Joseph F. Merrill served as Church Commissioner of Education from 1928 to 1933, an era critical in the development of Latter-day Saint Education. During his tenure as commissioner several key developments occurred in Church education, among them the closing of most of the remaining Church academies, transfer of nearly all of Church junior colleges to State control, rapid expansion of the Church seminary system, and establishment of the first LDS Institutes of Religion. Merrill also initiated new efforts to encourage LDS educators to seek graduate-level education outside of Utah, and to bring religious scholarship to the teachers of the Church. In addition, during this time attempts were made by forces outside the Church to seriously curtail the continuation of the seminary program, if not to eliminate it entirely. Merrill's efforts were crucial in ensuring the survival and ultimate acceptance of this form of religious education. This study is intended to answer the following research questions: 1. What were the contributions of Joseph F. Merrill as Church Commissioner of Education? 2. How can the lessons from Merrill's administration be applied to the challenges facing Church education today? The first chapter of this thesis is intended to provide the necessary historical back to understand the events which took place during the Merrill tenure. Particular attention is paid to the work of Merrill's predecessor, Adam S. Bennion. Chapter two provides the historical background to understand Merrill's background before he was called as commissioner. The “Beginning of Institute" chapter explores the creation of the Latter-day Saint Institutes of religion. Next, the “Continuing the Transformation of Church Education" explores the decision to close or attempt to transfer to state control the junior colleges owned by the Church during this time. With the transfer of most of the Church colleges underway by the early 1930s, Church education found itself dependent on the work of seminaries and institutes. “The Released Time Seminary Crisis of 1930-31" chapter details the effects made by the report of the state high school inspector, I. L. Williamson, on seminary and Merrill's work to defend the legality of the seminary system. Next, “Joseph F. Merrill and Religious Educators" will document Merrill's dealings with the teachers who served under him as commissioner. Attention is devoted here to the effects of the Depression on Church education, as well as an account of the LDS educational venture with the University of Chicago Divinity school in the 1930s. Finally, the “Conclusions" chapter explains Merrill's departure from the office to serve as president of the European Mission. This chapter will also offer summary answers to the major research questions, and suggestions for future study The overall intent of this study is to shed light on the contributions of Joseph F. Merrill to Latter-day Saint education. It is not intended as a full biographical work, but simply focuses on his service as commissioner, with occasional ventures into other periods as necessary. It is hoped the reader will emerge with a greater understanding of this important era in Church history, as well as an improved vision of the divine hand guiding the fate of the Church.

Lilburn W. Boggs and the Case for Jacksonian Democracy Robert John Walker Department of Religion, BYU Masters of Religious Education Lilburn W. Boggs was lieutenant governor of Missouri from 1832 to 1836. He was governor of Missouri from 1836 to 1840. Political upheaval was the order of the day as Jacksonian democrats overthrew, through the power of the ballot box, the establishment of the patrician leadership in the United States. Issues of equity, slavery, religion, settlement of the West, and divisive sectionalism threatened the Union of the states. President Andrew Jackson was the representation of the common man and the enemy of the monied oligarchy that assumed the right to rule the common people. Jackson's leadership enabled a powerful change in party politics as he became the charismatic figurehead of the Jacksonian Democratic Party. Boggs was a protégé of Thomas Hart Bennett, the powerful ally of Jackson and leading senator from Missouri. Boggs, beginning as a young man, rode the coattails of Benton right into the governor's mansion in Columbia, Missouri. This thesis examines Boggs' life and political career to ascertain whether or not he was truly a Jackson man as he represented himself to be to the electorate.

This thesis seeks to answer the question of how Joseph Smith—History found in The Pearl of Great Price developed into a part of the canon of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When the prophet Joseph Smith first dictated the text to his scribes it seems he had not intended for the work to become scripture, but simply to follow the Lord's divine mandate to keep a record. Additionally he provided the purpose in his document to "disabuse the public mind, and put all inquirers after truth in possession of the facts, as they transpired." The format he proposed for the Manuscript History illustrates how it was originally not purposed for scripture. The compiling of that history took the efforts of many men and women and spanned the length of almost twenty years to complete. Joseph Smith had begun the dictation to his scribe George Robinson in 1838, but it was unfinished. Joseph later began the dictation anew to his scribe James Mulholland, first having the man rewrite what he had told to Robinson and then picking up the dictation from there. While the prophet had started and stopped histories before, this particular dictation began the enduring effort. The Manuscript History was developed from the original 59 pages that were scribed by Mulholland. By the efforts of other scribes, but mostly Willard Richards, the history was completed. The official statement of Brigham Young and Orson Pratt upon its completion said nothing of extracting portions for canon. But Mulholland's work seemed destined for a different purpose than the rest of the Manuscript History. It was printed serially in the Times and Seasons, and a few apostles seemed to catch a vision of what the manuscript could do for potential converts and members of the Church. Orson Pratt was especially a proponent of communicating certain key events as illustrated in his missionary tract "Remarkable Visions." A later apostle, Franklin D. Richards, would see the benefit of using the official history to distribute the history of the restoration of the Church to others. He extracted portions from Mulholland's text that covered certain main events in Joseph's life and printed them in his missionary tract The Pearl of Great Price. This pamphlet would eventually be canonized by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1880. Joseph Smith-History's inclusion in the reclamation of revelation that occurred in 1880 was deserved. This is evidenced by examining the process of canonization and the guiding principles of canonization employed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was canonized at the same time as many other revelations and at a General Conference saturated with many important events. Consequently it is difficult to gauge the reaction to its inclusion in canon, except in how it has been used since its canonization. After its inclusion into scripture the text has become a foundational piece of literature for the Church. The impact the text has had can be seen in the culture, missionary work, and doctrine of the Church. The focus of this thesis is to map the text's journey from birth to canonization.

The worship experience in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is inextricably linked to the ward or branch. This thesis examines the development of the Latter-day Saint congregation at the church centers from 1829 to 1846: Palmyra and Fayette, New York; Harmony, Pennsylvania; Kirtland, Ohio; Independence, Liberty and Far West in Missouri; and Nauvoo, Illinois. This work not only documents the creation and development of congregations, but also gives attention to the other important elements developed during the early years that are still associated with modern Latter-day Saint wards: meeting and worship patterns, physical locations where meetings took place, and leadership of local branches and wards. More on parameters and purpose is spelled out in Chapter 1.Each of the next three chapters deals with a time period and place, tracking all four of the elements of emphasis through an era. Chapter 2 briefly discusses meetings and groups before the official organization of the Church, and then continues on to consider the developments made in the three areas considered as Church centers: Fayette and Palmyra in New York and Harmony, Pennsylvania. The bulk of Chapter 2, however, deals with Kirtland, Ohio, which was headquarters for the Church for much of the 1830s.The three counties in Missouri that held the highest concentration of Saints-Jackson, Clay and Caldwell-are the area of study for Chapter 3. Eventually driven not only from all of these counties but also the state of Missouri, the Saints moved on to Illinois, the subject of Chapter 4. Quincy, Illinois was briefly considered the Church center until the purchase of the land that became Nauvoo. The final chapter synthesizes each of the four topics: congregational organization, meeting patterns, local leadership, and meeting places. Consequently, it is a brief overview of what advancements were made across all years and places studied in each area of focus.

Since the publication of the book The Screwtape Letters in 1942, ‘C. S. Lewis’ has been a widely recognized name in both Britain and the United States. The significance of the writings of this scholar of medieval literature, Christian apologist and author of the children’s books The Chronicles of Narnia, while widely recognized, has not previously been investigated. Using a wide range of sources, including archival material, book reviews, monographs, articles and interviews, this dissertation examines the reception of Lewis in Britain and America, comparatively, from within his lifetime until the recent past. To do so, the methodology borrows from the history of the book and history of reading fields, and writes the biography of Lewis’s Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia. By contextualizing the writing of these works in the 1940s and 1950s, the evolution of Lewis’s respective platforms in Britain and America and these works’ reception across the twentieth century, this project contributes to the growing body of work that interrogates the print culture of Christianity. Extensive secondary reading, moreover, permitted the investigation of cultural, intellectual, social and religious factors informing Lewis’s reception, the existence of Lewis devotees in America and the lives of Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia in particular. By paying close attention to the historical conditions of authorship, publication and reception, while highlighting similarities and contrasts between Britain and America, this dissertation provides a robust account of how and why Lewis became one of the most successful Christian authors of the twentieth century.

The Laie Hawaii Temple majestically overlooks the beaches of Oahu and has stood as an emblem of the Latter-day Saint faith to the world since 1919. Although the structure is iconic and highly significant to Latter-day Saints, a comprehensive history of the Laie Hawaii Temple has never been published. This thesis provides such a history from the conception of the temple until its dedication. The history of this particular temple is important for several reasons. At its dedication, the temple in Laie became the fifth operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was the first dedicated temple outside of the state of Utah (following the exodus) and outside of North America. It was also the first temple built in one of the missions of the Church. It was a pioneering temple as one of the first that catered to a large number of patrons from different cultures speaking different languages. Its multi-cultural, multi-lingual integration is something that would not be seen in other temples for several decades. Over the years, the temple and the attractions built around it have drawn millions of other visitors as well. Its location has made it an internationally recognized edifice and a valuable tool for the Church to introduce its message to the world. This history is also compelling because of what the temple in Laie, Hawaii represents in terms of the Latter-day Saint conception of the doctrine of the "gathering." As the first temple built outside of the traditional centers of Mormon colonization, this temple became an early prototype of a method of gathering that does not appear to begin taking hold Church-wide until the mid-twentieth century. Ahead of its time in other ways, the temple was built in a place where, according to the thinking of the time, Church membership was not yet sizable enough to warrant a temple. This thesis explains why the temple was built in Hawaii. These aspects of the temple's history produced ramifications that continue to impact the Church today, nearly 100 years later. As with many temples, a folk history of oral tradition has developed around the story of the Laie Hawaii Temple. This thesis will also provide a review of the historical record and offer clarity in sorting through that tradition.

This study examines the rise, development, and crisis of theological encyclopaedia in nineteenth-century Germany. As introductory textbooks for theological study in the university, works of theological encyclopaedia addressed the pressing questions facing theology as a ‘science’ (Wissenschaft), a rigorous, critical discipline deserving of a seat in the modern university. The project of theological encyclopaedia, I argue, functioned as the place where theological reflection and the requirements of the institutional setting in which that reflection occurred—here the German university—converged. I explore its roots as a pioneering idealist model for organizing knowledge in the German university system in the late eighteenth century. I focus especially on Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), the father of modern Protestantism and principal intellectual architect of the University of Berlin (1810). Schleiermacher’s programme transformed the scholarly theological enterprise into one defined in terms of science. That transformation laid the groundwork for the later historicization of theology, which I investigate in the two predominant ‘schools’ of German university theology in the middle of the nineteenth century, the Hegelian ‘speculative’ school and ‘mediating theology’ (Vermittlungstheologie). Among the latter, I emphasize the remarkable international influence of the Swiss-German Karl Hagenbach (1801–74), whose theological encyclopaedia was among the most widely read theological books in German-speaking Europe from the 1830s through World War I. Finally, I analyze the project’s downfall in the context of Wilhelmine Germany and the Weimar Republic, beset by radical disciplinary specialization, a crisis of historicism, and the attacks of dialectical theology. Throughout, I contend that theological encyclopaedia represented the institutionalization of the idea of theology as science, which furnishes an explanatory grid for understanding the relationship between theology and the university. The project resulted in a powerful synthesis that fundamentally shaped the reigning theological paradigms in nineteenth-century Germany and beyond.

This thesis answers the question of how a vision recorded in Joseph Smith's journal found its home in the Doctrine and Covenants and become recognized as canonized scripture. The April 3, 1836, journal entry became known as Section 110. Section 110 serves as a foundation for the current practices and doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, involving temple building and temple ordinances. Thus it is important to understand the history of this Section from journal entry to canonization because it is an example of recovering revelation. This thesis also explores contributing factors that could have led to the rediscovery of the 1836 vision. While Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were in the Kirtland Temple with veils drawn around them at the Melchizedek Priesthood pulpits on April 3, 1836, they both saw Jesus Christ, Moses, Elias, and Elijah. Jesus Christ accepted the newly built temple and Moses, Elias, and Elijah committed keys to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The vision was recorded, but as of yet, there is no evidence that the vision was publicly taught by Joseph Smith nor by Oliver Cowdery. This thesis follows the pattern established by Section 110 and the reclamation of the revelation and looks at how this section paved the way for other revelations and visions to move from handwritten pages to doctrinal levels of canonization, such as Sections 137 and 138. Joseph Smith had the vision recorded in his journal by Warren Cowdery, who served as a scribe to him. Joseph Smith also had the journal entry written in the Manuscript History of the Church. Although Joseph Smith did not publically declare that the 1836 vision had occurred to him and Oliver Cowdery, he still taught about the visitors in the vision and of their importance. After Joseph Smith's death, the leaders of the Church had his history printed in Church owned newspapers. The first time the vision was published in print was on November 6, 1852, in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Deseret News. Outside influences of the late 1850s through the 1860s put pressure on the Church. Some of these potentially destructive influences were the Utah War, Civil War, transcontinental railroad, Spiritualism movement, and the lack of understanding of the foundational doctrines of the Church by the rising generation that had been a part of the Church from its beginnings with Joseph Smith as its Prophet. This thesis explores these potentially destructive forces on the Church and its doctrine, and looks at how the leadership of the Church responded to them and how their response influenced the canonization of the 1836 vision. Under the direction of Brigham Young, Orson Pratt oversaw the publication of the new 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. This new edition contained twenty-six new sections, including Section 110. After the death of Brigham Young in 1877, John Taylor sat at the head of the Church as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. While Orson Pratt was in England, preparing to print a new edition of the Book of Mormon on electrotype plates, he asked John Taylor about printing the Doctrine and Covenants with the electrotype plates as well. John Taylor agreed on condition that Orson Pratt add cross references and explanatory notes, as he had done with the Book of Mormon. Using the 1876 edition, Orson Pratt made the requested additions and the new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was printed in 1880 and canonized on October 10, 1880, in a General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where all present voted unanimously to accept the 1880 edition as canonized scripture.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its membership felt a substantial impact from the effects of World War I. Although other authors have attempted to bring forward the events of these hostilities, they are few in number and the research in this area is small. Additionally, few have focused on the effects of the war on the Church. In order to increase the understanding of this influence, this work examines how the First World War affected the lives of Latter-day Saints both during and after the conflict. The entire world felt the effects of the world war and the Latter-day Saints were not exempt. Yet during this war, the LDS soldiers had an opportunity to change the way that others viewed the Church. Whether during times of training or on the battlefield, the valiant actions of these men often caused other soldiers to rethink the way they felt about the Saints. One incorrect stereotype that these men helped to remove was that the Latter-day Saints had no feelings of national loyalty. Soldiers of other faiths could not continue to hold such misconceptions after having spent time working with LDS servicemen. In addition to attitude-changing influences, Church President Joseph F. Smith was particularly conscious of the effects this conflict would have on the Church. The war would disrupt missionary work as its violence closed certain areas and missionary age young men were called on to bolster the armed forces. President Smith also feared the cost of the war in lives, which deaths increased with the outbreak of the influenza epidemic. In addition to these misgivings, the president of the Church worried about the possibility that Latter-day Saints of opposing countries would have to fight one another. it would have on missionary work, the cost in lives, and the possibility of LDS servicemen having to fight against other Saints. The influence of the war was not only felt by the soldiers. Those who remained at home learned to live thriftily and to give generously to the war effort. In addition to the general ways in which the war influenced the Church, individual soldiers also had a chance to help the Church. During this war the Church appointed for the first time multiple chaplains: Brigham H. Roberts, Calvin S. Smith, and Herbert B. Maw. These three men had opportunities to work with individual soldiers and influence them for good. Veterans from this war returned home and served in positions of leadership. Some continued military service, while others sought political positions and yet others were called to serve in general leadership positions. So, in both broad and specific ways, World War I changed the lives of Latter-day Saints.

Teaching is, and always has been, important in the work of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As one of the auxiliaries of the Church, the Sunday School has made an ongoing effort to provide effective teaching aids for its teachers in order to improve instruction in the Church. This work documents and examines change in principles of gospel teaching over the course of a century. By comparing teaching aids provided for Gospel Doctrine teachers in different time periods with guidelines found in the scriptures and words of modern prophets this work seeks to increase understanding of themes and fundamentals of inspired teaching in the Church.