A few years ago, J. Spencer Fluhman, then-director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, and Elder Maxwell’s children (Cory Maxwell, Becky Maxwell Ahlander, Nancy Maxwell Anderson, and Jane Maxwell Sanders) collaborated on a volume of talks by Elder Maxwell that would allow Elder Maxwell’s words to echo through future generations. Considering over a hundred talks in a variety of settings, the family chose twenty-four talks they felt were the most incisive and enduring statements of gospel principles and of Elder Maxwell’s testimony.
The Maxwell Institute is happy to bring to readers this collection of discourses by our namesake and guiding light. We anticipate posting a talk from this collection semi-monthly to celebrate the unique prescience and relevance of Elder Maxwell’s insights and, simultaneously, to celebrate BYU’s sesquicentennial anniversary. The university’s theme for the sesquicentennial is “Beacons of Light,” a fitting description of Elder Maxwell’s singular and engaging style. We hope that our readers will find his words as motivating and inspiring today as they were when initially delivered a half-century ago.
We extend special appreciation to the Maxwell Institute’s Tessa Hauglid and to student employees Landon Graham and Atticus Morgan for their work in editing the talks in the collection that have not been published previously and for adding new and helpful footnotes throughout.
The first talk, "Why Not Now?" will be published on January 13, 2025.