BYU Studies Quarterly 54/3 (2015)

Fruitful insights emerge from comparing important people and their works. Two articles in this issue, by Robert A. Rees and Rosalynde Welch, compare Joseph Smith and John Milton. These two figures had drastically contrasting life experiences, but both produced works that had a strong impact on the world.

 

Jeffrey N. Walker has written a detailed legal history of the Kirtland Safety Society, discussing its establishment, the challenges it faced, and the legal aftermath. Grandison Newell, a local competitor of the Mormons, unethically used the law to collect property from Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. Document show that Smith and Rigdon endeavored to help and protect the Saints, worked through legal channels, and paid their debts.

 

Daniel Johnson explores the validity of the Book of Mormon's mention of horses. Archeological and other evidence supports the possibility that horses lived in the Americas during the Book of Mormon era.