jbms

I’m excited to announce the publication of the 2017 issue of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. This is my fourth and last issue as editor of JBMS, and I feel like I’m leaving on a great note. This issue encapsulates what we as an editorial team have been trying to do since we first started in 2013: to widen the field of Book of Mormon studies to include studies related to its historicity, its reception, its literary value, its intertextuality, and its theological depth. To one degree or another, all of these areas of focus can be found in the current issue of JBMS. Timely book reviews and notes also appear and will, no doubt in my mind, be interesting and helpful to readers.The team and I have chosen three great pieces that non-subscribers can read free of charge in order to get a taste for what’s included in volume 27:—First, check out Michael Austin’s theory of types in the Book of Mormon.

Volume 25 of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies observes two significant milestones in Book of Mormon studies. First, we celebrate the Journal‘s own twenty-fifth anniversary with a retrospective that reviews past and present editorships. We also included a “prospective,” looking ahead to the future of the Journal and, more generally, the field of Book of Mormon studies.Subscribers can access the entire issue here and non-subscribers can take a free look at our “Book of Mormon Prospective” here.The second milestone we celebrate in volume 25 is the seminal work of Grant Hardy. It has been thirteen years since the appearance of Hardy’s The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition (University of Illinois Press, 2003) and six years since the publication of his Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2010). In many ways, Hardy’s work has both benefited from and signaled a turning point in Book of Mormon studies. As editors of the Journal we see his work as crucially transitional, bringing the scripture increasingly to the attention of the broader academy. In marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Journal, Hardy’s work serves to help us take stock of what has been done and what yet remains to be done.Our retrospective and prospective are followed by a series of contributions focused on Hardy’s work from LDS and non-LDS vantage points by scholars like John Christopher Thomas, Jana Riess, and Daniel C. Peterson. We asked them to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Understanding the Book of Mormon, to identify areas where we still need to do more work, and to begin to build upon his work. Hardy himself contributes to the volume with a Q&A and a concluding response essay to the several discussants. Volume 25 is a stimulating give-and-take conversation.We hope this volume of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies will encourage more interest and excitement in continuing to explore the richness of the Book of Mormon. May the next twenty-five years be even more productive for the Book of Mormon than the last twenty-five!

The Journal of Book of Mormon Studies turns 25 years old this year and the editors want to celebrate. They’ve put together a special anniversary issue that includes a look at the Journal‘s history and a prospective essay looking to the future.What’s more, they invited scholars to sound off on Grant Hardy’s groundbreaking book Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2010). What resulted is a collection of outstanding essays about Hardy’s work by Amy Easton-Flake, Daniel C. Peterson, Jana Riess, John Christopher Thomas, and others. The issue also includes a Q&A and concluding essay from Hardy himself reflecting on his work and the responses he’s received thus far.Volume 25 of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies will be available online next Friday, April 22. Print subscribers will receive a copy shortly thereafter. If you subscribed to the Journal within the past 12 months you’ll receive two volumes for the price of one (vol. 24 and 25).If you are not yet a subscriber, go to mi.byu.edu/subscribe. Digital subscriptions cost $10. Print subscriptions cost $25 and include digital access. All subscribers also receive access to premium online content like our new Proceedings of the Mormon Theology Seminar book series and Joseph M. Spencer’s An Other Testament: On Typology.The Journal of Book of Mormon Studies is the premier journal for Book of Mormon scholarship. Its editors continue to build with gratitude on the work of the past while raising the bar yet again.

Associate editor Joseph M. Spencer introduces volume 24 of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, which is available today. A digital subscription costs ten dollars and includes access to all three Maxwell Institute periodicals. Or you can subscribe to the print edition, which includes digital access to all Institute periodicals, for $25. —BHodges

This guest post comes from Mark Alan Wright, associate editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies and professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. Volume 23 is finally here. Subscribe to the digital edition for ten dollars or to the print edition (which includes digital subscriptions to all our periodicals) for $25. —BHodges

I was delighted last year to be appointed director of the Maxwell Institute’s Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies. My new responsibilities include serving as editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, so I’m taking this opportunity to let readers know what they can look forward to.

Volume 22/2 of the Journal of Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture is finally available! It includes great pieces like Mark Wright’s discussion of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture and John Hilton III’s perceptive piece on Jacob’s influence upon other Book of Mormon authors. Each article is available on the Journal’s home page and printed copies are even now being mailed. With this issue, Paul Y. Hoskisson’s editorship of the Journal comes to an end. I asked Dr. Hoskisson to write a retrospective letter to past and current Journal readers. His letter appears below. On behalf of the Maxwell Institute I extend gratitude to Paul for his years of research and service. —Blair Hodges

Joseph M. Spencer has been selected as the next editor of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute's Journal of Book of Mormon Studies.