2017 Archaeological Excavation – Ataruz, Jordan

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Aaron Schade, Department of Ancient Scripture In January 2017 I received a MEG totaling $20,000 to conduct a multi-faceted project associated with the excavations at Khirbat Ataruz in Jordan, including capturing images of ancient artefacts and inscriptions using Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI). I am happy to report that the project was a success, and that […]

Religion, Mental Health, and the Latter-day Saints: A Review of the Literature (1995-2017)

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Adrienne Rogers and Daniel K Judd, Ancient Scripture Introduction There are over 4,000 religions in the world today. One of the core functions of religion is to help individuals find meaning and purpose in life. Several researchers have found that this religious function impacts psychological well-being, often for the better. This relationship between religious belief, […]

The Economics Behind the Construction of the General Relief Society Building

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Kiersten Robertson and Mary Jane Woodger, Church History and Doctrine Introduction A building designated specifically for the use of the women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was first proposed in 1893, shortly after the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple. In response, the First Presidency offered a lot just east of […]

“The Evolution we believe in … is not Darwin’s”: Evolution, Science, and Latter-day Saint Education, 1875-1911

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Ian McLaughlin and Dr. Rachel Cope, Church History & Doctrine Introduction My project was designed to answer one question and ended up answering several others. The original question was: Why has so little been written on Latter-day Saint responses to evolution prior to 1909? Darwin’s Origin of Species was published way back in 1859, a […]

Family Foundation of Faith Mentoring Environment Grant (2015-2016):

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Dr. Justin Dyer, Dr. Michael Goodman, and Dr. Mark Ogletree, Department of Church History and Doctrine Academic Objectives Met The project met several academic objectives. The first was to collect the initial round of data for the Family Foundations of Faith project. Data were collected from over 600 families and were cleaned and prepared for […]

Examples of Egyptian Iconography of Late Bronze Age Canaan

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Amanda Buessecker and Faculty Mentor: Jeff Chadwick, Church History and Doctrine Introduction The globalized Late Bronze Age world was one of sophisticated trade, conquest, and foreign influence in many of the Old World’s nations. Archaeological excavations in modern Israel have revealed numerous artifacts of Egyptian origin and style within Canaan’s Late Bronze Age. The Late […]

Orthodoxy and Temple Ritual

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Nathan Astel and Faculty Mentor: Michael Mackay, Church History and Doctrine My research was initially aimed at researching the locations and implementation of the temple endowment in Nauvoo. As I began my research concerning the temple endowment, I realized that I was more interested in the theological implications of the endowment and how the endowment […]

Understanding our Early Christian Roots Translating and Publishing a Koine Greek Papyrus

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Zakarias Gram and Faculty Mentor: Lincoln H. Blumell, Religious Education- Ancient Scripture This project was focused on analyzing, transcribing, translating, and publishing an edition of an ancient Greek papyrus housed in Oklahoma City. The experience was both very educating and exciting for me, as I am pursuing a degree in Classics and will continue to […]

Newspapers and Mid-Nineteenth Century America’s Views of Mormonism

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Mason Price and Gerrit Dirkmaat, Church History and Doctrine Introduction With increasing access to archived American newspaper sources online, it is simpler than ever before to peer into the past through the lens of primary source news articles. Newspapers, though they have limitations in presenting historical information, can nonetheless be useful to uncover and better […]