Religious Studies Center Books

Although the ancient scriptural record known as the Book of Mormon contains profound doctrinal and theological content, it is foremost a history. Thus, it is not surprising that it has the earmarks of ancient rather than modern works of history. Yet few studies analyze the Book of Mormon as a legitimate work of ancient history. The author describes the sacral worldview that informed much of ancient writing, surveys four millennia of historical writings to show how the sacral worldview differs from modern historiography, and discusses many underlying historical themes found in the writings of Israelite and Greco-Roman historians that also figure in the composition of the Book of Mormon. That scripture’s sobering theological message is shown to emerge from the historical accounts that inform it.

This book collects Joseph Smith’s uncanonized revelations, offering a new edition of these texts and update to past work. While most of the texts featured in this volume are accessible in The Joseph Smith Papers, both online and in print, average readers will probably find it difficult to sift through all twenty-seven volumes of the papers to locate these items. This book aims to remove that barrier to help facilitate access to these fascinating revelations.