Brian M. Hauglid (born 1954) is an emeritus professor of ancient scripture at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

(BYU). From 2014 to 2017, he was the editor-in-chief of the ''

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies The ''Journal of Book of Mormon Studies'' is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal covering topics surrounding the Book of Mormon. It is published by the University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scho ...

'', and he was the director of the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies, a part of BYU's

Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, or Maxwell Institute, is a research institute at Brigham Young University (BYU). Made up of faculty and visiting scholars who study religion (primarily the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- ...

Life and career

Hauglid was raised in the suburbs of

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. He was raised as a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. In 1976, Hauglid was baptized a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church). He served a

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

for the church in the California Sacramento

Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

. Hauglid has a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Near Eastern Studies from BYU. He received a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

in Arabic and Islamic studies in 1998. In 1999, he joined the BYU faculty. In addition to his work with the ''Journal of Book of Mormon Studies'' and the Willes Center he has been on the editorial advisory board for the Eastern Christian Texts series of BYU's Middle Eastern Texts Initiative. He was also a co-editor of the Maxwell Institute's ''Studies of the Bible and Antiquity''. Hauglid has been a member of the academic advisory board of the ''Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies''. Outside of his professional work, Hauglid has served in multiple positions in the LDS Church, including as a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Scholarship on the Book of Abraham

Apologetic Work

Hauglid has written extensively on the

Book of Abraham The Book of Abraham is a collection of writings claimed to be from several Egyptian scrolls discovered in the early 19th century during an archeological expedition by Antonio Lebolo. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purc ...

, a text which Latter-day Saints consider to be scripture. This includes his 2010 ''A Textual History of the Book of Abraham: Manuscripts and Editions'', and with

egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

John Gee John Laurence Gee (born 1964) is an American Latter-day Saint scholar, apologist and an Egyptologist. He currently teaches at Brigham Young University (BYU) and serves in the Department of Near Eastern Languages. He is known for his writings in ...

he co-edited the five-volume ''Studies in the Book of Abraham.'' Some of Hauglid's work is cited in the Church's Gospel Topics essay on the Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham. Both Hauglid and other writers have described his work from this period of his career as apologetic in nature.

Distancing from Apologetics

In a 2018

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post, Hauglid publicly stated that after a "transformative journey" he had revised some of the views he expressed in ''A Textual History'' and "was no longer interested" in apologetics. Hauglid explained he did not believe the Book of Abraham came from a missing section of the Joseph Smith papyri, a theory advanced in his earlier works, and he added that his current views aligned with and were "much more open to" those expressed in a YouTube video by historian

Dan Vogel Daniel Arlon Vogel (born 1955) is an independent researcher, writer, and author on a number of works that include '' Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet'' and is most known for his work on early Mormon documents. Joseph Smith biography Vogel ...

(Vogel had referred and responded to Hauglid's ''A Textual History'' in the video). Hauglid stated that his "recent and forthcoming publications" demonstrated his "changed... mind" and new conclusions about the Book of Abraham. Publications reflecting Hauglid's more recent thoughts on the Book of Abraham include the following: ''Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts'', ''The Pearl of Greatest Price: Mormonism's Most Controversial Scripture'', and ''Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity''.

Publications

As co-editor

*''Traditions of the Early Life of Abraham'' with John Gee and John Tvedtnes *''Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant'' with John Gee *''Revelations and Translations, Volume 4: Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts. Facsimile edition. Vol. 4 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers'' with Robin Scott Jensen *''Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith's Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity'' (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2020) with Michael Hubbard MacKay and Mark Ashurst-McGee

As co-author

*''The Pearl of Greatest Price: Mormonism's Most Controversial Scripture'' with

Terryl L. Givens Terryl Lynn Givens is a senior research fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University (BYU). Until 2019, he was a professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond, where he held the ...

Book chapters

*Hauglid, Brian M. "On the Early Life of Abraham: Biblical and Qur’ānic Intertextuality and the Anticipation of Muḥammad." In John C. Reeves, ed., ''Bible and Qur’ān: Essays in Scriptural Intertextuality'' (Boston: Brill, 2004): p. 87-105. *Hauglid, Brian M. " Approaching Egyptian Papyri through Biblical Language: Joseph Smith’s Use of Hebrew in His Translation of the Book of Abraham." In Michael Hubbard MacKay, Mark Ashurst-McGee, Brian M. Hauglid, ed., ''Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith's Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity'' (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2020).

References

External links

Maxwell Institute Bio of HauglidFAIRMormon bio of Hauglid
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hauglid, Brian M. 1954 births University of Utah alumni Brigham Young University faculty Living people Latter Day Saints from Utah Latter Day Saints from Minnesota Converts to Mormonism Maxwell Institute people Book of Abraham Latter Day Saint biblical scholars