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Latter-day Saint Scholarship Encounters the World of the Bible

By Tom R. Roberts
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Essential Tools for Understanding the New Testament
Page 69

From the early days of Latter-day Saint (LDS) history, many members of the Church felt that education was an important part of the LDS approach to understanding and self-improvement. One thinks immediately of the School of the Prophets established early in 1833 under the leadership of the Prophet Joseph Smith (D&C 88:127). In a different vein, the 1846 appearance of a Welsh periodical titled Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee)1 asserted LDS scholarship. This journal was published for two and a half years. Other periodicals followed, such as the Ugdorn Seion (Zion’s Trumpet),2 which was published from 1849 to 1862.

As religious traditions develop, some within their ranks often feel a need to internally examine teachings. This was certainly true in the LDS experience. Among the first of many academics to arise was Orson Pratt, who brought a scientific approach to LDS theology.3 As the need to systematize member education arose in LDS thinking, B. H. Roberts responded to the challenge. His work Defense of the Saints and Faith4 encouraged the promotion of the Book of Mormon and the Church on a public platform to counter prevailing misrepresentations.5

Though no Latter-day Saint living in the nineteenth century pursued any major biblical studies, that changed in the early twentieth. In 1915, Elder James E. Talmage wrote his classic work, Jesus the Christ.6 In this large volume, he added LDS scripture to the Gospel narratives and, in doing so, gave a full LDS rendition of the Savior’s life and teachings. Talmage’s respect for the current scholarship of his day is apparent, as evidenced by his use of Frederic W. Farrar’s work The Life of Christ.7 In Jesus the Christ, Talmage followed Farrar’s thoughts that the Gospels came from independent fragmented sources but were, nonetheless, academically respectable. In 1932, Obert C. Tanner published New Testament Studies, which was revised in 1935 and retitled The New Testament Speaks.8 This became the backbone of his work with Lewis M. Rogers and Sterling M. McMurrin entitled Toward Understanding the New Testament, published in 1990.9

Despite these excellent publications, there was still a great need for LDS scholars to advance LDS academic studies and for apologetics to contribute to the field of biblical studies. Hugh Nibley, a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley in 1938, answered the call when he accepted a post at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1946 after serving in military intelligence during World War II. In 1960, he was offered a full professorship at UC Berkeley but decided to remain at BYU. His contributions to LDS scholarship over the next sixty years have yet to be completely realized. Nibley’s writings were extensive and diverse, including accounts of Egyptian enthronements, historical background for Old Testament texts, a ritual analysis of temple texts in the New Testament, and comparisons to Book of Mormon literature. Nibley’s works were later published in large tomes by the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), including but not limited to Old Testament and Related Studies,10 The World and the Prophets,11 Abraham in Egypt,12 and Mormonism and Early Christianity.13 In 1956, J. Reuben Clark Jr. also contributed to Latter-day Saint biblical scholarship by publishing Why the King James Version,14 a treatise on early textual criticism of the Bible. It focused on the value of the textus receptus, the biblical document that forms the basis of the King James Version.

During the 1950s, several Latter-day Saint scholars achieved academic notice outside LDS tradition. For example, a number of non–Latter-day Saint academics began to accept Sidney B. Sperry as an expert in the writings of Isaiah due to his skill in comparing the readings from the Hebrew text and the Greek Septuagint. One of Sperry’s best-known works was Paul’s Life and Letters,15 a widely used publication. Hugh Nibley gained recognition with his work on baptism for the dead, which was cited in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly,16 and Cleon Skousen joined the ranks of academic scholars with his popular works Isaiah Speaks to Modern Times17 and the Thousand Years series.18

As the Church’s scholarship began to broaden, numerous scholarly publications appeared. In 1959, Brigham Young University Studies, a peer-reviewed, academic journal with a Latter-day Saint perspective, began publication. In 1979, John W. Welch established FARMS (now the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship), a foundation where LDS scholars could publish and collaborate with world-renowned academics. The same thing happened after the establishment of the Religious Studies Center in 1975 under the leadership of Jeffrey R. Holland.

By 1973, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, an LDS Apostle, had published a three-volume series entitled Doctrinal New Testament Commentary.19 The work provided material for institute teachers, seminary teachers, and this Commentary series. The Studies in Scriptures20 volumes, edited by Kent P. Jackson and Robert L. Millet, focused on the New Testament and appeared in 1986 and 1987. The Old Testament volumes were completed in 1993. Some of the contributors to these volumes were Kent P. Jackson, Kay Edwards, S. Kent Brown, Richard Lloyd Anderson, Robert L. Millet, Richard D. Draper, Andrew C. Skinner, Monte S. Nyman, David Rolph Seely, JoAnn H. Seely, and Robert J. Matthews. Many LDS scholars presented textual position papers at BYU through symposia held in honor of such scholars as Sidney B. Sperry, Truman G. Madsen, and Richard Lloyd Anderson.

During the 1990s, Latter-day Saint scholars began to join international committees and secured publications with internationally renowned publishers. Donald W. Parry, Andrew C. Skinner, and Dana Pike became the first LDS scholars to join the International Dead Sea Scrolls Committee. Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks edited a volume entitled Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls,21 a collection of articles presented at the Dead Sea Scrolls Conference. The work was published by the best-known academic publisher of antiquities, E. J. Brill, in 1996. Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson’s coauthored work, Understanding Isaiah,22 brought LDS scholarship to a critical juncture between Isaiah and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In addition, Donald W. Parry and Emmanuel Tov edited The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader series,23 which featured Exegetical Texts, also published by E. J. Brill. However, the first LDS scholar to publish works with E. J. Brill was C. Wilfred Griggs with his volume entitled Early Egyptian Christianity: From Its Origins to 451 C.E.,24 published in 1990. Latter-day Saint scholars also began to publish widely in essential academic reference materials. Some of these include the Anchor Bible Dictionary,25 with articles by S. Kent Brown,26 Edwin Firmage,27 John F. Hall,28 Dana M. Pike,29 Stephen D. Ricks,30 Stephen E. Robinson,31 David R. Seely,32 and JoAnn H. Seely.33 In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East is an article on “Oxyrhynchus” by S. Kent Brown;34 in Encyclopedia Judaica, there is an article by Hugh Nibley on “Jerusalem.”35

In addition, Latter-day Saint scholars began to publish commentary about the New Testament. Richard D. Draper published his work on the book of Revelation in 1991, portions of which were later used in an audio presentation.36 In 1998, D. Kelly Ogden and Andrew C. Skinner published their work Verse by Verse: Acts through Revelation.37 Following that work, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment published a three-volume set, The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ,38 followed in 2010 by a one-volume work entitled Making Sense of the New Testament.39 John W. Welch released his excellent work The Sermon on the Mount in the Light of the Temple in 2009,40 illuminating the heart of the Gospel of Matthew. In 2015, Brent J. Schmidt published a thorough linguistic and historical history of charis, “grace,” titled Relational Grace,41 providing strong evidence that grace is a covenantal, active, and relational gift. In 2019, Thomas A. Wayment published his rendition of the New Testament,42 including commentary for an LDS audience.

A few years ago, evangelical scholars began to notice the LDS Church’s emphasis on biblical scholarship and accused BYU professors of cross-pollinating Joseph Smith’s writings with biblical literature. However, when one reads Avraham Gileadi’s The Literary Message of Isaiah,43 only two LDS canonical scriptures are cited. Very few LDS sources are quoted in the work Masada and the World of the New Testament,44 edited by John F. Hall and John W. Welch. The ongoing BYU New Testament Commentary series, now out to seven volumes, combines both LDS and non-LDS sources.

Further essays authored by LDS scholars have been published in the growing number of Festschriften publications, which are edited volumes honoring a specific academic colleague. Latter-day Saints have regularly contributed to academic journals, such as the Journal of Biblical Literature, the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) dissertation series, the Harvard Semitic Monographs series, Studia Pohl, Discoveries in the Judean Desert, the Harvard Theological Review, Novum Testamentum, the Jewish Quarterly Review, and the International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion. Mormon Studies is considered to be an academic discipline by the SBL.

By 2011, the need to have a biblical studies journal for LDS scholars was met in part by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute’s journal Studies in the Bible and Antiquity.45 Articles published in this journal covered many topics, including “Constructing Metaphoric Models of Salvation” by Miranda Wilcox,46 “On Christ and Covenants: An LDS Reading of Isaiah’s Prophetic Call” by David E. Bokovoy,47 and “A Text-Critical Comparison of the King James New Testament with Certain Modern Translations” by Lincoln H. Blumell.48 Textual criticism studies such as these added a great deal of breadth to LDS scholarship.

In 2019, Lincoln H. Blumell edited New Testament History, Culture, and Society.49 This volume certainly takes a serious look at the New Testament with a wide variety of articles that go beyond mere survey-level description and present extensive research on the Jewish and Greco-Roman background of the New Testament. Contributors to Blumell’s volume dealt with the synoptic and noncanonical Gospels, the Atonement, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, women in the New Testament, New Testament worship and ritual practices, New Testament textual criticism, a history of Christianity in the second century, and the canonization of the New Testament.

In addition, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU published Ancient Christians in 2022 about the first followers of Jesus Christ after his Resurrection. Readers will learn how ancient Christans lived; how they organized their worship; and what they believed about their own nature, God’s nature, the Second Coming, and eternal progression. The book also provides incredible images of ancient Christian art, architecture, and manuscipts.50

This brief survey is by no means an exhaustive treatment of all the books and materials written by LDS scholars in circulation. Today, the academic community benefits from the scores of LDS scholars who hold positions in a number of first-rate colleges and universities. A new generation is rising to give modern explanations to historical LDS positions as they develop this growing religious scholarship tradition.

A very brief sampling of published works authored by contributors to this volume appears at the end of this book, offering a glimpse of the breadth of interest that these highly qualified individuals possess.

Notes

1. Prophwyd y Jubili (1846–48), Welsh Journals, The National Library of Wales, accessed October 23, 2023, https://journals.library.wales/browse/2078276/.

2. Udgorn Seion, Archive Viewer, accessed December 20, 2023, https://archiveviewer.org/collections/cy/zions-trumpet.

3. Robert Paul Erich, “Theology in Science: The Case of Orson Pratt,” in Science, Religion, and Mormon Cosmology (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1992), 127–45; Edward R. Hogan, “Orson Pratt as a Mathmatician,” Utah Historical Quarterly 41, no. 1 (Winter 1973), https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume41_1973_number1/s/112392.

4. B. H. Roberts, Defense of the Faith and the Saints, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1907, 1912).

5. Reid L. Neilson, “Mormonism’s Blacksmith Orator: B. H. Roberts at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions,” Mormon Historical Studies 12 (2011): 59–60.

6. James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1915).

7. Frederic W. Farrar, The Life of Christ (London: Cassell and Company, 1887).

8. Obert C. Tanner, New Testament Studies (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1932); Obert C. Tanner, The New Testament Speaks (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1947).

9. Obert C. Tanner, Toward Understanding the New Testament (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1990).

10. Hugh Nibley, Old Testament and Related Studies, ed. John W. Welch, Gary P. Gillum, and Don E. Norton (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1986).

11. Hugh Nibley, The World and the Prophets, ed. John W. Welch, Gary P. Gillum, and Don E. Norton (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1987).

12. Hugh Nibley, Abraham in Egypt, vol. 14 of Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, ed. Gary P. Gillum, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1981).

13. Hugh Nibley, Mormonism and Early Christianity, ed. Todd M. Compton and Stephen D. Ricks (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1987).

14. J. Reuben Clark Jr., Why the King James Version (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1956).

15. Sidney B. Sperry, Paul’s Life and Letters (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1955).

16. Hugh Nibley, “Baptism for the Dead—II,” Improvement Era 52, no. 1 (1949): 24–25, cited by Bernard M. Foschini, “‘Those Who Are Baptized for the Dead,’ 1 Cor. 15:29 (Third Article),” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 13 (1951): 53, 63, 71.

17. W. Cleon Skousen, Isaiah Speaks to Modern Times (Salt Lake City: Ensign Publishing, 1948).

18. W. Cleon Skousen, The First 2,000 Years: From Adam to Abraham (Salt Lake City: Ensign Publishing, 1953); W. Cleon Skousen, The Third Thousand Years: From Abraham to David (Salt Lake City: Ensign Publishing, 1964); W. Cleon Skousen, The Fourth Thousand Years: From David to Christ (Salt Lake City: Ensign Publishing, 1966).

19. Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965–73).

20. Kent P. Jackson and Robert L. Millet, eds., Studies in Scripture, 8 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1984–88).

21. Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks, eds., Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conference on the Texts from the Judean Desert, Jerusalem, 30 April 1995 (Leiden, Neth.: E. J. Brill, 1996).

22. Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998).

23. Donald W. Parry and Emanuel Tov, eds., The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader, 6 vols. (Leiden, Neth.: Brill, 2004–2005).

24. C. Wilfred Griggs, Early Egyptian Christianity from Its Origins to 451 C.E. (Leiden, Neth.: E. J. Brill, 1990).

25. David Noel Freedmen and others, eds., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 6 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1992), hereafter cited as ABD.

26. S. Kent Brown, “Egypt, History of,” “Egyptian, The (Person),” “Sayings of Jesus, Oxyrhynchus,” “Truth, Gospel of,” in ABD, 2:321–74, 2:412–13, 5:999–1001, 6:668, respectively.

27. Edwin Firmage, “Zoology (Fauna),” in ABD, 6:1109–67.

28. John F. Hall, “Antonia, Tower of (Place),” “Appeal to Caesar,” “Caesar’s Household,” “Procurator,” “Rome (Place),” “Senate,” “Senator,” in ABD, 1:274, 1:317, 1:798, 5:473–74, 5:830–34, 5:1086–87, 5:1087, respectively.

29. Dana M. Pike, “Jaakobah,” “Jaareshiah,” “Jaaziel,” “Jaaziah,” “Jassu,” “Names, Hypocoristic,” “Names, Theophoric,” in ABD, 3:591, 3:591–92, 3:592, 3:593, 3:593, 4:1017, 4:1018, respectively.

30. Stephen D. Ricks, “Abortion in Antiquity,” “Sheba (Person),” “Sheba, Queen of (Person),” in ABD, 1:31–35, 5:1169–70, 5:1170–71, respectively.

31. Stephen E. Robinson, “Adam, The Testament of,” “Baruch, Book of 4,” “Joseph, Prayer of,” in ABD, 1:68, 1:622–23, 3:976, respectively.

32. David R. Seely, “Arabah (Place),” “Shur, Wilderness of (Place),” “Sin, Wilderness of (Place),” “Zin, Wilderness of (Place),” in ABD, 1:322–24, 5:1230, 6:47, 6:1095–96, respectively.

33. JoAnn H. Seely, “Irnahash (Place),” “Rephidim (Place),” in ABD, 3:456–61, 5:677–78, respectively.

34. S. Kent Brown, “Oxyrhynchus,” in The Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, ed. Eric M. Meyers (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 4:194–95.

35. Hugh Nibley, “Jerusalem: In Other Religions; In Christianity,” in Encyclopedia Judaica (New York: Macmillan, 1971), 9:1568–75.

36. Richard D. Draper, Opening the Seven Seals: The Visions of John the Revelator (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1991); Richard D. Draper, The Book of Revelation: Testifying of Christ, American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, 2001, audio disc.

37. Andrew C. Skinner and D. Kelly Ogden, Verse by Verse: Acts through Revelation (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2006).

38. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment, The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ, 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003–2006).

39. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment, Making Sense of the New Testament: Timely Insights and Timeless Messages (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010).

40. John W. Welch, The Sermon on the Mount in the Light of the Temple (Farnham, Eng.: Ashgate, 2009).

41. Brent J. Schmidt, Relational Grace: The Reciprocal and Binding Covenant of Charis (Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 2015).

42. Thomas A. Wayment, The New Testament: A Translation for Latter-day Saints (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2019); Thomas A. Wayment, The New Testament: A Translation for Latter-day Saints, Revised Edition (Draper, Utah: Greg Kofford Books, 2022).

43. Avraham Gileadi, The Literary Message of Isaiah, 2nd ed. (San Diego: Hebraeus Press, 2012).

44. John F. Hall and John W. Welch, eds., Masada and the World of the New Testament (Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 1997).

45. Brian M. Hauglid and Carl Griffin, eds., Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 3 (2011), https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sba/vol3/iss1/.

46. Miranda Wilcox, “Constructing Metaphoric Models of Salvation: Matthew 20 and the Middle English Poem Pearl,” Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 3 (2011): 1–28.

47. David E. Bokovoy, “On Christ and Covenants: An LDS Reading of Isaiah’s Prophetic Call,” Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 3 (2011): 29–49.

48. Lincoln H. Blumell, “A Text-Critical Comparison of the King James New Testament with Certain Modern Translations,” Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 3 (2011): 67–126.

49. Lincoln H. Blumell, ed., New Testament History, Culture, and Society: A Background to the Texts of the New Testament (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2019), https://rsc.byu.edu/book/new-testament-history-culture-society.

50. Jason R. Combs and others, eds., Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints (Provo, Utah: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2022).