Abstract. When discussions arise about the relationship between Church members and the prophets who lead them, certain episodes in Church history often appear. These include the Lord’s words about “all patience and faith” in Doctrine and Covenants 21:4–5, as well as incidents involving George Albert Smith and Hugh B. Brown. On the surface, such episodes might seem to raise doubts about the reliability of the presiding Brethren in representing the Lord or to minimize the importance of Church orthodoxy itself. A closer look shows such interpretations to be a mistake, however. When we clarify the record, we see that these episodes do not support the conclusions that are sometimes drawn from them. Examining these incidents also permits making a point about so-called “blind obedience.”.

Do your sons ever wonder if you are asleep when it comes to the things that are most important to them?

Faith leads to repentance of our past mistakes. But all of us need to follow up necessary repentance with belief—a belief in God and a belief that, though we all sin, the Atonement of Jesus Christ can and will save us.

We need an ongoing, daily infusion of heavenly light. We need “times of refreshing.” Times of personal restoration.

When we reflect upon Him as an anchor in our lives, I am grateful for the physical manifestation of the marks driven through His hands and feet that show the depth of sacrifice and charity from Him that sustains and blesses us today.

Review of The Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scripture (1990), edited by Dan Vogel.

Review of Origins and the Book of Mormon (1986), by Dan Vogel.

Review of Dan Vogel. Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet.

Abstract: Modern readers too often and easily misread modern assumptions into ancient texts. One such notion is that when the reader encounters repeated stories in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Herodotus, or numerous other texts, the obvious explanation that requires no supporting argument is that one text is plagiarizing or copying from the other. Ancient readers and writers viewed such repetitions differently. In this article, I examine the narratives of a young woman or girl dancing for a king with the promise from the ruler that whatever the dancer wants, she can request and receive; the request often entails a beheading. Some readers argue that a story in Ether 8 and 9, which has such a dance followed by a decapitation, is plagiarized from the gospels of Mark and Matthew: the narrative of the incarceration and death of John the Baptist. The reader of such repeated stories must study with a mindset more sympathetic to the conceptual world of antiquity in which such stories claim to be written. Biblical and Book of Mormon writers viewed such repetitions as the way God works in history, for Nephi asserts that “the course of the Lord is one eternal round” (1 Nephi 10:19), a claim he makes barely after summarizing his father’s vision of the tree of life, a dream he will repeat, expand upon, and make his own in 1 Nephi chapters 11–15 (and just because it is developed as derivative from his father’s dream in some way, no reader suggests it be taken as a plagiaristic borrowing). Nephi’s worldview is part of the shared mental system illustrated by his eponymous ancestor — Joseph, who gave his name to the two tribes of Joseph: Ephraim and Manasseh, the latter through which Lehi traced his descent (Alma 10:3) — for youthful Joseph boasts two dreams of his ascendance over his family members, interprets the two dreams of his fellow inmates, and articulates the meaning of Pharaoh’s two dreams, followed by his statement of meaning regarding such [Page 2]repetitions: “And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass” (Genesis 41:32). O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance? W. B. Yeats “Among the Schoolchildren”

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

Review of The Encyclopedia of Mormonism (1992), edited by Daniel H. Ludlow

Review of How to Get the Most from the Book of Mormon (audio cassettes, 1987), by Daniel H. Ludlow.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Eighteenth Ward Meetinghouse, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Feb. 25, 1877. Reported By: Geo. F. Gibbs.

Historians of the Latter-day Saint tradition have often dissected the origins, members, and activities of the Danites—and much has been made about Joseph Smith’s involvement with the group—but what often gets overlooked is how this nascent organization drew from a broader political tradition of rights and belonging within a democratic society. The society was more than just a replication of frontier vigilante justice. Indeed, the creation of the Danites—as well as its constitution—represented the culmination of tense discussions concerning who can and cannot reside within a particular community. It looked both outward toward Missouri neighbors and inward toward Mormon dissenters. The Danite constitution was the Latter-day Saint attempt to stake their political right to not be forcibly removed while also justifying their liberty to define the boundaries of their own community. This article traces the intellectual genealogy for this debate in an attempt to accomplish two objectives: first, to add layers to what happened in Far West, Missouri, in spring and summer 1838, including a better understanding of why the Saints were seen as so threatening to their neighbors and how the members of the faith justified their decision to fight back; and second, to better understand the broader antebellum culture’s struggle to define constitutional rights in an era where majoritarian rule seemed to verge on outright oppression. This article then concludes by highlighting how the actions in Missouri set the stage for another constitution written six years later in Nauvoo, another moment in which the Saints’ seemingly radical actions reflected broader political anxieties. Indeed, America’s democratic tradition is rife with moments of defining conflict, and the Mormon-Missouri War should be understood as exemplifying that uneven trajectory.

La invitación del Señor de buscar el pan de cada día de la mano de nuestro Padre Celestial es evidencia de un Dios amoroso, consciente aun de las pequeñas necesidades diarias de Sus hijos, y deseoso de ayudarlos, uno a uno.

May we ever be courageous and prepared to stand for what we believe.

A teenager in Germany discusses the Book of Mormon in his high school class with positive results.

A teenager in Germany discusses the Book of Mormon in his high school class with positive results.

While on assignment from the LDS prophet Joseph Smith to visit Jerusalem in 1840, Elder Orson Hyde of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles suggested opening a mission in Germany and translating the Book of Mormon into German. By April 1852, the new prophet, Brigham Young, had sent Daniel Carn to Germany to be the mission president and to help with the translation, and by May of the same year, Das Buch Mormon had been published. However, when East Germany was created and placed behind the “Iron Curtain,” matters grew worse for the Latter-day Saints. Because they were unable to print anything themselves, they relied on missionaries and members of the church in West Germany to smuggle copies of Das Buch Mormon into East Germany so they could have the scripture that was so central to their beliefs. Members still had to burn all manuals and church material that had been published after 1920 to avoid arrest, but since Das Buch Mormon had been published in 1852, the Saints were able to keep their copies of that scripture.

From an interview with David L. Beck, Young Men General President, and Elaine S. Dalton, Young Women General President

Abstract: In the October 2015 issue of The Journal of Mormon History, Gary Bergera presents a richly illustrated article, “Memory as Evidence: Dating Joseph Smith’s Plural Marriages to Louisa Beaman, Zina Jacobs, and Presendia Buell” (95–131). It focuses on a page from the “Historian’s Private Journal,” which Bergera dates to “specifically September or thereabouts” of 1866 (99). Wilford Woodruff’s handwriting on that page describes Joseph Smith’s plural marriage sealings and dates his marriage to Louisa Beaman to “May 1840,” to Zina Huntington on “October 27, 1840,” to Presendia Huntington on “December 11, 1840,” and also to Rhoda Richards on “June 12, 1843.” The first three dates on the historian’s document are important, as Bergera explains: “If accurate, Woodruff’s record not only pushes back the beginnings of Joseph Smith earliest Nauvoo plural marriage by a year but it also requires that we reevaluate what we think we know — and how we know it — about the beginnings of LDS polygamy” (95–96). The key question is whether the information on that page can be considered “accurate” in light of other available documents dealing with these plural sealings. During the remaining thirty-four pages of the article, Bergera presents an argument that 1840, not 1841, is the most reliable year for the Prophet’s earliest Nauvoo plural unions. This essay examines why his analysis of the records appears to be incomplete and his conclusions problematic.

Jeffrey R. Chadwick, in three landmark articles published in BYU Studies Quarterly, discusses accurately dating key scriptural events. The first article (2010) presents evidence from historical and scriptural sources suggesting that Jesus Christ was born in December of the year 5 BC, rather than in April of 1 BC as commonly claimed in traditional Latter-day Saint sources. The second article (2015) is a follow-up to the first and lays out a more complex collection of evidence pointing to the day and date of Jesus’s crucifixion and death as a Thursday early in April of AD 30, thirty-three years and three months after his birth. The third article (2018) assembles a vast array of historical and archaeological data suggesting that the date of Lehi’s departure from Jerusalem must have been late in the year 605 BC, some six hundred years prior to Jesus’s birth in December of 5 BC.

In December 2010, BYU Studies published a study by Jeffrey R. Chadwick entitled “Dating the Birth of Jesus Christ.” It presented historical and scriptural evidence showing that Jesus was not born in April of 1 BC, as popular Latter-day Saint thought supposed, but most likely in December of 5 BC. A significant component in “Dating the Birth of Jesus Christ” was the proposition that Jesus died at Passover in the early spring of AD 30. While this dating is widely accepted, a minority of scholars disagree. A great deal of historical and scriptural evidence suggests otherwise, however, and this study demonstrates, with some degree of certainty, that Jesus did in fact die in AD 30, on the eve of Passover, the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan, which in that year fell on April 6 in the old Julian calendar. This study also presents evidence that the day on which Jesus died was not a Friday, but the fifth day of the Jewish week, the day we call Thursday. This paper introduces a great deal of data to support the author’s conclusions, including modern scholarly assessments, original primary historical references, citations from the New Testament and the Mishnah, astronomical information, and tables that display the timing of events.

Dating the departure of Lehi from Jerusalem is problematic and has resulted in various proposed dates, most falling between 597 and 587 BC, which do not allow for 600 years to elapse between the departure and the birth of Christ in late 5 BC or early 4 BC. In this article, the author introduces a variety of evidence to show that Lehi’s departure can be dated to sometime in late 605 BC. Much of this evidence results from an understanding of the state of affairs in ancient Judah during the reigns of Judean kings Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. The author introduces supporting evidence from the Book of Mormon account and also shows why other dating models reach untenable conclusions.

Legion are the stories that could and need to be told of women valiant in their testimonies of Jesus Christ who are unsung heroines in our midst.

Studying the history of Relief Society gives definition and expression to who we are as disciples and followers of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The path … we must take on our journey back to our Heavenly Father … is marked by sacred covenants with God.

There is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood.

Heavenly Father knows you and loves you. You are His special daughter. He has a plan for you.

It is worthy to make resolutions regarding our behavior, goals, or pursuits. Such resolutions become mileposts to guide our lives, now and later. They will lead us past the kind of transitory fads that evaporate like the morning dew in the heat of the sun.

Review of Mormons Answered Verse by Verse (1992), by David A. Reed and John R. Farkas.

David Bokovoy’s most recent book, Authoring the Old Testament: Genesis–Deuteronomy, represents a fresh and much-needed perspective on how Latter-day Saints can simultaneously embrace both scholarship and faith. This book is the first in what is anticipated to be a three-volume set exploring issues of authorship in the Old Testament published by Bokovoy with Greg Kofford Books. Bokovoy uses current scholarship on the Pentateuch as a springboard for discussing LDS perspectives on scripture, revelation, and cultural influence. To my knowledge, this is the first book-length attempt to popularize the classical Documentary Hypothesis among Latter-day Saints, and Bokovoy does an exemplary job of tackling this issue head-on and taking an unflinching view of its implications for how we understand Restoration scriptures such as the Book of Moses, the Book of Abraham, and the Book of Mormon.

Review of A Reading Guide to the Book of Mormon (1989), by David H. Mulholland.

Review of Isaiah Made Easier (1991), by David J. Ridges.

Review of Joseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon (1985), by David Persuitte.

Review of Truths from the Earth, vol. 2: The Story of the Creations to the Floods (1996), by David T. Harris.

Reviews the life of David Whitmer who retained his testimony of the Book of Mormon until his death in 1888.

Presents a history of David Whitmer’s life, the circumstances of the viewing of the plates, his final testimony, the charges that he had denied his testimony, and his rebuttal. He is declared a faithful witness to his death.

An obituary of David Whitmer that emphasizes his recollections of the emergence of the Book of Mormon.

An obituary of David Whitmer that emphasizes his recollections of the emergence of the Book of Mormon.

A history of David Whitmer written for his descendants, but also includes a history of Joseph Smith, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and the apostasy of the “Mormon Church” Also provides a historical sketch of Solomon Spaulding, calling attention to the fact that David Whitmer never denied his testimony of the Book of Mormon.

David Whitmer’s testimony of having seen the plates never wavered. He was faithful in his stewardship, which included more than witnessing for the Book of Mormon. The Three Witnesses were called upon by the Prophet Joseph to select the twelve apostles. The Three Witnesses accomplished their work and in spite of their mistakes were accepted of the Lord.

An article reprinted from the Chicago Times, written after a reporter interviewed David Whitmer. David Whitmer confirms his testimony of the Book of Mormon and says that the Spaulding Theory is false. Sidney Rigdon did not know of the Book of Mormon until after it was published. Whitmer also showed the reporter the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon.

(written by a reporter) Denouncing the Latter-day Saints of Utah, Whitmer reaffirms his testimony concerning the Book of Mormon, which is a supplement to the Bible. He further denounces polygamy as a disgrace to the Church.

Presents a short biography and a collection of David Whitmer interviews and letters that date from March 1858 to January 1888. Many of the materials deal with his testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. This work is reviewed in P.206.

A thesis that examines the life of David Whitmer, his testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, and his involvement with the Mormons. As one of the witnesses who saw an angel and the gold plates, Whitmer’s testimony of the Book of Mormon is valuable.

Refutes a statement by John Murphy that the author denied his testimony as one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon.

Fifty years of the non-Mormon life of David Whitmer, one of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, is discussed and his character explored.

Reprint of an article in the Deseret News that reprints portions from the Richmond Democrat of January 26. David Whitmer, the last of the Three Witnesses, told how he saw the plates and other objects. The article also reprints his last testimony of the Book of Mormon, recorded shortly before his death.

Given some exposure, our young brothers and young sisters come quite naturally … to a deep love for Jesus and for our prophets.

Assistant Church Historian James B. Allen shares his remarks that he made at Davis Bitton’s funeral on Bitton’s scholarly work.

It is clear that the Lord is preparing the earth for His second coming. May we appreciate the day in which we live.

A fictitious novel based on various episodes of the Book of Mormon.

A two-part article that states that there were approximately 1,150,000 descendants of Lehi in Mexico when the Europeans arrived. Intermarriages took place between the two groups and as a result many Americans now have Lamanite blood. Argues that thousands of Church members are descendants of Lehi, showing that Lehi’s promises are being fulfilled.

Describes a time when Indian students visited the Alberta, Canada, Temple. They saw wall paintings that depicted Lehi offering a sacrifice after landing on American soil, and a picture of Christ administering the sacrament to a Lamanite at his coming after his resurrection.

What a glorious season it has been and now is. A new day has come in the work of the Almighty.

Places the Book of Mormon in a hypothetical trial situation with a judge (Jewish rabbi), prosecutors (members of religious denominations), and defendants (LDS missionaries). The verdict is that the Book of Mormon was truly revealed of God.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, June 18, 1871. Reported By: David W. Evans.

Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.
Why it’s a good thing that the leaders of the Church are amateur clergy, not paid professionals.

Originally printed as an article in the New Era.
Why it’s a good thing that the leaders of the Church are amateur clergy, not paid professionals.

Shows how Book of Mormon prophecies concerning the Lamanites are beginning to be fulilled.

The 2006 BYU Church History Symposium Besides the Prophet, no one was more involved in the key events of the Restoration or mentioned more often in the Doctrine and Covenants than Oliver Cowdery. He was influential in the highest councils of the Church as well as in the councils of his community. While many are familiar with his contributions to the Restoration, few understand his personality and his deep spirituality. This book is a compilation of presentations selected from the annual BYU Church History Symposium hosted by BYU Religious Education and explores the life of Oliver Cowdery and the many roles he filled. This symposium was held to honor him and celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of his birth. ISBN 978-0-8425-2742-2

Review of Sam Harris. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.

Biographical account of the Smith family. Discusses Joseph’s role as translator of the golden plates and his claims to expertise in the languages of antiquity.

Abstract: Is the Gospel profound? Yes, it is. And one of the goals of the Interpreter Foundation is to call attention to that sometimes-overlooked profundity. In one sense, though, the question is a peripheral one. If we were drowning — which, figuratively and from the vantage point of eternity, we absolutely are — we wouldn’t complain at a life preserver thrown to us if it were chipped, poorly painted, or unattractive, let alone if it were defective as a work of great art. We would simply be grateful to be saved. In another sense, the Gospel is clearly profound because it answers the deepest and most basic of human questions.

The so-called Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20) from Qumran Cave 1 has suffered from decades of neglect, due in large part to its poor state of preservation. As part of a resurgent scholarly interest in the Apocryphon, and its prominent position among the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls, this volume presents a fresh transcription, translation, and exstenive textual notes drawing on close study of the original manuscript, all available photographs, and previous publications. In addition, a detailed analysis of columns 13-15 and their relation to the oft-cited parallel in the Book of Jubilees reveals a number of ways in which the two works differ, thereby highlighting several distinctive features of the Genesis Apocryphon. The result is a reliable text edition and a fuller understanding of the message conveyed by this fragmentary but fascinating retelling of Genesis.

Many Latter-day Saints are interested in and familiar to some extent with the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), and a few Latter-day Saint scholars have participated in the study and publication of scroll fragments. This essay suggests answers to the question, where can or should Latter-day Saints go from here regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls? Directed to Latter-day Saint readers, the essay assumes there are still impoartant things to learn about and benefit to be gained from further interaction with the DSS. After reviewing the general value of the DSS and Latter-day Saint interest in them, suggestions are provided in five broad categories of consideration, among which are the need to overcome ignorance and misinformation about the scrolls among church members, keeping up-to-date by utilizing current publications on the DSS, and emphasizing and illustrating the value of the DSS for studying the Bible.

A compilation of quotations by different people on the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient records. The author ties the archaeological discoveries in both hemispheres to the Book of Mormon and retells the story of the gold plates from Joseph Smith’s point of view.

The Dead Sea Scrolls constitute a seminal resource for understanding the context of the early Christian community and several New Testament texts. Soon after their discovery, some very sensational claims were made about the Qumran community and its literature (the scrolls) in terms of their connection to Jesus and his followers. While these have largely been dismissed, and serious and persistent scholarship over the years has shown that there were differences between the Qumran community and early Christianity, significant similarities do exist. These similarities line up largely according to the following categories: common scripture and its interpretation, theological ideas, vocabulary and practices, importance of the temple, eschatological and apocalyptic orientation, and the centrality of messianic expectations. This essay attempts to highlight some of the most significant of these parallels to show that both the New Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls are products of the same roots, that we should expect to find certain commonalities, and that to fully understand one corpus of writings, we have to know something about the other.

This paper examines various significant aspects of what may be designated the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: its contents and description, scribal conventions, variant readings, use by modern English Bible translations, as well as parabiblical texts and their possible affiliation with the DSS Bible, canonicity, scriptural commentaries, tefillin, and mezuzot. An examination of the DSS biblical texts, which date to nearly a thousand years earlier than previously known texts of the Hebrew Bible, demonstrates a high degree of accuracy in the transmission of our Bible texts. Most variants offer only minor corrections to our biblical texts. Thus the scribe’s professionalism overall should give us, as modern readers, confidence that biblical scripture has come down to us in excellent order.

Since their initial discovery in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have drawn the interest of people world­wide. FARMS has been fortunate to play a part in bringing the scrolls to the world, and that effort continues. The FARMS Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-­day Saints and managed by full­time missionaries Wayne and Janet Chamberlain, completed its tour of the United Kingdom and western Europe in May and is now making its way through central Europe.

Volume 2 (2010) of Studies in the Bible and Antiquity promises to be a significant contribution to the ongoing Latter-day Saint scholarly conversation on the Dead Sea Scrolls. This volume features essays from Donald W. Parry, Dana M. Pike, and Andrew C. Skinner, all of whom have served on the international team of editors of the Dead Sea Scrolls and have helped produce several of the 40 volumes in the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series.

A new multivolume work promises to facilitate study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader, published by the prestigious academic publisher E. J. Brill, offers transcriptions and English translations of all the nonbiblical Qumran texts.