Envisioning BYU: BYU Speeches

This address was delivered at Brigham Young Academy’s first Founders Day exercises. President Maeser recounted how Brigham Young Academy began with the revelation to Brigham Young of “the necessity for the establishment of a new kind of educational institution for Zion.” The new educational system was not merely to duplicate existing models, for “following . . . in the old grooves would simply lea...

Brigham Young’s famous founding charge to Karl G. Maeser—that he “ought not to teach even the alphabet or the multiplication tables without the Spirit of God”—is well known. It is BYU’s prime directive. Maeser himself referred to the charge as the “one thing constant” and “the mainspring of all her labors.” Access the charge here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Excerpts from Doctrine and Covenants 88, 90, and 93, 1832–1833. Access the excerpts and an introduction  here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The purpose of this preface is to explain the primary scriptural injunctions for education. It thus provides an introduction to this first volume of Envisioning BYU. It is also a personal credo, outlining views that have animated me over the years. This preface was originally delivered as a talk, titled “A Gospel Ground for Education: An Academic Credo,” to BYU graduate students at the Faith and S...