In the early 1900s, some discussion arose among Church members about the roles of God the Father and Jesus Christ. The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued a combined statement in 1916 to clarify the meaning of certain scriptures where Jesus Christ, or Jehovah, is designated as the Father. This was distributed through the Improvement Era and other Church publications...
Some critics have disparaged the Book of Mormon’s language for being too repetitive. This may lead readers to wonder if it has any literary merit at all. The following video demonstrates that the Book of Mormon’s redundancies are actually sophisticated literary features which, in many cases, are similar or identical to literary techniques used by ancient Hebrew authors. A number of other Hebrew...
Check out these new presentations by Book of Mormon Central researchers Jonathon Riley and David Larsen The Book of Mormon and the Ancient Near East - Jonathon Riley The Israelite Temple in the Book of Mormon - David Larsen
Royal Skousen has a new volume in his Book of Mormon Critical Text Series. Entitled The Nature of the Original Language , it explores the vocabulary, grammar, and syntax of the earliest text and reinforces the idea that the Book of Mormon was revealed as a tightly-controlled translation in Early Modern English rather than the vernacular of Joseph Smith’s day. Everyone interested is...
In the 1830s, Joseph Smith struggled with what should be the name of the church he restored. The church was first called The Church of Christ, which was a bit confusing because many Christian churches used that name. We were then, variously, The Church of Jesus Christ, The Church of the Latter Day Saints, and The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints. We didn’t get our current name until Jesus...
LDS historian and scholar Richard Lloyd Anderson (1926–2018) passed away late in the night on Sunday, August 12, 2018, at the age of 92. Anderson was among the foremost historians of the early Restoration throughout the later half of the 20th century. Anderson’s work covered a broad range of topics , including the early family history of Joseph Smith, the reliability of the First Vision, Joseph...
On Sunday, August 26th at 7:00 PM the Hurricane West Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will host a special fireside by Book of Mormon Central. Researchers David J. Larsen , Jonathon Riley , and Stephen Smoot will present on the topic of “The Book of Mormon and the Ancient Near East.” They will present cutting-edge work on how the Book of Mormon fits in an ancient Near...
The BYU Religious Studies Center has recently published a new book that will surely be helpful to anyone interested in understanding Isaiah in the Book of Mormon. Ann Madsen and Shon Hopkin’s new book, Opening Isaiah: A Harmony lays out five different versions of the book of Isaiah in parallel columns, allowing the reader to compare each version: (1) the King James Version, (2) the...
LDS scholar John A. Tvedtnes (1941–2018) passed away on June 3, 2018. Tvedtnes had a broad education, with advanced training in anthropology, archaeology, and history to go along with background in several languages, including French, Arabic, Hebrew, and Egyptian. He earned degrees in anthropology (BA), linguistics (MA), Middle East Studies (MA), and did further graduate work in Egyptian and...
In a landmark move from the almost 200 year-old church, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced at the faith's semi-annual General Conference on April 1st that the translation department will begin working on a Book of Mormon in the Elvish language. Sam Gamgee, an employee from the Church Translation department, explained that this new translation sparks from an...
