Volume 56:1 (2017) Print

BYU Studies aims to help readers become instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, and all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for [us] to understand (D&C 88:78). Steven Olsen leads off with an expansive literary reading of the birth and calling of the prophet Samuel, showing how parallelism, key words, structure, and more increases the meaning of the text. Reid Neilson and Scott Marianno tell the moving story of deaths among early LDS missionaries in Samoa and the creation of a cemetery, following the pattern of earlier LDS cemeteries. Next in this issue, Margaret Barker’s presentation The Lord Is One uses temple theology and Hebrew word meanings to find the roots of Jesus’ high priestly prayer (John 17). Three respondents discuss related research. Frederick Williams presents nine records of Frederick G. Williams’s 1836 Kirtland Temple vision of a holy angel and concludes that the angel was the Savior. Two pieces by Bruce Hafen discuss the mission of BYU and how Truman Madsen and John Tanner expounded that mission. Five book reviews, three poems, and a personal essay round out this issue.