Author’s note: This series shares six stories about Latter-day Saints from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Each story is framed in the context of a Christlike attribute. The story of Da and Angélique Tarr is an adapted and expanded from part 1 of a...
read moreWe now look as far as history allows into the lives and doings of three largely forgotten men (and their associates), to tell a story of strange doctrine, misplaced loyalty, and exasperated concern. In 1881, Bishop Orson F. Whitney was called on a mission to England,...
read moreAncient and modern scriptures aver that humans resemble God, but the strength of the resemblance is a matter of uncertainty and serious debate. We have scriptural accounts of Jesus speaking, eating, and sleeping just as humans do, but there are no records of him engaging in other common human activities like dancing or laughing. The purpose of this note is to investigate the evidence for whether Jesus ever laughed and whether God can laugh....
read moreIt was a pleasure to read John Gee’s recently published An Introduction to the Book of Abraham (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and BYU Religious Studies Center, 2017). This book is aimed for a broad audience with an interest in the Book of Abraham....
read moreThe remarkable work of the Joseph Smith Papers Project has continued unabated since the publication of Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839 in 2008. Last year the Church Historian’s Press, which publishes the volumes of the series, released Administrative Records, Council of...
read moreWhile living in Guangzhou, China, a coastal city near Hong Kong, my wife and I decided to take a trip to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Our first day there we decided to just take it easy and try to get used to the thin air of the Himalayas (12,000 feet or 3,650...
read moreOn 6 April 2016, at BYU in Provo, Utah, Royal Skousen and Stanford Carmack presented a lecture on "Editing Out the 'Bad Grammar' in the Book of Mormon." This lecture was already available in video format, and is now available in written form....
read moreNote: this is the sixth blog of a six-part series examining the Adam-God theory from the viewpoint of three modern (though deceased) apostles, and now giving the position of the Church on the matter. The position formally taken by the Church on the Adam-God theory:...
read moreNote: this the second of a six-part sub-series of blogs focusing on the Adam-God theory. Elder Mark E. Petersen wrote a book about Adam as part of a series of short books, each focusing on one Old Testament or Book of Mormon prophet. This series of books on ancient...
read moreBelow are some comments and observations from Church leaders regarding the Journal of Discourses, an early (second half of the 19th century) 26 volume compilation of sermons and addresses by Church leaders and prominent elders. These discourses were taken down in...
read moreI received the sad news this morning that Richard Lloyd Anderson, a quiet and modest giant among Latter-day Saint scholars and one of the great defenders of Joseph Smith and the claims of the Restored Gospel in this dispensation, passed away late Sunday night. Richard...
read moreOn June 1, 1978, Elder McConkie enjoyed, with his Brethren of the First Presidency and ten of the Twelve, the most spiritual experience of his life, at least to that point. It came in the House of the Lord at the time of the receipt of the revelation to President Spencer W. Kimball extending priesthood and temple blessings to all worthy men regardless of race (see D&C Official Declaration 2). ...
read moreThe Interpreter Foundation is excited to announce its weekly radio show, live, each Sunday evening 7-8 PM (MST)....
read moreCross-posted, with permission, from Stephen Smoot’s blog. Hugh Nibley once quipped that the controversy surrounding the Book of Abraham was “a great fuss . . . being made about a scrap of papyrus.”1 Were it not for the fact that it is tied up in religious...
read moreFor over 300 years, from the days of Nephi to the days of King Mosiah 1st, there had been continual wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites (2 Nephi 5:34; Omni 1:10). During that time the Nephites had been “scattered upon much of the face of the land” (Jarom 1:6),...
read moreReview of Matthew J. Grow et al., eds., The Joseph Smith Papers: Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846 (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian’s Press, 2016). 525 pp. + introduction, appendixes, reference material, index, etc. Abstract: The publication of the Council of Fifty minutes is a momentous occasion in modern studies of Mormon history. The minutes are invaluable in helping historians understand the last days of Joseph Smith and his project to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth. They offer an important glimpse into the religious and political mindset of early Latter-day Saint leaders and shed much light on events once obscured by lack of access to the minutes. The Joseph Smith Papers Project has outdone itself in its presentation of the minutes in the latest volume of the series. The minutes are essential reading for anyone interested in early Mormon history....
read moreBy Theodore Brandley Thanks to everyone who has participated in this discussion thus far. Your input is respected and appreciated. The purpose of this series of articles is to open a forum for the proponents of the two major North American theories on Book of Mormon...
read moreby Theodore Brandley By meticulously matching The Book Of Mormon text to the facts on the ground, Warren P. Aston and others have settled the Arabian geography question in the minds of most Latter-day Saints. This is not the case in America where occurred the vast...
read moreNote: This blog is the first in a six-part sub-series examining some reaction from selected apostles to a false historical/doctrinal theory. Although the so-called “Adam-God theory” might be losing some of its presence and staying power in modern times, it is still...
read moreAs Joseph Smith was dictating the translation of the Book of Mormon to Oliver Cowdery, they learned that the gold plates were to “be hid from the eyes of the world” in general. Nevertheless “three witnesses” would be enabled to view the book or plates “by the power of...
read more
