Exploring Mormon Thought: The Problems of Theism and the Love of God.

The birthplace and spiritual heart of Christian monasticism is the Nitrian Desert of Egypt and the long, shallow valley of Scetis (Wadi el-Natrun). It was to here, from the fourth century onwards, that Macarius the Great and other of the sainted desert fathers retreated from the world, devoting their lives to worship and prayer. While some monks chose to live in isolation as hermits, many others banded together to establish the first monasteries, building churches for worship and libraries for study.

Ancient texts are too often approached using modern assumptions. Among those assumptions obstructing an understanding of ancient texts is the modern emphasis on originality and on writing as intellectual property. Ancient writers relished repetition—stories that were repeated in succeeding generations—over originality. The Bible is full of repeated or allusive stories, and the Book of Mormon often reinscribes this biblical emphasis on repetition. One such biblical reverberation in the Book of Mormon is Nephi’s ocean voyage, which evokes biblical stories of origination: creation, deluge, and exodus. These three stories of beginnings are carefully alluded to in Nephi’s own foundational story, exactly as we would expect to find in an ancient Hebraic text.

At the beginning of Alma 43:14, the original manuscript reads desenters, which Oliver Cowdery miscopied into the printer’s manuscript as desendants; in other words, he ended up replacing dissenters with descendants. This mistake (a visual error) was facilitated by the similar spelling Oliver used for both these words. Notice that earlier in this verse Oliver wrote dissented as desented in P (but which the 1830 typesetter respelled in P as dissented). Moreover, at the end of verse 13, Oliver spelled descendants as desendants in both manuscripts. The proximity of this last instance prompted the error at the beginning of verse 14.

In 1998 FARMS’s longtime interest in advancing research supportive of the Book of Abraham as an ancient text found new emphasis and direction as a formalized FARMS project, an impetus made possible by a farsighted donor: the Robert Gay family. Soon a working group of scholars was convened to exchange research and ideas on the text. The resulting exchange of information led to FARMS-sponsored public lectures and a scholarly conference in 1999. The next year saw publication of John Gee’s Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri and, fortuitously, an enlarged edition of Hugh Nibley’s Abraham in Egypt (a project years in the making). Following in short order were the first two volumes in the Studies in the Book of Abraham series—Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham (2001) and The Hor Book of Breathings (2002)—and a “World of Abraham” symposium and scholarly conference in 2002.

Review of Robert K. Ritner. “The ‘Breathing Permit of Hôr’ Thirtyfour Years Later.” Dialogue 33/4 (2000): 97–119. Review of Robert K. Ritner. “ ‘The Breathing Permit of Hôr’ among the Joseph Smith Papyri.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 62/3 (2003): 161–77.

Review of . . . By His Own Hand upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri (1992), by Charles M. Larson.

Review of Michael D. Rhodes. The Hor Book of Breathings: A Translation and Commentary.

Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon consistently use such phrases as “Book of Lehi,” “plates of Lehi,” and “account of Nephi” in distinct ways.

Review of Jana Riess, annotator. The Book of Mormon: Selections Annotated and Explained.

Some critics of the Book of Mormon have suggested that Joseph Smith produced the book through a process known as “automatic writing,” a rapid flow of language claimed to be generated through paranormal means such as trance-like states or claimed communications with spirits. This paper presents an overview of some prominent claims of automatic writing and examines the historical and scientific evidence for the authenticity of at least some of these cases. After discussing the similarities between these works and the Book of Mormon, the paper outlines a number of features in the Book of Mormon that clearly differentiate it from any known case of automatic writing, features such as the presence of Near Eastern and Mesoamerican geographic, cultural, and linguistic details that were unknowable to anyone in 1830. Based on this and other evidence, the Book of Mormon does not fit the profile of automatic writing but is best explained by Joseph’s own account of its ancient and divine origins.

This article has been adapted from the author’s book By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture That Launched a New World Religion. The author discusses three common understandings of the term revelation: (1) revelation as doctrine, (2) revelation as history, and (3) revelation as inner experience. He suggests that the Book of Mormon introduces a fourth type: revelation as dialogue. This form of revelation allows individuals to have direct contact with God, rather than only through the scriptures, and can be applied to our lives just as it was to the lives of those living in Book of Mormon times.

In the last few years, the topic of how DNA research fits in with the text of the Book of Mormon has become increasingly divisive. Now, for the first time in one volume, respected DNA scientists, geneticists, and Book of Mormon scholars provide their views on DNA and the Book of Mormon.

Review of Sacred Borders: Continuing Revelation and Canonical Restraint in Early America (2011), by David F. Holland, and American Zion: The Old Testament as a Political Text from the Revolution to the Civil War (2013), by Eran Shalev.

The text of the King James Bible plays a significant role in the composition of the Book of Mormon. While there have been studies that have attempted to identify what biblical passages are present in the Book of Mormon, not nearly enough effort has been spent exploring how those passages are used throughout the text. For example, one can readily identify the textual parallels between Alma 5:48 and John 1: 14, due to the sharing of phrases such as “full of grace and truth’’ and “only-begotten son:’ This type of research is useful in and of itself. But simply identifying what passages the texts share in common without exploring how the Book of Mormon integrates the biblical text into its own textual composition leaves a great deal unexplored.

If it existed in only one ancient copy, says John Tvedtnes, the Book of Mormon may have been unique. But in virtually every other way it resembles many ancient books. In this present volume, Tvedtnes shows perhaps fifty things about ancient records that must have been hilarious in 1830 but make perfect sense today: the ubiquity of intentionally hiding books in all kinds of ingenious containers made of many materials, including stone boxes and ceramic jars; books incised on obdurate surfaces, like metals, bones, and ivory; inked papyri and parchments treated with swaddling cloths soaked in cedar and citrus oils to prevent decay; many sealed and open records; waterproofing sealants like bitumen and white lime mortar; caves serving as repositories of treasures buried in many sacred mountains; the ancient perception of permanence and eternalism associated with the preservative functions of writing; and numerous ancient traditions of angels as writers and guardians of written records. Many twentieth-century discoveries of ancient documents have made all of this visible.

The text of the Book of Mormon contributes to the understanding of the Pentateuch and to a confirmation that Moses was indeed its author. The Book of Mormon also helps confirm that Isaiah was the author of the book of Isaiah. The Isaiah chapters quoted in the Book of Mormon are a better translation than the King James Version, as they are undoubtedly from an older version. The Book of Mormon quotes Micah and Malachi with clarification and augments selected New Testament scriptures.

The church advocates no official position on the origins of Amerindian populations. Critics and sup-porters of the Book of Mormon both attempt to bolster their own arguments with DNA evidence. This study reviews the properties of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), particularly pertaining to the origins of Native American populations. DNA studies are subject to numerous limitations.

Many critics deny that the first five books of the Old Testament were written by Moses and consider them to be childish myths. However, when Nephi and Lehi examined the brass plates, they found them to contain “the five books of Moses.” And in the Book of Mormon, the Savior himself confirms their authorship. The book of Ether also offers confirmation of the Tower of Babel story.

The Sermon on the Mount in 3 Nephi parallels the accounts in Matthew and Luke, although it is closer to Matthew. The sermon was addressed partly to a general audience and partly to the twelve disciples exclusively, although the crowd heard it. In many cases the account in 3 Nephi clarifies the New Testament accounts; in particular, the Joseph Smith Translation and Book of Mormon explain the Lord’s Prayer.

Hugh Nibley addresses issues that cause people to question the historicity of the Book of Mormon. He gives evidence to support the claim that people inhabited the American continent for centuries before the arrival of the Nephites, that the Hill Cumorah was not too far away for Moroni to reach, and that the “fulness of iniquity” described in the Book of Mormon has much evidence in extant art from that time.

Responses to the following questions appear here: “Did the Nephites have authority to sacrifice?” and “Did the Nephites sacrifice first-born animals contrary to the law of Moses?”

Responses to the following questions appear here: “Is the ‘fulness of the gospel’ in the Book of Mormon?” and “What is the meaning of ‘familiar spirit’ in Isaiah 29?”

Excerpts from a letter written in 1962 reveal how Jakeman’s interpretation of Stela 5 quickly stimulated a body of folklore among some Latter-day Saints.

Arnold Friberg is arguably the most influential artist on Latter-day Saint scriptural art. His depictions of the people and the landscape of the Book of Mormon are well known to Latter-day Saints. This article explains the genesis and completion of Friberg’s series of twelve Book of Mormon paintings and gives the author’s own observations on each painting.

This article discusses the evolution of book collecting, particularly by Latter-day Saints. Although the circle of book collectors used to be small, it has since expanded, probably because of the spread of the Internet. Latter-day Saints throughout the world are now able to locate and purchase old and rare books within minutes. While this innovation can be productive and beneficial, the easy access can be risky. Because people are so anxious to buy these types of books, they have the potential to be deceived by those who create fraudulent products, and unlike the older, more experienced buyers, newcomers often do not inspect books closely for authenticity and condition before purchasing them. Because of these potential mistakes, it is essential that book collectors be more aware of the risks and take the necessary precautions to avoid them.

Review of Scott C. Dunn. “Automaticity and the Dictation of the Book of Mormon.” In American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon.

Recent years have witnessed a growing recognition in the academy that the Book of Mormon deserves closer attention than it has received. Not surprisingly, adherents to the various Mormon faiths have long read the book with some care. But larger numbers of believing and nonbelieving academics have come to recognize that, despite its often didactic style and relative literary artlessness, the Book of Mormon exhibits remarkable sophistication. This is perhaps nowhere truer than in those passages where the volume interacts—whether explicitly or implicitly—with biblical texts (always in or in relation to the King James rendering). Close reading of the Book of Mormon makes clear that Mormonism’s founding text models a profoundly inventive biblical hermeneutic that deserves a place in the burgeoning field of reception history. How does Mormon scripture understand and react to particular biblical texts, and what might be learned about the potential meanings of those biblical texts in light of such interactions?

What constitutes great literature? What is it about the literature of the Book of Mormon that has such a profound effect upon its readers? Although perhaps not beautifully written, the Book of Mormon’s message or theme justifies its classification as great literature and accounts for its profound effect on the lives of millions.

Review of James T. Duke. The Literary Masterpiece Called the Book of Mormon.

This article discusses the meaning of the term record and explains how it applies to the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon is a translation, containing details of the original language in which it is written. Very few of the writers would have had a working knowledge of Egyptian; the writing would more likely be a Hebraized Egyptian. The Book of Mormon contains many passages from Isaiah, more correctly translated than in the King James Version. Various examples of the Hebrew construct state are evident in Joseph Smith’s translation, together with direct translations of Hebrew idioms.

Editor’s introduction to a four-part series on the relationship of DNA studies to Book of Mormon origins.

On 29 January a capacity crowd gathered in the Harold B. Lee Library auditorium to hear BYU biology professor Michael F. Whiting address the topic “Does DNA Evidence Refute the Authenticity of the Book of Mormon? Responding to the Critics.” The size of the audience suggested the great interest people have in the role and limitations of DNA research in unlocking the past, especially the religious past.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints view the Book of Mormon as scripture written by ancient prophets, while critics believe that it is a 19th-century fraud. The 15 essays in Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited present the latest research by LDS scholars on the question in an effort to demonstrate that the weight of scholarly evidence is on the side of authenticity. Part 1 contains essays dealing with accounts of how the book was produced in 1829 and 1830, with emphasis on the translation process and the witnesses who saw the plates. Part 2 takes a look at the logical structure of the authorship debate and reviews the history of alternative theories and criticisms of the Book of Mormon. Part 3 presents textual studies that demonstrate the plausibility of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book, and part 4 updates scholars’ attempts to understand the ancient cultural and geographic setting of the book in both the Old and New Worlds.

Bibliography of publications on the Book of Mormon in 1989.

Bibliography of Publications on the Book of Mormon in 1988.

The Maxwell Institue is currently making efforts to update the work of Donald Parry, Jeanette Miller, and Sandra Thorne, who prepared the volume A Comprehensive Annotated Book of Mormon Bibliography (1996). This earlier work is now available at the Maxwell Institutes website (see http:/ /publications.mi.byu.edu/book/ a-comprehensive -annotated-book-of-mormon-bibliography/), and updates will also be made available on the Institute’s website. To assist in this effort, the editors of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies have decided to include in each issue of the Journal a bibliography of scholarly work published on the Book of Mormon during the previous year. We have therefore made efforts to discover all work of an academic nature published during 2016 for inclusion in the following bibliography. The work has been undertaken primarily by Matthew Roper and Alex Criddle.

The Maxwell Institute continues to make efforts to collect bibliographical information for all writings of a scholarly nature focused on the Book of Mormon in a substantial way. The work for this year’s bibliography has been undertaken by Amanda Buessecker. The editors would again like to encourage readers of the Journal to send information regarding any publications of a scholarly nature focused on the Book of Mormon that have escaped our attention. These can be sent to jbms@byu.edu.

Balli, Tyler. “LDS Hispanic Americans and Lamanite Identity.” Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel 19/3 (2018): 92-115. Belnap, Daniel L. “The Abinadi Narrative, Redemption, and the Struggle for Nephite Identity:’ In Abinadi: He Came Among Them in Disguise, edited by Hopkin, 27-66.

Grant Hardy responds to the six essays written about Understanding the Book of Mormon. He pairs up the authors and imagines conversations between them, as in a book club exchange. He acknowledges their comments and expresses interest in ongoing dialogues fostered by the ideas in his book.

Review of John W. Welch. The Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon.

Review of Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon (1997), by Jeffrey R. Holland

Review of Book of Mormon Companion: Dictionary & More.

Royal Skousen’s endeavor to recover the original text of the Book of Mormon is more complicated than it seems because it involves more than simply reproducing the original manuscript. Rather, what Skousen means by “original text” is the very language that appeared on the Urim and Thummim. Every subsequent step, such as Joseph’s reading, his scribes’ understanding and transcribing of that utterance, and Oliver Cowdery’s copying of the manuscript for the printer, exposed the text to the possibility of human subjectivity and error. This paper explains the nature and scope of Skousen’s monumental undertaking and presents some of the methods and reasoning he employs to resolve disputed textual variants in search the Book of Mormon’s original text.

The Maxwell Institute and Brigham Young University are pleased to announce the publica- tion of part 6 of volume 4 of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon. Part 6 analyzes the text from 3 Nephi 19 through Moroni 10.

The Maxwell Institute and Brigham Young University are pleased to announce the release of part 4 of volume 4 of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon. Part 4 analyzes the text from Alma 21 to Alma 55.

Larry Draper describes his role in providing Royal Skousen with copies of various early editions of the Book of Mormon for use in the critical text project. Draper also describes the printing process of the Book of Mormon, which process was made clearer because of Skousen’s project. Draper explains the stereotyping method of printing that was used for the 1840 Cincinnati/Nauvoo edition and the 1852 Liverpool edition of the Book of Mormon.

Robert Smith works out a detailed chronology of events in Palestine and the surrounding area from 793-445 B.c. to show what was happening in the years prior to Lehi’s departure from Jerusalem and journey to and settlement of the New World. He also describes the topographical and climatic conditions of the land through which Lehi and his colony may well have traveled on their way to the Americas.

The Book of Mormon annals open in an ancient Near Eastern context. The archaeological-historical context is carefully outlined here within a systematic chronology that is tied to fixed, absolute dates of recorded astronomical events—particularly those from cuneiform eponym calendars. The resultant matrix allows those early Book of Mormon events to be understood in a rational, familiar, and meaningful way—that is, in a biblical context. In addition, an excursus is devoted to understanding the Arabia of the Book of Mormon as the Lehite exiles must have known it. Throughout it is clear that the world depicted by the Book of Mormon dovetails remarkably well with what we know of the ancient Near East.

Many Book of Mormon passages are given life by the pictures or images they awake in our minds. In Ether the power comes from referring directly to “mountain waves.” The memorable picture of King Noah is not so direct, being formed from a figure of speech: the ruler is like a “dry stalk” crushed under foot. Without their imagery, these verses would lose their beauty and vitality.

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.

In recent years, a large number of ancient writings have been found in and around Israel. While many of these include names found in the Bible and other ancient texts, others were previously unattested in written sources. Some of these previously unattested names, though unknown in the Bible, are found in the Book of Mormon. The discovery of these Hebrew names in ancient inscriptions provides remarkable evidence for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon and provides clear refutation of those critics who would place its origin in nineteenth-century America. This article explores several Book of Mormon proper names that are attested from Hebrew inscriptions. Names included are Sariah, Alma, Abish, Aha, Ammonihah, Chemish, Hagoth, Himni, Isabel, Jarom, Josh, Luram, Mathoni, Mathonihah, Muloki, and Sam—none of which appear in English Bibles.

Review of Geri Brinley. The Book of Mormon: A Pattern for Parenting.

Janne Sjodahl discusses how the Book of Mormon would have taken up less space on the plates than in its current translated and printed form. Because the plates were written in a language comparable to Hebrew, Sjodahl had fourteen pages of the English Book of Mormon translated into Hebrew and written out. This Hebrew text covered only one page. According to this finding, the Book of Mormon could be written using as few as twenty-one plates (or even forty-eight if written in larger characters). Sjodahl presents estimates of the size and weight of the plates.

Despite the fact that the Book of Mormon contains frequent mentions of the Spirit by a variety of names and titles, little attention has been devoted to the pneumatology of the Book of Mormon. This study seeks to identify the broad contours of Book of Mormon pneumatology based on the claims of the book itself. The categories examined include the divinity, nature, and form of the Holy Ghost; the Holy Ghost and prophecy; the Holy Ghost and power; the Holy Ghost’s influence on individuals; the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues; the communication of the Holy Ghost; and the Spirit’s striving with “man”; as well as other dimensions of the book’s pneumatology.