Steven Harper

Research Interests

Early American religion and culture, revelation, conversion, apostasy

Teaching Interests

Foundations of the Restoration, Doctrine and Covenants, Church History

Licenses and Certifications

• National Historic Publications and Records Commission, Graduate, Institute for the Editing and Publication of Historical Documents

Honors and Awards

• Praiseworthy Award for History/Biography
• Joseph Smith Lecturer
• Harvey B. Black and Susan Easton Black Outstanding Publication Award
• Gipson Dissertation Fellowship
• Juanita Brooks Award: Best Graduate Student Paper
• T. Edgar Lyon Award: Best Article

Memberships

• American Society of Church History: ( - Present)
• Mormon History Association: ( - Present)
• American Historical Association: ( - Present)

Professional Citizenship

• Editorial Review Board Member, BYU Studies, 2007-01-01 - 2007-12-31 - 2011-01-01 - 2011-12-31
• Editor, Associate Editor, BYU Studies, 2003-01-01 - 2003-12-31 - 2011-01-01 - 2011-12-31
• Editor, Associate Editor, Joseph Smith Papers Project, 2002-01-01 - 2002-12-31 - 2011-01-01 - 2011-12-31
• Other, LDS Church History Department, 2010-01-01 - 2010-12-31 - 2010-01-01 - 2010-12-31
• Committee/Council Member, LDS Church History Department, 2009-01-01 - 2009-12-31 - 2009-01-01 - 2009-12-31
• Committee/Council Member, Mormon History Association, 2007-01-01 - 2007-12-31 - 2009-01-01 - 2009-12-31
• Other, LDS Institute of Religion, Orem, Utah, 2008-01-01 - 2008-12-31 - 2008-01-01 - 2008-12-31
• Editorial Review Board Member, Mormon Historical Studies, 2004-01-01 - 2004-12-31 - 2006-01-01 - 2006-12-31

Courses Taught

2020

• REL C 225 : Section 011
• REL C 225 : Section 017
• REL C 225 : Section 047
• REL C 225 : Section 031
• REL C 225 : Section 032
• REL C 225 : Section 040

2019

• REL C 225 : Section 017
• REL C 225 : Section 033
• REL C 225 : Section 037
• REL C 225 : Section 001
• REL C 225 : Section 018

Show Previous Years

Publications

• Harper SC. July (3rd Quarter/Summer), 2011. Suspicion or Trust: Reading the Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision. Robert L. Millet, editor. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret.
• Harper SC. April (2nd Quarter/Spring), 2011. Joseph Smith and Hearty Repentance. 2nd ed. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center.
• Harper SC. January (1st Quarter/Winter), 2011. A Seeker's Guide to the Historical Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision. 1st ed. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center.
• Harper SC. April (2nd Quarter/Spring), 2010. Evaluating the Book of Mormon Witnesses. 2nd ed. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center.
• Harper SC. April (2nd Quarter/Spring), 2010. Making History: Documenting the 1737 Walking Purchase. 2nd ed. Paul Newman, editor.
• Harper SC. January (1st Quarter/Winter), 2010. Angels in the Age of Railways. Robert L. Millet, editor. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press.
• Harper SC. January (1st Quarter/Winter), 2010. Joseph Smith and the Kirtland Temple, 1836. Richard N. Holzapfel and Kent P. Jackson, editors. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center.
• Jensen RS, Woodford RJ, Harper SC. July (3rd Quarter/Summer), 2009. Joseph Smith Papers, Manuscript Revelation Books. Salt Lake City: Church Historian's Press.

Presentations

• Harper SC. Remembering and Forgetting the First Vision. Utah Valley University Mormon Studies Conference. Based on parts of my book First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins (Oxford University Press, 2019). March, 2020.
• Harper SC. Raising the Stakes: How Joseph Smith's First Vision Became All or Nothing. The First Vision of Joseph Smith: 200 Years On. Based on passages of my book First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins (Oxford University Press, 2019). January, 2020.
• Harper SC. Putting the First Vision in the Pensieve, or How Joseph Remembered. Harold B Lee Library First Vision Lecture Series. Based on my book First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins (Oxford University Press, 2019). September, 2019.
• Harper SC. Memory and Joseph Smith's 1835 and 1838-39 Accounts of His First Vision. Joseph Smith Papers Conference. October, 2017.
• Harper SC. Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith's First Vision. Thirteenth Annual Mormon Apologetics Conference. August, 2011.
• Harper SC. Seeking, Assuming, and Joseph Smith's First Vision. Young Single Adult Multi-Region Summit. June, 2011.
• Harper SC, Farnes S, Winslow B, Shaefer M, Metcalf W. New Perspectives on Early Mormon History from the Edward Partridge Papers. Mormon History Association. May, 2011.
• Harper SC. Dynamics of Apostasy in Mormonism. American Academy of Religion . March, 2011.
• Harper SC. William McLellin's Lost Manuscript and the Book of Mormon Witnesses. BYU Studies Academy. February, 2011.
• Harper SC. Historical Headnotes and the Index of Contents in the Book of Commandments and Revelations. Mormon History Association. 2009.
• Harper SC. Mormonism and the Paraniod Style. Secularization and Revival: The Fate of Religion in Modern Intellectual History. 2009.
• Harper SC. The Mormons: Panel Discussion of the PBS Film by Helen Whitney. American Society of Church History. 2008.
• Harper SC. 'Making History: Documenting the Walking Purchase'. Lawrence Henry Gipson Institute for Eighteenth-Century Studies. 2007.
• Harper SC. Savage Warfare': Northampton County 1755-1763. Moravian Bookstore. 2007.
• Harper SC. Ye Hurry Walk: Easton and the Long History of the Walking Purchase. Northampton County Historica and Genealogical Society. 2007.
• Harper SC. "Angels in the Age of Railways". By What Authority?. 2006.
• Harper SC. "Pentecost and Endowment Indeed": The Kirtland Temple Experience. BYU-Idaho Religious Lecture Series. 2006.
• Harper SC. Mormons and Missourians: Conflicting Views of Authority. From Conflict to Understanding: The Mormon Experience in Missouri. 2006.
• Harper SC. Teaching Mormonism. John Whitmer Historical Society. 2006.
• Harper SC. The Problems and Promises of Editing Joseph's 1837 Papers. Mormon History Association. 2006.
• Holzapfel RN, Bushman R, Anderson RL, Black SE, Faulring S, Harper SC, Schwartz RF, Thayne S, Morris LE, Skousen RJ, et alOliver Cowdery Symposium. 2006.
• Harper SC. "Upon this Head': Oliver Cowdery as Witness of Priesthood Restoration. Oliver Cowdery: Restoration Witness, Second Elder. 2006.
• Harper SC. We Not I: The Law of Consecration in the Doctrine & Covenants. BYU-Idaho Religious Lecture Series. 2005.
• Harper SC. A Small Slice of Joseph Smith (A discussion of my work and discoveries as an editor of Joseph Smith's 1835 documents). Mormon History Association. 2005.
• Harper SC. Dictated by Christ: Joseph Smith and the Politics of Revelation. Mormon History Association. 2005.
• Harper SC. Dictated by Christ: Joseph Smith and the Politics of Revelation. Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. 2004.
• Harper SC. Endowed with Power. BYU-Idaho Religious Lecture Series. April, 2004.