News & Blog
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Seeking Applicants for the Annual Summer Seminar on Latter-day Saint Theology, “Peaceable Followers of Christ: Reading Moroni 7”
In the summer of 2025, the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar, with support from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute at Brigham Young University, the Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University, and the Mormon Studies program at Claremont Graduate University, will sponsor a summer seminar for graduate students and faculty devoted to reading Moroni 7.
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Call for Applications for a Rotational Fellowship
The Maxwell Institute invites applications from current BYU faculty in Provo with Continuing Faculty Status (CFS) for a 2-year full-time appointment to a rotational fellowship at the Institute. Successful appointees will maintain CFS status for the duration of their appointment to the Maxwell Institute and return to their home department at its conclusion. Appointees will be released from their regular teaching loads and will serve as full-time research fellows with residence at the Maxwell Institute during their terms (offices will be provided at the West View Building).
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Ether 1-5: Two Kinds of Friendship
We are suffering from an epidemic of loneliness and have been for some time now. Not only are we bowling alone, but we are often most alone when surrounded by people or connected to seemingly vibrant virtual communities.
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Mormon 7-9: Hope in Christ
It’s common, when we meet Moroni, to express sympathy for his plight. We gather in Sunday School, nodding soberly, as we imagine wandering alone, grieving a fallen nation, being hunted for commitment to Christ.
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New Full-time Faculty Fellows
The Maxwell Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of two new full-time faculty fellows to start in 2025. Katharina Paxman (Philosophy) and Thomas Russell (Theatre and Media Arts) have been appointed by the university as the first two fellows to occupy these two-year rotational spots.
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Mormon 1-6: The Day of Grace
If we’re being honest, Mormon’s record is a pretty depressing read. Mormon himself is a refugee of war as a young child, tasked with adult responsibilities at only ten years old, thrust onto the front lines of military conflict as a teenager...
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3 Nephi 27-4 Nephi: For They Will Sell Me for Silver and for Gold
At the beginning of 3 Nephi 27, Jesus has completed his visit to the Nephites, and his ordained disciples have begun to preach his gospel throughout the land.
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3 Nephi 20-26: What I Want My Nephew to Know about Missions
Next week is an exciting one for our family: my nephew will leave the Mission Training Center and travel to the country in eastern Europe where he’s been called to serve.
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3 Nephi 17-19: Guarding the Body (Prayer as Vigil)
Jesus spends much of 3 Nephi 18 passing out gifts to an assembled multitude, usually by giving them first to his disciples.
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Art Highlight: Bible Illustrations
This artwork and its accompanying caption were created by Meranda Brodowski, a student artist and designer at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. Meranda is from California and has worked at the Maxwell Institute since January. She is a Fine Arts Major at Brigham Young University, with an emphasis in technology. She strives to create inspiring artwork that represents her faith and testimony.
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3 Nephi 12-16: Ask, Seek, Knock
Christ’s Sermon at the Temple in Bountiful, like its close textual cousin, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, is a feast and a puzzle.
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3 Nephi 8-11: Christ Comes to Bountiful, or Egypt Meets Sinai
The events described in 3 Nephi 8 at the death of Christ are a catalog of disaster. Tremendous thunderstorms spark wildfire, three days of total darkness isolate survivors in cells of grief, and the face of the land is contorted by earthquake into a death mask.
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3 Nephi 1-7: Back Where We Started
A few Sundays ago, a bishopric counselor sat on my living room couch, all smiles, to extend me a new calling: primary chorister. My heart sank. Primary chorister has been, for many years, high on my list of Church Assignments That Scare Me and That I Think I’ll Be Really Bad At.
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Fall 2024 Wonder of Scripture Lecture Schedule
This year, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship will be hosting a Wonder of Scripture Lecture Series, every Friday at 11 AM. These lectures will be held in 3714 HBLL and uploaded to our YouTube channel for on-demand streaming.
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Helaman 13-16: Spreading Rumors and Contentions Upon all the Face of the Land
While an undergraduate at BYU, I spent six weeks in a large log cabin called Timp Lodge at Aspen Grove near the Sundance Ski Resort. At this biology camp, I took courses in Ecology, limnology (the study of lakes), and aquatic entomology.
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BYU’s Maxwell Institute Announces New Research Initiatives, Full-time Fellowships for BYU Faculty, and Expanded Campus Offerings
Brigham Young University’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship has adopted four key research initiatives, says J.B. Haws, executive director. The Institute will center its efforts on the fields of Book of Mormon, Bible, Interfaith Understanding, and Latter-day Saint Discipleship.
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Helaman 7-12: Pride is More Than We Might Assume
Pride is a danger oft targeted by Latter-day Saints: in our scriptures, our lesson manuals, and our general conference addresses. We did not, of course, invent this orientation.
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Helaman 1-6: The Hero's Journey
Do you know this story? A young person of no special consequence happens across a seemingly nondescript object that turns out to be imbued with power. The object leads them on a journey through magical lands and unknown regions, toiling up forbidding mountains and facing their fears in murky forests.
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