BYU STUDIES Volume 44 • Issue 4 • 2005

Published in this issue are the papers presented at the international academic conference held at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in recognition of the bicentennial of Joseph Smith's birth. These remarkable articles aim to elucidate Joseph's life and mission by positioning him—to the degree possible—within the larger framework of American spirituality and world religions.

Presenters included Latter-day Saint and other Christian scholars from Brigham Young University, Columbia University, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pepperdine University, Roanoke College, the University of Richmond in Virginia, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, and the University of Durham in England.

Even those who do not accept Joseph Smith as a modern prophet can still see him as a sincerely inspired man, a very effective religious leader who sought to correct what he believed to be the flaws and errors of current Christianity—much as John Hus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, or Roger Williams sought to do." —Robert L. Millet

Contents — Volume 44:4 (2005)
The Worlds of Joseph Smith

Introduction
"Introduction" by Richard L. Bushman, James H. Hutson, Robert L. Millet, Richard E. Turley Jr., and John W. Welch

Part 1: Joseph Smith in His Own Time
"Joseph Smith's Many Histories" by Richard L. Bushman
"Biographical Reflections on the American Joseph Smith" by Robert V. Remini
"Joseph Smith as an American Restorationist" by Richard T. Hughes
"Attempting to Situate Joseph Smith" by Grant Underwood

Part 2: Joseph Smith and the Recovery of Past Worlds
"Joseph Smith: Prophecy, Process, and Plenitude" by Terryl L. Givens
"Joseph Smith and Preexilic Israelite Religion" by Margaret Barker
"Archaeological Trends and the Book of Mormon Origins" by John E. Clark
"Joseph Smith and the Past" by John W. Welch

Art Work
Gallery Display

Part 3: Joseph Smith in a Personal World
"Joseph Smith in a Personal World" by Dallin H. Oaks

Part 4: Joseph Smith and the Theological World
"Joseph Smith Challenges the Theological World" by David L. Paulsen
"Joseph Smith's Theological Challenges: From Revelation and Authority to Metaphysics" by Richard J. Mouw
"Speaking of Faith: The Centrality of Epistemology and Perils of Circularity" by Randall Balmer
"Joseph Smith's Christology: After Two Hundred Years" by Robert L. Millet

Part 5: Joseph Smith and the Making of a Global Religion
"World Religion: Dynamics and Constraints" by Douglas J. Davies
"Testing Stark's Thesis: Is Mormonism the First New World Religion since Islam?" by Gerald R. McDermott
"Joseph Smith and the Making of a Global Religion" by Jan Shipps
"Authority and Worldwide Growth" by Roger R. Keller