Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture Volume 25 Neal A
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Journal of Book of Mormon Studies Volume 25 | Number 1 Article 12 1-1-2016 Journal of The Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture Volume 25 Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Scholarship, Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious (2016) "Journal of The Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture Volume 25," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 25 : No. 1 , Article 12. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol25/iss1/12 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. 2016 JOURNAL OF Volume 25 BOOK OF MORMON Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship STUDIES Brigham Young University Editor Brian M. Hauglid, Brigham Young University Associate Editors Mark Alan Wright, Brigham Young University Joseph M. Spencer, Brigham Young University Book Review Editor Janiece Johnson, Brigham Young University—Idaho Editorial Advisory Board Matthew L. Bowen, Brigham Young University—Hawaii Paul C. Gutjahr, Indiana University Janiece Johnson, Brigham Young University—Idaho Michael H. MacKay, Brigham Young University Tammi J. Schneider, Claremont Graduate University John Christopher Thomas, Pentecostal Theological Seminary and Bangor University Rosalynde Frandsen Welch, LaDue, Missouri Production Editor Shirley S. Ricks Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship M. Gerald Bradford, Executive Director Camille Hauglid, Subscriptions Manager JOURNAL OF BOOK OF MORMON STUDIES © 2016 by Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young Uni- versity. All rights reserved. The Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (ISSN 2374-4766 print, 2374-4774 online) is published once a year by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. Permissions. No portion of Journal of Book of Mormon Studies may be reproduced by any means or process without the formal written consent of the publisher. Direct all permissions requests to Permissions Manager, Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. Subscriptions. An annual subscription rate, which includes access to all online content, is $25 (one issue). An annual digital-only subscription is $10. Subscribe by visiting our website at maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/subscribe/, by sending an email to maxwell_institute@byu .edu, or by phoning 800-327-6715. Address subscription requests to Subscriptions, Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. Editorial correspondence and submissions. Please direct all editorial queries and submis- sions to: Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. Email: [email protected]. Submission guidelines are found at publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/periodicals /jbms/jbmsguidelines/. Views expressed in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies are those of the contributors. They should not necessarily be attributed to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young University, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, or the Journal’s editors or staff. ♾ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSE Z39.48-1984. Printed in the United States of America maxwellinstitute.byu.edu Contents Editors’ Introduction v A Journal of Book of Mormon Studies Retrospective: Twenty-Five Years of Scholarship 1 A Book of Mormon Studies Prospective 13 Brian M. Hauglid, Mark Alan Wright, Joseph M. Spencer, and Janiece Johnson Understanding Understanding the Book of Mormon: An Interview with Grant Hardy 20 Understanding the Book of Mormon 37 Elizabeth Fenton An Apologetically Important Nonapologetic Book 52 Daniel C. Peterson Comprehending the Book of Mormon through Its Editors 76 Jana Riess Mixing the Old with the New: The Implications of Reading the Book of Mormon from a Literary Perspective 85 Adam Oliver Stokes iv Contents A View from the Outside—An Appreciative Engagement with Grant Hardy’s Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide 93 John Christopher Thomas Beyond Understanding: Narrative Theory as Expansion in Book of Mormon Exegesis 116 Amy Easton-Flake The Book of Mormon Book Club 139 Grant Hardy Editors’ Introduction In this issue of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, we are look- ing at two significant milestones in Book of Mormon studies. First, we celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Journal with a retrospective that reviews past and present editorships, noting unique areas of focus each editor has brought to the Journal. This retrospective also reviews the changes in naming, formatting, and style that the Journal has gone through and highlights specific noteworthy issues that have appeared through the years. Finally, all the editors up to the present offer their perspective on their tenure as editors and their reflections on the impor- tance of the Journal. While examining the history of the Journal is instructive, fruitful, and inspiring, we thought it might be worthwhile to look ahead to the future of the Journal and, more generally, the field of Book of Mormon studies. In doing so we imagine various ways to build on the foundational scholarship of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies and, at the same time, to stimulate new approaches to Book of Mormon studies that can help position the Book of Mormon in the larger academy. To this end, we have also provided in this issue a prospective as well as a retrospective, laying out what we hope to see happen during the next twenty-five years (and more) of Book of Mormon studies. The second milestone we celebrate in this issue of the Journal is the seminal work of Grant Hardy. It has now been thirteen years since Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 25, 2016, pp. v–vi © 2016 Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University Article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18809/jbms.2016.0101 Journal DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18809/mijbms.23744774 vi Editors’ Introduction the appearance of Hardy’s The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition (University of Illinois Press, 2003) and six years since the publication of his Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2010). In many ways, Hardy’s work has marked the possibility of a turning point in Book of Mormon studies, with the Book of Mormon being brought to the attention of the broader academy. We as editors see his work as transitional in a crucial way, and as we mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of theJournal , we allow Hardy’s work to help us take a look at both what has been done and what yet remains to be done. Consequently, following our retrospective and prospective, we pro- vide a series of contributions focused on Hardy’s work. We begin with an interview, conducted by Blair Hodges, giving Hardy an opportunity to discuss his interest in the Book of Mormon and why and how he pro- duced his significant books. Following the publication of Hardy’s books, we have seen a host of other books and articles citing his books. With all this well-deserved attention, we as editors wondered if we might spon- sor a conversation about how his work has affected the course of Book of Mormon studies. We invited six scholars from LDS and non-LDS vantage points to review and engage with Hardy’s work—we asked them to assess specifically the strengths and weaknesses of Understanding the Book of Mormon, to identify areas where we still need to do more work, and to begin to build upon his work. We conclude the issue with Hardy’s response to the several discussants, helping to cast the entire exchange as a give-and-take conversation. Our heartfelt thanks go to Janiece Johnson, our book review editor, for all her hard work in bringing this issue together. We also deeply appreciate the assiduous care with which Shirley Ricks prepared the Journal for publication. We hope this issue of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies will encourage more interest and excitement in continuing to explore the richness of the Book of Mormon. Let the next twenty-five years be even more productive for the Book of Mormon than the last twenty-five! A Journal of Book of Mormon Studies Retrospective: Twenty-Five Years of Scholarship Adapted from Jacob D. Rawlins. “Journal Retrospective: Perspective from the Editors.” Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 18/2 (2009): 52–57. In 1992, when Stephen D. Ricks proposed a new academic journal focusing on the Book of Mormon, his goal was to encourage serious research on the Book of Mormon and publish that research for the widest possible audience. Through the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), Ricks, along with John W. Welch, Daniel C. Peterson, and others, had already been participating for years in pub- lishing a newsletter, research updates, and important books, including John Sorenson’s seminal An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon and the first volumes of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley. The new journal, however, would be something different—in Ricks’s words, “a forum devoted to the serious and faithful study of the Book of Mormon in its historical, linguistic, cultural, and theological context.” The first volume of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies delivered on the vision Ricks had for the new publication.