Book Review: BYU studies 1987
1987 marked 150 yeas since the Gospel was first taken to Great Britain. To commemorate BYU Studies dedicated the first two issues of the year to the history of the Gospel in Britain. There was also a symposium held at BYU which provided much of the material for the magazine. Gordon B. Hinkley, counselor in the First Presidency at the time, introduced the theme with a discourse published in the magazine "A declaration to the World." He gives a good introduction, and testimony, but not much in terms of historical detail. However he points out the sacrifice of those who first went to England, and their millennial call.
The article by Robert D. Hales "The British Contribution to the Restored Gospel" is excellent. As is the following article, "Cradling Mormonism, the Rise of the Gospel in Victorian England" by Ronald W. Walker. This article points out the influence of the environment to the rise of Mormonism, while not discrediting the message of the Gospel itself--That the original Christian Church had been reestablished upon the earth.
Leonard J. Arrington talks about the history of British women in the Church. Thomas Lyon talks of the first book of poetry published by the church "The Harp of Zion." I will provide a review of the Book of Poetry at a later time, but this article gives a good idea of the history of the book and how it came about. It was written by someone who could not read and write until age 25. There are more articles, which were not directly related to my topic of research, but which someone might find interesting.
My only disappointment was that the articles mentioned the revelation Heber C. Kimball had in which he saw the evil spirits who opposed the restoration of the Gospel. I would have liked to have read the original revelation.
I would recommend these studies to someone interested in looking at the history of the Mormon Church in England. It can be accessed via the internet at
http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=95
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