BYU Studies

10/23/2025

We’re excited to hear from Barbara Morgan Gardner as she provides us with her perspective in the preparation and delivery of The Family: A Proclamation to the World as it reaches its 30-year anniversary.

10/07/2025

In 1960, Dr. Russell M. Nelson performed the first known tricuspid valve annuloplasty—an innovation he attributed to prayer.

Long before he was a prophet, President Russell M. Nelson blessed lives through healing innovation. His life reminds us that discipleship can shape every field of service.

Read the full story in "Discovering a Surgical First: Russell M. Nelson and Tricuspid Valve Annuloplasty," by Austin A. Robinson and Curtis T. Hunter, BYU Studies 54, no. 1 (2015). https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/discovering-a-surgical-first-russell-m-nelson-and-tricuspid-valve-annuloplasty

10/07/2025

09/12/2025

To read more about what we can learn from Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s thoughtful legacy, read the full article by John W. Welch on our website!

09/08/2025

Read the full article “Where Risk and Reward Meet: Interfaith Engagement and Learning” by Andrew C. Reed on our website!

09/05/2025

Everyone welcome in our newest member to the team! Justin Dyer!

09/03/2025

Read the full article by Lisa Olsen Tait and Amber C. Taylor on our website!

08/28/2025

Kylie Turley explores the queen’s faith in the story of King Lamoni and why it is so powerful. Read the full article for free on our website!

08/14/2025

We are pleased to announce that W. Justin Dyer has been appointed as the new editor in chief of BYU Studies.

“Justin Dyer brings to this new role inspiring gifts of head and heart, as well as rich experience as a social scientist and religious educator,” said BYU Academic Vice President Justin Collings. “He will build on the firm foundation laid by Steve Harper and others to help build BYU Studies to new heights of achievement and influence.”

We also extend our heartfelt gratitude to Steven C. Harper, who has faithfully served as editor for the past seven years. Under his leadership, BYU Studies has continued to publish scholarship aligned with the purposes of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the mission of His Church. Thank you, Steve, for your years of inspired service and the strong foundation you have built. Steve will be joining the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship as a Faculty Fellow.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Dyer and in expressing appreciation to Dr. Harper for his remarkable contributions to BYU Studies.

Read the full announcement on BYU News:

Brigham Young University Academic Vice President Justin Collings announced the appointment of W. Justin Dyer as the editor in chief of BYU Studies, part of the Religious Scholarly Publications organization on campus. Dyer replaces Steven C. Harper, who has served as its editor for the past seven…

07/05/2025

Happy Independence Day!
From “The Book of Mormon and the American Revolution” by Richard Lyman Bushman.

06/19/2025

Happy Juneteenth! To learn more about Len and Mary Hope, read the full article, “Recorded in Heaven: The Testimonies of Len and Mary Hope” by Scott Hales on our website!

https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/recorded-in-heaven

05/19/2025

There are generally two kinds of feelings that trigger rigorous thinking—the sense that something is wrong, and the sense of wonder. Wonder can be described as “a feeling that the marvelous mystery of what is cries out for devoted reflection.”

In the Book of Mosiah, King Mosiah reads sacred records to his people. In response to these records, the people are “struck with wonder and amazement.” It is possible that Mormon, acting as a both a prophet of God and a literary architect, included this scene to act as a mis en abyme.

Mis en abyme is a French name for the “inclusion, within a work of art, of smaller version of the same larger work of art.” This could be something as obvious as a picture of a gallery that includes a smaller picture of the very picture you are looking at. Alternatively, a more subtle form of a mis en abyme could be a novel about a struggling novelist.

By including a mis en abyme in the Book of Mormon, Mormon may have been encouraging us, as readers, to reflect on our own response to scripture. Do we, like the people of Mosiah, treat sacred scripture with "wonder or amazement?”

From “Struck With Wonder and Amazement”: On Reading the Book of Mosiah by Joseph M. Spencer.

How do you react to the scriptures? How did Mormon hope we would react to the
scriptures? Read the full article by Joseph M. Spencer (.spencer.961) on our
website!