BYU Studies
Alphabetical by Title

In recent years, the topic of Mormonism and race has attracted the attention of many Mormon scholars. In 2015, W. Paul Reeve’s Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness was published, in which he argues that the development of Mormon racial theology is best understood as a reaction to larger trends in nineteenth-century America. The Protestant majority privileged “whiteness,” Reeve argues, and Mormons sought to appease them by embracing a whiteness theology. The year 2015 also saw the publication of a special edition of the Journal of Mormon History featuring race and Mormonism. Advocating a “new history of race and Mormonism,” the essayists examined “the constitution of a white colonial hegemony in Mormonism,” moving beyond the typical medium of the priesthood and temple ban to explore Mormon racial teachings. Clearly, scholars are paying close attention to the Mormon racial experience and trying to understand how race affected Mormon doctrine and practice.

The Prophet Joseph Smith described the Restoration as a bringing forth of treasures of “things new and old,”1 and indeed modern revelation has shed great light on ancient truths. From Oliver Cowdery’s commentary on Zephaniah published in The Evening and the Morning Star in 1833 to the present outpouring of publications in preparation for the Sunday School course of study on the Old Testament in 1998, Latter-day Saints have generated a wealth of writings on the Old Testament which examine anew this ancient book of scripture in light of the Restoration. Through the spectacles of the Restoration we are able to remember the patriarchs Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and the great things the Lord has done for our fathers. We are able to understand the covenants the Lord has made in past dispensations and in the latter days. We are also able to better comprehend the writings of ancient prophets such as Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel and to discern from them the timeless message of repentance, the themes of scattering and gathering, and the prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah—first in the flesh to atone for the sins of the world and again at the end of time. Just as the Old Testament provides a foundation for reading the rest of the scriptures, the light of the Restoration can reveal hidden treasures in the Old Testament. This bibliography is an attempt to guide readers to this treasury of “things new and old.” Criteria for Inclusion. This bibliography is meant to be a comprehensive listing of books and articles written by Latter-day Saints to Latter-day Saints about the Old Testament from 1830 through 1997. To be included, a book or an article must be primarily on an Old Testament topic. Consequently we have not included New Testament, Book of Mormon, or Pearl of Great Price topics unless they are specifically related to the Old Testament.2 Nor have we included writings on apocryphal or pseudepigraphical books unless they are relevant to the Old Testament. We have included general conference addresses published in the Ensign (1971–), but we have not included conference talks before this time. We have included a few articles by non-Latter-day Saints aimed at an LDS audience, but have not included biblical studies presented by LDS scholars in non-LDS settings. The Old Testament has been the course of study in Sunday School from September 1972 to August 1974 and September 1980 to August 1982, and from January to December in 1986, 1990, 1994, and 1998. Numerous Old Testament items have been published in those years. The articles that appear weekly in the Church News and coordinate with Sunday School lessons have not been included in this bibliography. The following periodical or recurring sources were surveyed for this bibliography: BYU Studies (1959–); Church Educational System symposia and manuals; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints manuals; Contributor (1879–1896); Dialogue (1966–); Encyclopedia of Mormonism; Ensign (1971–); The Evening and the Morning Star (1832–34); Improvement Era (1897–1970); Millennial Star (1840–1970); New Era (1971–); Sperry Symposia; Sunstone (1981–); theses and dissertations at BYU; and Young Woman’s Journal (1889–1929). Three Lists. The entries are organized in three overlapping lists. First, all entries are listed by author’s names with complete bibliographic information and a very short abstract in cases where the contents of the publications are not adequately described by their titles. This is followed by a list of the entries organized by canonical books of the Old Testament. A third listing is divided into subject categories. All the entries are found in the author list and are found again listed either in the canonical or the subject categories. Many entries are found both in the canonical listing as well as in one or more subject listings. Gaining Access. Most, if not all, of the entries in this bibliography are available at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU. Many of them are readily available on the shelves, but some are kept in Special Collections. The bibliography itself can be accessed electronically at http://humanities.byu.edu/BYU Studies/homepage.htm. Acknowledgments. This bibliography began with a work by Dane Robertson entitled Index of Mormon Literature on the Old Testament, compiled for the History and Religion Library at BYU, which included entries up through 1981. Originally we intended to simply update that index, but in the course of our work we adopted somewhat different criteria for collecting and organizing the entries, and we ended up surveying the corpus of LDS writings again. We remain indebted to this earlier work. Many have worked in various capacities on the bibliography over the last several years: Eryn Johnson Gibson, Brian Jones, Jennifer Hammond Merrill, Becky Schulthies, and Luke Todd have worked through Religious Education on compiling, typing, abstracting, and checking the entries. Daniel B. McKinlay helped with the compilation. Jennifer Hurlbut, David Allred, and the interns and staff at BYU Studies rechecked and formatted the entries. We invite corrections and additions. A master list is kept in electronic form and can readily be expanded and reorganized. Hopefully, a supplement can someday be issued including future publications and additions to this bibliography. This work is one of collection and description. We have not attempted to evaluate the entries in terms of scholarly accuracy or doctrinal correctness.

When a group of LDS scholars collaborated in 1994 under the auspices of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies to publish a book on the allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5, few substantial works on olive production in the ancient world existed. Now, two new archaeological books add a wealth of information to our understanding of the importance of the olive in ancient life. The first mention of the olive in the Book of Mormon is found in Lehi’s prediction of the Babylonian captivity and the coming of the Lamb of God. Lehi compared the house of Israel to an olive tree whose branches would be broken off and scattered upon all the face of the earth (1 Ne. 10:12). After being scattered,the house of Israel would be gathered and the natural branches of the olive tree, or the remnants of the house of Israel, would be grafted in, or come to a knowledge of the true Messiah (1 Ne. 10:14). In this passage, Lehi probably drew upon Zenos’s allegory, found on the plates of brass. In incredible horticultural detail, that allegory compares the house of Israel to an olive tree. Yet that Old World information was apparently lost among Lehi’s descendants in the New World. After the fifth chapter of Jacob, the olive is not mentioned again in the Book of Mormon.

Faith is a precious doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Ancient prophets and apostles clearly taught that faith is relational: faith is trust, loyalty, obedience, and devotion to God and his Son, and it encompasses God’s blessings to us. In the language and culture of ancient Greece, pistis (faith) meant faithfulness and trust, and when New Testament writers taught about faith, their ancient readers understood its relational nuances. An apostasy regarding the meaning and doctrine of faith occurred, and the word faith came to have many varied meanings. Some theologians have taught that faith is a passive belief in a creed or a statement of belief in God that would guarantee one’s salvation. Theologians such as Augustine, Aquinas, Wyclif, Hus, Luther, Calvin, and Bultmann went off course in their understanding of faith. The restoration of the gospel that came through Joseph Smith and living prophets has revived the correct understanding of faith as a reciprocal relationship between people and God. For Latter-day Saints, faith is a principle of action, knowledge, understanding, trust, obedience, and faithfulness. Faith once again motivates disciples to trust in Jesus Christ, repent, and follow his straight and narrow covenant path leading to salvation and exaltation. Review of Relational Faith by Jeff Lindsay at his website “Arise from the Dust”

In ancient Greece and Rome, charis was a system in which one person gave something of value to another, and the receiver gave service, thanks, and lesser value back to the giver. It was the word used to describe familial gifts, gifts between friends, gifts between kings and servants, and gifts to and from the gods. In Rome, these reciprocal transactions became the patron-­client system. Orderly gift exchange is a key building block in the development of societies. Charis (grace) is the word New Testament authors, especially Paul, sometimes used to explain Christ’s gift to people. But what is the nature of the gift? Since the fifth century, a number of Christian scholars have taught that grace is something bestowed by God freely, with little or nothing required in return. This book sets out to show that “free grace” is not what Paul and others intended. The practice in the ancient world of people granting and receiving favors and gifts came with clear obligations. Charis served New Testament authors as a model for God’s mercy through the atonement of Jesus Christ, which also comes with covenantal obligations. LDS scriptures make it clear that being saved comes through grace accompanied by forsaking sin and making and keeping covenants. For Latter-day Saints, being saved by grace means coming to Christ, being baptized and joining the community of saints, and continually living with thanks and praise for God’s gift. All of these expressions of grace are found both in the Greek and Pauline use of the word. Knowing what charis means helps us understand what God expects us to do once we have accepted his grace.

This popular text, used throughout the Church for the study of world religions, has been revised and expanded. Two additional authors, several new chapters, a number of new illustrations, and much updated material add fresh perspectives to the former edition’s tried-and-true approach. The result portrays the vivid spectrum of truth as it extends across cultures and religious systems. The book presents a…

This compilation of articles exploring topics related to Christmas is selected from over fifty years of LDS scholarship published by BYU Studies. This volume features articles on the how Church Presidents and Mormon pioneers have celebrated Christmas, Charles Dickens’s influence on LDS Christmas fiction, a scriptural perspective on three nativity scenes, and the question of dating the birth of Jesus Christ.

One of the spectacular events of Latter-day Saint history unfolded as Oliver Cowdery walked into a conference session in progress at Council Bluffs in 1848 and was personally escorted to the stand by his friend Orson Hyde. No one in the group seems to have been more impressed than Reuben Miller, who at the same meeting had made his own public reconciliation with the Church. While Cowdery’s return itself is abundantly attested, no historical source but the Miller account adequately reveals Oliver Cowdery’s public testimony upon his return to the Church.

In the April 1937 general conference, President David O. McKay, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, asked the following question, “If at this moment each one [of you] were asked to state in one sentence . . . the most distinguishing feature of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what would be your answer?” He then said: “My answer would be . . . divine authority by direct revelation.” Priesthood authority revealed from heaven is the foundation upon which the Church is built. This collection of writings explores the revelatory nature of authority in the Church, beginning with the restoration of priesthood authority and keys through the ministering of angels and including the 1978 revelation on priesthood. William G. Hartley presents a history of how the priesthood developed from a simple seed planted in 1829 to a fairly complex tree by the time of Joseph Smith’s death in 1844. The unfolding of priesthood restoration produced two major branches, several offices, an organizational hierarchy, and specific instructions on the proper use of priesthood authority. Brian Q. Cannon and the BYU Studies staff then present seventy contemporaneous documents about the restoration of the priesthood. The middle portion of the book addresses the 1978 revelation on priesthood in great detail. Ronald K. Esplin gives circumstantial historical evidence that the priesthood denial to members of black African descent did not originate with Brigham Young, but likely had its roots in Nauvoo prior to Joseph Smith’s death. Edward L. Kimball presents a fascinating history of the revelation received by his father, President Spencer W. Kimball, and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which made priesthood blessings available to all worthy male members of the Church. Kimball’s account traces the roots of the priesthood ban, examines doctrinal implications of the policy, suggests various influences that impelled his father to make this a matter of long study and prayer, presents a marvelous narrative of the revelation itself, and, finally, describes the aftermath of the revelation. Marcus H. Martins, Emmanuel Abu Kissi, and Tessa Meyer Santiago offer perspectives on how the 1978 revelation affected Church members in Brazil, Africa, and South Africa. Finally, as extra content, reviews of seven books give a glimpse of issues related to the 1978 priesthood revelation: race and slavery in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; Mormon conceptions of race and lineage; social and historical origins of the Church’s pre-1978 priesthood policy; the first official LDS missionaries in Africa; and the personal experiences of Church members with black African ancestry.

Reprinted as “Bar-Kochba and Book of Mormon Backgrounds,” in The Prophetic Book of Mormon.
Points out that Yadin’s discoveries seem to show, among other things, that the presumably feminine name Alma was also used by Jews as a masculine name, just as it was in the Book of Mormon. Draws a number of parallels between the Bar Kochba artifacts and the Lehi colony. Compares materials in the Book of Mormon about Lehi, Captain Moroni, and the name Alma with Palestinian warfare and practices from the first century A.D.

The number seven was significant to the pre-Columbian communities of Mesoamerica, as it was in the Book of Mormon. A pan-Mesoamerica legend tells of a core people descended from seven tribes, which may coincide with the seven lineages mentioned three times in the Book of Mormon. While no verifiable evidence ties these two accounts together, a closer look at the Mesoamerican legend is warranted. This article examines numerous depictions of the seven tribes in Mesoamerican art contained in their lienzos (pieces of fabric with historical drawings or maps), illustrated books called codices, and post-Conquest documents that were shown to and translated for Spanish clergy, who made a record of the various accounts.

Poetry. No abstract available