New BYU Web Site Aids Scripture Study

If you aren’t as familiar with the scriptures as you would like to be, a new Web site may be the perfect tool for you to use in your personal study or lesson preparation. The site, scriptures.byu.edu, links individual scripture references to every general conference address in which they have been quoted.

The concept came from two Brigham Young University professors, one with a passion to learn more about the scriptures, the other with the technical know-how to make the site work. Richard Galbraith, a professor in the School of Family Life, and Stephen Liddle, professor of accountancy and information services and eBusiness director, have been working on the site, which puts the words of modern-day prophets next to the words of the scriptures.

The site is easy to use. For example, to learn more about 1 Nephi 1:1, you can click on the Book of Mormon tab, then open up 1 Nephi, then chapter one. You will find that the verse has been quoted 31 times in general conference addresses, with the references listed in order from the oldest to the most recent. When a reference is selected, the site links the visitor to the general conference address that refers to the scripture on www.lds.org. The site can also be searched by speaker, date, and citation frequency.

The site includes a database of 347 speakers and general conference addresses since 1942. Talks delivered before 1971 are not available online, so for these references the page number is given in the Improvement Era where they were originally published.

“If you need some insights on the scriptures, the General Authorities have thought about them and have beautiful insights. They are all seeing the same jewel—just different facets of it,” Brother Galbraith says.