Former
BYU religion professor Robert J. Matthews, called the world's authority
on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible by one LDS apostle, died
Sunday, Aug. 30, of complications following open-heart surgery.
He was 82.
Almost
always working quietly and behind the scenes, Matthews helped shape the
way members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints study
and worship. He played an important role with the committee that
published a new LDS edition of the King James Version of the Bible in
1979. He made major contributions to a new Bible Dictionary included in
that publication.
Matthews also served as a senior editor of "The Encyclopedia of Mormonism," published in 1991.
LDS
Church President Thomas S. Monson was a member of the church's Quorum
of the Twelve in the 1970s when he headed the church's Scriptures
Publication Committee with Elder Boyd K. Packer and Elder Bruce R.
McConkie.
President Monson wrote in
his journal about the importance of the new LDS edition of the
scriptures: "I have said in private this is one of the major
contributions during my service as a general authority."
It was Elder McConkie who called Matthews the "world's authority" on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible.
That
1979 LDS edition of the Bible, and every subsequent one, included
excerpts from the Joseph Smith Translation in the footnotes.
In
the 1950s, LDS church leaders and members looked with some suspicion on
the printed versions of what church founder Joseph Smith said were
inspired revisions to the King James Version.
The
original manuscripts were owned by the Reorganized Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints (now called the Community of Christ) and no
Mormon scholar had inspected them.
A
soft-spoken, unassuming man, Matthews worked tirelessly to gain the
trust and friendship of several members of the RLDS Church and received
permission to look at the original manuscripts. His work opened the
door for use of the translation by the LDS Church.
Matthews
was 17 when he first heard Elder Joseph Fielding Smith of the Quorum of
the Twelve mention Smith's translation of the Bible during a KSL radio
broadcast in July 1944. He said he felt prompted to study the subject.
"The
real thing that triggered my interest in the JST," Matthews said in an
interview with John Sorenson, an editor of the Journal of Book of
Mormon Studies, "was a statement that Joseph Fielding Smith made on the
radio when he quoted John 1:18: 'No man hath seen God at any time.'
Then he said, 'That's not right. Joseph Smith corrected that verse by
revelation.' I hadn't known that Joseph Smith had made some corrections
in the Bible. Joseph Fielding Smith's statement penetrated me.
"By
January 1946, I was on my mission. I asked my mission president about
Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible and he said, 'Well, I don't
know everything about it, but I know it is true.' This was Bruce
McConkie's father. He said, 'I have heard Bruce talk about it.' None of
us knew who Bruce was. Bruce was not a General Authority then. But my
mission president told me, 'If you are interested in it, you ought to
work on it. But not on your mission. Wait until your mission is over.
Then if you want to do something about it, you can.' "
Matthews
earned a bachelor's degree at BYU, then earned a master's degree there.
His thesis was a "A Study of the Doctrinal Significance of Certain
Textual Changes Made by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Four Gospels of
the Inspired Version of the New Testament." He also earned his
doctorate at BYU, and his dissertation formed the core of his seminal
book, " 'A Plainer Translation': Joseph Smith's Translation of the
Bible."
Matthews was born Sept. 12,
1926, in Evanston, Wyo. He joined the BYU faculty in 1971, served as
dean of Religious Education at BYU and was a professor of Ancient
Scripture before his retirement in 1992.
Matthews
served as the first president of the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple. He
previously had served as a stake missionary, a full-time missionary to
California, a high councilor, twice as a bishop, as president of the
BYU 8th Stake, as a patriarch and as a member of the Adult Correlation
Review Committee of the Church.
Mr.
Matthews was honored on his 80th birthday in 2007 with the publication
of a collection of essays — "A Witness for the Restoration: Essays to
Honor Robert J. Matthews" — inspired by his wide-ranging interests and
academic achievements.
He married the former Shirley Neves, with whom he had four children.