Latter-day Saints celebrate 1820 as the year in which Joseph Smith first saw and conversed with God the Father and Jesus Christ. To mark the bicentennial of Joseph Smith’s First Vision, the Joseph Smith Papers Project has released a six-episode podcast, The First Vision: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast hosted by Spencer McBride.
The concepts of priesthood power, authority, and keys have evolved since the days of Joseph Smith. That includes changes that impact the relationship of women and the priesthood. In this interview, Wendy Ulrich discusses related concepts from her new book, Live Up to Our Privileges: Women, Power, and Priesthood.
Second Temple literature includes texts written when the Jews returned to Judea after the description of the First Temple. Jewish scholar Malka Simkovich discusses the scriptures and stories that shaped early Judaism, including the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Tad Callister is former General Sunday School president for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and author of several books about Latter-day Saint theology. In this interview, he talks about evidence for the Book of Mormon and what he’s learned since publishing The Infinite Atonement.
Richard Bennett is a professor of Church History and Doctrine and BYU, the author of Temples Rising: A Heritage of Sacrifice, and president of the Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters. His book talks about sacrifices made by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to build temples at great sacrifice, including the Kirtland Temple and Nauvoo Temple.
Clark Monson teaches at BYU and is the son of the late President Thomas S. Monson. His essay in BYU Studies Quarterly, Rod Tip Up, recalls his fishing adventures with his father, the prophetic predecessor of President Russell M. Nelson.
In the Old Testament, King Solomon settles a debate between two women who both claim to be a child’s mother by proposing to cut the child in half. In his latest book, “If Truth Were a Child” (Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 253 pages), BYU professor of humanities George Handley uses the story as a metaphor for the way people treat truth.
T. C. Christensen is a cinematographer and director best known for religious films associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith and the pioneers, such as 17 Miracles and Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. His latest movie is The Fighting Preacher.
George Handley is a professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities at BYU and author of If Truth Were a Child (Maxwell Institute, 2019).
Each year, scholars gather at Brigham Young University to give presentations on the life and mission of Jesus Christ. A new book published in partnership with BYU Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book draws from the 2018 and 2019 Easter Conferences.