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The Book of Mormon Studies Association Tenth Annual Meeting
October 8-10, 2026
Utah State University Inn
Thursday, October 8th
Church History Library Event, 3:00 – 4:00 pm
“The Book of Mormon and Bibliography”
Join us for a presentation and conversation about bibliographies of the Book of Mormon. We will view various, early editions of the Book of Mormon and get a sneak peek at a forthcoming bibliography of the Book of Mormon from Kofford Books. Learn how scholars can incorporate a Book of Mormon bibliography into their research and scholarship—particularly as it relates to textual studies, reception history, and printing history. See how different editions of the Book of Mormon showcase the priorities, goals, expectations, and limitations of the individuals who produced them.
Friday, October 9th
Plenary Session, Book Reviews, 8:00 – 9:00 am
John Christopher Thomas (Pentecostal Theological Seminary and Bangor University), reviewing Thomas W. Murphy, Unsettling Scripture: Iroquois and the Book of Mormon
Liz Fenton (University of Vermont), reviewing Ryan K. Shosted, The Deseret Alphabet: A Fixed and Unalterable Sound
Catie Nielsen (University of Nevada – Las Vegas), reviewing Adam S. Miller and Rosalynde F. Welch, Seven Gospels: The Many Lives of Christ in the Book of Mormon
Concurrent Sessions, 9:15 – 10:45 am
Room 1
John White (Neal A. Maxwell Institute), “‘Inviteth and Enticeth’: The Moral Act in Moroni 7 and Contemporary Moral Theology”
Chris Harlos (Independent Scholar), “Crying in the Wilderness &c. (and so forth)”
Room 2
Jenny Champoux (Book of Mormon Art Catalog) and Paul Reeve (University of Utah), “‘What May We Learn From This Lesson?’: Rediscovering the Church’s 1897 Book of Mormon Picture Chart”
Plenary Session: Book of Mormon Music, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Choir Room, LDS Institute Building, Darwin Ave
Sharon Harris (Brigham Young University)
Christian Asplund (Brigham Young University)
Ruth Eldredge (Utah State University and Durham University)
Peter McMurray (Cambridge University)
Concurrent Sessions, 2:00 – 3:30 pm
Room 1
George Handley (Brigham Young University), “Finding a Civic Theology in the Book of Mormon”
Peter Wilson (Independent Scholar), “The Nephite Reign of the Judges as Liberalism”
Room 2
Robin Jensen (Church History Library), “The Book of Mormon Translation as Portrayed in the Earliest Revelations”
Richard Saunders (Southern Utah University), “Two New Book of Mormon Witness Statements”
Concurrent Sessions, 3:45 – 5:15 pm
Room 1
Jenny Webb (Bangor University), “Speaking Against the Machine: The Tongue of Angels and the Book of Mormon”
Jared Hickman (Johns Hopkins University), “When the Book of Mormon Meets Indigenous Storytelling: A Unique Version of the Tuscarora Grapevine Legend in the Early Latter-day Saint Missionary Archive”
Room 2
Joseph M. Spencer (Brigham Young University), “The Church as Katechon: On Mormon’s Project in Mosiah, Alma, and Helaman”
Steven Peck (Brigham Young University), “Time, Memory, and Agency: A Bergsonian Reading of the Book of Mormon”
Keynote Address, 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Avi Steinberg, “Translation as Political Practice: A Personal Reflection”
Saturday, October 10th
Business Meeting, 8:00 – 8:25 am
Concurrent Sessions, 8:30 – 10:00 am
Room 1
Michael Austin (Snow College), “The Book of Mormon as a Subject in Early Mormon Poetry”
Rachel Helps (Brigham Young University), “Feminist Reclamation and Mormon Settler Colonization in Elizabeth Cannon Porter’s Book of Mormon Retellings”
Room 2
Lara Buckwalter (Duke University), “Mythos: A Powerful Lens for the Book of Mormon”
Leland Clement (Claremont Graduate University), “The Melchizedek Expansion in Alma 13”
Plenary Session: The Book of Mormon in Translation and Modern English, 10:15 – 11:30 am
Tod Harris (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Jim Richards (Brigham Young University – Idaho)
John Bringhurst (Independent Translator)
Concurrent Sessions, 1:30 – 3:00 pm
Room 1
Morgan Davis (Neal A. Maxwell Institute), “The Book of Mormon and Its Understory”
Gary R. Whiting (Conference of Restoration Branches), “Interactions of the Book of Mormon and the Revelation Given to John”
Room 2
Margaret Olsen Hemming (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought), “Unearthing Prosperity: A Land-Centered Reading of LDS Theology”
Kimberly Matheson (Neal A. Maxwell Institute), “The Carceral Setting of Helaman 5”
Concurrent Sessions, 3:15 – 4:45 pm
Room 1
Adam Glover and Valerie Jepson (Winthrop University), “The Tree of Life and the Theology of Conversion in the Book of Mormon”
Brian Hales (Independent Scholar), “The Book of Mormon as an Automatic Writing”
Room 2
Janiece Johnson (Deseret Book), “Quantifying Reception: The Book of Mormon in Latter-day Saint Periodicals, 1830-1840”
Chad Nielsen (From the Desk), “An Active Blueprint for Reordering Their World: The Book of Mormon in the Zerah Pulsipher Family Narratives”
Keynote Address, 5:00 – 6:00 pm
Elise Boxer, “‘The Promised Land’: The Book of Mormon, Doctrine of Discovery, and Federal Indian Policy”