Brigham Young?

[Nehustan]

Hi there guys and gals, I was just reading the 'Racism and Mormonism' thread, and saw the name Brigham Young mentioned. I was actually going to post in this part of the Forum today as I have a book that is published by the 'Brigham Young University Press'. I was reading it today and suddenly thought, '...isn't that the name of a famous Mormon?' Upon checking I saw that the University was in Utah, so my thoughts were confirmed.

The book is a copy of a work by a very famous Islamic scholar from the 11th Century (Common Era), it is presented in parallel text (English and Arabic) and is very good. I already have a copy of the book in English I bought while in India, but this is a fine translation, and it is so nice to have the Arabic there also, helps my sense of continuity.

So really my question is 'Who was Brigham Young?' and subsequently why is it (The Univeristy) sponsoring translations of Islamic texts? Thanks.

 

[Bishka]

Brigham Young was the 2nd prophet and president of the LDS Church.

The University you are referring to is in Provo, Utah, which was named after him, as was the one in Hawaii and Idaho (the one I am attending)

 

[Bishka]

Why is the university sponsoring translations of Islamic texts? I'm not quite sure, but why do other univeristy's do it? Probably the same reason. I'd ask Jonny on this, I think he attended BYU (Provo).

 

[SoyLeche]

I graduated from Brigham Young University, and I've got to say that I enjoyed it. My sister is starting there this fall. www.byu.edu

Brigham Young was the man that a majority of Joseph Smith's followers accepted as their leader after Joseph was murdered. He's the one that led them to Utah and organized them once there.

This might help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Young

I haven't read through it though.

If you want to read some of the things he taught, you can check out http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll?f=templates$fn=default.htm

 

[SoyLeche]

BYU has a good ancient scripture department, and I believe they had worked quite a bit on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I saw this article on the Drudge Report the other day. BYU is mentioned as being a part of this study http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/01/D8HVEHLO0.html

 

[Katzpur]

So really my question is 'Who was Brigham Young?' and subsequently why is it (The Univeristy) sponsoring translations of Islamic texts? Thanks.

Brigham Young was the second Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and succeeded Joseph Smith. He served as the President of the Church for nearly thirty years. It was under Brigham Young's direction that the Mormon Pioneers made their 1300-mile trek across the Great Plains from Illinois to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Under his direction, the LDS people colonized much of the western United States.

Brigham Young University sponsors all kinds of scholarly studies. Jonny is attending BYU (personally, I'm a U of U alum) so he might be able to give you a better idea than I can of some of the projects the BYU faculty is involved with. I know they've been heavily involved in the work surrounding the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hamadi (sp?) texts.

 

[Nehustan]

Thanks Guys, I'm in work atm, but will read the links when I get home. Just thought I'd ask a quick question now as the book was my reading matter on my trip into work.