Imagine Jerusalem around 600 BC, the world of Lehi, Sariah, Laban, Zoram, Josiah, and Jeremiah. How did people live? What motivated them? And what eventually destroyed their city? The answers to such questions foster better understanding of the prophetic words of Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob in the Book of Mormon. Much of that era was lost forever when Jerusalem met its prophesied fate and was destroyed by the Babylonians. The Temple of Solomon and the city walls were torn down, buildings burned, treasuries looted, people killed or deported, records lost or destroyed, and certain religious beliefs changed or extinguished. Glimpses of Lehi's Jerusalem offers modern readers a vivid look at revealing events in a crucial quarter century in world history.

Margaret Barker believes that Christianity developed so quickly because it was a return to far older faith—far older than the Greek culture that is long-held to have influenced Christianity. Temple Theology explains that the preaching of the gospel and the early Christian faith grew out of the centuries' old Hebrew longing for God's original Temple.

From one of the world's most revered historians, the first major history of contemporary Jerusalem ""Gilbert is a first-rate storyteller."" --The Wall Street Journal ""Fascinating and admirably readable . . . unmatched for sheer breadth of acutely observed historical detail."" --Christopher Walker, The Times (London) ""Most noteworthy for its richness of letters, journals and anecdotes . . . the major events of this century come alive in eyewitness accounts."" --The New York Times Book Review ""Extraordinarily vivid glimpses of Jerusalem life."" --Atlanta Journal Constitution

Mark Twain once derided the Book of Mormon as "chloroform in print." Long and complicated, written in the language of the King James version of the Bible, it boggles the minds of many. Yet it is unquestionably one of the most influential books ever written. With over 140 million copies in print, it is a central text of one of the largest and fastest-growing faiths in the world. And, Grant Hardy shows, it's far from the coma-inducing doorstop caricatured by Twain. In Understanding the Book of Mormon, Hardy offers the first comprehensive analysis of the work's narrative structure in its 180 year history. Unlike virtually all other recent world scriptures, the Book of Mormon presents itself as an integrated narrative rather than a series of doctrinal expositions, moral injunctions, or devotional hymns. Hardy takes readers through its characters, events, and ideas, as he explores the story and its messages. He identifies the book's literary techniques, such as characterization, embedded documents, allusions, and parallel narratives. Whether Joseph Smith is regarded as author or translator, it's noteworthy that he never speaks in his own voice; rather, he mediates nearly everything through the narrators Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni. Hardy shows how each has a distinctive voice, and all are woven into an integral whole. As with any scripture, the contending views of the Book of Mormon can seem irreconcilable. For believers, it is an actual historical document, transmitted from ancient America. For nonbelievers, it is the work of a nineteenth-century farmer from upstate New York. Hardy transcends this intractable conflict by offering a literary approach, one appropriate to both history and fiction. Regardless of whether readers are interested in American history, literature, comparative religion, or even salvation, he writes, the book can best be read if we examine the text on its own terms.

The 2011 Sperry Symposium volume explores the rich symbolism of Lehi's dream and Nephi's vision, placing such symbols as the mists of darkness, the great and spacious building, and the church of the Lamb of God in the context of the last days.

The blend of scholarship and artistry of the DVD documentary Journey of Faith (Maxwell Institute, 2006) continues in expanded form in the book Journey of Faith: From Jerusalem to the Promised Land. Containing numerous threads of historical detail and scholarly insight not included in the DVD, this visually stunning look at the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi's trek through the harsh Arabian desert reflects a synergistic collaboration of talented scholars, artists, and photographers seeking to illuminate an epic event in scriptural history and situate it in a real-world setting. Aside from assembling commentary and images from the DVD, this book includes a foreword by the editors, their reflections on the project in two separate chapters, additional commentary by scholars, an appendix on the famed Incense Trail across the Arabian Peninsula, and a bibliography.