Videos from the 2013 Church History Symposium have been uploaded to the BYU Religious Education department’s YouTube page. The symposium’s theme, “Approaching Antiquity: Joseph Smith’s Study of the Ancient World,” was particularly relevant to three participating scholars from the Maxwell Institute.
Matthew Roper delivered an insightful overview on Book of Mormon geography in his paper, “Joseph Smith and the Ruins: Central American Archaeology and Early Views about the Book of Mormon.”
John Gee spoke on “Joseph Smith and Ancient Egypt.”
Kristian Heal’s paper, “Joseph Smith and the Early Church Fathers,” examined the extent to which Smith was familiar with writings of early Christian fathers. In addition, Benjamin Park, associate editor of the forthcoming Mormon Studies Review, responded to Heal’s panel.
The symposium was cosponsored by BYU’s Department of Church History and Doctrine, the Religious Studies Center at BYU, and the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A list of all papers with links to each YouTube video is available here.