James W. Cannon

I worship Jesus Christ as my Savior and best example. I want to be as much like him as I can. The Book of Mormon says, “. . . charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore . . . pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.” My parents, their parents, their parents, and so on for generations gave their time, their talents, their resources—left family, homes, endured hardship, built homes in a harsh land—in their best hope to follow Christ. I would love their approval. When I read the scriptures, much of the Bible, and especially the Book of Mormon, my heart sings with the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi, who, when guided in vision by the angel to view the tree of life, symbol of Christ’s love, said, “ . . . it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.” And the angel replied, “Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.”

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James W. Cannon (Ph.D., University of Utah) taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from 1977 to 1985, and is now Orson Pratt Professor of Mathematics at Brigham Young University, where his interests focus on geometric topology, geometric group theory, hyperbolic manifolds and rational maps, complex variables, and planar subdivision rules. He married Ardyth Gunnell in 1966. They are the parents of six children and the grandparents of twenty grandchildren.

For additional information, see Dr. Cannon’s Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_W._Cannon

See, additionally, Dr. Cannon’s chapter in Expressions of Faith: Testimonies of Latter-day Saint Scholars.

Posted February 2010