As we continue to reflect on the past forty years of the RSC’s existence and look forward to another year forty years, we at the RSC thought it appropriate to provide you with a glimpse of some of the outreach work that is currently under way by faculty in the Church History and Doctrine and Ancient Scripture Departments. The RSC has been extremely successful due in large part to the excellent directors and staff we’ve had over the years. All of them have contributed in meaningful ways in shaping the RSC. In our next forty years, as we assess and weigh our goals, we plan to engage the question of an increasingly diverse LDS membership. In this issue of the Review, you will see some of the superb efforts at outreach that have been supported by the RSC. To name just two of our efforts, we specifically call your attention to the newly created Office of Religious Outreach (Robert L. Millet) and the conference we sponsored on the Buddhist canon (Gregory E. Wilkinson). We plan to continue publishing important and timely research with respect to the global church and to encourage and foster academic study of this important topic.

At the heart of this issue of the Review is a report on the RSC’s fortieth anniversary celebration. This year we had the opportunity to sit down with Elder Holland and discuss his thoughts at the time he established the RSC. Many of the ideas that he shared with us are presented in the article on the legacy of the RSC. We at the RSC feel tasked with continuing our long history of providing excellent peer-reviewed resources on Church history, doctrine, scripture, and related topics. We hope in our next forty years to reach beyond Provo and to engage in meaningful discussion with the larger academic community on topics of interest to the growth of the Church. We would especially like to thank our readers and our generous donors who have made the center what it is today.

Finally, in this issue of the Review we welcome two new faculty members to the Department of Church History and Doctrine as well as to some of the award-winning publications done by faculty in religion. As part of our efforts to reach out to the community, we will begin sending out a monthly e-mail that details upcoming conferences and symposia, that reports on recently publishing and forthcoming publications, and that shares updates on the research of RSC authors. To join our e-mail list, please contact joan_pinegar@byu.edu with the subject line “Add Me to the E-mail List.”

Thank you for supporting the RSC!

Thomas A. Wayment

Publications Director