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Religious Education

Steven C. Harper

Professor
Church History and Doctrine
Website: https://stevencraigharper.com
Contact

210D JSB
Provo, UT 84602

385-224-5599

Biography

Steven C. Harper is a covenant son of God who strives to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. His primary work is to teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in ways that help students develop resilient faith in, and become lifelong disciples of, the Savior.

He is a professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University, editor in chief of BYU Studies, and executive editor of The Wilford Woodruff Papers. From 2012 to 2018 he was the managing historian and a general editor of Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days. From 2002-2012 he was a volume editor of The Joseph Smith Papers.

Professor Harper is married to sculptor Jennifer Sebring. They graduated from BYU in 1994, she in art education and he in history. He earned an MA in American history from Utah State University, where his thesis analyzed determinants of conversion to the restored gospel in the 1830s. He published chapters of his thesis as articles in the Journal of Mormon History and Religion and American Culture that were awarded by the Mormon History Association with the T. Edgar Lyon Award for best article of the year and the Juanita Brooks Award for best graduate student paper. He earned a PhD in early American history from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he was Lawrence Henry Gipson Dissertation Fellow.

Professor Harper joined the religion and history faculties at BYU Hawaii in 2000 and the Church history and doctrine faculty at BYU in 2002. He taught at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies in 2011-2012. He is the recipient of research awards including a Gest Fellowship from Haverford College's Quaker Collection, a Mayers Fellowship from the Huntington Library, and the Eliza R. Snow Fellowship from Brigham Young University.

Professor Harper's is the author of books including Promised Land (Lehigh University Press, 2006), Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants (Deseret, 2008, winner of the Harvey B. and Susan Easton Black Award), Joseph Smith's First Vision (Deseret, 2012), First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins (Oxford University Press, 2019, winner of the Harvey B. and Susan Easton Black Award and the Smith-Petit Best Book Award), Let's Talk About the Law of Consecration (Deseret, 2022), and Wrestling with the Restoration (Deseret, 2024). He has published dozens of articles and is currently working on a study of The Doctrine and Covenants to be published in the Guides to Sacred Texts series by Oxford University Press.

Research Interests

Early American religion and culture, revelation, conversion, apostasy. Historical method supplemented by sociology and psychology.

Teaching Interests

Foundations of the Restoration, Doctrine and Covenants, Church History

Education

  • Ph.D., Early American history , Early Modern Europe, Nineteeth-Century US, American Religion, Lehigh University (2001)
  • MA, American History , Utah State University (1996)
  • BA, History , Brigham Young University (1994)

Licenses and Certifications

  • National Historic Publications and Records Commission, Graduate, Institute for the Editing and Publication of Historical Documents (2006 - Present)

Honors and Awards

  • Eliza R. Snow Grant, Brigham Young University (2022 - 2024)
  • Mayers Fellowship, Huntington Library (2022 - 2022)
  • Outstanding Citizenship Award, BYU Religious Education (2022 - 2022)
  • Harvey B. Black and Susan Easton Black Outstanding Publication Award, Religious Education, Brigham Young University (2020 - 2020)
  • Smith-Pettit Best Book Award, John Whitmer Historical Association (2020 - 2020)
  • Praiseworthy Award for History/Biography, Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association (2019 - 2019)
  • Joseph Smith Lecturer, Brigham Young University-Hawaii (2010 - 2010)
  • Mentoring Environment Grant, Brigham Young University (2010 - 2010)
  • Harvey B. Black and Susan Easton Black Outstanding Publication Award, Religious Education, Brigham Young University (2009 - 2009)
  • Class of '49 Endowed Young Scholar Award, Brigham Young University (2008 - 2009)
  • Gipson Dissertation Fellowship, Lawrence Henry Gipson Institute for Eighteenth-Century Studies (2000 - 2000)
  • Juanita Brooks Award: Best Graduate Student Paper, Mormon History Association (1998 - 1998)
  • T. Edgar Lyon Award: Best Article, Mormon History Association (1998 - 1998)

Memberships

  • American Society of Church History (2004 - Present)
  • Mormon History Association (1992 - Present)
  • American Historical Association (2004 - 2007)

Professional Citizenship

  • Editorial Review Board Member, BYU Studies (2007 - 2011)
  • Other, LDS Church History Department (2010 - 2010)
  • Committee/Council Member, LDS Church History Department (2009 - 2009)
  • Committee/Council Member, Mormon History Association (2007 - 2009)
  • Editorial Review Board Member, Mormon Historical Studies (2004 - 2006)

Courses Taught

Publications

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Presentations

Steven Craig Harper
Steven Craig Harper Sherilyn Farnes Brady Winslow Mitchell Shaefer Whitney Metcalf
Steven C. Harper