Eric D. Huntsman

Last updated June 13, 2024

Eric Dennis Huntsman is a religion professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) and was coordinator of the university's ancient near eastern studies program from 2012-2022. He is currently the academic director of the BYU Jerusalem Center

Huntsman was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and raised in New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Huntsman served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Thailand. He graduated from BYU with a BA in Classical Greek and Latin in 1990. He then earned an MA and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1993, he married N. Elaine Scott. They are the parents of two children.

Huntsman joined the BYU faculty in 1994 as an instructor in classics. In 1997, after completing a Ph.D., he became an assistant professor in Ancient History and Classics. In 2003, Huntsman transferred departments to be a member of the Department of Ancient Scripture in BYU's College of Religious Education. In 2008, Huntsman moved to the rank of associate professor. In 2012, he began serving as the coordinator of BYU's Ancient Near Eastern Studies Program, and in 2015 he was promoted to full professor.

Huntsman was among the contributors to the documentary Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God. He was a co-author of Jesus Christ and the World of the New Testament: An Illustrated Guide for Latter-day Saints along with Richard N. Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment, he also contributed a number of chapters to their series The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ. Huntsman also wrote “Levels of Meaning: The Ara Pacis Augustae and the Teaching of Roman History,” which was published in the journal Interdisciplinary Humanities Vol. 15, Issue 1 (Spring 1998), p. 62–76. His article "Livia Before Octavian" was published in the journal Ancient Society in 2009. In addition his article And the Word was Made Flesh: An LDS Exegesis of the Blood and Water imagery in John was published by the journal Studies in the Bible and Antiquity in 2009 (pages 51–65).

Huntsman's study of the Passion Narratives entitled God So Loved the World: The Final Days of The Savior's Life was published in 2011.^[1] A companion volume on the Infancy Narratives, Good Tidings of Great Joy: An Advent Celebration of the Savior's Birth,^[2] was released in the fall of 2011. He assisted S. Kent Brown with his commentary on the Gospel of Luke and in August 2014 released The Miracles of Jesus^[3] with Deseret Book.

In early 2023, he and Trevan G. Hatch released Greater Love Hath No Man: A Latter-day Saint Guide to Celebrating the Easter Season. He and Deidre Nicole Green have co-edited and contributed to a volume with the University of Illinois Press entitled Latter-day Saint Perspective on Atonement, scheduled to be released in January 2024.

Huntsman is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Association of Ancient Historians.

Huntsman has been a member of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

From 1996 to 2002, he served in the LDS Church as a bishop of a local congregation (ward) in Provo.

Bibliography

With Frank Judd and Shon Hopkins, The Ministry of Peter The Cief Apostle: 43rd Annual Spencer D. Sperry Symposium (2014)
The Miracles of Jesus , Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2014.
Good Tidings of Great Joy: An Advent Celebration of the Savior's Life . Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011.
God So Loved the World: The Final Days of the Savior's Life . Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011.
"The Roman World outside of Judea," pages 97–116 in The Life and Teachings of the New Testament Apostles: From the Day of Pentecost to the Apocalypse. Edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010.
“The Impact of Gentile Conversions in the Greco-Roman World,” pages 80–96 in The Life and Teachings of the New Testament Apostles: From the Day of Pentecost to the Apocalypse. Edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010.
“Imperial Cult and the Beasts of Revelation,” with Cecilia M. Peek, pages 221–249 in The Life and Teachings of the New Testament Apostles: From the Day of Pentecost to the Apocalypse. Edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010.
“The Six Antitheses: Attaining the Purpose of the Law,” pages 93–109 in The Sermon on the Mount in Latter-day Scripture. Edited by Gaye Strathearn, Thomas A. Wayment, and Daniel L. Belnap. The 39th Annual Brigham Young University Sidney B. Sperry Symposium. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010.
"Glad Tidings of Great Joy", Ensign, Dec. 2010, 52–57.
“Livia Before Octavian,” Ancient Society 39 (2009), 121–169.
“And the Word Was Made Flesh: An LDS Exegesis of the Blood and Water Imagery in John,” Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 1 (2009), 51–65.
""Reflections on the Savior's Last Week"," Ensign (April 2009), 52–60.
"Your Faith Should Not Stand in the Wisdom of Men. Greek Philosophy, Corinthian Behavior, and the Teachings of Paul," pages 67–97 in The New Testament Brought to Light: Latter-day Saint Insights into Acts through Revelation. Edited by Ray L. Huntington, David M. Whitchurch, and Frank F. Judd, Jr. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, 2009.
Review of Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions. BYU Studies 47.2 (2008), 142-47.
"The Lamb of God: Unique Aspects of the Passion Narrative in John," pages 49–70 in Behold the Lamb of God: The Fourth Annual BYU Religious Education Easter Conference. Edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Frank F. Judd, Jr., and Thomas A. Wayment. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, 2008.
“The Bread of Life Sermon,” pages 87–112 in Celebrating Easter. Edited by Thomas A. Wayment and Keith J. Wilson. The 2006 BYU Easter Conference. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, 2007. Substantial revision of “The Bread of Life Sermon,” 2006, below.
Jesus Christ and the World of the New Testament: An Illustrated Reference for Latter-day Saints , with Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, September 2006.
"The Occasional Nature, Composition, and Structure of the Pauline Epistles," Pages 190-207 in How The New Testament Came to Be. Edited by Kent P. Jackson et al. The 35th Annual Brigham Young University Sidney B. Sperry Symposium. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2006.
"The Bread of Life Sermon" in From the Transfiguration through the Triumphal Entry, edited by Richard N. Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment. The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ, vol. 2. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, March 2006. Presentation at the 2006 Easter Conference, BYU.; revised, pages 87–112 in Celebrating Easter. Edited by Thomas A. Wayment and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel. Provo: Religious Studies Center, 2006.
"Teaching through Exegesis: Helping Students Ask Questions of the Text," Religious Educator 6.1 (Winter 2005).
"Galilee and the Call of the Apostles," in From Bethlehem to the Sermon on the Mount, edited by Richard N. Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment. The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ, vol. 1. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005.
"Mary Magdalene: Biblical Enigma," Original presentation: February 25, 2004 as part of the Museum of Art lecture series Mystery, Metaphor, and Meaning: LDS Perspectives on The Da Vinci Code; Revised presentation: May 26, 2004, KBYU Studios; electronically published by Meridian Magazine, June 14–15, 2004.
"Christ Before the Romans," in From the Last Supper Through the Resurrection: The Savior's Final Hours, edited by Richard N. Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment. The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ, vol. 3. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003.
"Levels of Meaning: The Ara Pacis Augustae and the Teaching of Roman History," Interdisciplinary Humanities 15.1 (Spring 1998), 62-76.
"The Reliability of Josephus: Can He Be Trusted?," Masada and the World of the New Testament. BYU Studies 36.3 (1996-7) 392-402.
"And They Cast Lots: Divination, Democracy, and Josephus," Masada and the World of the New Testament. BYU Studies 36.3 (1996-7) 365-377.
"The Family and Property of Livia Drusilla." PhD Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1997.

Notes

Related Research Articles

Stephen Edward Robinson was a religious scholar and apologist, who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In Mormonism, the restoration refers to a return of the authentic priesthood power, spiritual gifts, ordinances, living prophets and revelation of the primitive Church of Christ after a long period of apostasy. While in some contexts the term may also refer to the early history of Mormonism, in other contexts the term is used in a way to include the time that has elapsed from the church's earliest beginnings until the present day. Especially in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "the restoration" is often used also as a term to encompass the corpus of religious messages from its general leaders down to the present.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are apostles, with the calling to be prophets, seers, and revelators, evangelical ambassadors, and special witnesses of Jesus Christ.

The Joseph Smith Translation (JST), also called the Inspired Version of the Holy Scriptures (IV), is a revision of the Bible by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, who said that the JST/IV was intended to restore what he described as "many important points touching the salvation of men, [that] had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled". Smith was killed before he deemed it complete, though most of his work on it was performed about a decade beforehand. The work is the King James Version of the Bible (KJV) with some significant additions and revisions. It is considered a sacred text and is part of the canon of Community of Christ (CoC), formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and other Latter Day Saint churches. Selections from the Joseph Smith Translation are also included in the footnotes and the appendix of the Latter-day Saint edition of the LDS-published King James Version of the Bible. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' edition of the Bible includes selections from the JST in its footnotes and appendix. It has officially canonized only certain excerpts that appear in the Pearl of Great Price. These excerpts are the Book of Moses and Smith's revision of part of the Gospel of Matthew.

Robert L. Millet is a professor of ancient scripture and emeritus Dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Millet is a Latter-day Saint author and speaker with more than 60 published works on virtually all aspects of Mormonism. Millet was at the forefront of establishing evangelical-Mormon dialogue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James E. Talmage</span> Religious leader and academic

James Edward Talmage was an English chemist, geologist, and religious leader who served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1911 until his death.

In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Quorum of the Twelve is one of the governing bodies of the church hierarchy organized by the movement's founder Joseph Smith and patterned after the Apostles of Jesus. Members are called Apostles, with a special calling to be evangelistic ambassadors to the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert J. Matthews</span>

Robert James Matthews was a Latter-day Saint religious educator and scholar, teaching in the departments of Ancient Scripture and Religious Education at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah.

George Wendell Pace was an American professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. He was a popular writer and speaker on religion in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and part of a public criticism voiced by Apostle Bruce R. McConkie in 1982.

John Laurence Gee is an American Latter-day Saint scholar, apologist and an Egyptologist. He currently teaches at Brigham Young University (BYU) and serves in the Department of Near Eastern Languages. He is known for his writings in support of the Book of Abraham.

Richard Lloyd Anderson was an American lawyer and theologist of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was a professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU). His book Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses is widely considered the definitive work on this subject. Anderson was the brother of Karl Ricks Anderson.

Arnold Kent Garr was the chair of the department of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 2006 to 2009. He was also the lead editor of the Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History.

Richard Eyring "Rick" Turley Jr. is an American historian and genealogist. He previously served as both an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as managing director of the church's public affairs department.

Paul Robert Cheesman was an American academic and a professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU).

Steven Craig Harper is a professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. He was a historian for the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From 2019, he is the Editor-in-Chief of BYU Studies Quarterly.

In 2001, there were 1,073 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Washington, D.C. It has since grown to 3,168 members in 4 congregations.

The Religious Studies Center (RSC) at Brigham Young University (BYU) sponsors and publishes scholarship on the culture, history, scripture, and doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellis T. Rasmussen</span>

Ellis Theo Rasmussen was an American professor and dean of Religious Instruction at Brigham Young University (BYU). He helped produce the edition of the Bible published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1979.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in England. England has five missions, and both temples in the United Kingdom. With 145,385 members in 2011, England had more LDS Church members than any other country in Europe.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Massachusetts refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Massachusetts.

References

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] God So Loved the World: The Final Days of the Savior's Life page from Deseret Book

[2] Good Tidings of Great Joy: An Advent Celebration of the Savior's Birth Deseret Book page

[3] The Miracles of Jesus Deseret Book page

[1]

[2]

[3]