10 Tips from BYU Religion Professors to Deepen Your Book of Mormon Study

To enhance your Come, Follow Me study of Book of Mormon in 2024, learn 10 study techniques from BYU religion professors Joseph M. Spencer (BA ’04) and Daniel L. Belnap (BA ’96, MA ’99). Whether you’re studying the Book of Mormon individually, as a family, in a seminary or institute class, or in Sunday School, Spencer and Belnap suggest we “zoom in and out” as we read, looking at the scriptures on both a micro and macro level.

Technique 1: Investigate the social and cultural context.
Technique 2: Think about Mormon’s editorial choices.
Technique 3: Apply what you read to your own life.
Technique 4: Look at each book as a whole.
Technique 5: Read sermons of individual prophets and look for themes.
Technique 6: Analyze (and even act out) individual stories.
Technique 7: Focus on one verse and ask specific questions.
Technique 8: Remove the punctuation and then add it back in yourself.
Technique 9: Look up meanings of individual words.
Technique 10: Read the entire Book of Mormon in a short period of time.

Articles and Resources by Dan Belnap
Articles and Resources by Joseph Spencer

This is episode is based on the article “Slow Down Your Book of Mormon Study,” a Q&A with Spencer in the winter 2024 issue of Y Magazine.

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