Bushman, Richard Lyman. “What Are We to Make of the Gold Plates?.” BYU Studies Quarterly 64, no. 1 (2025): 9.

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In this reflective essay, Richard Lyman Bushman explores the cultural, theological, and scholarly significance of the gold plates associated with the founding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Drawing on responses from twenty contemporary Latter-day Saint scholars, Bushman investigates how belief in the plates persists—or evolves—among thoughtful believers in an age of modern skepticism. The article categorizes five interpretive perspectives: the plates as metaphorical objects of faith, as accepted miraculous artifacts within LDS tradition, as deliberate provocations akin to the Resurrection, as parabolic symbols of divine-human cooperation, and as hermeneutical complications due to their inaccessibility. Bushman concludes by situating the gold plates within broader historical religious movements, arguing that they serve as a bulwark against the spiritualizing tendencies of liberal Protestantism by grounding the Restoration in tangible historical events. The plates, he asserts, continue to matter—not just as artifacts, but as challenges to modern materialism and affirmations of God’s intervention in history.

Pyper, Cassidy Nichole. ““Not Only Men but Women Also” An Argument for Alma’s Intentional Inclusion of Women.” BYU Studies Quarterly 64, no. 1 (2025): 5.

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This article explores the Book of Mormon prophet Alma’s intentional inclusion of women in his teachings, despite the text’s overall androcentric tone. Beginning with Alma 32:23, where Alma affirms that God imparts His word to “men, yea, not only men but women also,” the author argues that Alma consciously addressed women in both language and audience. Through close textual analysis, Pyper examines Alma’s use of terms like “brethren,” “people,” and “mankind” in their 19th-century and ancient scriptural contexts to demonstrate that these may have been meant inclusively. The study also considers Alma’s sermons, the martyrdom of women in Ammonihah, and broader Book of Mormon linguistic patterns to show how Alma’s ministry reflected a belief in women’s spiritual capacity and inclusion in divine communication. Ultimately, the article challenges modern assumptions of gender exclusivity in scripture and highlights how historical and linguistic context reveals deeper inclusivity in Alma’s words.

Terry, Roger. “Royal Skousen’s Book of Mormon Critical Text Project.” BYU Studies Quarterly 64, no. 1 (2025): 13.

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This article provides an in-depth overview and evaluation of Royal Skousen’s decades-long endeavor to produce a comprehensive critical text of the Book of Mormon. Beginning in 1988, Skousen’s project involved the meticulous collation of original and printer’s manuscripts along with twenty significant editions, culminating in a multi-volume reference work, The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text (Yale University Press), and an extensive critical apparatus. The article outlines Skousen’s methodology, including textual criticism principles, electronic collation, and linguistic analysis, particularly the surprising presence of Early Modern English in the original text. Roger Terry discusses the scholarly implications of these findings and praises Skousen’s commitment to rigorous scholarship, transparency, and openness to unresolved questions. The work is presented as a foundational achievement in Latter-day Saint textual studies and a resource that will shape future academic engagement with the Book of Mormon for decades to come.

Spencer, Joseph M. “Struck with Wonder and Amazement” On Reading the Book of Mosiah.” BYU Studies Quarterly 64, no. 1 (2025): 11.

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In this reflective and scholarly exploration of Mosiah 25:1–11, Joseph M. Spencer examines how the Book of Mosiah employs the literary device mise en abyme—a narrative reflection within itself—to encourage readers to mirror the reactions of Mosiah’s people as they engage with scripture. Spencer argues that Mormon, as both prophet and literary architect, subtly invites readers to be “struck with wonder and amazement” not only at the historical narratives of Zeniff and Alma but also at the living, unfolding relevance of scripture in their own lives. Through a close reading of the original chapter divisions and narrative structure of Mosiah, Spencer highlights how Mormon uses this passage to mark a narrative and theological shift—from monarchical leadership to ecclesiastical authority—and to prompt readers to see scripture as both a record of past deliverance and a call to participate in the continuing fulfillment of God’s covenants. This dual invitation—to wonder at the past and to engage with an unfinished prophetic story—underscores the Book of Mormon’s enduring theological and literary depth.

Bruno, Cheryl L., and Michelle Stone. “Crafting a Sacred Story: Joseph F. Smith and the William Clayton Affidavits.” Journal of Mormon Polygamy 1, no. 1 (2025): 1-34.

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This article examines the origins, development, and historical function of the affidavits crafted by Joseph F. Smith using the writings of William Clayton to support the LDS Church’s narrative on plural marriage. Faced with a scarcity of direct evidence tying Joseph Smith to the doctrine, Joseph F. undertook a project to collect and standardize testimonies—especially Clayton’s 1871 letter and 1874 affidavit—to construct a cohesive institutional memory. The study reveals how Joseph F. edited, expanded, and contextualized these documents to reinforce the legitimacy of plural marriage as a divinely sanctioned revelation received by Joseph Smith. Through textual comparisons, the authors demonstrate how the affidavits were shaped not only to counter the claims of the Reorganized Church (RLDS) but also to defend the roles of Hyrum and Emma Smith. The article situates this work within broader historiographical and sociological efforts to consolidate religious identity, showing that Joseph F. Smith’s documentation served both theological and institutional purposes in the contested legacy of Mormon polygamy.

Barrus, Clair. “The Lawless Women Revelation.” Journal of Mormon Polygamy 1, no. 1 (2025): 35-52.

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This article analyzes a previously unexamined revelation recorded by LDS apostle Heber C. Kimball in 1852, known as the “Lawless Women Revelation.” Found in Kimball’s private memorandum book in three evolving versions, the revelation claims divine sanction for Kimball to withdraw from “lawless women” in his household who were disobedient or insubordinate. Clair Barrus contextualizes this revelation within Kimball’s broader spiritual practices, including his use of ritual clothing and a divining rod to receive revelation, as well as his uniquely large polygamous family—of whom more than a third eventually left him. The article links Kimball’s rhetoric of patriarchal authority to contemporaneous legislative efforts in Utah expanding women’s rights, and to Brigham Young’s public pronouncements against racial and marital hierarchies perceived as threatening. Barrus argues that the revelation exemplifies how religious doctrine and personal experience intertwined for early LDS leaders, especially in navigating the strains of plural marriage, gender roles, and ecclesiastical authority.

Harrell, Charles. “John Taylor on the “Dark Ages”.” Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 58, no. 1 (2025): 5-24.

This article critically reexamines a frequently cited 1873 statement by Latter-day Saint apostle John Taylor that has been used by modern LDS scholars to support a more inclusive view of Christian spirituality during the medieval period. Contrary to recent interpretations that portray Taylor as affirming widespread revelation during the Dark Ages, Harrell demonstrates that Taylor’s use of the phrase “those dark ages” referred not to medieval Christianity but to biblical times, in ironic response to cessationist claims that ancient prophets lived in spiritual darkness. Harrell carefully traces Taylor’s broader teachings to show his consistent belief that true revelation requires the gift of the Holy Ghost, accessible only through the restored priesthood—something absent from the post-apostolic Christian world. The article exposes how a misreading of Taylor’s statement has fueled a revisionist Apostasy narrative, and calls for a reassessment of the historical and doctrinal assumptions underlying LDS interpretations of Christian history.

Cramer, Ryan N. “Unveiling the Invisible Hand of Providence: Examining the Smith Family’s Economic and Spiritual Catalysts Amid Troubling Times and the Panic of 1819.” Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 58, no. 1 (2025): 25-86.

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This article investigates the complex interplay of spiritual, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the early life of Joseph Smith Jr. and his family during the years leading up to the founding of the Latter-day Saint movement. Focusing on the turbulent period from 1809 to 1822, including the Panic of 1819, Cramer argues that widespread natural disasters, comets, economic hardship, religious instability, and personal tragedies deeply influenced the Smiths’ worldview. Drawing on contemporaneous newspaper accounts, family records, and court documents, the essay explores how celestial phenomena and socio-economic pressures fostered the Smiths’ engagement with folk religion, divination, and dreams. The study also contextualizes the Smith family’s migration patterns, financial struggles, and early legal encounters—especially the 1819 lawsuit with Jeremiah Hurlbut—as key catalysts in Joseph Smith Jr.’s spiritual development. Ultimately, the article situates the Smiths’ experience within a broader American apocalyptic and economic milieu that helped give rise to their distinctive religious trajectory.

Avance, Rosemary. Mediated Mormons: Shifting Religious Identities in the Digital Age. University of Utah Press, 2025.

In the early- to mid-2010s, Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy, the hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “I’m a Mormon” media campaign brought critical media attention to Mormonism. In this first lengthy treatment of Mormon identities as they intersect with their religious institution, the internet, and modernity during the so-called “Mormon Moment,” Rosemary Avance explores how LDS stakeholders challenged traditional notions of what it means to be Mormon, vying for control of their own public narratives.

Mediated Mormons uses a case study approach to consider various iterations of Mormon identity as presented by church authorities, faithful members, the secular media, and heterodox and former adherents. These often-conflicting perspectives challenge traditional models of LDS authority, dismantling a monolithic view of Mormons and offering a window into processes of social activism and institutional change in the internet era.

Siles, Alí. “The queer and (not so) narrow path: LGBTQ+ Mormon masculinities in Mexico City.” Journal of Gender Studies (2025): 1-20.

This article explores the lived experience of men who identify as LGBTQ+ and Mormon, in Mexico City, through a qualitative methodology based on the analysis of texts and documents of the institutional normativity and discourse of Mormonism; ethnographic observations with the collective of self-identified LGBT Mormons Afirmación; and individual in-depth interviews with members of the group. Building on the concept of double masculinities, I argue that contemporary LGBTQ+ Mormon masculinities are nuanced and fluid processes that display elements of long-standing religious and gendered belief and practice that can be seen as ‘traditional’, as well as ways of being in the world and interacting in it influenced by modern and post-modern discourses. Such processes are traced in different dimensions of the lived experience of these men who identify as GBTQ+ and Mormon, namely, their interactions in spaces configured either by Mormonism’s gender regime or other such regime(s), and the personal relationships that their living as LGBTQ+ Mormons produces, fosters and/or hinders. Throughout this exploration, I seek to illustrate the interaction between long-standing forms of being and doing religious masculinities, and others sometimes described as ‘post-traditional’, that is characteristic of lived religion in late modernity.

Rodriguez, Sarah L., Marin Fisher, Maria L. Espino, and J. Cody Nielsen. “Engineering Identity and Religion Intertwined: How One Woman’s Experiences With the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Shaped Her Professional Journey.” Journal of College and Character (2025): 1-18.

A minimal amount of scholarship focuses on religious, secular, and spiritual identities (RSSIs) and their relationships to engineering identity, even though we know that these identities often intersect. Through a deep-dive, 3-part narrative interview series, the authors sought to understand how an undergraduate woman member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints negotiated her religious and engineering identities. Findings suggest that many of the values and teachings of this student’s religious identity supported engineering identity, particularly during challenging times.

Plewe, Brandon. “This Branch of the Church The Early Development of Local Administration in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Part 1, The Emergent Church, 1830–1845.” BYU Studies Quarterly 64, no. 1 (2025): 6.

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This study offers a detailed historical and geographic analysis of the evolving local administrative structures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from its founding through 1845. Contrary to assumptions of early uniformity, the article reveals that local governance varied widely by region and time, shaped by frontier needs, doctrinal development, and experimentation. Using sources from over 300 early church units, Plewe reconstructs how congregational types (branches, wards, and stakes) and leadership roles (bishops, presidents, high councils) emerged organically before the formal Priesthood Reorganization of 1877. The article introduces key interpretive concepts, such as the “general branch” and “congregational stake,” to clarify historical usage of administrative terms. Ultimately, Plewe argues that modern LDS Church governance reflects a process of gradual standardization rather than early institutional consistency, challenging readers to reconsider how early Saints understood and implemented church structure.