Envisioning BYU: BYU Speeches

Latest Episodes:

Paired Aspirations | James R. Rasband | August 2017 Jun 13, 2024

Show notes

James R. Rasband was serving as academic vice president when he delivered this address. He situated his topic by observing how the restored gospel “rejects either-or choices in favor of both-and possibilities.” Note how instead of or, the restored gospel uses and in these dichotomies: “It is not faith or works but faith and works. It is not a choice between body or spirit but a recognition that both body and spirit constitute the soul of man.” Likewise BYU consistently straddles seeming contraries, such as learning by study and by faith. The faculty in BYU’s house of learning must negotiate tensions between these paired aspirations, each making legitimate and even compelling competing claims. The talk can be accessed here.

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“That All May Be Edified of All” | John S. Tanner | August 2010 Jun 06, 2024

Show notes

John S. Tanner was serving as academic vice president when he delivered this address during the faculty session of university conference. He based his remarks on the Lord’s great revelation on education—Doctrine and Covenants 88, or the Olive Leaf—which established the School of the Prophets. Tanner emphasized the connection between school and temple in Latter-day Saint history and doctrine, as well as the importance of all learning of all. He spoke of the need for learners and teachers to be worthy and to walk together as brothers and sisters bound by shared command- ments and covenants “in the bonds of love” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:133). The talk can be accessed here.

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The Academic Anableps | Bonnie Brinton | February 2009 May 30, 2024

Show notes

Bonnie Brinton, a nationally recognized speech-language pathologist, was a professor in the BYU Department of Communication Disorders and dean of BYU Graduate Studies when she delivered this address. Brinton spoke to the blessing of working at BYU, where scholars “can use information gained through spiritual means at the same time that [they are] observing and testing the phenomena in the world around [them].” She related this ability to be “bilingual”—as President Spencer W. Kimball called it in his address “The Second Century of Brigham Young University”—to the anableps, a fish that can see simultaneously what is above and below the waterline. You can access the talk here.

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Learning by Heart | Susan W. Tanner | August 2004 May 23, 2024

Show notes

Susan W. Tanner was serving as the Young Women general president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was serving on the BYU Board of Trustees when she delivered this address. She encouraged the BYU campus community to learn by heart, a rarely discussed aspect of one of BYU’s aims—lifelong learning. Sister Tanner emphasized that when an individual learns by heart, the truths become internalized and can then lift, inspire, and change the heart. You can access the talk here.

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Lift Up Thine Eyes to the Mountains | Kristine Hansen | July 2001 May 16, 2024

Show notes

Kristine Hansen was a professor of English and associate dean of Honors and General Education when she delivered this inspiring devotional on BYU’s aims. She reflected deeply and lucidly on each aim, which she compared to facets of a towering mountain, ultimately encouraging faculty, staff, and students to unite in their efforts to live the aims and ascend together as they help BYU fulfill its divine destiny. Although her remarks are primarily addressed to students, they can and should be internalized by all who come to work, study, or serve at the university. You can access the talk here.

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“Teach Ye Diligently and My Grace Shall Attend You” | Bruce C. Hafen | August 1993 May 09, 2024

Show notes

Bruce C. Hafen was provost of Brigham Young University when he delivered this address. He spoke first about BYU as a distinctive institution that has serious dual allegiances to a “red world” of academics and a “blue world” of the Church. He then explored the challenges and blessings “of BYU’s exciting life in the land of the purple overlap”, where people take seriously both halves of the divine injunction to “seek learning, even by study and also by faith”.

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“I Say unto You, Be One” | Boyd K. Packer| February 1991 May 02, 2024

Show notes

Boyd K. Packer was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he delivered this address explaining how the BYU Board of Trustees makes decisions in unity. He also discussed threats on the horizon facing BYU and other religiously affiliated universities. Elder Packer spoke encouragingly of BYU’s future: in a field of predominantly secular universities, BYU can stand out by using the catalyst of the Spirit to blend academic and spiritual pursuits. You can access the talk here.

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“A House of Faith” | Dallin H. Oaks | August 1977 Apr 18, 2024

Show notes

Dallin H. Oaks was president of Brigham Young University when he delivered this seminal address to university employees. He discussed the vision of education set forth by the Lord and prophets in such revelations as the Olive Leaf, found in Doc- trine and Covenants 88, and President Spencer W. Kimball’s revelatory address “The Second Century of Brigham Young University.” President Oaks then elaborated on the principles that BYU must adhere to in order to real- ize such a future. Referring to President Kimball’s words, President Oaks asked and then answered the question “How are we to achieve that prophetic destiny as ‘the fully anointed university of the Lord’?”. You can access the talk here.

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A Certain Idea of BYU | Justin Collings | February 2022 Apr 18, 2024

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Justin Collings, associate dean and professor in the BYU Law School, delivered this devotional address on February 1, 2022. Collings encouraged BYU students to seek holiness, learning, rev- elation, the best gifts, Christlike exemplars, and, above all, the Savior Himself. Collings’s devotional touches on many of the themes in Envi- sioning BYU. As such, it provides a fitting preface for this volume as well as a primer for all the volumes in the series. You can access the talk here.

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Becoming BYU: An Inaugural Response | C. Shane Reese | September 2023 Apr 11, 2024

Show notes

Becoming BYU means balancing scholarship and discipleship, building covenant communities, and having the courage to be different. C. Shane Reese, president of Brigham Young University, delivered this address at his inauguration on September 19, 2023. You can access the talk here.

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