Volume 64:4 (2025) Print

BYU Studies 64, no. 4 (2025) opens with Keith A. Erekson’s essay on Church finances, which offers a principled model for faithful inquiry and applies it to historical context and modern concerns, including the 2023 SEC fine. Several articles advance Book of Mormon studies, including Donald Patrick Bradley Sr.’s argument that Joseph Smith translated from two distinct sets of plates, Stephen O. Smoot’s examination of translation and revelation as intertwined expressions of seership, and John W. Welch’s publication of a newly recovered 1967 letter written days after his discovery of chiasmus.

The volume also features major contributions to Church history and religious interpretation. Brandon Plewe concludes his multi-part study of nineteenth-century local Church administration and the developments leading to the 1877 Priesthood Reorganization, while Scott D. Marianno draws on the newly released journals of Heber J. Grant to illuminate his leadership, personal struggles, and prophetic ministry. Additional essays include Eric A. Eliason’s engagement with recent biblical scholarship on Genesis, creation, and natural history, and Mary Ackerman’s award-winning personal essay, which offers a moving account of endurance, faith, and healing through Jesus Christ. Together, the essays exemplify BYU Studies Quarterly’s commitment to careful, faithful scholarship that is historically grounded and spiritually attentive.