“GIVE EAR TO MY WORDS: Text and Context of Alma 36-42 — The 48th Annual Brigham Young University Sidney B. Sperry Symposium,” edited by Kerry M. Hull, Nicholas J. Frederick and Hank R. Smith, BYU Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, $31.99, 519 pages (nf)
Few passages of scripture are as personal and individualized as those in Alma 36-42, where Alma the Younger teaches and shares his testimony with his three sons, Helaman, Shiblon and Corianton. Here, too, is a rich source of instructions and doctrinal explanations about key gospel principles, along with Alma’s directive to “give ear to my words” (Alma 38:1).
This same encouragement for our day comes from an in-depth look at these passages by 22 gospel scholars, whose essays were given at this year’s 48th annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium at Brigham Young University and are now compiled in “Give Ear to My Words: Text and Context of Alma 36-42.”
According to editors, these chapters in Alma “present salient teachings on key gospel principles, proper behaviors and correct theology, and here the pure doctrines of God’s merciful plan of redemption through his Son, Jesus Christ, are laid plain.”
The compiled essays include a wide range of topics concerning the law of God, the Atonement, nurturing faith, making and keeping covenants, as well as the symbolism and significance of various passages from Alma. The compilation is divided into four sections: doctrine, historical content, parents and children, and literary structure, devices and techniques; and titles include “What is the Purpose of Suffering” by Tad R. Callister, “Parents Teaching Children to Believe in Christ” by Byran B. Korth, “Justice, Mercy and the Atonement” by Daniel B. Sharp, and “Alma and the Sacred Things” by Frank F. Judd Jr.
Thought-provoking and instructive, “Give Ear to My Words” makes modern-day readers do just that as they explore the loving and enduring words of Alma and find, throughout the collection, what Grant Hardy says in his essay “Nurturing Faith,” “Alma’s multifaceted, theoretically complex, deeply personal, coordinated sermons are still profoundly relevant.”
Cecily Markland Condie is a freelance writer, editor and author of “Hope: One Mile Ahead” and the children’s book “If I Made a Bug.” She owns Inglestone Publishing and produces The Latter-day Signal, a newsletter of family-friendly events in Arizona.