"This website gives LDS scholars the opportunity to express their views and feelings about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are some who may feel that people of education and learning can't be religious. It is hoped that these testimonies will help dispel that myth, educate, and give insights into the thoughts and feelings of LDS scholars."
Mark Twain once derided the Book of Mormon as "chloroform in print." Long and complicated, written in the language of the King James version of the Bible, it boggles the minds of many. Yet it is unquestionably one of the most influential books ever written. With over 140 million copies in print, it is a central text of one of the largest and fastest-growing faiths in the world. And, Grant Hardy shows, it's far from the coma-inducing doorstop caricatured by Twain.
In Understanding the Book of Mormon, Hardy focuses on the work's narrative structure. Unlike virtually all other recent world scriptures, it is presented as an integrated narrative rather than a series of doctrinal expositions, moral injunctions, or devotional hymns. Hardy takes readers through the characters, events, and ideas, as he explores the story and its messages. He identifies the book's literary techniques, such as characterization, embedded documents, allusions, and parallel narratives. Whether Joseph Smith is regarded as author or translator, it's noteworthy that he never speaks in his own voice; rather, he mediates nearly everything through the narrators Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni. Hardy shows how each has a distinctive voice, and all are woven into an integral whole.
As with any scripture, the contending views of the Book of Mormon can seem irreconcilable. For believers, it is an actual historical document, transmitted from ancient America. For nonbelievers, it is the work of a nineteenth-century farmer from upstate New York. Hardy transcends this intractable conflict by offering a literary approach, one appropriate to both history and fiction. Regardless of whether readers are interested in Americanhistory, literature, comparative religion, or even salvation, he writes, the book can best be read if we examine the text on its own terms.
Grant Hardy is Professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. In addition to having written books and articles on early Chinese history, he is also the editor of The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition. Hardy is currently an associate editor for the Journal of the Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture.
So declared Lorenzo Snow, fifth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since this pronouncement on Sept. 18, 1898 the couplet has been quoted hundreds of times by LDS general authorities and instructors to summarize the Mormon concept of "eternal progression."As man now is, God once was;
as God now is, man may become
"That exalted position was made manifest to me at a very early day. I had a direct revelation of this" said President Snow, considered a prophet by members of the LDS church.
Nearly fifty years earlier Lorenzo Snow had been ordained an apostle. Later that week Mormon Church President Brigham Young noted, "Lorenzo Snow put out some principles arguing that Jesus Christ is our father and not our elder brother and asked for light." From the newly published 1849 sermon, Brigham Young explained:
"While on a mission to England, the following came forcibly to my mind --
"While on a mission to England, the following came forcibly to my mind -- As God was, so are we now; as he now is, so we shall be."
About the new publication: The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young
Is the couplet still taught today?
King Follett Discourse
Lorenzo Snow's sermon
LDS Church Plan of Salvation
Eliza R. Snow's Recollection
Thirty years ago today in Mormon history ... Mormon feminist Sonia Johnson was excommunicated from the LDS church for her outspoken support of the Equal Rights Amendment. The LDS Church had launched a concerted effort to prevent the amendment from passing, and Johnson led efforts to promote the amendment.
Today the Mormon Church is waging a similar battle against same-sex marriage by supporting and coordinating anti-gay marriage efforts around the country. Today's efforts have parallels in the church's battle against the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the late 1970s and early 1980s.Arthur H. Clark
Mormon Convert, Mormon Defector: A Scottish Immigrant in the American West, 1848-1861 by Polly Aird
The Nauvoo Legion in Illinois by Richard E. Bennett, et al. (Forthcoming May 2010)
Gettysburg to Great Salt Lake: George R. Maxwell, Civil War Hero and Federal Marshall Among the Mormons by John Gary Maxwell (Forthcoming April 2010)
Bill MacKinnon mentioned that At Sword's Point, Part 2 will be completed in 2010, but likely not published until 2011.
BYU Religious Studies Center
Days Never to be Forgotten: Oliver Cowdery, edited by Alexander Baugh
Champion of Liberty: John Taylor, edited by Mary Jane Woodger
The Colonia Juarez Temple: A Prophet's Inspiration by Richard O. Cowan and Virginia Hatch Romney
In Harm's Way: East German Latter-day Saints in World Ward II by Roger P. Minert (Forthcoming) Recently released
BYU Studies
Eliza R. Snow: The Complete Poetry, edited by Jill Derr and Karen Lynn Davidson (see notes from the ERS: TCP event)
Wayward Saints: The Social and Religious Protests of the Godbeites against Brigham Young (Reprint), by Ronald W. Walker
The Best of the Frontier Guardian, edited by Susan Easton Black (see this review)
Mountain Meadows Massacre: The Andrew Jensen and David H. Morris Collections, edited by Richard E. Turley and Ronald W. Walker
Oxford University Press
The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction by Terryl Givens
Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader's Guide by Grant Hardy (Forthcoming March 2010)
Additionally, Matt Grow and Terryl Givens are working on a biography of Parley P. Pratt entitled Parley Parker Pratt: The St. Paul of Mormonism. It has been projected for late 2010, but it may end up being a 2011 production.
Utah State University Press
Utah in the Twentieth Century, edited by Brian Q. Cannon and Jessie Embry
The Mormon Passage of George D. Watt: First British Convert, Scribe for Zion, by Ronald G. Watt (Forthcoming 2009)
Post Manifesto Polygamy: The 1899-1904 Correspondence of Helen, Owen and Avery Woodruff, edited by Lu Ann Faylor Snyder and Phillip A. Snyder
Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons on the Page, Stage, and Screen, edited by Mark T. Decker and Michael Austin (Forthcoming May 2010)
Paul Reeve and Mike van Wagenen, eds., Between Pulpit and Pew: Mormon Encounters with the Paranormal (Forthcoming 2010)
Signature Books
New Mormon Studies CD-ROM, 2009 Edition (Forthcoming)
Smith-Pettit
The Complete Brigham Young Discourses, 5 Volumes, Edited by Richard Van Wagoner
ABC-CLIO
Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia, edited by W. Paul Reeve and Ardis Parshall (Forthcoming)
Harvard University Press
On Zion's Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape (Paperback Edition) by Jared Farmer (Forthcoming April 2010)
Cedar Fort, Inc. (I cannot vouch for the quality of these publications, but I've listed them here just FYI)
Far West, Missouri: It Shall Be Called Most Holy by Janet and Dan Lisonbee (Forthcoming 2010)
Bodyguard to the Prophet by Larry Mullins (Forthcoming 2010)
Mere Mormonism: Defense of Mormon Theology by Ronald Zollinger (Forthcoming 2010)
The University of Nebraska Press
Excavating Nauvoo: The Mormons and the Rise of Historical Archaeology in America by Benjamin Pykles (See also Page 47 of the UNP Catalog) (Forthcoming)
The University of Missouri Press
The Missouri Mormon Experience, Edited by Thomas M. Spencer (Forthcoming)
Shadow Mountain
Kiss it Goodbye: The Mystery, the Mormon, and the Moral of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates by John Moody (Forthcoming)
Greg Kofford Books
-Hearken O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith's Ohio Revelations by Mark L. Staker
-A reprint of Andrew Jenson's LDS Biographical Encyclopedia (still forthcoming)
- The Development of Mormon Theology by Charles Harrell (forthcoming)
University of Utah Press
Amasa Mason Lyman: Mormon Apostle and Apostate, A Study in Dedication by Edward Leo Lyman
At Rest in Zion: The Archaeology of Salt Lake City's First Pioneer Cemetery by Shane A. Baker (Forthcoming February 2010)
Early Mormon Missionary Activities in Japan, 1901-1924 by Reid L. Neilson (Forthcoming 2009)
Mormons as Citizens of a Communist State: A Documentary History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in East Germany, 1945-1990 by Raymond Kuehne (Forthcoming 2009)
On The Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1844-1889 (Paperback edition) edited by Juanita Brooks
The Autobiography of Hosea Stout edited by Reed A. Stout, Revised by Stephen L. Prince
The Church Historian's Press
The Joseph Smith Papers, Revelations and Translations (Facsimile Edition)
The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 1 (Forthcoming, 2010) [The JSP website says these two books are forthcoming in 2010, though I've heard from other sources that this may be optimistic with the History volume being more likely to arrive in 2010]
The Joseph Smith Papers, History, Volume 1 (Forthcoming, 2010)
Yale University Press
The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, edited by Royal Skousen
"Liberty to the Downtrodden" Thomas L. Kane, Romantic Reformer by Matt Grow
John Whitmer Books
Strangites: The Great Lakes Mormon Experience, edited by John Hamer and Vickie Speek (Forthcoming)
Lost Apostles: Forgotten Members of Mormonism's Original Quorum of the Twelve, edited by William Shepard and H. Michael Marquardt (Forthcoming)
An Illustrated History of Nauvoo by Steve Shields (Forthcoming)
Let Contention Cease: The Dynamics of Dissent in the Reorganized Latter-day Saint Tradition by W. B. Spillman (Forthcoming)
I know that a volume of collected essays on polygamy is in the works, as well as Hanging by a Thread: Joseph Smith and the White Horse Prophecy by Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster.
FARMS/Maxwell Institute
One Eternal Round by Hugh Nibley (Forthcoming, 2010–It has been said that release of this book will coincide with Nibley's 100th birthday)
Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Volume 6 by Royal Skousen
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Building of the Schoenstein Organ at the Conference Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah by John Longhurst
Millennial Press
When the Saints Came Marching In: A History of the Latter-day Saints in St. Louis by Fred Woods and Thomas Farmer
Southern Utah University Press
"I Would to God:" A Personal History of Isaac Haight by Caroline Woolley.
Globe Pequot Press
Pioneer, Polygamist, Politician: The Life of Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon by Mari Grana
Eborn Books
A History of the B. H. Roberts Family by Richard C. Roberts
Eborn Books will also publish the newest found manuscript of William E. McLellin with Harvard Heath as editor, though I do not have any info on timetable. Also on deck is the Lorenzo Snow Prison diary and also I've heard of a Wilford Woodruff autobiography that Eborn is hoping to publish. There is one other manuscript in the works, but the editor chosen not to make it public yet, so I'll wait until that's the case.
Digital Legend Press
Historia de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias en Bolivia by Nestor Curbelo
Routledge
Megan Sanborg Jones, Performing American Identity in Anti-Mormon Melodrama.
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles's Darwin's On the Origin of Species. It has invoked vigorous discussion about science and the creation in Mormon thought.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/07/20/Obama-to-meet-LDS-president/UPI-25611248066676
Mormon church leaders presented U.S. President Barack Obama a detailed family tree Monday during a private meeting in Washington.
The meeting was the first time Obama met with Thomas Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Monson was escorted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, the highest ranking Mormon in the government, and accompanied by Dallin Oaks, chairman of the religious organization's genealogical committee.
"I enjoyed my meeting with President Monson and Elder Oaks," Obama said in a statement after the meeting. "I'm grateful for the genealogical records that they brought with them and am looking forward to reading through the materials with my daughters. It's something our family will treasure for years to come."
Church leaders have traditionally presented presidents with genealogical breakdowns, giving similar reports to Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the Tribune reported. However, church officials said none of their previous genealogical reports was as varied Obama's, whose mother was from Kansas and whose father from Kenya. Previous ancestral examinations uncovered Irish and German lineage, too.
The meeting was arranged by Reid.
Shortly after Joseph Smith met Oliver Cowdery, a revelation was received regarding a gift belonging to Oliver Cowdery, referred to as Section 8 of the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C).
Revelations Book 1 (circa 1831) was a handwritten copy of revelations primarily assembled in 1831 by John Whitmer. It contains earlier versions of revelations than published in the Book of Commandments (1833) or the Doctrine and Covenants (1835).The yearly report credited Utah with the lowest rates in the nation for smoking, cancer deaths, infant mortality and binge drinking, but found the availability of primary care physicians here limited compared with other areas.
It also noted a high "geographic disparity" regarding access to health services for those in remote rural areas, and cited a low rate of funding for public health as significant health challenges.
Utah's spending was $60 per person for public health last year, compared with a national average of $94 per person and $150 per person in Vermont."We can't just say anymore that those white Mormons are healthy people," he said. "We have to assume some of these improvements are due both to public health practices and state policies," including a legislative mandate that children in Utah who meet the income guidelines qualify for government-funded health insurance.
Though Utah's rate of obesity continues to increase at about the same rate as the rest of the nation, "we have a lower rate overall and a much lower rate than some parts of the nation, especially in the Southeast," Joy said.Sundwall said he takes no comfort in the fact that Utahns were fifth best in the nation in the percentage of obese residents, noting 23 percent of Utahns still fall into that category.
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