We owe a debt of thanks to many people, without whose help this symposium and this book would not have come to fruition. Chief among them is the 2005 Sperry Symposium Committee, consisting of Susan Easton Black, Steven C. Harper, Andrew H. Hedges, Cynthia Doxey, Lloyd Newell, Mary Jane Woodger, and Patty Smith. Their wiliness to serve as symposium planners and their unselfish devotion of time to review articles helped produce this book and make the symposium a fit tribute to the Restoration that was revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Our thanks and gratitude are also extended to each of the presenters for thei inspiring messages and testimonies.

A great deal of gratitude is also owed to Devan Jensen and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel at the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University for their careful and conscientious editing and for those at Deseret Book who reviewed all our work, created the cover, and saw everything through to final publication.

Thanks also to Dr. Sidney B. Sperry, whose teachings, research, and writing continue to inspire rising generations to follow the Lord’s counsel: “Teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best book swords of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118).