Sunday, May 18, 2025

My Education at BYU Studies

 

It has now been a little over a year since I retired from BYU Studies after almost 18 years as editorial director. Retirement has been good but busy, and life doesn’t appear to be slowing down at all. But now and then I think about my experience at BYU Studies. I’ve often told people that this job was the best education a person could ask for. Indeed, it was a far better education than I ever got as an undergraduate or graduate student. Why? Primarily because of the nature of BYU Studies. The journal we publishedtitled BYU Studies, then BYU Studies Quarterly, then once again BYU Studiesis a scholarly Mormon studies journal, but it is also very much a multidisciplinary journal, as the list below will demonstrate.

Working at BYU Studies was also a great education because of the nature of the editing I did. Largely due to Doris Dant, who was executive editor before I arrived in 2006, BYU Studies is very OCD about the little details. We source-checked everything. We always had two editors complete an edit of each article, with at least one other set of eyes (usually three) reading the article and checking for typographical problems. The lead editor for each article would do both a content edit and a copy edit, which meant that if I was the lead editor, I might have to dig into the intricacies of translation theory or literary criticism or economics or philosophy or game theory. We had to become well enough acquainted with the topic to raise questions with the author, sometimes beyond the questions our peer reviewers raised. And we became very conversant in LDS history.

Because of the breadth of the subject matter we dealt with and my own curiosity, at some point I put together a list of all the topics I had edited. I then added to this list with each new issue. What follows is that list, and it includes only those articles for which I served as lead editor. Not included is an equally large number of topics for which I was the second editor and then even more topics for which I was the final proofreader.

Anyway, here’s the list. It will give you some idea of the wide variety of subjects BYU Studies published during my 18 years there and a glimpse at the sort of education I was privileged to receive at the hands of a large number of excellent scholars. The topics are separated by issue, number, and year. The final entry is the special issue on evolution that I wrote about a couple of posts ago. We didn’t publish it, but we did all the editing.

 

45.2 (2006)

The Gospel of Judas

Metallurgical Provenance of Ancient Roman Plates

 

45.3

Draining the Swamp in Nauvoo (an engineering study)

Mormonism and Modern Protestantism

 

45.4

Franklin S. Harris and Church Education

“Beautiful Death” in the Smith Family

 

46.1 (2007)

Mormon Outmigration

 

46.2

History of Mormon Cinema

Competing Business Models in Mormon Cinema

Seeking the Good in Art, Drama, Film, and Literature

Toward a Mormon Cinematic Aesthetic

 

46.3

Joseph Smith and the United Firm

Dating and Marriage at BYU

Kierkegaard’s “About and Against Mormonism”

 

46.4

A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith

 

47.1 (2008)

Various Dedications of the Holy Land

Early Mormon Hymns

An Epistle of the Twelve, March 1842

 

47.2

Spencer W. Kimball and the Revelation on Priesthood

Pen and Pencil Markings in Joseph Smith’s Bible Translation

 

47.3

Mountain Meadows Massacre Documents

 

47.4

Joseph Smith and Søren Kierkegaard

Mormon Media History Timeline

 

48.1 (2009)

The Boggs Shooting and Attempted Extradition of Joseph Smith

Five Hymns by Frederick G. Williams

Missionary Work in Buckinghamshire, England, 1849–1878

 

48.2

Contemporary Mormon and Iranian Film

 

48.3

A Book of Commandments and Revelations

 

48.4

Colonel Thomas L. Kane

 

49.1 (2010)

The Ezekiel Mural at Dura Europos

The First Amendment and the Internet

Joseph F. Merrill and the 1930–1931 Church Education Crisis

 

49.2

Academic Freedom at BYU

Accreditation at BYU

Robert J. Matthews and the RLDS Inspired Version

Legal Insights into the 1830 Organization of the Church

 

49.3

The 1844/1845 Declaration of the Quorum of the Twelve

Theology and Ecology

German Writer Walter Kempowski

Icelandic Author Halldór Laxness

 

49.4

Dating the Birth of Christ

The Chicago Experiment and Church Education

A Poetics of the Restoration

 

50.1 (2011)

LDS Theology

Evolution of Stars and Planets

Temple Elements in Ancient Religious Communities

 

50.2

The Canadian Copyright to the Book of Mormon

British Copyright of the Book of Mormon

Educational Philosophy of Eliza R. Snow

 

50.3

The King James Bible in America

The Material God of Mormonism

John Taylor’s 1854 Account of the Martyrdom

Consecration in Nauvoo, 1842

 

50.4

Creating Christian Vocabulary in a Non-Christian Language

The Spirit and the Intellect

Religious Metaphor and Cross-Cultural Communication

The Fate of the Davao Penal Colony in World War II

 

51.1 (2012)

Mormonism in the Methodist Marketplace

The Medical Practice of Frederick G. Williams

Howard Nielson, BYU, and Statistics

 

51.2

Textual Similarities between Abinadi and Alma

Rediscovering Provo’s First Tabernacle with Ground-Penetrating Radar

 

51.3

Religious Universities in a Secular Academic World

Dating the Birth of Jesus

Engel’s Law

The LDS Church in Italy

 

51.4

Demographic Limits of Nineteenth-Century Mormon Polygamy

Plural Marriage in St. George, 1861–1880

Polygamy in St. George, June 1880

Textual Changes for a Scholarly Study of the Book of Mormon

Dissecting the Words of Mormon

 

52.1 (2013)

The Post-Manifesto Marriage Crisis

A Mormon Approach to Politics

 

52.2

The Law of Adoption

Game Theory and the Book of Mormon

Self-Interest, Ethical Egoism, and the Restored Gospel

 

52.3

Textual Development of D&C 130:22 and the Embodiment of the Holy Ghost

The Importance of Markets and What Makes Them Work

Joseph F. Smith and the Reshaping of Church Education

Enticing the Sacred with Words

 

52.4

What Happened to My Bell-Bottoms: How Things That Were Never Going to Change Have Changed Anyway

Seven Lineages of the Book of Mormon and Seven Tribes of Mesoamerica

Psalm 22 and the Mission of Christ

 

53.1 (2014)

The Temple According to 1 Enoch

Enoch and the City of Zion

The LDS Story of Enoch

Mitt Romney and “I Mormoni”

LDS Response to Widespread Acceptance of Elective Abortion

Gender Distribution of the LDS Church Worldwide

 

53.2

The Perils of Grace

Spirit Babies and Divine Embodiment

Mormons in the Marketplace

Hebrew Numerology in the Book of Mormon

 

53.3

Toward a Mormon Literary Theory

Gaining Knowledge

Structure, Doctrine, and the Church

Emma Lou Thayne and the Art of Peace

 

53.4

Physical Light and the Light of Christ

Science as Storytelling

The Children of Lehi and the Jews of Sepharad

 

54.1 (2015)

Russell M. Nelson and Tricuspid Valve Annuloplasty

Narrative Atonement in the Gospel of Mark

Muslim Students at BYU

Christ among the Ancient Peruvians?

 

54.2

Challenges Facing BYU as a Religiously Affiliated University

Mormons and Midrash

A Narrative Approach to the JST Synoptic Gospels

Translation of Bible Passages by Joseph Smith and Meister Eckhart

Joseph B. Keeler, Print Culture, and the Modernization of Mormonism

Minerva Teichert’s The Seduction of Corianton

 

54.3

Joseph Smith and John Milton

The Kirtland Safety Society and the Fraud of Grandison Newell

“Hard” Evidence of Ancient American Horses

 

54.4

The Necessity of Political Parties and the Importance of Compromise

Dating the Death of Jesus Christ

 

55.1 (2016)

Israelite Roots of Atonement Terminology

Seer Stones, Salamanders, and Early Mormon “Folk Magic”

Motives and the Path to Perfection

The Mormon Missionary

 

55.2

Why and How Did Karl G. Maeser Leave Saxony?

Visualizing Apostolic Succession (software development)

Alma’s Clash with the Nehors

Toward a Mormon Theology of Work

 

55.3

Joseph Smith and Egyptian Artifacts

Anatomy of Invention

On Criticism, Compassion, and Charity

The Young Ambassadors’ 1979 Tour of China

 

55.4

BYU Football and Sports Analytics

Stephen Webb, in Memoriam

Empathy and Atonement

Death Being Swallowed Up in Netzach

Socrates’ Mission

 

56.1 (2017)

Birth and Calling of the Prophet Samuel

Margaret Barker’s “The Lord Is One”

 

56.2

Kingship, Democracy, and the Book of Mormon

Reading Competency in the Book of Mormon

LDS Reimaging of “the Breath of Life”

The Life and Journal of Poet Lance Larsen

56.3

The Land of the Chaldeans

The Ancient Doctrine of the Two Ways

Love and the Limitations of Psychological Explanation

The Political Climate of Saxony during the Conversion of Karl G. Maeser

Samuel and His Nephite Sources

 

56.4

Joseph Smith Translating Genesis

Animals in the Book of Mormon

 

57.1 (2018)

Theological and Economic Perspectives on the LDS Church and Immigration

 

57.2

Dating the Departure of Lehi from Jerusalem

Women in Mormon Biblical Narrative Art

The Rise and Fall of Portugal’s Maritime Empire

 

57.3

Doctoring and Discipleship in a Hyperconnected Age

The Abrahamic Covenant and the Book of Mormon

The Language of the Original Text of the Book of Mormon

Martin Harris Comes to Utah, 1870

 

57.4

Identifying Forged Annotations in Elvis’s Book of Mormon

An Egyptian Linguistic Component in Book of Mormon Names

Cecil B. DeMille and David O. McKay—an Unexpected Friendship

 

58.1 (2019)

Genealogy

Doing Business in the World without Becoming Worldly

Who Is Leaving the Church? Demographic Predictors

 

58.2

The 1923 Commemoration of the Hill Cumorah

A Joseph Smith Pay Order and the Plight of Missionary Wives in the Early Church

Thomas S. Monson’s Fly-Fishing Adventures on the Provo River

Agency and Same-Sex Attraction

 

58.3

The History of the Name of the Church

 

58.4

Missionary Wives and Children

The Use of Gethsemane by Church Leaders, 1859–2018

Lehi and Sariah’s Escape from Jerusalem

 

59.1 (2020)

Grace, Legalism, and Mental Health among Latter-day Saints

LDS Leaders on the Crucifixion, 1852–2018

History of the Text of the Book of Mormon, Parts 5 and 6

Strengths and Challenges of Contemporary Marriages

 

59.2

Huntington Conference on the First Vision (about 20 papers I edited)

 

59.3

Special Issue on Women’s Suffrage

Hope in a Time of Fracture

An Interview with Eliza R. Snow’s Biographer

 

59.4

Conference Proceedings, 30 Year Anniversary of the BYU Jerusalem Center

 

60.1 (2021)

The Bible in the Millennial Star and the Woman’s Exponent

The Danite Constitution and Theories of Democratic Justice in Frontier America

The Chamber of Old Father Whitmer and Priesthood Restoration

Remnant or Replacement: A Possible Apostasy Narrative

Gospel Ethics

Reflections on Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Racism, Tribalism, and Disinformation

 

60.2

Images of Christ’s Crucifixion

A Teacher’s Plea

Book of Mormon Patterns of Protection

 

60.3

Is God Subject to or the Creator of Eternal Law?

What is the Nature of God’s Progress?

The Relationship between Grace and Works

How Limited is Postmortal Progression?

Each Atom and Agent?

The JST: Canonical or Optional?

Book of Mormon Geographies

The Book of Mormon Translation Process

Civil Disobedience in LDS Thought

On the Foreknowledge of God

 

60.4

The Uses of Genre

Lost Sheep, Coins, and Meanings

The Early Development of LDS Women’s History

Religious Freedom and Equitable Teaching Practices

 

61.1 (2022)

Good Government Begins with Self-Government

Inequality in the Book of Mormon

Mosiah’s and Madison’s Commonsense Principle in Today’s Divided Politics

What We Can Learn from Germany about Reconciliation

Religious Freedom and Nondiscrimination

How Journalism Contributes to Good Government

Latter-day Saints and Foreign Affairs

On Being a Disciple of Hope

 

61.2 (2022)

Money and Prices in the Book of Mormon

Defusing the MX Missile System

Religion and Sexual Orientation as Predictors of Youth Suicidality

Jews of Greco-Roman Egypt and the Transmission of the Book of Abraham

 

61.3 (2022)

Experiential Learning and Conversion

The Rod of Iron as Shepherd’s Staff rather than a Handrail

Evidence of the First Vision in JST Psalm 14

 

61.4 (2022)

The Coming Forth of the Book of Abraham

The Facsimiles of the Book of Abraham

 

62.1 (2023)

Early LDS Doctrinal History

Isaiah’s Immanuel Prophecy

The Testimonies of Len and Mary Hope (Black Latter-day Saints in Cincinnati)

 

62.2 (2023)

20th Century MIA Curriculum

Early Jewish Christian Esoteric Tradition

Religious Freedom

 

62.3 (2023)

Abraham Lincoln and the Constitution

Religious Freedom

Gospel Methodology in Teaching

Organizing to Reduce Human Suffering

 

62.4

LDS Emigration from Great Britain

Joseph and Emma Smith’s Restored Kirtland Home

 

63.1 (2024)

John Taylor’s Journals

 

63.2

Gospel Methodology and the Humanities

Lessons from Mountain Meadows Massacre

A Forensic and Historical Reexamination of John Taylor’s Watch

 

6E.E

Teaching Evolution at BYU

The Seven Seals, the Age of the Earth, and Progressive Revelation

Scripture and Cosmology in Historical Perspective

To Latter-day Saints from Two Non-LDS Scientists

What Evolution Is and Is Not

Why the LDS Community Should Trust Science

Prophetic Epistemology