Russel B. Swensen

RUSSELL B. SWENSON is Professor of History at Brigham Young University, where he teaches courses in Greek and Roman history and thought. He has written over forty books and articles that have been used as Church manuals or printed in Church periodicals.

Mormons at the University of Chicago Divinity School: A Personal Reminiscence

Articles/Essays – Volume 07, No. 2

It was in the year 1930, after an unusual “calling” from the Church, that I made a momentous personal decision: to enter the Divinity School of the University of Chicago and work toward the Ph.D. degree in Biblical Studies. I had been teaching seminary for four years, but now, impressed with the need for greater understanding of the background of the Scriptures and convinced that I could make my best contribution to the Church only after studying under the finest Biblical scholars in the country, I became one of several Church educators who decided to take what, for a Mormon, would be a most unusual step. What follows are my personal reminiscences concerning why we went to the Chicago Divinity School, what we did there and the ultimate value of this experience.