From the Editor 56:3

This being the one hundredth issue of BYU Studies Quarterly for which I have served as editor in chief, this occasion calls for a moment of grateful celebration. I am extremely thankful for the numerous people whose goodwill and devoted service make the continued publication of this journal possible. Their wise judgment and brilliant assistance mean the world to me! They include longtime BYU faculty members in many disciplines, members of our staff and editorial boards, a steady stream of new blood from undergraduates who toil happily as interns and budding colleagues, as well as committed authors, university administrators, and ultimately our loyal readers, no doubt the most important of all. Without you, who subscribe to and read BYU Studies Quarterly, all of this would be of feeble interest.

And so I am very happy to introduce you readers to the outstanding contents of this issue of this journal, from the cover’s expansive view of Kolob Canyon in Zion National Park to its wide variety of articles, reviews, literature, photography, and scripture studies. I hope that you will find as much rewarding joy and satisfying learning on these pages as we have found in bringing this issue together and into print.

BYU Studies is oriented not so much toward either Athens or Jerusalem as poles apart, but rather toward a restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ that transcends both. Without being skeptical, critical, or revisionist, the articles in this issue are rigorous, crucial, and innovative. Their subjects boldly engage questions, concerns, and issues that have been generated not outside the community of religious believers, but within the hearts, minds, and spirits of the household of faith. No doubt we live in abundantly troubled times, but antidotes can be confidently found amid the solid studies found in this issue, including:

Noel Reynolds’s comparative and developmental analysis unveils of the pure and pristine ancient doctrine of the Two Ways found in the Book of Mormon.

John Hilton’s team-project thoroughly traces and classifies the sources of scripture power from which the prophetic pronouncements of Samuel the Lamanite drew.

Stephen Smoot’s careful study exposes several uncertainties but also certain plausible possibilities for the general location of Abraham’s hometown in ancient Mesopotamia.

LeGrand Richards adds to and improves our understanding of German affairs in Saxony in 1855 where Karl G. Maeser was a young teacher.

Cory Nimer takes us behind the Church administrative efforts to meet the needs of local wards and members for library and teaching resources during a challenging half-century of media and publishing innovation and transition.

Brent Slife offers deeply personal reasons why psychology’s knowledge of love has been so meager over the years and how faith can fill that void. (And here I might mention that our new book, Turning Freud Upside Down 2, likewise effectively turns to Christ’s gospel to recalibrate some of psychotherapy’s standard assumptions.)

Richard Holzapfel and Ronald Fox show newly found photographic insights into the amazing and challenging pioneer construction of the Great Salt Lake Tabernacle.

And as usual, several new books are thoughtfully reviewed or noticed.

And so on. To be continued. The upcoming issues of BYU Studies Quarterly are already well under way. You won’t want to miss a one. I hope that you will continue to find every page of this journal helpful and enriching as we continue to strive to go beyond ecclesiastical and spiritual concerns, but without going contrary to Church interests. To see the Mormon past as much more than just a collection of social, cultural, intellectual, political or economic phenomena. To reject the idea that a steady diet of doubt or skepticism is either appetizing or nourishing. To converse with the categories, theories, and paradigms of the secular academy, but without being converted by them. And to be oriented in the end neither to Athens nor Jerusalem exclusively, but toward a Restoration, and ultimately a New Jerusalem, that transcends both.