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 published—titled
BYU Studies, then BYU Studies Quarterly, then once again BYU
Studies—is
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
