Other LDS Authors

  1. Matthew B. Brown. The Gate of Heaven. (American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, 1999)

    • Highly recommended. Discusses ritual, symbolism, and temples of the Old and New Testaments. Also contains an appendix that serves as a good introduction to the relationship between the Temple ordinances and Freemasonry.
    • Reviewed briefly in FARMS Review of Books and BYU Studies 39:2 (2000).
    • FAIR Bookstore, Deseret Book.

  2. Temples of the Ancient World. Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks, eds. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1994.) Abbreviated as TAW throughout this page.

    • Large book composed of different articles on the temple, arranged thematically.
    • This is required reading for someone who wants to understand the ancient symbolism and setting of the temple ordinances.
    • Gospelink (requires subscription)
    • Deseret Book.

  3. Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks, eds. The Temple in Time and Eternity. (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1999.) This is the second volume in FARMS’ Temple series. Abbreviated TTE throughout this page.

  4. Hugh W. Nibley. Temple and Cosmos: Beyond this Ignorant Present. Don Norton, ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992.) Abbreviated TAC throughout this page.

  5. Hugh Nibley. Mormonism and Early Christianity. (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1987) Abbreviated MEC throughout this page.

  6. Hugh Nibley. Approaching Zion. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1989). Abbreviated AZ throughout.

  7. Hugh Nibley. The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1975.)

    • Originally published in 1975, MJSP has recently been reprinted by FARMS. The text itself borders on incomprehensible, due to the technicality of the topic and the constant citing of German, Egyptian, Greek, etc., but the texts reproduced in the appendices offer striking parallels to LDS temple concepts.
    • Gospelink (requires subscription) The text will apparently be available (along with some other books) in the FARMS subscribers area.
    • Deseret Book

  8. Matthew B. Brown and Paul T. Smith. Symbols in Stone. (American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, 1997.)

    • Discusses the architecture, decorations, and symbolism of the Kirtland, Nauvoo, and Salt Lake City temples.
    • Brief FARMS review here.
    • Deseret Book

  9. John Welch. The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount: A Latter-day Saint Approach. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1990.)

    • Approaches the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) and the Sermon at the Temple (3 Nephi 12-14) as a temple text, or a sort-of temple-preparation. class. This is a fascinating approach and well done.
    • FARMS review here.
    • FAIR Bookstore, Deseret Book
    • Gospelink (requires subscription)

  10. N. B. Lundwall. Temples of The Most High. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1993.)

    • Contains several discourses on the temple. The pre-1950 edition has an interesting but highly speculative and methodologically naïve article on “Sacred Geometry.” I have found an electronic copy of this article, but I don’t think it has much value, so I haven’t posted it.
    • Gospelink (requires subscription)

  11. The Temple in Antiquity. Truman Madsen, ed. (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1984)

    • Contains one general article by Madsen and two by Hugh Nibley, both now reprinted elsewhere, as well as multiple articles on ancient Near Eastern temples by prominent non-LDS scholars.
    • Gospelink (requires subscription)

  12. John D. Charles. Endowed from On High: Understanding the Symbols of the Endowment. (Salt Lake City UT: Horizon, 1997)

    • I can’t speak to the content because I haven’t read it yet (it’s on my shelf), but I have some concerns about the author’s background. That aside, it’s been recommended to me by people I trust.
    • Reviewed by Marc Schindler on his webpage.
    • FAIR Bookstore, Deseret Book.

  13. John L. Lundquist, The Temple: Meeting Place between Heaven and Earth, (W.W. Norton and Co., 1993)

    • This book has many pictures of various sacred centers or temples in the Near East, Asia, South and Mesoamerica, Europe. Lundquist uses these to illustrate one of his major studies, the nearly world-wide temple typology. (See his LDS and non-LDS papers in the typology section.)
    • Lundquist has edited several LDS books, and appears in the video Between Heaven and Earth in the multimedia section.
    • Amazon

  14. Richard O. Cowan. Temples to Dot the Earth (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989)

  15. My Father’s House -Temple Worship and Symbolism in the New Testament by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and David Rolph Seely, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1994). ISBN:0884949540

    • Out of print and hard to find. BYU library has several copies.

  16. Edmunds, John K. (President of Salt Lake Temple, 1972-77), Through Temple Doors (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1978)

    • This book is  general, but has some interesting tidbits.
    • Out-of-print.
 
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