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Religious Education
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Gerrit Dirkmaat

Associate Professor
Curriculum Vitae
Church History and Doctrine
Contact

270 J JSB
Provo, UT 84602

801-422-8945

Biography

Gerrit J. Dirkmaat is an assistant professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University. He received his PhD from the University of Colorado in 2010 where he studied nineteenth-century American expansionism and foreign relations. His dissertation was titled “Enemies Foreign and Domestic: US Relations with Mormons in the US Empire in North America, 1844–1854.” He worked as a historian and writer for the Church History Department from 2010 to 2014 with the Joseph Smith Papers Project and served as a volume co-editor/historian for DocumentsVolume 1, the lead volume editor on Documents Volume 3, and has continued to work as a volunteer editor for the Joseph Smith Papers project on Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846 and Documents Volume 8. He is the co-author, along with Michael Hubbard MacKay, of the award-winning book From Darkness Unto Light: Joseph Smith’s Translation and Publication of the Book of Mormon, published by Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University and Deseret Book in 2015. He is also the author of dozens of academic articles as well. In 2015, he published a groundbreaking analysis of the differences between the originally recorded versions Utah-era sermons of Brigham Young and other Church leaders and those later published in the Journal of Discourses. This article, “The Prophets Have Spoken, But What Did They Say?: Examining the Differences Between George D. Watt’s Original Shorthand Notes and the Sermons Published in the Journal of Discourses,” won the 2016 Article of Excellence Award from the Mormon History Association. Prior to his work at the Church History Department, he served as the senior assistant editor of Diplomatic History from 2003 to 2009. He currently serves as Editor of the academic journal, Mormon Historical Studies, published by the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation, and on the Church History editorial board for BYU Studies. He and his wife Angela have four children.

Research Interests

Joseph Smith, Early Latter-day Saint history, the publication and translation of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith's martyrdom, the Council of Fifty, Expulsion of Latter-day Saints from the United States, Utah History, Brigham Young, Federal Relations with Latter-day Saints, Early antagonism to Latter-day Saints, Plural Marriage

Teaching Interests

19th Century Latter-day Saints Church History, Foundations of the Restoration, Doctrine & Covenants, Joseph Smith, American history.

Honors and Awards

  • Best Documentary Editing Publication
  • Article of Excellence
  • Best Book

Memberships

  • Editor of Mormon Historical Studies: ( - Present)

Professional Citizenship

  • Board Member, Brigham Young Center, 2017-07-01 - 2017-07-31 - Present
  • Editor, Associate Editor, Mormon Historical Studies Journal, 2016-01-01 - 2016-01-31 - Present

Courses Taught

2020

  • REL C 225 : Section 040
  • REL C 225 : Section 041
  • REL C 225 : Section 042
  • REL C 225 : Section 043
  • REL C 325 : Section 005
  • REL C 225 : Section 007
  • REL C 225 : Section 008
  • REL C 225 : Section 009
  • REL C 225 : Section 042
  • REL C 225 : Section 043
  • REL C 225 : Section 050
  • REL C 342 : Section 001
  • REL C 324 : Section 010
  • REL C 324 : Section 013

2019

  • REL C 225 : Section 027
  • REL C 225 : Section 030
  • REL C 325 : Section 003
  • REL C 325 : Section 004
  • REL C 325 : Section 006
  • REL C 225 : Section 001
  • REL C 225 : Section 003
  • REL C 325 : Section 001
  • REL C 225 : Section 029
  • REL C 225 : Section 032
  • REL C 225 : Section 040
  • REL C 225 : Section 049
  • REL C 225 : Section 050

2018

  • REL C 225 : Section 027
  • REL C 225 : Section 030
  • REL C 225 : Section 039
  • REL C 325 : Section 004
  • REL C 324 : Section 001
  • REL C 324 : Section 002
  • REL C 324 : Section 005
  • REL C 225 : Section 025
  • REL C 225 : Section 028
  • REL C 225 : Section 036
  • REL C 342 : Section 001
  • REL C 342 : Section 002

2017

  • REL C 225 : Section 012
  • REL C 225 : Section 025
  • REL C 225 : Section 030
  • REL C 342 : Section 001
  • REL C 342 : Section 002
  • HIST 220 : Section 002
  • REL C 325 : Section 001
  • REL C 325 : Section 002
  • REL C 325 : Section 004
  • REL C 225 : Section 021
  • REL C 225 : Section 024
  • REL C 225 : Section 028
  • REL C 325 : Section 005
  • REL C 325 : Section 009

2016

  • REL C 225 : Section 012
  • REL C 225 : Section 025
  • REL C 225 : Section 029
  • REL C 324 : Section 003
  • REL C 324 : Section 008
  • HIST 220 : Section 002
  • REL C 325 : Section 002
  • REL C 325 : Section 003
  • REL C 325 : Section 005
  • REL C 225 : Section 011
  • REL C 225 : Section 020
  • REL C 225 : Section 025
  • REL C 325 : Section 002
  • REL C 325 : Section 016

2015

  • REL C 225 : Section 011
  • REL C 225 : Section 020
  • REL C 225 : Section 022
  • REL C 324 : Section 001
  • REL C 324 : Section 003
  • HIST 220 : Section 003
  • REL C 324 : Section 009
  • REL C 324 : Section 011
  • REL C 324 : Section 018
  • HIST 221 : Section 004

2014

  • REL C 324 : Section 018
  • REL C 324 : Section 027
  • REL C 324 : Section 030
  • HIST 220 : Section 004
  • HIST 220 : Section 003
  • REL C 324 : Section 022
  • HIST 221 : Section 004
  • HIST 364 : Section 002

2013

  • REL C 324 : Section 033
  • HIST 220 : Section 004
  • HIST 364 : Section 002
  • HIST 364 : Section 001

Publications

  • Dirkmaat GJ. September, 2019. Safely ‘Beyond the Limits of the United States’: The Mormon Expulsion and US Expansion. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. August, 2019. Consecration and Controversy: Ezra Thayer, Leman Copley, and Early Conflicts over Consecrated Properties. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. May, 2019. Joseph Smith Papers, Documents Volume VIII, February 1841-November 1841 . Salt Lake City: Church Historian's Press.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. September, 2017. Lost Teachings of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and Other Church Leaders. Matthew C. Grow and R. Eric Smith, editors. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. July (3rd Quarter/Summer), 2016. Searching for “Happiness”: Joseph Smith’s Alleged Authorship of the 1842 Letter to Nancy Rigdon. No. 3rd ed. Campaign, Illinois : University of Illinois Press.
  • Dirkmaat GJ, MacKay MH. October (4th Quarter/Autumn), 2015. Firsthand Witness Accounts of the Translation Process.
  • Dirkmaat GJ, MacKay MH. October (4th Quarter/Autumn), 2015. Firsthand Witness Accounts of the Translation Process.
  • Dirkmaat GJ, MacKay MH. October (4th Quarter/Autumn), 2015. Joseph Smith's Negotiations to Publish the Book of Mormon.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. December 1, 2014. Joseph Smith Papers, Documents Vol 3, February 1833-March 1834. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church Historian's Press.

Presentations

  • Reed AC, Dirkmaat GJ.  “Meerza Giraummee Khan and the Beginnings of the Localization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Asia”. Decentered Mormonism. March, 2019.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. Apostasy, Politics, and Lies: The Murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Education Week. August, 2017.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. Early Challenges to Joseph Smith's Prophetic Authority: False Revelations. Education Week. August, 2017.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. Lost Teachings of the Prophets and Apostles from the Council of Fifty Record . Education Week. August, 2017.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. The Prophets Have Spoken, But What Did They Say? Understanding the Differences Between the Original Sermon Notes and Published Journal of Discourses. Education Week. August, 2017.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. "Lost Teachings of the Joseph Smith and others from the Council of Fifty". FAIR Mormon Conference. August, 2017.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. "What the Documents from Joseph Smith Can and Can't Answer". Book of Mormon Conference. January, 2017.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. ‘Both Good and Evil Spoken of’: Early Anti-Mormon Publications on Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon”. Mormon Media Studies Symposium. November, 2016.
  • Sweat AR, MacKay MH, Dirkmaat GJ. Evaluating Latter-day Saint Doctrine. 45th Annual Sidney B Sperry Symposium. Paper presenting models to evaluate types and sources of LDS doctrine. October, 2016.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. Lost Teachings of Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, and Others From the Council of Fifty Record. John Whitmer Historical Association. September, 2016.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. Agriculture, Adversaries, and Apostasy: Joseph Smith’s Unpublished Revelation and the Conflict over Frederick G Williams’ Consecrated Farm. Mormon History Association. June, 2016.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. Joseph Smith’s Negotiations to Publish the Book of Mormon. Sperry Symposium. October, 2015.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. Author/Editors Meets Critic: Joseph Smith Papers, Documents Vol 1. Mormon History Association Conference. June, 2014.
  • Dirkmaat GJ. "The Work is Soon to Be Put to Press in This Village:" Joseph Smith's Negotiations with New York Printers to Publish the Book of Mormon Manuscript. New York State History Conference. June, 2014.
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Full-Time Faculty
Gerrit Dirkmaat