Testimonies

As long as I can remember, I have had a belief in God, the mission of his Son, and the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. My testimony began as a child’s simple unquestioning belief that has matured into a view of eternity centered on a burning conviction of the gospel of Jesus Christ, with its tireless invitation to form and give unending purpose to life. Though the growth of my testimony has been marked by a diversity of confirming experiences, it is also rooted in the verifying witness of the Holy Spirit.

But because my journey as a believer was not always smooth and upward, the development of my testimony has been refined by periods of some perplexity and uncertainty. There have been stretches of spiritual stagnation and regression, times when doubt challenged some beliefs, occasions when adversity went without immediate relief in answer to earnest prayers, and days when the much greater suffering of many others in the world overseen by a loving and all-powerful God demanded explanation. There were nights when I confessed belief to my Heavenly Father while asking him to help my unbelief. My patriarchal blessing warns me that, to know light from darkness, I would be required to endure times when it seems that God has forgotten me. From many experiences I have learned to know and love the things of light and to fear and shun the dark.

By trade I have been a student of certain parts of philosophy, from which I learned somewhat how to reason. I have learned to question and to doubt. So my life of faith has not gone without challenges. But my training in philosophy and the resultant modest development of the ability to reason has served me well as far as the growth of my faith goes. The grounding of my testimony has been broadened, my understanding of scripture enriched, my appreciation of its teaching deepened, and my ability to defend my beliefs has been sharpened. Notably, my training in philosophy has enabled me to better evaluate the arguments of those bent on attacking the truth claims made by and for Church of Jesus Christ. I have typically found these arguments wanting. Of course, there is a risk in being both a student of philosophy and a student of scripture: the risk is that one will mingle the former to the determent of the latter. But scripture is vulnerable to contamination from various cultural sources, and training in philosophy can also help expose such problems.

I know that the Holy Spirit can be a real guiding presence in our lives. That very Spirit has delivered answers to my prayers, sometimes in a still small voice, other times in a more powerful and transparent way. I feel reluctant to share these experiences, but let me relate three of them without elaboration, trusting that my concern is unfounded.

1. As a young man, and in preparation for receiving a patriarchal blessing, I fasted and prayed for certain gifts and an answer to one specific question. I did not share these concerns with anyone, not even members of my immediate family. During my fast, part of the answer to the question came to me from the Holy Spirit as a clear and unmistakable impression. The partial answer contained a prediction which, some years later, come true. When the patriarch, who did not know me, laid his hands on my head, the first words out of his mouth finalized the answer to my question and bestowed the gifts I desired. The confirming presence of the Spirit filled my heart and mind. I wept with gratitude.

2. On my mission, my companion and I were invited by a dear sister to meet with her husband, who was not a member. He was a tough truck driver who had been around the block more than once. Though he had been taught the missionary lessons, he did not believe that the Church was true. As we prepared to meet with him, we fasted and prayed for forty-eight hours. The last evening of our fast, we sat in the living room of his home not knowing what to say. I was physically tired and emotionally spent. Then I felt impressed simply to read Joseph’s story of the First Vision. As I proceeded to do so, the Holy Spirit entered the room—I experienced it as a powerful, tangible presence outside of me as I witnessed to this man. He broke down and wept. He knew the Church to be true.

3. When I was a bishop, the time came to call a new Relief Society president. As a bishopric, we had narrowed the list of possible successors to six good sisters. But we could not decide who should be called. Then a definite impression came to me that the Father wanted one whose name was not even on the list to fill the position. I immediately recognized the impression as the still small voice of the Spirit.

Joseph Smith is indeed a prophet of God! The Book of Mormon is ancient scripture! It is a book above all the great books I have studied and taught. The Son of God is the Word! As Alma the Younger testifies, through faith in Christ, obedience to God, and the purifying power of the Holy Spirit, the Word will enlarge our souls and expand our minds unto everlasting life. Then we will know with a perfect knowledge the true way to live as immortal beings.

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After receiving his PhD. in political science at the University of Illinois, Alma Don Sorensen taught courses in political and moral philosophy and the philosophy of social science and history at Indiana University (for six years) and at Brigham Young University (for twenty-nine years).

Posted May 2010

Meine Eltern kamen nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg aus der Südsteiermark nach Kärnten und siedelten sich in einem kleinen Dorf unweit der Grenze an. Ihr bisheriges Wohngebiet fiel 1945 an Jugoslawien. Sie hatten es verlassen, um unter zahlreichen Gefahren ihr Leben, ihre politische Freiheit und ihre kulturelle Identität zu bewahren. Dieser Freigeist drückte sich auch in der Erziehung ihrer sechs Kinder und ihrer religiösen Einstellung aus. Meine Mutter liebte Bücher und rezitierte Gedichte, mein Vater spielte mehrere Instrumente und konnte wunderbar singen, doch sie standen Kirchen und Religionen aufgeklärt und skeptisch gegenüber. So wuchs ich zwar mit Büchern auf, doch ohne ein Vorbild im Glauben.

Dennoch machte sich bei mir bereits sehr früh eine „religiöse Anlage“ bemerkbar. Als meine Großeltern starben und zu Hause aufgebahrt wurden, kamen die Nachbarn des Dorfes und hielten die Totenwache, sie beteten Rosenkränze und ich versuchte es ihnen gleichzutun. Von da an benutzte ich jede Gelegenheit, um zu Gottesdiensten, Begräbnissen oder kirchlichen Aktivitäten zu gehen und unter diesen frommen Menschen zu sein. Noch ehe ich lesen gelernt hatte, interessierten mich religiöse Bücher, vor allem Gebetsbücher mit verschnörkelten Initialen und Liedertexten. Diese trug ich so lange mit mir herum, bis ich sie entziffern konnte. Ein Forschergeist beseelte mich! Ich spürte, dass es hier um die großen Fragen des Lebens ging. Oft las ich nur wenige Sätze und dachte darüber nach. Darunter waren auch Schriftstellen, von denen ich einige auswendig lernte.

Irgendwann später kaufte mein Vater eine große „Familienbibel“, in die ich mich alsbald vertiefte. Ich forschte darin ab meinem 12. Lebensjahr, weil ich mit Hilfe des Textes und einiger Landkarten herausfinden wollte, wo der Garten Eden gelegen hatte. Ab meinem 15. Lebensjahr wurde ich etwas bescheidener und begab mich auf die Suche nach der menschlichen Ursprache. Ich ging fast täglich nach der Schule in unsere Buchhandlung und bestellte unter Verzicht auf eine Jause oder Süßigkeiten von meinem Taschengeld Reclambändchen und auch einige teure Bücher, etwa J. G. Herders ‚Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache’. Meine Lektüren wurden mit der Zeit immer philosophischer. Bis ich F. Nietzsches Werke zu lesen begann. Mir war es zwar nicht bewusst, aber bis dahin hatte ich einen kindlichen Glauben in mir, doch nun wurde dieses innere Band zerschnitten und die Worte „Gott ist tot“ hämmerten sich in meinen Kopf. Und wie sehr schmerzte diese angebliche ‚Wahrheit’! Ich war plötzlich aus jeder Geborgenheit und Sicherheit herausgeschleudert. Die Trostlosigkeit drückte ich in dunklen, verzweifelten Gedichten aus. Natürlich las ich weiter, etwa M. Heidegger, J.-P. Sartre, E. Bloch usw., doch sie überzeugten mich nicht, viel eher schien mir von ihnen eine Verwirrung auszugehen. So wandte ich mich von der Philosophie ab und der Poesie und Sprachforschung zu. Die eingeschlagene Richtung schlug sich dann auch in der Wahl meiner Studienfächer Deutsche Literatur und Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaften aus.

Trotz eines sehr erfolgreichen Studienverlaufs und anschließenden wissenschaftlichen und journalistischen Anstellungen blieb der Verlust meines Glaubens eine offene Wunde in meinem Leben. Mir wurde schließlich klar, dass ich die Frage nach Gott neu stellen musste, nämlich die Frage, ob es IHN gibt. Ich erinnere mich noch, mit welcher Begeisterung ich wieder Bücher zusammensuchte, um das Ganze zunächst einmal von der Naturwissenschaft her anzugehen. Ja, von dieser Seite her bestand zumindest eine Wahrscheinlichkeit von 1 Prozent! Dieses eine Prozent genügte mich aber, um mich im nächsten Schritt zu fragen: ‚Wenn es Gott geben sollte, wie und wo ließe er sich finden?’ Meine Antwort war: In den Zeugnissen aus alter Zeit, in den Religionen und Kirchen, bei Mystikern usw. Aber ich wollte mich nicht darauf beschränken, über ihn zu lesen, sondern ich war entschlossen – falls es ihn gibt – ihn zu finden, und wenn ich alles dafür opfern müsste! Diese Entschlossenheit ist dem Herrn damals wohl zu Ohren gekommen, denn von da an kam ein neues Lebensgefühl über mich, es schien mir, als würden bisher verschlossene Türen der Erkenntnis aufgehen.

Eines Tages, ich war bei meiner Erforschung der Religionen gerade beim Manichäismus angelangt, sagte mir ein alter Professor, ein Historiker, dies sei alles Humbug, er selbst habe vor einiger Zeit ein Buch mit dem Titel ‚Buch Mormon’ geschenkt bekommen, in dem von Abkömmlingen der Israeliten die Rede sei, die des Nachts in die Stadt Jerusalem eindrangen, um Messingtafeln mit heiligen Schriften zu holen! Dabei sei die Stadtmauer damals doch unüberwindlich gewesen! Ich wusste nicht warum, aber ich sagte: „Dieses Buch möchte ich unbedingt lesen!“ Er versprach, es mir mitzubringen, doch schien er darauf immer zu vergessen.

Inzwischen kam in meinem Studium der Religionen das Christentum an die Reihe und eine Lektüre der Bibel wurde unabdingbar. Diesmal begann ich gleich mit dem Neuen Testament. Doch schon nach wenigen Seiten geschah etwas höchst Seltsames: mein Inneres war so bewegt, ich vermochte das Buch für viele Stunden nicht mehr aus der Hand zu legen. Die Worte von Christus drangen mir tief ins Herz, es war fast so als könnte ich seine Stimme fühlen. ER war so nahe und lebendig, bis ich eine plötzliche Gewissheit empfing, die ich seitdem nie mehr leugnen kann: dass Jesus Christus die Wahrheit spricht! Dass ER nicht lügen kann! Ich wusste, dass ich, wenn ich auf der Welt nur jemandem vertrauen konnte, so IHM. So waren für mich mit einem Schlag drei Fragen beantwortet: 1. Ja, es gibt einen Gott. 2. Das Christentum ist die richtige Religion. 3. Die Worte von Christus sind zuverlässig und wahr.

Sofort wurde mir klar, dass ich – gemäß meinem nun erlangten Glauben – auch nach SEINEN Geboten leben musste! Meine Bemühungen stießen dabei jedoch wieder an eine Grenze, da ich völlig auf mich gestellt war und mir die dazugehörige Gemeinschaft der Gläubigen, die ‚Glieder des Leibes Christi’ fehlten, von denen in der Bibel die Rede war. Wieder besuchte ich Gottesdienste verschiedener christlicher Kirchen und hoffte, irgendwo den gleichen Geist zu spüren wie beim Lesen in der Hl. Schrift, doch vergebens. So vergingen etwa zwei Jahre. Und eines schönen Tages klopften Missionare der KIRCHE JESU CHRIST DER HEILIGEN DER LETZTEN TAGE an meine Tür. Ich schrieb gerade an einem Forschungsbericht, der dringend fertig gestellt werden musste und hatte eigentlich keine Zeit. Aber als ich öffnete und die jungen Männer sagten „Wir kommen aus Amerika. Wir sind Mormonen“, war ich voller Freude und rief: „Was, Sie sind Mormonen? Wissen Sie auch, wo ich ein Buch Mormon bekommen könnte?“ Sie hatten eines mit und überreichten es mir mit einer Liste Leseaufträge und kamen am nächsten Tag wieder.

Zum Glück war ich demütig genug, um von diesen jungen Missionaren zu lernen! Denn sie belehrten mich und ich hörte ihnen zu. Während sie sprachen, vernahm ich in meinem Geist die Schriftstellen, die ich als Kind auswendig gelernt hatte: „Wenn ihr nicht werdet wie die Kinder…“. Gleichzeitig las ich im Buch Mormon, und zwar wie ich es beruflich gewohnt war, ausgesprochen skeptisch. Ich zweifelte natürlich an seiner Echtheit, verglich es kritisch mit der Bibel und anderen alten Aufzeichnungen – es war eindeutig in einem anderen Stil geschrieben als die Evangelien und die Paulinischen Briefe! Doch die Aussagen stimmten damit überein. Dann lehrten sie mich beten! Es war sehr schwierig, denn noch nie hatte ich direkt zu Gott gesprochen. Schließlich luden sie mich in zur Kirche ein.

Als ich in der Sonntagsschule saß, den Lehrer und die Wortmeldungen der Mitglieder hörte, dachte ich mir: So müsste der ‚Leib Christi’ funktionieren und ich gratulierte dem Bruder, der die Hl. Schrift so glänzend erläutert hatte! Dann begann die Abendmahlsversammlung. Aber schon beim Anfangslied, das gesungen wurde, konnte ich meine Tränen nicht mehr zurückhalten! Ich wusste nur: Ich bin zu Hause! Ich fühlte nur mehr Dankbarkeit. Es war die Antwort auf meine letzte Frage: Welches ist die wahre Kirche Jesu Christi? Ja, diese hier war es! Nur eine Woche nach meiner Taufe wurde ich als Institutslehrerin berufen und beeilte mich, das Buch Mormon und Lehre und Bündnisse und Die köstliche Perle zu lesen, um nun selbst ein Lehrer im Evangelium zu werden. Und mit dem Studium sämtlicher Schriften erlangte ich auch ein Zeugnis vom Buch Mormon und seiner besonderen Reinheit und Klarheit.

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Mag. Dr. Regina Schaunig (ehem. Baltz-Balzberg), Fachgebiet: Deutsche Literatur und Digitale Edition (Spezialgebiet Robert Musil); Wissenschaftl. Angestellte des Robert-Musil-Instituts der Universität Klagenfurt (Klagenfurter Literaturhaus/Kärntner Literaturarchiv)

Publikationen: Regina Baltz-Balzberg: Primitivität der Moderne 1895-1925. Königsberg/Taunus: Hain 1983 (= Literatur in der Geschichte – Geschichte in der Literatur, Band 8); Regina Baltz-Balzberg: Antidekadenzmoral bei Musil und Nietzsche. (Unter Verwendung noch nicht publizierter Musil-Texte.) – In: Josef Strutz (Hrsg.): Robert Musil – Theater, Bildung, Kritik. München: Fink 1985(= Musil-Studien 13), S. 204-226; Regina Schaunig (Baltz-Balzberg): Musils „Rezept: Organisation“. Zur Klagenfurter Nachlass-Forschung unter Karl Dinklage. – In: Josef Strutz (Hrsg.): Robert Musils „Kakanien“ – Subjekt und Geschichte. Festschrift für Karl Dinklage. München: Fink 1987 (= Musil-Studien 15), S.16-26; Regina Schaunig: Musil-Archäologie. Zur Klagenfurter Edition der Avant-texte-Romane Der Spion und Der Erlöser. – In: Musil-Forum. Studien zur Literatur der klassischen Moderne. Hrsg.von Matthias Luserke-Jaqui und Rosmarie Zeller. Band 30 (2007/2008). Berlin/New York: De Gruyter 2009, S. 73- 108; Regina Schaunig: „Das Unfertige und das Ungeratene“. Musils Vorstufen zum Mann ohne Eigenschaften in digitaler Edition. – In: editio. Internationales Jahrbuch für Editionswissenschaft, Band 23. Hrsg. von Rüdiger Nutt-Kofoth, Bodo Plachta und Winfried Wiesler. Tübingen: Niemeyer 2009, S. 109-146.

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After the Second World War, my parents came from southern Steiermark (Styria) to Kärnten (Carinthia) and settled in a small village not far from the border. The area where they had previously resided fell in 1945 to Yugoslavia. They left, despite many risks to their lives, in order to preserve their political freedom and their cultural identity. This liberal spirit also expressed itself in the way they raised their six children and in their religious attitude. My mother loved books and recited poems, my father played several instruments and was a wonderful singer, but they took an open-minded and skeptical approach to churches and religions. Thus, I grew up with books, but without an example of faith. Nonetheless, a “religious predisposition” became noticeable in me at a very early age. When my grandparents died and were laid out at home, the neighbors of the village came and kept vigil; they prayed the rosary, and I tried to follow along with them. From that point on, I used every opportunity to attend worship services, funerals, or church activities and be among these devout people. Even before I learned to read, religious books interested me—most of all prayer books with ornamented capital letters and hymn texts. I carried such books around with me so much that I could actually decipher them. (I had the spirit of a researcher!) I sensed that these things were bound up with the great questions of life. Often, I would read only a few sentences and reflect on them. Among these were passages that I learned by heart.

Sometime later, my father bought a large family Bible, in which I immediately immersed myself. I researched in it from the time I was twelve years old, because, with the help of the text and a few maps, I wanted to find out where the Garden of Eden had been. By the time I turned fifteen, I was a bit more modest and devoted myself to a search for the original human language. Almost daily, after school, I went to our bookstore and, forgoing afternoon tea or sweets, ordered paperbacks and even a few expensive books like Johann Gottfried Herder’s Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache [“Treatise on the Origin of Language”]. With the passage of time, my reading became more and more philosophical. Until I began to read the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. I wasn’t consciously aware of it, but, up until this point, I had a childlike faith. But now, this inner bond was severed, and the words “God is dead!” hammered in my head. And how very much this alleged “truth” hurt! Suddenly, I had been thrust out from any safety and security. I expressed my inconsolable feelings in dark, despairing poems. Naturally, I read further—for example, in Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernst Bloch, and the like—but they failed to convince me. Instead, rather, they seemed to emanate confusion. So I turned away from philosophy, to poetry and linguistic research. My adopted direction resulted thereafter in my choice of German literature and comparative philology as areas of study.

Despite a very successful student career and subsequent scholarly and journalistic positions, the loss of my faith remained an open wound in my life. Finally, it became clear to me that I had to pose the question of God once more—namely, the question whether he exists. I can still remember the enthusiasm with which I began to assemble books in order to revisit the whole matter, this time, from the perspective of natural science. And, in fact, from this angle there was at least a one percent chance! This one percent was enough, though, for me to ask, as a next step, “If God existed, how and where would he allow himself to be found?” My answer was: In the testimonies from ancient times, in the religions and churches, among mystics, and so forth. However, I didn’t want to limit myself to merely reading about him. Rather, I was determined—if he really exists—to find him, even if doing so required me to sacrifice everything. This determination must have reached the ear of the Lord because, from then on, a whole new feeling came over me. It seemed to me that doors of understanding that had previously been closed now began to open. One day—in my study of religions, I had just arrived at Manichaeism—an old professor, a historian, said to me that it was all “humbug.” He himself had, just shortly before, been given a book bearing the title “The Book of Mormon” that spoke of descendents of the Israelites who had broken into the city of Jerusalem by night in order to fetch brass plates with holy scriptures on them! But, at that time, he said, the city walls of Jerusalem had been insurmountable! I didn’t know why, but I said, “I must, without question, read this book!” He promised to bring it, but he seemed always to forget.

In the meantime, in my study of religions, it was Christianity’s turn and a reading of the Bible was unavoidable. This time, I began directly with the New Testament. But already, after only a few pages, something extremely unusual happened: I was so inwardly moved that, for several hours, I was unable to let the book out of my hand. The words of Christ penetrated deep into my heart. It was almost as if I could feel his voice. He was so near, and so living, to the point that, suddenly, I received a certainty that I can never afterwards deny—that Jesus Christ speaks the truth! That he cannot lie! I knew that if there was anybody at all in the world I could trust, it was he. Thus, at one blow, three questions were answered for me: 1) Yes, there is a God. 2) Christianity is the right religion. 3) The words of Christ are reliable and true.

Instantly, it became clear to me that, in accordance with my newly reached faith, I had to live by his commandments. In that regard, though, my efforts were limited by the fact that I was completely dependent upon myself, that I was without the requisite community of believers, the “members of the body of Christ” of whom the Bible speaks. Once again, I visited the worship services of various Christian churches, hoping to feel, somewhere, the same spirit that I felt in reading the holy scriptures. But in vain. Roughly two years passed in this way. Then, one beautiful day, missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knocked on my door. I was working at that very moment on a research report that urgently had to be finished, and I really had no time. But, as I opened the door and the young men said, “We come from America. We’re Mormons,” I was overjoyed and I cried out “What? You’re Mormons? Do you know where I can get a Book of Mormon?” They had one with them, and they gave it to me along with a list of suggested readings, and they came again the next day.

Fortunately, I was humble enough to learn from these young missionaries! Because they taught me, and I listened to them. While they spoke, I became aware, in my spirit, of the passages that I had learned by heart as a child: “Except ye become as little children . . . ” At the same time, I read in the Book of Mormon—just as I was professionally accustomed to do, with pronounced skepticism. Naturally, I doubted its authenticity, compared it critically with the Bible and with other ancient records. Plainly, it was written in a different style than that of the gospels and the Pauline epistles! But its assertions agreed with them. Then they taught me to pray! It was very difficult, because I had never yet spoken directly to God. Finally, they invited me to church.

As I sat in the Sunday School and listened to the teacher and to the comments of the members, I thought to myself: This is the way the “body of Christ” had to function, and I congratulated the brother who had explained the scriptures so very well. Then began the sacrament meeting. But already by the opening hymn that was sung, I could no longer hold back my tears! I knew, simply, “I’m home!” I only felt more gratitude. It was the answer to my last question: Which is the true church of Jesus Christ? Truly, this was it! Only a week after my baptism, I was called to serve as an Institute teacher, and I hurried to read the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, so that I myself could become a teacher in the gospel. And with the study of all of these scriptures, I achieved a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of its special purity and clarity.

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Dr. Regina Schaunig (formerly Regina Baltz-Balzberg) is a scholar of German literature and digital editing, with special focus on the work of the Austrian modernist writer Robert Musil (d. 1942). She is a member of the academic staff at the Robert-Musil-Institut of the University of Klagenfurt (Klagenfurter Literaturhaus/Kärntner Literaturarchiv). Among her publications are Primitivität der Moderne 1895-1925 (Königsberg/Taunus: Hain, 1983); “Antidekadenzmoral bei Musil und Nietzsche,” in Josef Strutz, ed., Robert Musil—Theater, Bildung, Kritik (Munich: Fink, 1985); “Musils ‘Rezept: Organisation’: Zur Klagenfurter Nachlass-Forschung unter Karl Dinklage,” in Josef Strutz, ed., Robert Musils “Kakanien”—Subjekt und Geschichte: Festschrift für Karl Dinklage (Munich: Fink, 1987); “Musil-Archäologie: Zur Klagenfurter Edition der Avant-texte-Romane Der Spion und Der Erlöser,” Musil-Forum: Studien zur Literatur der klassischen Moderne 30 (2007/2008); and “‘Das Unfertige and das Ungeratene’: Musils Vorstufen zum Mann ohne Eigenschaften in digitaler Edition,” editio: Internationales Jahrbuch für Editionswissenschaft 23 (2009).

Translated by Daniel Peterson
Posted May 2010

I grew up as a Latter-day Saint in rural England, living on the margins of society both geographically and theologically. For me, this was a period of pleasant liminality. I have never known anything other than weekly worship with a Latter-day Saint congregation, combined with religious observance at home. It never seemed strange to me that we drove forty miles on a Sunday to attend our services, even though we lived next door to an Anglican church. It was clear, however, that this journey was more than just through space—I was also making a weekly pilgrimage into my Latter-day Saint world, a world I settled into very comfortably during those long drives. But this was a world hidden from my peers at school, at least until I had a conversion experience around my sixteenth birthday.

My older brother had gone off to serve a mission in Haiti a few months before, and we had just received a letter from him containing photographs from a recent baptism. I was in my mother’s room looking at the photos when a feeling of tender bliss came over me and I wept. With this feeling came a sure belief that the work my brother was doing was good and true. More importantly, however, this experience seemed to weld together my school world and my religious worlds. Shortly afterwards I joined the Christian Union, and began talking openly about my faith with my friends.

I had complete confidence in the intellectual coherence of my religion, and knew the scriptures and doctrine well enough to respond with confidence to both questions and accusations. A good friend also attended the Christian Union, despite being a confirmed socialist and an atheist. He took delight in stumping my Christian friends with some of the stock conundrums of his philosophy. When he tried his questions out on me he was surprised to find that I had answers to every one of them. We became closer friends and he often visited me at home. My mum asked him one day if he wanted to be taught by the missionaries, and to my surprise he said yes. He converted, and I baptized him shortly before I left home to serve for two years in the England Bristol Mission.

During my mission I became a passionate reader of religious books. I discovered FARMS and the works of Hugh Nibley, and developed an abiding interest in the ancient world. However, I spent most of my time reading the lives and sermons of the early LDS apostles and prophets such as Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor and Brigham Young. I found the idea of Zion and the gathering of Israel to be beautiful and compelling doctrines, and these ideas provided the conceptual framework for my missionary work, and prompted deep yearnings to gather with the saints.

My approach to other Christians also changed during my mission. I gradually came to realize that God was actively working with the hearts of all of his children, and that there was value in focusing on the common ground of the experience of religion, rather than the battle ground of LDS history and doctrine (where, even if you beat your opponent into submission, you were unlikely to make a friend, or be closer to having them feel the spirit of our faith and love). Towards the end of my mission I had many beautiful experiences listening to and talking about the experience of God in my life and the lives of other Christians. These sympathetic interactions set the approach to my future studies, just as the writings of Hugh Nibley suggested the direction.

After my mission I wanted to gather with the saints, and so applied to BYU to study Classics. However, before starting classes I felt prompted to return to England. There I studied in London for four years, tackling Hebrew, Sumerian, Jewish history, a little Egyptology, and some Greek before finally finding a home in Syriac studies. I also became a husband and a father. I then went the University of Oxford to take an MSt in Syriac Studies (aided by a Nibley Fellowship). My fourth child was born at the beginning of a two year stint in the ‘real world’ working as a paralegal for the New York law firm Davis, Polk and Wardwell (a wonderful experience). I was in the first year of my PhD course at the University of Birmingham when I was offered a job in the Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts at Brigham Young University. Remarkably, BYU had found itself in need of someone with training in Syriac, bringing meaning and purpose to my studies. So, eight years after giving up my place at BYU I returned with my wife and four children to work there.

Most LDS study of ancient religious texts is an extension of Hugh Nibley’s search for the scattered fragments of a once pure revealed religion—one now restored in its fullness at the hands of Joseph Smith. The purpose of this brand of scholarship is largely apologetic and affirmative. Although I appreciate the value of this kind of work, I am temperamentally disposed to take a different approach to the lives, literature and thought of early Christians. Rather than mining the patristic literature for hints and tips that confirm my own faith, I am interested in what these Christians have to say, and how they understood and lived the Christian message. Nevertheless, I do feel an obligation as a Latter-day Saint scholar to participate in the grand project of gathering all truth to Zion, believing that all truth belongs to the grand restoration project of Joseph Smith.

I feel so comfortable with the coherence of my faith and my academic discipline that I think I am more surprised by people who question my motives than they are by the apparent oddness of an English Mormon from BYU studying Christianity as it flourished in the Middle East. To them, and to anyone else interested, I affirm my devotion to my own faith, as well as my genuine interest in and respect for the faith, thought and literature of Syriac Christians, both past and present.

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Kristian Heal received a bachelor’s degree in Jewish history and Hebrew from University College, London, and a Master of Studies in Syriac studies from Oxford University. He took his Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Birmingham with a thesis on the figure of the Old Testament Patriarch Joseph in early Syriac literature. Kristian joined the staff of the Maxwell Institute as a research scholar in 2000. Since 2004 he has served the Director of the Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts. He also serves as a co-editor of the Library of the Christian East, published by BYU Press. Kristian researches and publishes in the field of Syriac studies. He was born and raised in Suffolk, England. He is married to Vicki-Bronwen, and they live in Provo with their five children. For more information go to: http://byu.academia.edu/KristianHeal.

Posted May 2010

In 1830, a young New York farmer announced to the world that God, our Heavenly Father, had called him to initiate a restoration of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that the world was entering into a final period of evangelization, fulfillment of prophecy, and judgment. There was no apparent reason why Joseph Smith could have expected any greater success than possibly thousands of reformers that preceded him, but 180 years later, the restored Church of Jesus Christ has grown to 14 million members, is established in most corners of the world, and is predicted by some sociologists of religion to become the next major world religion.

Unlike most other reformers, Joseph Smith claimed the guidance of angels sent from the presence of God in the work he had undertaken. And he had been given a concrete public evidence of the veracity of his message. The Book of Mormon contained a prophetic record of a previously unknown Christian people that had been destroyed 1400 years previously, and was given to this young prophet through divine means both to provide guidance to him and his converts, and to witness to the world that Jesus Christ was the moving and guiding power behind his work. Multiple independent witnesses were invited to handle the ancient record in broad daylight as a voice from heaven commanded them to bear witness to the world of its veracity. Though later trials would lead many of these to part ways with Joseph Smith and the church he had organized, none ever retracted or qualified that original witness; but all maintained it to their deaths.

But the nature of this message and the relationship it depicted between men and their Father in heaven would present all men with an opportunity to choose in the absence of compelling physical evidences whether to trust in Jesus Christ and the life of obedience he offered, or to continue in their own ways, trusting in themselves and in the ways of men in the conduct of their lives. Unlike the Book of Mormon witnesses who saw and handled the metal plates and heard a voice from heaven, we are only provided with private spiritual evidence as the Holy Ghost responds to the honest inquirer and witnesses to our spirits that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that its promise of spiritual guidance in this life and eternal life with God in the next will be fulfilled for all who will submit to the requirements of repentance and life-long obedience to the commandments of Christ. Joseph Smith taught that this spiritual witness would be given to all men in this life or hereafter and would constitute a testing of their innermost character that would determine the circumstances of their immortal lives for eternity. The eternal blessings the Father invites all his children to receive are beyond mortal comprehension.

I bear witness that the promises of the Father are true, both on the basis of my own personal experience and from the experience of now thousands of others with whom I have been involved as they have responded (or not) to this invitation in their lives. The forgiveness of sins which is offered liberally to all who will sincerely repent is a very real experience that changes one’s life and one’s desires fundamentally. The promise of spiritual guidance and support is fulfilled each day for all who will stay true to their commitment to obey his commandments. And for all those who will be faithful to this commitment, their lives are blessed with continual peace, with hope for the future, and with love in their hearts for all the Father’s children. For all who truly desire to forsake evil and pursue the good in every aspect of their lives, I know this promise will be fulfilled as they embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been restored in its fullness.

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Noel B. Reynolds is a professor of political science at Brigham Young University, where he has also taught in and chaired the Department of Philosophy, been selected as Honors Program Professor of the Year, served twice as associate academic vice president, and been both the director of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) and the executive director of what is now the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. He has been a Liberal Arts Fellow at Harvard Law School, a Visitor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Edinburgh, and Scholar-in-Residence at BYU’s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies.

Professor Reynolds earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Government at Harvard University. His interests range widely, from legal and political philosophy (with a special interest in Plato’s political theory), constitutionalism, and the rule of law, to authorship (wordprint) studies, early Christian theology and history, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Book of Mormon.

Dr. Reynolds is the author of Interpreting Plato’s Meno and Euthyphro: A Defense of the Literary Approach, Charles E. Merrill Monographs No. 9 (Provo: Brigham Young University, 1988). He has published numerous book chapters, as well as articles in journals such as Constitutional Political Economy, Ratio Juris, Persona y Derecho, Social Science Journal, Georgia Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Western Ontario Law Review, History of Political Thought, BYU Studies, Journal of Mormon History, and the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. He edited Early Christians in Disarray: Contemporary LDS Perspectives on the Christian Apostasy (Provo: FARMS and Brigham Young University Press, 2005); Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins (Provo: FARMS, 1997); (with Arlene W. Saxenhouse) Thomas Hobbes, Three Discourses (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995 [1997]); and Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins (Provo: Brigham Young University, 1982); and served on the board of editors of The Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York: Macmillan, 1997). He was director of script writing and research for the award-winning feature length 1989 PBS film A More Perfect Union: America Becomes a Nation, as well as producer of the Dead Sea Scrolls Electronic Library (Leiden: Brill, 2006), which was selected as a Choice Academic Title for 2007.

In the Church, he has served, among other positions, as a missionary to Uruguay, a bishop, a stake president, and a mission president. He is married to the former Sydney Smith, who served from 1999 to 2005 as first counselor in the general Primary presidency of the Church, and they are the parents of eleven children.

See, additionally, Dr. Reynolds’ preface in Expressions of Faith: Testimonies of Latter-day Saint Scholars.

Posted May 2010

[Click to read Japanese version.]

I was raised in Salt Lake City in the Fifties and Sixties as a Protestant. Although members of my immediate family were not necessarily avid churchgoers, they believed in Christ as their personal Savior; neither were they vehemently anti-Mormon, but they did mention on a couple of occasions that the Mormons were good people but deluded in their “worship” of Joseph Smith. I grew up questioning neither assumption: that Jesus was my Savior, and that the Mormons were misguided in their beliefs.

In my early teen years, I became a casual, infrequent reader of the New Testament, primarily the Gospels. From my reading and the preaching I was hearing on Sundays, I came up with two simple demands of God: that He be universally fair to all of His children, and that He love and actually care about each of us and our lives.

Somewhere in the middle of my adolescent years, our preacher came and did a Q&A session in the teenage Sunday School class. A friend asked him what happened to all the people, such as those in Africa, who never had the opportunity in this life to hear about Jesus Christ. His answer seared into my mind: “I’m sorry to say they all go to hell.” That, of course, violated my two requirements for a loving God, and from that day I became what I suppose we could call a “less-active Protestant.”

At one point in my subsequent wanderings, an LDS friend loaned me a book by John A. Widtsoe, titled A Rational Theology. I dutifully placed the book on the nightstand beside my bed and never read it. But it sat there for several years, staring up at me, its message becoming a haunting refrain that I now see was preparing me for my encounter with the actual teachings of the Restored Gospel when I reached the age of eighteen. Because it was, ultimately, a rationality I was looking for in religion, an affirmation that God really did so love the world that He gave His only Begotten Son for each and every one of His children.

Thanks to the kind intercession of a loving friend, I was led the summer after high school graduation to the pages of the Book of Mormon. I found my initial reading of sufficient interest that, loath to take a break when midnight weariness overcame me, I ran downstairs and boiled up my first—and last—pot of coffee so that I could stay awake to continue my reading. The book was curious to me, but I can’t say that any of what I read in the first several days provided me the answers I was seeking.

And then came Third Nephi. In granting me a benevolent preparation for the greater knowledge He would provide me, the Lord in my younger years had riveted my attention on the Savior’s seemingly inexplicable statement to His disciples in Jerusalem that He had “other sheep” He must visit. When I read in 3 Nephi 15:21: “ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold…,” it was one of those rare and delicious moments of pure, electrifying revelation in which so many scattered, detached fragments of truth are brought together in clear harmony. That one passage answered my every concern, my every yearning about God. It taught me that He did, in fact, know about and, more importantly, care about His children in every location and at every time of history. It taught me that He made the truth of His Gospel manifest to His offspring through prophets who were not confined to the perimeter of Galilee. It prepared me to hear even more about His ultimate, absolute fairness when missionaries explained the Plan of Salvation to me and let me know that He was the God of the living and the dead, and that not one soul would fall unnoticed through the fingers of His hands. It assured me that He was a God of reason, maintaining eternal standards but withholding final judgment until we each had a chance to learn what He expected of us.

I received that undeniable witness from the Spirit over forty years ago. And though I have had numerous other manifestations from the heavens to confirm that initial lightning bolt of enlightenment in subsequent years, I often go back to savor that first experience, especially in times when my faith is tried. I have learned that trials of my faith are designed to solidify, not to shake it, and if I will “cast [my] mind upon the night that [I] cried” unto Him in my mind and hold to what I know to be true—even when I don’t have answers to every tiny dilemma or issue—the Lord will “speak peace to [my] mind concerning the matter…” (D&C 6:22-23)

The foundational witness I received in my late teen years, the affirmation that God is fair and loving, caring and solicitous to all His children, has sustained me through all the varieties of experience that have come my way, whether personal or professional. When we learned in the delivery room that my wife’s first pregnancy was producing unexpected, premature twins on the eve of my entrance into graduate school, the life we had planned for ourselves seemed to crumble before our eyes. Both boys were critically ill and on breathing devices, and our focus shifted entirely to pleading with the Lord to spare their lives, even if it meant I would have to forego further education. For nine days and nights we petitioned God on behalf of our twins, begging Him to keep them both alive. Only when we changed the prayer on the tenth night to “Thy will be done” did He wrap us in the palpable warmth of His embrace and let us know that we could keep one, while the other would return to Him. The knowledge that we would be reunited with a boy in the express image of our surviving son filled us with indescribable comfort.

After receiving my Ph.D. in Japanese literature, we embarked on a journey of wanderings through the academic wilderness, beginning with a year of teaching at my alma mater, Columbia University, followed by two years at Notre Dame, eight at UC Berkeley, and now just over twenty years at Brigham Young University. With no spiritual GPS to guide us in our meandering, we put our trust in a personal God who knew our needs better than we did ourselves. Who could have foreseen that losing the position at Columbia would redound to our good; that the experience at a religious institution would better prepare me for work at BYU; and that my two experiences with tenure review (one a failure, the other a success) at Berkeley would be part of the Lord’s tutorial to prepare me to review the files of other scholars when I became dean of Humanities on the Provo campus?

As if that great MapQuest of Hindsight was not sufficient to bolster my testimony, the Lord in His tender mercies was additionally preparing me for callings with keys—bishop, stake president, mission president—that would provide me with virtually uninterrupted access to the guidance of the Spirit so that I could communicate His love and His will to those of His children I was called to minister among. So often over the course of those callings I would be so astonished at the way He used me as an instrument in His hands that I would be on the verge of detaching myself from a one-on-one conversation so that I could stand figuratively to the side and observe as the God of Heaven took over my mind and my mouth and spoke as clearly and as forcefully to a member of my (His!) flock as He had to Moses atop Sinai. If that sounds a bit too mystical, too much like channeling, I can only excuse myself for being unable to come up with a metaphorical description that does justice to the reality of the way He conveys His love through His servants. Not only have I been blessed to feel His universal love, I have had the unspeakable privilege of communicating it to others.

After these many witnesses to me, how could I presume to question whether He is there, and whether He cares? I could not know it better had I seen Him with the eye of flesh, for the eye of my spirit has communed with Him. For me, the precise meaning of the “fulness” of His Gospel is that it fully embraces every one of His children, here and there and everywhere, now and then and always, worlds without end. He knows me; He is fair to me; He cares about me enough to have sent His Son and restored His Gospel. He is my God and my King.

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Van C. Gessel was born in Compton, California, and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He joined the Church there in October 1968. He served a mission to Japan from 1970-71. He received a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Columbia University in 1979, and he has taught as a faculty member at Columbia, Notre Dame, UC Berkeley, and Brigham Young University. He was chair of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at BYU and dean of the College of Humanities.

Dr. Gessel has published six translations of literary works by the Japanese Christian novelist Endō Shūsaku, including The Samurai and Deep River. Another Endō novel, The Life of Kiku, will appear soon in his translation. He co-edited, with Reid Neilson, a volume of essays titled Taking the Gospel to the Japanese: 1901 to 2001, which received the Geraldine McBride Woodward Award from the Mormon History Association for the best international Mormon history publication. He co-edited The Shōwa Anthology and served as co-editor, with J. Thomas Rimer, of The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature (Volume 1 published in 2005, Volume 2 in 2007).

In the Church, he has served as bishop of a singles ward and president of a singles stake at BYU. From 2005-2008, he presided over the Oregon Portland Mission of the Church.

He and his wife, Elizabeth Darley Gessel, are the parents of three children, and they have five grandchildren.

Posted May 2010

To testify of something means to give evidence or proof for what one asserts is true. I am grateful that I can testify of these truths: Joseph Smith was called of God to do the marvelous work that he did in translating and publishing the Book of Mormon and other revelations; Joseph Smith established the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth for the last time before Jesus Christ returns in glory; Jesus Christ is a real personage, whose love and grace allow us not only to be forgiven of sins but to be transformed and eventually perfected by his great power and mercy; Jesus Christ is the literal Son of an Eternal Father, who is likewise the father of the spirit in every human being. The evidence or proof I have to support the truth of my testimony is not really transferable to others—I can only tell you how and why I know these things and promise you that the testimony I have can also be had by anyone who desires to know and who will earnestly seek to have God give them, through the Holy Ghost, manifestations of these truths. Everyone will have different experiences, but the result will be the same: Everyone can know in their minds and in their hearts more surely than they know anything else that these things are true.

Like many others whose testimonies appear on this site, I was born and raised in a large and loving Latter-day Saint family. I have eight siblings, 20 aunts and uncles (plus nearly 20 more when I count their spouses), and over 70 first cousins with whom I made many wonderful memories growing up. Many of my ancestral lines go back to the time of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. Sometimes I believe it was taken for granted in my family that we would all just gain a testimony simply because we were baptized and the older generation took us to church on Sunday. I felt valued and loved in the ward I grew up in, so I enjoyed going to church, and the lessons and sermons I heard there had a strong impact on me when I was a girl. We had copies of the scriptures in our home, and we read and used them when we wanted to, but I don’t recall the same emphasis on reading scriptures that young people, even children, experience now. In fact, I didn’t even own copies of the scriptures that were solely mine until I was in my late teens.

I attended a seminary class for an hour a day while I was in secondary school in Delta, Utah, but I was an indifferent student of the Book of Mormon at age 15, the year we studied that book. I tried a couple of times to read it on my own but bogged down and never finished it. At age 17, when I studied LDS Church history, however, I began to realize what a remarkable man Joseph Smith was and felt to marvel at all he accomplished in his short life. But I began my freshman year at Brigham Young University without really knowing much about what was in the Book of Mormon. In the two religion classes I took that year, I again struggled to read, understand, and appreciate it. I can’t really say that I had a testimony of it.

After my freshman year, I went with a close friend to Washington, D.C. to work during the summer of 1970. We had secretarial jobs in federal agencies; mine was in the Office for Civil Rights, and hers was in another building some distance away. I was extremely homesick and thoroughly unimpressed with the inefficiencies of the bureaucratic workplace. I couldn’t wait for the summer to end. I had a copy of the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, both compilations of revelations that Joseph Smith received after translating the Book of Mormon, and I began taking this book to work with me, since we arrived in the city about 45 minutes before we were expected to start work. I would find a quiet place and read for 30 minutes or more every morning. I felt a great spirit of peace and comfort while reading, but even more I felt a fire growing in me, suggesting that the words I was reading were true. I came to realize that Joseph Smith could not have written these words on his own, that they were revealed to him by heavenly messengers and by Jesus Christ himself. I began to pray more earnestly and to value the refreshing Sunday worship at the Washington Ward after a long week of working in what seemed a spiritual desert.

After that summer, I returned to BYU with a growing desire to understand more about the revealed word of God. I took courses in the Doctrine and Covenants and in the Old and New Testaments, but I still could not say I had a good understanding of the Book of Mormon. I read parts of it again, and I began to gain a testimony of the reality of Jesus Christ when certain verses I read in the Book of Mormon pierced my soul. I took the opportunity to really humble myself and truly repent of past sins. I felt the love of my Savior and the promised cleansing power of forgiveness made possible by his atoning sacrifice. After I graduated with a BA in English, I received a patriarchal blessing in which it was made clear to me that I should serve a mission. I soon received a call to serve in Hamburg, Germany. I embarked on my mission with a testimony of many truths related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but still with little to testify about the Book of Mormon.

Just a couple of weeks after arriving in Germany, I became very ill and weak, so I had to stay home for several days. Lying in bed all day, I alternated between coughing, sleeping, and reading the Book of Mormon with a new interest and passion. After four or five days, I was nearing the end of the book, reading the words of Mormon and Moroni, when I was overwhelmed with a beautiful, peaceful feeling that warmed me from head to toe and brought tears to my eyes. I reveled in the feeling, which lasted for several minutes, and I knew that I was receiving a spiritual witness of the truthfulness of the book. The next day, my companion and I finally called the elders to come and give me a blessing of healing, even though I was already on the mend. A young elder who had been in the mission only a few weeks longer than I placed his hands on my head and told me that God had allowed me to become sick for a purpose and that I should learn what that purpose was and be glad for it. When he finished, he marveled at what he had been prompted to say, but I was not surprised, for I knew the reason.

Though I didn’t find very many Germans receptive to the message I brought them, there were some who were, and it was worth every minute of knocking on doors and the often dispiriting rejection to see those few come into the church. The daily efforts I made to share my testimony with others refined my faith and commitment, and my mission was a great experience for me personally. I came home from it with a solid testimony of the truths I have tried to explain here and with a desire to be faithful in serving the Lord in his church. Of course, I have had some ups and downs in the 35 years since returning home, but I have never felt to deny or toss aside any of the truths I have come to know. My testimony grows more precious with the years, and I have a desire to serve another mission when I retire because I still want to share what I know with others. I am grateful that I can share my testimony with all of you who read this on the Internet.

Now as I re-read the Book of Mormon and as I read scholarly writings about it, I feel even more deeply that it is an authentic record of an ancient people and especially that it is a powerful witness for the reality and divinity of Jesus Christ. With many others, I believe the only possible explanation for the book is the one that Joseph Smith gave. I believe strongly that no intellectually honest person can or should dismiss the Book of Mormon as a fraud or a fiction without first giving it proper scrutiny and making a sincere effort to ask God in the name of Christ whether it is true. I testify that anyone who will follow this course of action will receive a witness from the Holy Ghost.

For me, from the fact that the Book of Mormon is true, it follows logically that the rest of what God revealed and established through Joseph Smith is true. But I know this much more from experience than from deduction. To be a member of the restored church of Jesus Christ has been a precious and rewarding thing in my life, worth every sacrifice of time, means, and effort that membership in the church requires. It satisfies my soul to be part of a community that is striving to be righteous and to do good; membership in the church satisfies my desire to give meaningful service. I see the fruits of Gospel living in the lives of those I associate with and in my own life, and these fruits are good.

I also find the teachings of the restored Gospel intellectually satisfying, so profound and extensive in their implications that I know I comprehend only a fraction. We Mormons believe that the Gospel encompasses all truth, and I love this doctrine because the revealed word of God thus gives me a yardstick by which to measure the secular learning I have undertaken and will yet acquire. I value the life of the mind, and I love to learn. I love being a professor and teaching young people things they will need to make their way in this mortal life. But I want most of all for them to know that they have a real and loving Heavenly Father and a real and loving Savior, Jesus Christ, who has a great plan for their eternal life. I feel fortunate to teach at Brigham Young University, where I can speak freely about the intersections of secular knowledge and revealed truths. I frequently teach courses in the history of civilization, in which my students and I deal with enduring questions and issues that have confronted all humans around the world from the beginning. I find that the Gospel explains many things that have puzzled scholars or confused people in all walks of life—and that continue to do so.

One of the books that made a great impression on me as a young woman was Truman G. Madsen’s Eternal Man. In this brief book, Madsen, a philosopher by training, showed how the revelations that Joseph Smith received—particularly the understanding that man is co-eternal with God—resolve many thorny philosophical questions related to the creation of the natural world, identity, free will, mind-body duality, and the origin of evil and suffering. It has been incredibly liberating and motivating to me to understand that a part of me and of every other person is not only an eternal and an independently existent self but also to understand that I and everyone else have agency to choose between good and evil. I am responsible—we all are responsible—to use this divine endowment of agency to choose wisely. I feel it is incumbent upon me and everyone else “to be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them wherein they are agents unto themselves” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27-28). The revelations that God has given his children from the time of Adam to the present day teach us how to use this divine trait of agency to follow a course that will lead us, over time and through both difficulties and joys, to ever widening spheres of light and truth.

I know of nothing that submits better and more reliably to an empirical test of its reality and veracity than the word of God. If people will exercise their agency to act upon the commandments and instructions given in holy writ, if they will pray, if they will emulate Jesus Christ in their dealings with others, they will come to know for themselves that these revealed words are true. Acting in faith to experiment on the word of God is the way to gain a testimony, as the Book of Mormon prophet Alma teaches. The only intellectually honest path once one hears or reads the word of God is to make that experiment in order to see if the promises are true. Why wouldn’t everyone want to do that? They have nothing to lose and the possibility of eternal exaltation to gain.

As I think about my ancestors who decided to test the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the teachings brought to them by missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it’s evident to me that my forebears had the willingness and faith to make the experiment. And they must have received the witness because they made great sacrifices for the testimonies they had. I have to think that my fifth great-grandfather Joseph Knight, who knew Joseph Smith intimately, must have had a strong conviction of the latter’s prophetic calling and of the Book of Mormon. Why else would he have given up his prosperous and comfortable farm in western New York and followed Joseph Smith first to Kirtland, Ohio, then through the many scenes of persecution that came to the Mormons in Missouri, then to Nauvoo, Illinois? At the age of 73, Father Knight even began an arduous journey westward when the Saints were driven from Nauvoo. He died in Iowa at the age of 74, waiting and willing to go the valleys of Utah for the testimony he had.

Likewise, my great-great grandfather Jens Hansen and his wife Charlotte Sophia left comfortable circumstances in Denmark and made a dangerous voyage across the Atlantic, welcoming a new daughter to their family midway across the sea. When they arrived in Keokuk, Iowa, the two yoke of oxen and the new wagon they had paid for ahead of time were not waiting for them. In their place were a broken-down wagon and only one yoke of oxen. This event caused Charlotte Sophia’s sister and brother-in-law to separate from the Mormons, but my great-great grandparents took the misfortune in stride, crossed the plains, and spent the rest of their lives helping to settle and develop the little town of Manti, Utah, staying true to their testimonies through drought, grasshopper plagues, storms, and floods. The examples of these and my other ancestors indicate to me that they knew and could not deny the powerful truths they learned by being willing to experiment on the word of God. I am grateful to have their witness to strengthen mine.

I testify that what I have written here is true and that all who desire to can know that Jesus Christ lives and is the Savior of all mankind and that Joseph Smith is the prophet through whom Jesus Christ has restored his true and living church to the earth. I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches the fullness of Gospel doctrines as revealed to this day and that it has the restored priesthood power to perform the ordinances of salvation and exaltation. It gives me great joy to share this testimony with all who read this.

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Kristine Hansen was born and reared in Delta, Utah, and received BA and MA degrees at Brigham Young University. After earning a PhD at the University of Texas at Austin in 1987, she joined the English Department at BYU, where she has served in several administrative posts, including Coordinator of English Composition, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education with responsibility for university writing programs, and Faculty Director of the University Academic Internship Office. She teaches courses in advanced composition, rhetorical theory and pedagogy, rhetorical style, research methods, and history of civilization. She has published writing textbooks, edited volumes, and numerous articles in her field. She has been honored with both the Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award and the Karl G. Maeser Professorship in General Education. She has also been named Humanities Professor of English and delivered the Barker Lecture in the BYU College of Humanities. She loves to travel and has particularly enjoyed several trips to Austria, a six-month study abroad experience in London, and a memorable tour of the Holy Land and Egypt.

Posted May 2010

Tena koutou katoa oku tuakana me oku tungane —Greetings and salutations you my brothers and sisters.

In true Maori custom, before bearing my testimony, I must first mihi, karakia and whakawhanaungatanga to all of you.

Tena koutou katoa e te morehu o te whanau o Iharaira. Kanui te mihi ki a koutou katoa, oku tuakana me oku tungane aroha o te Hahi o Ihu Karaiti o te Hunga Tapu o nga ra o muri nei. He tino honore ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai, haere mai, whakatau mai.

Greetings to those of you who are of the family of Israel. Warm greetings my dear beloved brothers and sisters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I honour you. I greet you. I welcome you.

For all meetings and activities, we first mihi which is a formal greeting speech to acknowledge God first, then those who have passed beyond te Arai—the veil—our family members and friends who have died recently and ancestors who have been gone longer (but are still around us). We then acknowledge the living, the place we are meeting at, the local people of the area, and the purpose for our meeting.

No reira, he mihi ki te Atua. Na whakamoemiti ki te Atua. Nana i hanga, nga mea katoa. Nana i homai, nana i mau. Engari, kia whakapaingia a Ihu Karaiti, a Ihowa. —I acknowledge our Heavenly Father for all he has given us. The good Lord gives and he takes away. But blessed be the name of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.

E nga mate o te Arai, haere ki te po, haere ki te Raeinga, haere ki o tatou tupuna. Hoki atu ki te kainga o te Kaihanga. E kore rawa koutou e warewaretia. No reira, e nag mate, moe mai ra i roto i te rangamarie o Te Atua. Moe mai ra i roto i te tino arohanui o te Kai-whakaora, a Ihu Karaiti. Haere, haere, haere.

To those who have passed on beyond the veil, go to the world of the dead, depart to the world of spirits, depart on to our ancestors. Return to the home of our Creator. We shall never forget you. Rest in the peace of God. Rest in the loving embrace of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

We then ‘karakia‘ or have a prayer. Given that it is inappropriate for me to say a karakia online, I will dispense with the karakia but have one in my ngakau (heart).

That is how we formally start a meeting according to Maori custom—whether it is for Church, business, to settle a dispute, for schooling, training, sports, to undertake research, to write and publish an article or book, and so forth. We always acknowledge the metaphysical world first and foremost as Doctrine and Covenants 29:34 states—all things unto the Lord are spiritual.

Following this ‘mihi‘ and karakia, we sing a ‘waiata‘ (song) that is appropriate to the speech and occasion. ‘Nga himene‘ or hymns are usually appropriate except for funeral, Christmas and sacrament hymns of course unless it is one of those occasions! My waiata is brief but appropriate for us as academics:

Maku ra pea, maku ra pea. Maku koe e awhi e ki te ara, ara tipu. Maku koe e awhi e! Perhaps, I will, perhaps I will. Perhaps I will assist you on your pathway of growth and development. I will assist you!

The next step in our welcoming process is whakawhanaungatanga—which means the process of making connections and becoming a family or united group by virtue of either whakapapa (genealogy) or kaupapa (purpose) or both. When a group comes together for the first time and we do not know each other, we whakawhanaungatanga by introducing ourselves, which is a good Maori process (and a good human process, for that matter).

This is where we introduce ourselves by identifying who we are and who we represent. For Maori this is not done by briefly stating your name and occupation or profession. It is about who you really are by acknowledging God first and our relationship to him as our Father.

Then we acknowledge those of our family members and ancestors who have passed through te Arai—the veil. We acknowledge and honour our genealogical connections to our ancestors. The Maori word for “ancestor” is tupuna. ‘Tu‘ means “to stand,” and puna means “spring.” Hence tupuna literally means more than just “ancestor,” it means “the spring that gives us standing,” which is our world view of our ancestors: they give us standing in life—spiritually, physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially, and in many other areas.

And we honour them by first knowing who they are, hence genealogy. Understanding them, hence researching, writing, and speaking about our tupuna. Teaching our children and grandchildren about them so they know who they are and where they stand in life and so we do not forget our loved ones. And doing work for them today of course—in the University of the Lord, the Temple.

The Maori word for genealogy is whakapapa. Whaka is a causative prefix which enables something to occur; papa is a flat slab or board of wood or stone. Hence, to whakapapa is to place layer, upon layer, upon layer all of our family slabs, as it were. It is retrospective and prospective or eternal. Indeed, Maori have a whakatauki (proverb) which states –

E taku mokai, he wa poto noa koe i waenganui i te wa kua hipa ki te wa kei tu mai. You are but a speck in the moment of time situated between two eternities—the past and future.

Make good use of the time you have so that we may use this moment wisely for the benefit of our people.

The Maori word for children is Tamariki. Tama means “child” and ariki means “of a great leader or God.” Maori traditionally and today view our children as tamariki—children of God given in our care to see how we will treat them. As President Brigham Young once stated: If we are faithful, God will give our children and our spouse to us in the eternities.

Grandchildren in Maori are our mokopuna. Moko means “reflection” and puna means “spring,” so our grandchildren or mokopuna are a reflection of our spring or a reflection of us. It is said that a good test in your parenting is in your grandchildren, for your children will mirror how you parented them. So how are we doing? I share these thoughts with you to help us understand that what we do within the walls of our own homes is the most important work in time and eternity. What goes on at home echoes in eternity. It does not matter how educated we are or purport to be, or what achievements and money we amass, for no matter how much we make and amass, it all stays on earth when we pass through te Arai. And we are familiar with the famous whakatauki by President David O. McKay: “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”

The final part of my mihi introduction is to acknowledge the lands and groups of people from whence we sprang, where we consider our ‘home’ to be, then acknowledging the living, the visitors, then our selves. Hence:

Toitu te Ranginui, Toitu te Papatuanuku, toitu te whenua, toitu nga tangata katoa, tihei mauri ora!
Ko Ngati Kahungunu, Ngai Tahu me Pakeha (English, Irish and French) hoki oku iwi o te taha o taku Whaea.
Ko Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Tuwharetoa me Pakeha (English, Welsh) hoki oku iwi o te taha Matua.
Ko Andrew Joseph toku Matua,
Ko Emere Titihuia Nikora toku Whaea, he tino honore ki a raua.
Ko Robert Joseph toku ingoa,
No Kiriroa toku kainga inaianei.
E rau rangatira ma, e nga manuhiri o tawahi, tenei te mihi ki a koutou.
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

I acknowledge the heavens and the Earth, the land and people as I address you!
My name of Robert Joseph,
My tribal heritage stems from my Kahungunu, Ngai Tahu Maori tribes, and English, Irish, and French ‘tribes’ on my mother’s lines; and
Raukawa, Maniapoto, Tuwharetoa Maori tribes, and English and Welsh ‘tribes’ on my father’s lines.
My father is Andrew Joseph, my mother is Emere Nikora whom I greatly honour.
Therefore, esteemed visitors overseas, this is my warm greeting to you. Welcome, welcome, welcome one and all.

Our whakawhanaungatanga process being complete, our obvious connections to start with are our common bond with ko te Atua a Ihowa—our Heavenly Father from whence we sprang. We too believe in the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood and sisterhood of men and women. Now that we share acknowledged common ground, we should be feeling more comfortable with each other and ready for business. But we should first share a meal before business, as it were, which is our custom. Given that we cannot share food online, let us share some food for thought. There is another Maori whakatauki which states:

He kai a te Rangatira, he korero.
Discussion (and persuasion) is the food for great leaders.

So let us feast on the good word of God and share a discussion, as it were, of our testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

My name is Robert Joseph. From my heritage, I descend from a long line of rangatira, or chiefs, in both my Maori and British whakapapa or genealogy. I have been raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Church) all of my life. Like Nephi, I have been born of goodly parents, having been taught in all the learning of my father and mother. Having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favoured of the Lord in my days. Therefore, I make a record of my testimony here in my days.

My family laid the platform for creating and nurturing my testimony. As a result of my upbringing in the gospel of Jesus Christ, I participated actively in all of the programs of the Church from Primary, to Young Mens, to young single adults, to serving a mission in the great AAM—the Australia Adelaide Mission—to returning honourably and attending University for over 10 years, marrying my sweetheart when we were both pursuing graduate studies, having five babies along the way, serving in the ward all of the time, and enduring to the end, as it were. Also, like Nephi and father Lehi, none of the awards and achievements and blessings of my life so far were easy sailing. Our life has been and is littered with numerous afflictions, trials, and tribulations as well as numerous blessings and rewards. However—kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa—blessed be the name of the Lord.

In my high school years, I was privileged to attend the Church College of New Zealand (CCNZ), where I was honoured to be the student body president for two years. I played all sports at CCNZ, including rugby union (no pads), rugby league, basketball, tennis, water polo, table tennis, swimming, volleyball, and so on, and I was lucky to play representative sports. I participated in all of the social and cultural activities of CCNZ and was awarded the Queens Scout and Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards at high school. I made the most of my opportunities. I was also awarded the David O. McKay Award, which is the supreme award at CCNZ. I graduated from high school and seminary and institute, which added to the platform for my testimony. It is with heavy hearts that the CCNZ closed its doors as a school in 2009. I was hoping to send my sons there, to experience the blessings I experienced while there, but kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa.

While on my mission in Adelaide, I was blessed to serve as a district and zone leader, and then completed my mission as an assistant to the mission president—President Peter Masson, from Perth, Australia, whom I acknowledge. I also acknowledge my first mission president, President Wallace Gray from Arizona, and all of my companions. We worked so hard and received many blessings from the mission. I continue to receive blessings from my mission today, hence kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa.

Following my mission, I worked for my father, who owns a building company, for almost a year, which was both a trial and blessing. What Dad taught us most is to trust in the Lord no matter what, and to work hard no matter what. As he always asserted, work is a blessing! He often took that maxim for granted by under-commensurating the amount of effort and hard work rendered with the amont of pay received. However, kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa.

I then attended law school at the University of Waikato, studying to become a lawyer (attorney) for four years. To earn some money to live, I worked part-time (sometimes nearly twenty hours a week, often more) in the Missionary Training Centre in Temple View, Hamilton, which is, incidentally, relocating to Auckland in 4 months. I met my sweetheart, Amelia Turangi, while attending Institute at University. Amelia was converted to the Church in her first year of studying psychology at University through the example of good Church sisters in her classes. We courted for a while and were married in the Hamilton New Zealand Temple on 6 July 1996 on a beautiful brisk winter morning.

Amelia and I continued with our studies. I completed my Masters of Law degree and my entrance to the bar exams in 1998 and she completed her Masters of Social Science with Honours and a postgraduate diploma in Psychology (meaning she is a fully fledged clinical psychologist) as we had Kauri Matutaera, our first baby. The jolted changes of a first baby, having to undertake an internship in Thames (an hour and a half drive away), and the pressures of making ends meet and pressures of study, including a three-day final exam, placed much stress on us as a young family. Amelia covenanted with the Lord that, if he would help her to complete her exams successfully, she would do what he wanted her to do. Amelia passed the exams with flying colours as it were, and she was inspired to stay home (not at my behest) and look after Kauri and our subsequent sons. Amelia has been approached to work as a clinical psychologist but she always refers back to our covenant with the Lord—no reira, kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa.

Since Kauri (eleven), we have had four other sons—Anarua Matiu (almost nine), Maumahara Taonga, Ropata (four) and Takari Kaurikipai. Maumahara Taonga was stillborn, and so was Takari Kaurikipai. Ropata Taonga Topi was born during an interesting period of my life. I was finishing up my PhD thesis and Amelia was expecting in six weeks, so I was working out my plan when to get the editing and everything finished for handing in my thesis. Well the Lord had something else in store for us, because Amelia had Ropata premature by six weeks. She had some complications too, so I gave her a blessing and handed in my PhD thesis the day after Ropata was born. Subsequently, my two examiners in Canada and the High Court Judge examiner in New Zealand said my thesis was good and passed it. In a way, Ropata’s coming early was a great blessing for me to finish my PhD; we sometimes get too picky with waiting for things to be perfect,and life never really is. Incidentally, Ropata was named after our first stillborn, Maumahara Taonga—which means “Precious Memory.” Ropata’s second name is Taonga. Ropta, then, is our PhD thesis baby. Hence, kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa.

After completing the PhD in law, I was offered great career opportunities. One was in Auckland, to be a lawyer (attorney) for the New Zealand Government in the Crown Law Office. I was also offered other jobs at universities around the world. But Amelia and I always prayed and fasted about opportunities, and we felt it was right to stay in Hamilton. We always want what is best for our family. Unfortunately, last year we had another still born baby—Takiri Kaurikipai. Takiri “Douglas” (after my younger brother) and Kaurikipai, “our little blessing.” Our other son, Ropata Taonga Toopi, is so named—Ropata, after me, Maori for “Robert”; Taonga, after our stillborn baby Maumahara Taonga, “Precious Memory,” and Toopi.

His third name is after Amelia’s grandmother’s favourite brother, Toopi. When a Maori grandmother, or Nanna as we call them, “suggests” a name to you for your baby, it is practically binding on you, or look out! Amelia’s Nanna is Matekino Turangi, affectionately known as “Nan,” and, although only a tiny frail woman, Nan commanded so much mana—love, respect and influence. When she asked for anything, the world moved. We just loved and adored that eighty-eight-year-old woman.

Unfortunately, late last year, Nan got sick, went to hospital, had a fall and broke her hip, had an operation, complications set in, and she died. She was/is a great loss to our whanau. As we say in Maori: Te hinganga o te Totara haemata o te waotapunui a Tane—A mighty tree has fallen in the forest.

Takoto mai e kui a Nan, takoto te Totara o te waonui a Tane. Takoto ki tou moengaroa o nga tupuna. Takoto te tino arohanui o te Atua. Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai ra i te rangimarie. Rest dear Nan. The mighty tree has fallen in the forest. Rest in your long sleep with our ancestors. Rest in the aroha—great love—of our Heavenly Father. Rest on, rest on, rest on in peace.

We still grieve for this great woman but we know where she is and we will see her again. No reira, kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa.

Finally, may I say that from all of my life so far, mine and Amelia’s, and our sons’, and our whanau (extended family), I can stand firmly and proclaim that I know with my heart that God lives. I have experienced numerous miracles in my life, in my family, and even at work. He lives and has a plan for us to become like Him. This is the value of gaining knowledge, experience, and wisdom so we can become like God, think like God, speak like God, and behave like God, who, although omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, all powerful, he learnt that by similar experiences to those that we are sharing on earth within our families. We need to be humble, which is not always easy for academics—or people in general, really. I define humility as an acknowledged dependence upon God—and oh, how we depend upon Him, no matter what degrees, or awards, or money we have or He has helped us to obtain. No reira, kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa.

I can also stand firmly and proclaim that Jesus Christ is our Saviour. He lives and loves each of us. We make mistakes in life and will continue to make stupid mistakes, but he forgives us and helps us to repent and start again. I am grateful for the Saviour’s atonement, which enables me to repent and forgive, and neither is easy. Also, through Christ we learn to cope with life’s trials and tribulations better. He enables us to get through successfully. He gives us rest when we are labouring and heavy laden. Indeed, through Christ, we can overcome all things. No reira, kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa.

I also know that Joseph Smith is the prophet of God who ushered in the restoration. We having a living prophet today: President Thomas S. Monson, who directs the Church by direct revelation from God. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and we love feasting from this source. The Bible, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price are also the word of God. and they help us to understand, gain knowledge, obtain wisdom, and ultimately to come unto Christ. No reira, kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa.

I acknowledge that life has its afflictions and trials as well as its blessings and rewards. No matter what we face though, I like the whakatauki of Paora, who stated:

Ka taea e ahau, nga mea katoa i roto i a te Karaiti. I whakakaha nei i ahau.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Piripai tuawha: tekau matoru. Philippians 4:13

We know where we can turn for peace in life and eternity. May I share one final whakatauki for those academics out there:

Ka tohi te toi, ka whai te maramatanga
If knowledge is gathered, enlightenment will follow.
No reira, kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa.

May we respect and honour the faith of our tupuna, tamariki, and mokopuna by remaining strong in the present chain of eternity which links our past and future posterity. And may our echoes of eternity reverberate loudly, positively, and clearly both ways, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Tena koutou e oku papa, oku whaea, e oku hoa nga kai mahi nui. Tena koutou e oku whanaunga. Kei au hoki tetahi o koutou tamariki. No reira, kia whakapaingia te ingoa a Ihowa. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena ano tatou katoa.

Naku noa,

Na, Dr Robert Joseph, PhD, Hamilton, New Zealand.

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Dr Robert Joseph completed his Bachelor and Master of Laws degrees at the University of Waikato and was admitted to the Bar in 1998. He is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and was a senior research fellow for the Te Mātāhauariki Research Institute at the University of Waikato under the leadership of Judge Michael Brown and Dr Alex Frame. In 2006, Dr Robert Joseph became the second Māori in New Zealand—and the first Māori male—to graduate with a PhD in Law. He is currently a researcher for the Crown Forestry Research Trust and is working on the Ngati Maniapoto scoping report for the Waitangi Tribunal in New Zealand.

Robert’s research interests are many and varied: the realisation of the Treaty of Waitangi rights and responsibilities, the interface of traditional Māori knowledge systems and western science; internal self-determination rights and responsibilities of Indigenous institutions; Canadian and North American Indigenous studies; treaty processes and post-settlement development; dispute resolution processes, particularly with respect to resolving disputes between different cultures; and Māori and Indigenous Peoples’ governance in settler nation-states. He is also researching as a hobby the interface of Maori and the Mormon Church. He is moreover, currently writing a biography of his paternal tupuna (ancestors), who fought at the famous 1864 Battle of Orakau during the Waikato Wars.

Dr Joseph has been consulted on a number of reports for several organizations, including the New Zealand Law Commission, the New Zealand branch of the NGO Transparency International, Te Puni Kōkiri—the Ministry of Māori Development, the Northland Police, the Institute of Governance and the Centre for First Nations Governance in Ottawa, Canada; and the Ngā Manga Pūriri Trust. Dr Joseph was on the committee to investigate restructuring Waikato-Tainui’s post-treaty settlement self governance model—Te Kauhanganui o Waikato Inc. He has visited the Institute for Governance in Canada, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, and the National Centre for First Nations Governance (also in Canada), and presented a lecture at Harvard University in Boston in 2008, and he is a researcher for the Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori Office at the University of Waikato under the leadership of Dr Linda Tuhiwai Smith.

Dr Joseph is the New Zealand representative on the executive for the Association for Canadian Studies in Australia and New Zealand (ACSANZ), chair of the Awhina Trust addressing Māori mental health in the Waikato and Northland regions, an advisory trustee of the Kia Ngawari Trust, which explores deeply the relationship and history of the Mormon Church and Maori, and of the Te Hurihanga Youth Horizons Trust addressing local Māori juvenile delinquency challenges.

Robert has travelled extensively throughout Australia, Canada, and the United States to meet with Aboriginal people as part of his research on Indigenous self-governance models and contemporary Treaty settlements. In Canada, he looked specifically at First Nations governance, customary laws, and traditional institutions, contemporary treaties, and options for addressing historic injustices through reconciliatory justice.

Publications
Dr Joseph’s published research for the 2000 – 2009 period includes:

Journal articles:
‘Re-Creating Legal Space for the First Law of of Aotearoa-New Zealand’ in Waikato Law Review: Taumauri (Vol. 17, 2009) at 74-97;

‘Contemporary Māori Governance: New Era or New Error?’ in New Zealand University Law Review (Vol. 22, No. 4, December 2007).

‘Whanau Mentoring, Māori Youth and Crime: Possible Ways Forward’ in Ritchie, J (ed), Children’s Issues: Journal of the Children’s Issues Centre: Seeking Pathways Beyond Colonisation (Vol. 11, No. 1, 2007) at 36-41.

‘Challenges of Incorporating Māori Values and Tikanga under the Resource Management Act 1991 and the Local Government Bill – Possible Ways Forward’ in Midson, B & Morgan, G (eds) Yearbook of New Zealand Jurisprudence (Vol. 6, Issue 1, 2002 – 2003, University of Waikato, Hamilton, 2004) at 9 – 34. See www.waikato.ac.nz/law.

Books:
Treaty Settlements and Good Governance by Prescription: An Analysis of Treaty of Waitangi Settlements and Post-Settlement Governance Policies in New Zealand (Te Mātāhauariki Monograph, University of Waikato Printer, Hamilton, New Zealand, 2004);

Tradition, Treaty Settlements and the ‘Lost’ Tribes of Waikato-Tainui (Te Mātāhauariki Monograph, University of Waikato Printer, Hamilton, New Zealand, 2004).

The Government of Themselves: Case Law, Policy and Section 71 of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 (Te Mātāhauariki Monograph, University of Waikato Printer, Hamilton, New Zealand, 2003).

Comparatively Speaking: A Summary of Objective 2 (Te Mātāhauariki Institute Occasional Paper, University of Waikato Printer, Hamilton, 2003).

Book chapters:
‘Chapter 32: Māori Governance and Business Organisations Background’ in Watson, S, Gunasekara, G, Gedye, M, van Roy, Y, Ross, M, Longdin, L, Brown, L and Keating, M The Law of Business Organisations (Palatine Press, Auckland, February 2009).

‘Chapter 33: Māori Governance and Business Organisation Entities’ in Watson, S, Gunasekara, G, Gedye, M, van Roy, Y, Ross, M, Longdin, L, Brown, L and Keating, M The Law of Business Organisations (Palatine Press, Auckland, February 2009).

‘A Jade Door: Reconciliatory Justice as a Way Forward Citing New Zealand Experience’ in Aboriginal Healing Foundation, From Truth to Reconciliation: Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools (Aboriginal Healing Foundation Research Series, Ottawa, 2008) at 205-231. Online at http://www.ahf.ca.

‘Denial, Acknowledgement and Peace-Building through Reconciliatory Justice’ in McCaslin, W, (Ed) Justice as Healing: Indigenous Ways: Writings on Community Peace Making and Restorative Justice from the Native Law Centre (Living Justice Press, St. Paul, Minnesota, 2005) at 253-274.

‘Denial, Acknowledgement and Peace-Building through Reconciliatory Justice: A Waikato Perspective e’ in Waikato University College, Te Taarere aa Tawhaki: Journal of the Waikato University College (Vol. 1, Koroneihana, Hopuhopu, 2001) at 63-79).

‘Denial, Acknowledgement and Peace-Building through Reconciliatory Justice: A Tainui Case Study’ in Justice as Healing A Newsletter on Aboriginal Concepts of Justice (Vol. 6. No. 3, University of Saskatchewan Native Law Centre, Fall 2001).

‘Post-Settlement Implementation Issues’ in Mikaere, A & Milroy, S (eds) Ki te Ao Marama: 10th Anniversary Hui-a-Tau 1998 Conference Proceedings (Te Hunga Roia Māori o Aotearoa, Conference, Kirikiriroa Marae & the University of Waikato, 20 – 23 august 1998) at 27 – 35.

Books Edited:
Editor for the Journal MAI Review (Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga, Centre for Maori Research and Excellence, University of Auckland) – 2007-2010.

Editor for the Journal of Australasian Studies (Association for Canadian Studies in Australia and New Zealand, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia) 2009-2010.

Editor for the Waikato Law Review (University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand) 2009-2010.

Refereed Conference Proceedings:
‘Māori Values and Tikanga Consultation under the RMA and the Local Government Bill – Possible Ways Forward’ (Conference address for the Inaugural Māori Legal Forum at Te Papa Tongarewa, 9-10 October 2002). This paper was subsequently cited in the High Court by Justice Baragwanath in Ngäti Maru Iwi Authority Incorporated v Auckland City Council and Sylvia Park Business Centre Ltd. (AP18-SW01, 24 October 2002, High Court, Auckland).

I have given numerous conference addresses including a key note in 2008 for Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga Annual Conference– ‘Te Tatau Pounamu Reconciliation – New Zealand’s Waikato Raupatu Claim and Canada’s Residential Schools Legacy’ (Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga, Auckland Business School, University of Auckland, 9-10 June 2008).

Keynote conference address ‘Maori Governance’ in New Zealand Governance Centre Inaugural Conference, (University of Auckland Business School, University of Auckland, 15-16 August). Conference proceedings are forthcoming in 2009.

An address and research at the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Harvard University, Cambridge, Boston, USA, 27 August 2008.

Forthcoming NIWA Report, ‘Maori Governance and Energy Development’ (Auckland Business School, NIWA, Auckland, 2008).

Publish as a book in 2011 – ‘The Government of Themselves: Indigenous Peoples Internal Self-determination, Effective Self-Governance and Authentic Representation: Waikato-Tainui, Ngai Tahu and Nisga’a’ (PhD Thesis Dissertation, University of Waikato, New Zealand, 2006). This Thesis was awarded the Best PhD Thesis Award Internationally on Canadian Studies’ by the International Council of Canadian Studies (ICCS) in Ottawa in 2009.

Pro-Vice Chancellor Maori Office, ‘Te Hau Mihi Ata Matauranga Maori and Science – Literature Review on the Interface between Matauranga Mäori and Science’ (FRST Research Project, University of Waikato, Hamilton, November 2008).

Pro-Vice Chancellor Maori Office, ‘Te Hau Mihi Ata Matauranga Maori and Science – Cross Cultural Dialogue’ (FRST Research Project, University of Waikato, Hamilton, November 2008).

Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori Office Report, ‘Te Puna Tautoko o Nga Tauira Tohu Pairangi o Te Whare Wananga o Waikato Report 2007’ (Special Supplementary Grant (SSG) Report on Māori Graduate Student Support at the University of Waikato, Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori Office, University of Waikato, May 2007).

Northland Police and the Nga Manga Puriri Trust, research project on preventing Māori juvenile delinquency through effective whanau (family) mentoring, unpublished report: Joseph, R, ‘Tools of Development Leadership Research: ‘Te Ara o Nga Whetu Whanau Mentoring Literature Review’ (Kaikohe, May 2006).

Consulted in: New Zealand Law Commission, Waka Umanga: A Proposed Law for Māori Governance Entities (Report 92, May 2006, Wellington) at 267, See www.lawcom.govt.nz.

‘New Zealand Foreshore and Seabed Policy Breaches Human Rights of Māori Including the Right to Self-Determination’ (Te Mātāhauariki Institute, Hamilton, 2004) – Submission to the Select Committee on the Foreshore and Seabed Bill, Auckland, 25 August 2004).

Materoa Dodd and Robert Joseph ‘Post-Treaty Settlement Governance Challenges: Independent Dispute Resolution for Ngäti Awa’ Paper,’ (Development Research Symposium, Governance in Pacific States: Reassessing Roles and Remedies, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, Sept 30 – Oct 2, 2003.

‘Māori Values and Tikanga Consultation under the RMA and the Local Government Bill – Possible Ways Forward’ (Conference address for the Inaugural Māori Legal Forum at Te Papa Tongarewa, 9-10 October 2002). This paper was subsequently cited in the High Court by Justice Baragwanath in Ngäti Maru Iwi Authority Incorporated v Auckland City Council and Sylvia Park Business Centre Ltd. (AP18-SW01, 24 October 2002, High Court, Auckland).

Consulted in The NGO Transparency International. See Henderson, J, Cave, S and Petrie, M (eds) National Integrity Systems: Transparency International Country Study Report: New Zealand 2003 (Transparency International New Zealand, Wellington, 2003) at 2. See www.transparency.org.

Consulted in New Zealand Law Commission, Māori Custom and Values in New Zealand Law (Study Paper 9, Wellington, 2001). See www.lawcom.govt.nz.

Posted April 2010

I was born a member of the Church of England and christened in that faith, but my parents joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shortly before my seventh birthday. Because they attended church regularly, I was raised in a religious home and believed what I was taught. However, my recollections of my childhood and some of the decisions I then made by myself, suggest that I was sensitive to the things of the spirit from an early age, though I knew I did not know all I wanted to know.

When I was fourteen years old, I read the Book of Mormon through, cover to cover for the first time. I knew it was true. I knew that Joseph Smith could not have written it as some suggested. But that knowledge was not enough for me. I wanted to know for myself, separate and independent from all other creatures under heaven, whether Joseph Smith was what he claimed to be. While I already knew what the witness of the Holy Ghost felt like, I knew I did not know by that power that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. It was not enough for me to simply deduce from my knowledge that the Book of Mormon was true, that Joseph Smith must therefore be a prophet of God. But for some reason, God and the Holy Ghost made me wait before they gave me that knowledge. When personal revelation that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God finally came in answer to sincere prayers that stretched back for years, the resulting knowledge was absolute and indelible. As Joseph Smith said in relation to his First Vision, “I knew it and I knew that God knew it,” and I know too that to deny this revealed knowledge would be to incur God’s displeasure. But denial has never been an option. Since that day of personal revelation in 1977, my life has not been the same. I have been prepared to concede that if I doubted something connected with the history of the Church or its operations, I just didn’t know the answer yet. More recently I have learned that my doubts are opportunities; questions about matters of faith are further revelations waiting to happen if I will but ask. And since that understanding came, I have received revelation upon revelation. I know and have even testified in court as an expert witness that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the “true and living church of Jesus Christ” on earth. That does not mean that I do not celebrate the virtue that I have seen and felt in many other churches and places of learning. But it does mean that God’s authority to perform His saving ordinances vests in this Church and in this Church alone. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is led by a living prophet and Twelve Apostles who are called of God by prophecy and revelation. That they are called by prophecy and revelation does not mean that they are perfect or infallible. It means rather, that they are called of God to perform a special work in ministering His gospel to the ends of the world—a work in which I have been greatly privileged to assist.

Technically, my greatest secular expertise is in the law of evidence. The law of evidence is that body of rules which courts and other temporal tribunals apply to decide whether a fact is proven or not. I have learned in that study, despite the contrary assertions of academics from many disciplines, that facts do not prove anything. It is the deductions we make from factual strings that we say constitute proof, but in reality when we say we are convinced ‘on the balance of probabilities’ or ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, we are only ever affirming that our doubts have been resolved to one degree or other. But the knowledge that comes by revelation through the influence of the Holy Ghost is of an altogether different character. When the Holy Ghost affirms any truth to a human soul, that soul knows the relevant truth completely. For the Holy Ghost cannot lie or be deceived.

The final truth to which I have chosen to here depose, is to the divine Sonship of Jesus Christ and to the infinite character of what Christians call His atonement. I cannot explain it. But what I know by revelation is that it will heal every human soul that repents—and it will heal them all completely. It does not matter whether that soul’s wounds be the consequence of self-inflicted harm or the result of abuse in war or in a monastery. It matters not that a human being was born with intellectual or physical deformity, or whether that person became subject to disease involuntarily or by choice. The atonement of Christ will heal and compensate every human soul that repents so that they can enter the eternal world, whole and competent in every respect. Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone of all the human beings that have ever lived on this earth is competent to do this for us under the direction of His Father, who is also our Father.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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Keith Thompson has worked as Area Legal Counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since March 1991, for nineteen years in the Pacific, based in Sydney, Australia, and most recently in Africa, from a principal office in Accra, Ghana. Before appointment to this role, he was a partner at Fortune Manning, a commercial law firm in Auckland, New Zealand.

He holds LLB (Hons) and M Jur degrees from the University of Auckland in New Zealand and a PhD in Law from Murdoch University in Perth, Australia. An expanded version of his PhD thesis (“Religious Confession Privilege at Common Law: A Historical Analysis”) is currently in course of publication. He has been admitted to the bar in New Zealand, Australia, and Kiribati.

In the Church, Keith has served as a bishop and as a stake and mission president. He and his wife Anita are the parents of eight children and they have three grandchildren.

Posted April 2010

There are many aspects of my testimony of the divinity of the restored gospel. On this occasion, I could write about my first such witness, or any number of such experiences over the years, but I think it might be best to write about one of the most recent events that has been part of the mortar and brick, if you will, of my testimony. I am thinking of the time I was asked to give a devotional address to the 30,000-member student body of BYU (and, by broadcast and podcast, the actual numbers are much greater than the current student body).

Such an assignment was overwhelming for me. I have spoken to large groups, and I’ve been on TV and radio, but this was one of the more important addresses that would ever come my way as a BYU professor.

Because the task was so large and so important to me, the Spirit warned me in advance. For about a year before that fateful phone call, often as I attended or listened to the weekly devotional, I had feelings, even whisperings in my mind, that I should prepare to present a devotional address. I ignored those feelings at first, thinking that it was not really a message from the Spirit, but as time went by and those promptings became more clear, I would think of what I might talk about. I thought of several possibilities and had narrowed it to one or two ideas, but still, after thinking about what I might say, I would quit thinking about it, thinking that maybe I was wrong. But I knew I was right. The call would come.

So, on that day in my campus office when Vice President Fred Skousen called, I was not surprised. Overwhelmed, yes, but not surprised. As I sat in my chair as if the air had been let out of a balloon, I was unable to stand or do anything but think about what I might say. And I felt a flood of light or intelligence sweep over me and, in a matter of ten or fifteen minutes, I knew the exact outline of what I would talk about. I feel that the Spirit gave me what to say in outline, and in part, in detail.

I wrote down the outline and some of the details and in the next few days I filled all the flesh on the bones and had a talk I was completely satisfied to present. I felt that I was called upon to say something that I, uniquely, could talk about. The title became “Adoption: A Gift of Love, A Gift of Life.”

The talk had three parts. First, I talked of my academic work on Korean social history. I had written my PhD dissertation at Harvard and later published my work in a book at Cornell on the historic Korean family and how it had changed in the late seventeenth century as a result of growing Confucian influence. Part of that change had to do with an increase in adoption from within the bloodline. If a man didn’t have an heir, he would obtain a nephew or a distant relative to be his heir to carry on the ancestor ceremonies after he was dead.

Second, I talked about my own situation wherein my wife and I have adopted two daughters from Korea. Each came as a miracle, with differing yet distinct events that showed that their adoption was being guided from above. Those experiences are also important pieces of the brick and mortar in the structure of my testimony.

Third, I spoke of the concept in our doctrine that each of us is adopted as we are baptized and become part of the family of Christ and heirs to the covenants and promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I spoke of how we believe that Christ is our older brother, and yet, that he plays the role of father for those who are part of the covenant. And we become the children of Christ though we are already children of our Heavenly Father—the identity of the Father and the Son being distinct and not overlapping in Mormon doctrine.

The doctrine is clear. When Joseph Smith came out of the sacred grove after seeing an answer to his prayer about which church to join, he brought with him a clear understanding that the Father and Son are distinct beings, both being God. This point of doctrine is a stumbling stone for many in the Christian world—they teach that the Father and the Son are one. That matter is clear for Mormons, except for a few references, notably in the Book of Mormon as well as in the Bible, where Jesus is referred to as our Father. Indeed, he is our Father when we choose to become part of his fold. But he is not the father of our spirits—this role is literally fulfilled by our Father in Heaven—a reference to Elohim, not to Jesus. But it is by baptism that we are in a very real way adopted into the family of Christ. Thus, it is clear that Jesus is both our elder brother and our father. The same thing happens with our earthly families—our biological father is also our brother, since we are born first in spirit and our Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits.

Presenting my devotional was a marvelous experience. My feelings of being overwhelmed completely left me and I read the teleprompters—for the first time to have that experience—without missing a beat. To me, it was a historic event. And I have forever been grateful for it because I think there was a message in there for many, many people—for some at the time, and for others who would read, or see, or listen to it later. When I got back to my office, I already had email messages from around the world. Some messages were from old friends, others—I strangely had the words of “Like a Rhinestone Cowboy” go through my mind: “… I got cards and letters from people I don’t even know….” One note was from a man in New Mexico who wrote that he was working at home and listening to the devotional on the internet and tears were streaming down his face as he heard things that helped him with an issue relating to an adoption that was on his mind at that point. I’ve since had other notes from people around the world thanking me for what I said. And the only thing I could say was that what I said was “given to me to say.” I was inspired by the Spirit to say things that will help people make some decisions and in the end will bless their lives with the knowledge that God loves them and cares about them in their time of trial.

Thanks be to God. For a brief moment, I was an instrument in his hands. I’ve felt his inspiration before that time, and after that time as well, but never more dramatically and never in a way that touched so many people. I’m forever grateful.

As a footnote, when I was asked to speak, I was told I could choose whatever topic I wanted, professional, academic, religious, or whatever. No one checked my draft for accuracy or orthodoxy or any reason. And I’ve heard that the same thing happens at General Conference time. Each apostle, each general authority, each speaker chooses his or her own topic and prepares his or her own talk. Yet, when we hear the talks at Conference time, there are no duplicates, yet many common themes and messages come through. That, too, like my experience, is a testimony that the messages are being inspired by one source—speaking through the mouth and experience and testimony of the individual speaker for the benefit of Heavenly Father’s children.

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Mark Peterson received his B.A. in Asian Studies and Anthropology from Brigham Young University in 1971. He received his M.A. in 1973 and his Ph.D. in 1987, both from Harvard University, in the field of East Asian Languages and Civilization. Prior to coming to BYU in 1984 he was the director of the Fulbright program in Korea from 1978 to 1983. He also served as the President of the Korea Pusan Mission from 1987 to 1990. He has been the coordinator of the Asian Studies Program at BYU and was the director of the undergraduate programs in the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies. He is currently the head of the Korean section of the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages.

Dr. Peterson is a member of the Association for Asian Studies, where he is the chair of the Korean Studies Committee; he is also the book review editor for the Journal of Asian Studies for books on Korea. In addition, he is a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, the International Association for Korean Language Education, the International Korean Literature Association, and the American Association of Korean Teachers.

Among his publications are Coverage of Korea in American Text Books, Research Commissioned by the Korean Cultural Center of New York, 1994; Korean Adoption and Inheritance: Case Studies in the Creation of a Classic Confucian Society, in the Cornell East Asia Series (awarded the Yeonnam Prize for best book on Korea in 1996); Korean Women: View from the Inner Room, ed. by Laurel Kendall and Mark Peterson (New Haven: East Rock Press, 1984); “American Officials and the Kwangju Uprising,” in The Kwangju Uprising, ed. by Donald Clark (Boulder: Westview Press, 1987); “The King Sejong Shillok,” in King Sejong, Light of the Fifteenth Century, ed. by Young-gi Kim-Renaud (ICLK/George Washington University Press, 1992).

Posted April 2010

One of the common misconceptions of the latter-day era is that religion, and in particular the restoration, is the primitive cultural inheritance of a former age of ignorance, now replaced by the enlightened sophistication of contemporary science. Yet what are considered current concepts of the nature of the universe are actually old news. For example, God directly informed Moses that his Son Jesus Christ was the construction foreman for an infinite number of worlds,¹ many centuries before Edwin Hubble rediscovered the infinite numerical number of the heavens. The Old Testament book of Proverbs describes the building of this world and the “heavens,” or universe. Importantly, these were monumental projects in which we were both fully informed and fully involved.² Alma explains to a secularist of his time that the very motions of the planets are a constant sign of God’s majesty.³ The life of the Master affirms his eternal role. For one who created “worlds without number,” healing the sick and infirm, stilling the tempest, feeding thousands, restoring life to those who had lost it, comforting those who believed, speaking with authority and with soul-searing love and an understanding heart and mind, and forgiving the broken-hearted are witnesses of his love, compassion, and charity for each individual life.⁴ So many good works were accomplished by the Son of God during his brief years here that John remarked that it was impossible to document and store the volumes required to do so!⁵

The prelude to the dispensation of the fullness of times began with revelations/inventions opening wonders into realities which men had been precluded from viewing with any clarity—the very large (telescope) and the very small (microscope). These events, prior to the birth of Joseph Smith in 1805 and the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830, were the beginning indicators of the return of all knowledge. For example, microorganisms as the causative agent of infectious diseases received concentrated and sustained effort from Ignaz Semmelweis (1847), John Snow (1854), Joseph Lister (1870s), Robert Koch (1890), and others. In comparison to the now daily avalanche of insight and published progress, the forty-three years required to confirm this idea is nearly backwards. By comparison, currently the “ancient days” of cancer research are pre-2001 AD, prior to the publishing of the human genome. The accelerated rate of knowledge acquisition boldly speaks of a grand plan and design in full momentum, nearing completion. Science does not indicate the absence of God, but some views of science suggest absence of the understanding that the work and glory of God is to “bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”⁶ Henry Eyring remarked that the only confusion between science and religion occurs in the minds of men, not in the mind of God.⁷

This information boldly attests that, when the heavens were opened to Joseph Smith as a young boy, the “pillar of light” that he saw was perhaps symbolic of the sure restoration of all of God’s knowledge.⁸ The most vital elements of this knowledge are divine insights that we are beloved children of a loving Father and Son and that the way home is not obscure but illuminated by that pillar of light, silently shouting, gently instructing “this way home!”

I personally feel a great sense of gratitude to for being able to experience my moment of mortality at this particular period, especially on that world where the Master lived and worked through his mission and his atonement. In addition, to experience all this when the truth has been restored by God Himself and His Beloved Son is a very precious opportunity and a chance to make a difference when there is a very real difference to be made. For all of the self-assured sophistication and seemingly great knowledge of this time, one of the greatest ironies of our time is the attempt to use science, the knowledge of God Himself, to deny his existence. This simply will not pass the final test of time. “When the surf of the centuries has made the pyramids so much sand,”⁹ Jesus will still be the Christ, the atonement will still be infinite in its reach, and Joseph Smith will still be the Prophet of the Restoration.

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Notes:
1. Moses 1:32-33, 35, 37-38
2. Proverbs 8:22-31
3. Alma 30:44
4. J. Reuben Clark, Jr. Behold the Lamb of God. Salt Lake City: Desert Book Co., 1962, pp.15-25.
5. John 21:25
6. Moses 1:39
7. Henry Eyring, Reflections of a Scientist. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983 (1998 pagination), pp. 2.
8. JS 1:16
9. Cory Maxwell, ed. The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book. West Valley: Bookcraft, 1997, pp.116.

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Dr. Ryan L. Parr is the chief scientific officer and the vice president of research and development for Genesis Genomics Inc., of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. He has utilized his academic research background in the area of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to develop the company’s successful commercial research platform and leading-edge biomarker-discovery capabilities. He began his research career at the University of Utah, in the Department of Cellular, Viral, and Molecular Biology. He has worked on projects including nuclear differentiation within eucaryotic cells, mechanisms of viral infections, recovery and sequencing of mtDNA extracted from the skeletal remains of ancient Egyptian populations, and the use of mtDNA for the identification of unclaimed victims from the 1912 Titanic disaster. Previously, as a senior research specialist in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, he worked on the problem of cancer resistance to drug therapy.

Posted April 2010