“The Book of Mormon provides resounding and great answers to what Amulek designated as ’the great question’—namely, is there really a redeeming Christ? (Alma 34:5–6). The Book of Mormon with clarity and with evidence says, ’Yes! Yes! Yes!’ ” This declaration by Elder Neal A. Maxwell is the first in what might be described as a treasure trove of answers—a collection of twenty-seven though-provoking essays exploring and explaining the great truths found in the book of Mormon. Selected from more than three decades of symposia and conferences held at Brigham Young University, these essays by General Authorities and religious educators are filled with insights that will appeal to any serious student of the “keystone of our religion.” A Book of Mormon Treasury covers a wide variety of gospel topics, from “Agency and Freedom,” “Faith, Hope, and Charity,” and “The Doctrine of a Covenant People” to “Abinadi’s Commentary on Isaiah,” “The Natural Man: An Enemy to God,” and “The Concept of Hell.” Arranged to follow the order of the books in the Book of Mormon, each essay provides a deeper look into familiar doctrines, illuminating the gems of truth found within this sacred book of scripture. Among the valuable insights offered are these: “The highest and most revered purpose of the Book of Mormon is to restore to Abraham’s seed that crucial message declaring Christ’s divinity, convincing all who read its pages ’with a sincere heart, with real intent’ that Jesus is the Christ (Moroni 10:4).”—Elder Jeffrey R. Holland “Even as the criticism of the Book of Mormon continues to intensify, the book continues to testify and to diversify its displays of interior consistency, conceptual richness, and its connection with antiquity.”—Elder Neal A. Maxwell “Serious and careful study of the Fall in the Book of Mormon can drive people to their knees, bringing them to acknowledge their own weaknesses and thus their need for the Lord’s redemption. The Atonement is necessary because of the Fall, and unless people sense the effects of Eden—both cosmically and personally—they cannot comprehend the impact of Gethsemane and Calvary.”—Robert L. Millet ISBN 978-1-5903-8099-4

The inspiration for this book and the source of most of its chapters was a conference held to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the coming of the Mormon pioneers to Utah’s Salt Lake Valley. In recognition of the fact that by the end of the twentieth century The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a global presence with more members outside North America than in it, Church leaders suggested that sesquicentennial celebrations might appropriately focus on local pioneers who had helped establish the Church in their respective areas. The chapters in this book are grouped into three sections that roughly correspond to the volume’s subtitle. Since memory, identity, and history inevitably intertwine in the presentation of past experience, readers should expect considerable overlap between sections. Nonetheless, chapters have been grouped according to their dominant orientation and approach. Histories by and about Pacific Islanders are never impersonal. They focus on individuals more than on institutions and on ordinary people more than the elite. The people-centered, personal-narrative character of islander discourse is apparent in many chapters throughout this book. By the time readers close the cover of this volume, it should be clear, as it was at the close of the Pioneers in the Pacific Conference, that LDS pioneering in the Pacific required the same faith and inspiration, hardship and heartache, miracles and mighty works that European and United States converts in the mid–nineteenth century exhibited in crossing the North American plains. It is a legacy that beckons to every generation of Latter-day Saints in every land. To demonstrate similar “faith in every footstep” and to witness along the way what great things the Lord has done, and will do, for His people is at the heart of our Christian discipleship. ISBN 0-8425-2616-1