Neal A. Maxwell
What is the Maxwell Institute?
The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, or Maxwell Institute, is a research institute at Brigham Young University. The institute consists of faculty and visiting scholars who study religion, primarily the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [1]
It promotes the study, illumination, preservation, and accessibility of religious texts and ancient scriptural sources. The Maxwell Institute supports research, publication, production, and distribution of peer-reviewed studies, journals, books, multimedia works, and research resources relevant to its areas of focus for use by scholars, students, and lay readers. Areas covered range from Book of Mormon studies to bilingual Islamic texts, from Mayan mural studies to the Popol Vuh, from the Greek Biblical Manuscripts to Epicurean Philosophy, from the Book of Abraham to Egyptology. As a part of BYU, the Maxwell Institute builds bridges to other cultures and peoples by contributing to scholarship in many disciplines and establishing contacts with scholars at universities and centers of learning worldwide. [2]
Where did the name come from?
For more than 25 years, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) has been conducting research and publishing books and periodicals that have both furthered scholarship and made friends for the university and the Church of Jesus Christ. In 2001, FARMS was joined by the Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (CPART) and the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI) to form ISPART. [1]
In 2006, Brigham Young University’s Board of Trustees approved the renaming of BYU’s Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (ISPART) to the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
“By renaming ISPART, BYU honors the memory and life’s work of Elder Maxwell,” said BYU President Cecil O. Samuelson. “This change firmly sets the future direction of the institute, which is to promote profound scholarship supporting the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ--something Elder Maxwell cared about deeply.”
The Maxwell Institute was established as an umbrella organization for several of BYU's academic initiatives, including: the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI), the Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (CPART), the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies, and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS). By 2013, FARMS had become fully absorbed into the institute's Willes Center.
Who was Neal A. Maxwell?
Elder Maxwell served The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 23 years as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “He was an articulate voice of reason and revelation--the consummate disciple-scholar who served the church and the people of the world,” said Andrew C. Skinner, executive director of the Maxwell Institute. [3]
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said that "For a disciple of Jesus Christ, academic scholarship is a form of worship. It is actually another dimension of consecration. Hence one who seeks to be a disciple-scholar will take both scholarship and discipleship seriously."
Dallin H. Oaks added that "The work of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute...must be genuine and pervasive–as broad as the spiritual interests of the children of God, as faithful as eternal truth, and as bright as the light of truth that is in us."
"We see the Maxwell Institute as a rarified training ground where gospel athletes stretch their abilities to speak in grace and truth to all of our Father's children." –Jeffrey R. Holland
[2] Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
[3] BYU renames ISPART to Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship