Readers awaiting this year's first number of the FARMS Review (vol. 21, no. 1) will be rewarded with a deep lineup of reviews and other essays on the Book of Mormon. Sure to heighten anticipation is a promised peek at Terryl Givens's in-press volume from Oxford University Press: The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction. Chapter 2, "Themes," will be featured in its entirety—a substantial excerpt from the 152-page work that will fill an important gap in Oxford's popular Very Short Introduction series. Review readers will enjoy other Book of Mormon—related fare as well: a literary interpretation of the death of Laban; a debunking of myths about the miraculous printing of the 1830 edition; a look at the record's literary sophistication in light of a biblical hermeneutic that grants legitimacy to repetition and allusion; and reviews of the seminal works The Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon, by John W. Welch, and the six-volume Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, by Brant A. Gardner.

In the area of biblical studies are two responses to British biblical scholar Margaret Barker's recent book Temple Themes in Christian Worship. Like her previous studies, this one is attracting the attention of Latter-day Saints who have found much of importance to consider in her exploration of Christian origins and her reconstruction of a "temple theology" traceable to Solomon's temple. Rounding out the Review are an assessment of Hugh Nibley's economic views related to the law of consecration, a refutation of one antitheist's attempted demolition of the Bible, a reprinting of eminent historian Martin E. Marty's 1989 lecture at Westminster College on the usefulness of the religious past, an editor's introduction by Daniel C. Peterson, and other assorted offerings now taking shape for publication later this summer.