Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Physical Education-Sports. / Electronic thesis. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 25, 77-80). Also available in print ed.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of History. / Electronic thesis. includes bibliographical references (leaves [77]-82). Also available in print ed.

Thesis (M.A.) Brigham Young University. Dept. of Educational Psychology. / Electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 36-39. Also available in print ed.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Educational Research and Services. / Electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves [46]-48. Also available in print ed.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University, Dept. of Graduate Studies in Religious Instruction. / Electronic thesis. Also available in print ed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2006. / Thesis directed by George M. Marsden for the Department of History. "July 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 670-706).

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of English, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of English, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-102).

Research for this thesis drew on the network of Deaf Mormon wards/branches, newspapers, magazines, books, unpublished documents, personal collections, and oral interviews to illustrate the religious activities engaged in by deaf Latter-day Saints at the national and local levels during the mid and late twentieth century America. The study focused on the theological perspectives, church participation, and personal experiences of deaf Mormons with a special focus on the accommodations the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ·Saints has for the deaf populace. This special attention was used to examine and demonstrate the influence and attractions the Mormon religion has for deaf people, who share similar cultural background and use the same language, distinct from the hearing world. Deaf Mormons' church experiences mirrored those of deaf non-Mormons. However, the Deaf culture itself surfaced as a distinct religious component for Mormons with hearing loss. Deaf Mormons both mesh with the general LDS religion and maintain their own separate sense of community. Data gathered through interviews was preserved in a videotape collection. These videotapes were then transcribed and analyzed for both patterns of information and individual points of view.

Although historians generally view early Mormonism as a movement focused on restoring Christianity to its pristine New Testament state, in the Mormon movement’s first phase (1827-28) it was actually focused on restoring Judaism to its pristine “Old Testament” state and reconstituting the Jewish nation as it had existed before the Exile. Mormonism’s first scripture, “the Book of Lehi” (the first part of the Book of Mormon), disappeared shortly after its manuscript was produced. But evidence about its contents shows it to have had restoring Judaism and the Jewish nation to their pre-Exilic condition to have been one of its major themes. And statements by early Mormons at the time the Book of Lehi manuscript was produced show they were focused on “confirming the Old Testament” and “gathering” the Jews to an American New Jerusalem. This Judaic emphasis in earliest Mormonism appears to have been shaped by a set of movements in the same time and place (New York State in the 1820s) that I am calling “American proto-Zionism,” which aimed to colonize Jews in the United States. The early Mormon movement can be considered part of American proto-Zionism and was influenced by developments in early nineteenth century American Judaism.