Recently I had this question brought to me from one of my online students: I’ve always found the baptisms of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to difficult to understand how it all happened, is there someplace you’d recommend going to find out more about this?  How does one baptize withoutContinue Reading

Possible Constructions of The Gospel of John According to Marie-Émile Boismard, the Gospel of John may have gone through four hypothetical stages of composition. Each stage is intricately involved with the life of the Johannine community: Document C. This was a complete gospel stretching from John the Baptist to theContinue Reading

Unpublished Revelations Encyclopedia of Mormonism Author: Caldwell, C. Max Not all revelations of God to his latter-day prophets have been formally published, let alone accepted by the common consent of the Church as canonized scripture. Just as the compilers of the Bible had to decide which texts to include, similarContinue Reading

Joseph Smith’s vision of the temple On June 1, 1833 the Lord instructed the Prophet Joseph Smith that he would reveal the design of the Kirtland Temple to him when he made the following statement: Therefore, let it [the temple] be built after the manner which I shall show unto threeContinue Reading

The story of the apostasy and return to the faith of Thomas B. Marsh and Orson Hyde is a complicated one. When teaching about the history of the church in 1838, I find that it is vital to emphasize the humanity of all of the people involved in this conflict,Continue Reading

Assessing the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Introduction to the Historiography of their Acquisitions, Translations, and Interpretations Kerry Muhlestein Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 22 (2016): 17-49. Kerry Muhlestein received his Ph.D. from UCLA in Egyptology. He is a professor in the Ancient Scripture Department at Brigham Young University, where heContinue Reading

The production of the Old and New Testaments Time Period: 1500 BCE to 1611 CE How did we get the King James Version of the Bible? Old Testament Quick History Moses is credited in the Bible with authorship of the first five books. After Moses’ day, scholars surmise that theContinue Reading

The following in as excerpt of an account of Joseph Banks’ escape from the hands of the Germans during World War II, taken from his book entitled A Distant Prayer.  Starving, cold, and frightened, Joseph and three friends attempt to escape a German POW camp by traveling at night andContinue Reading

Keys for the Gathering of Israel Restored The gathering of Israel commenced in the following manner. In May of 1829, Peter, James and John restored the Melchizedek Priesthood to Joseph Smith including the keys of the kingdom. Joseph Smith restored the Church on April 6, 1830. Then according to D&CContinue Reading