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Kerry Muhlestein

Kerry received his B.S. from BYU in Psychology with a Hebrew minor, an M.A. in Ancient Near Eastern Studies from BYU, and his Ph.D. from UCLA in Egyptology, wherein his final year he was named the UCLA Affiliates Graduate Student of the Year. His first full-time appointment was a joint position in Religion and History at BYU-Hawaii. He is the director of the BYU Egypt Excavation Project. He was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford for the 2016-17 academic year. He has published 9 books, over 60 peer-reviewed articles, and has done over 75 academic presentations. He has served as the chairman of a national committee for the American Research Center in Egypt and serves on their Research Supporting Member Council. He serves as the Senior Vice President for the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, has been the co-chair for the Egyptian Archaeology Session of the American Schools of Oriental Research, and has been a Senior Fellow of the William F. Albright Institute for Archaeological Research.

May 25, 2022 10:25 AM MDT
Book of Abraham research is hard to do. But for me it also became hard not to do.
7 Min Read
March 15, 2021 12:00 PM MDT
During our last general conference, President Russell M. Nelson asked us to undertake a specific course of study. He said, “As you study your scriptures during the next six months, I encourage you to make a list of all that the Lord has promised He will do for covenant Israel. I think you will be astounded! Ponder these promises. Talk about them with your family and friends. Then live and watch for these promises to be fulfilled in your own life.”1
14 Min Read
March 18, 2020 11:00 AM MDT
Editor’s note: Most of us are familiar with the story of the First Vision. Some might even have the account from Joseph Smith—History memorized. But that account is not the only time Joseph Smith shared his miraculous experience. Using nine different accounts, Muhlestein shares one harmonized story of the First Vision, including what led up to it and what Joseph learned from it, in his new book, I Saw the Lord. This excerpt offers an idea of what it might have been like for Joseph to have overwhelming, hopeless darkness dissipated by intense light as he first saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
7 Min Read
July 12, 2014 08:26 AM MDT
This week, the Church released a new essay on the historicity and translation of the Book of Abraham. While there is much that we don’t know about this ancient book of scripture, based on the history, there are some things we can deduce from clues in the text itself, contemporary papyri, and eyewitnesses of the papyri:
4 Min Read
January 14, 2014 05:20 AM MST
1. Seeing Eve’s new potential for giving life, Adam names her Eve. In Hebrew, Eve means “to live.”
2 Min Read