Testimonies (Why I Believe)

LaMar C. Berrett: 'My Testimony Is Built on a Study of the Prophet Joseph Smith' (1952-1992)

1950s · 1960
Provo, Utah (Brigham Young University)
LaMar C. Berrett

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LDS Witness Archive

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LaMar C. Berrett (1924-2007) served a forty-year professional career in the Church Educational System and in Religious Education at Brigham Young University (1952-1992). In a long life of painstaking historical labor, he charted and preserved the sites of Church history and the records of the Restoration. When asked about the fruit of so many years of study, he announced, 'My testimony is built on a study of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I'm a believer.' His life is a faith-promoting witness that honest and patient study of the Prophet's life does not erode faith but builds it, and that a scholar may spend a lifetime in the archives and yet, at the end, bear the testimony of a believing Saint.

Sources & References

'Conversations with Mormon Historians,' Interpreter Foundation (https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/conversations-with-mormon-historians); 'LaMar C. Berrett,' Religious Studies Center, BYU (https://rsc.byu.edu/conversations-mormon-historians/lamar-c-berrett); 'Pinpointing history,' Church News (May 5, 2001); LaMar Cecil Berrett obituary, Serenicare (Aug 25, 2007).

Miracles of the Restoration
A collection of faith-affirming accounts from the Restoration era to the present day.