2nd Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction

The Book of Mormon: brief theological introductions #2

by Terryl L. Givens

"I have seen a vision, in which I know that Jerusalem is destroyed . . ."

In the wake of epic cataclysm, Nephi launches a second book of writings. Inspired by the prophet Isaiah’s remark­able account of the scattering and gather­ing of God’s covenant people, Nephi aches to reassure his family by providing a clear understanding of their unbroken place in God’s designs. Interweaving history, theology, and prophecy, Nephi brings together the covenant’s ancient roots and its future fulfillment, orienting everything around the person of Jesus Christ.

In this brief theological introduction, Terryl Givens echoes Nephi’s invitation for readers to keep Christ front and center in their minds, hearts, and wor­ship. Givens finds clear emphasis on the Redeemer’s healing atonement, the promise of resurrection, the necessity of oppositional strife and of agency wisely employed, and other plain and precious truths lost or obscured by time. Above all, Nephi presents essential elements of the doctrine of Christ, emphasizing repentance as a lifelong process of heart reeducation, and of scripture as a re­source for spiritual succor and personal revelation.

Jerusalem is destroyed. But all is not lost.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Lds, Theology, Faith, Mormonism, Church

116 pages, Paperback

Published April 14, 2020

About the author

Terryl L. Givens was born in upstate New York, raised in the American southwest, and did his graduate work in Intellectual History (Cornell) and Comparative Literature (Ph.D. UNC Chapel Hill, 1988), working with Greek, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and English languages and literatures. As Professor of Literature and Religion, and the James A. Bostwick Professor of English at the University of Richmond, he teaches courses in Romanticism, nineteenth-century cultural studies, and the Bible and Literature. He has published in literary theory, British and European Romanticism, Mormon studies, and intellectual history.

Dr. Givens has authored several books, including The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Oxford 1997); By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion (Oxford 2003); People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture (Oxford 2007); The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford 2009); and When Souls had Wings: Pre-Mortal Life in Western Thought (2010). Current projects include a biography of Parley P. Pratt (with Matt Grow, to be published by Oxford in 2011), a sourcebook of Mormonism in America (with Reid Neilson, to be published by Columbia in 2011), an Oxford Handbook to Mormonism (with Phil Barlow), and a two volume history of Mormon theology. He lives in Montpelier, Virginia.

Reviews

[Christopher Angulo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book had an excellent chapter on covenants. Terryl Givens take on Zion has always been illuminating, and he doesnt disappoint in this book. For the average reader, this will be an excellent starter into the beast that is 2nd Nephi, and will definitely help make the Nephi's writing more enjoyable and less daunting.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. 2 Nephi is TOUGH. I loved the framing of the book around 1) Nephi and his family grappling with the destruction of Jerusalem and 2) how traumatic and unmooring that must have been for them. This also gave me a much deeper appreciation of other theologies and faith traditions. I think the only reason I’m not rating this higher is my own intellectual shortcoming - did I mention 2 Nephi is TOUGH? ;) I struggle to engage with it. But if you want to make that struggle just a little bit easier, this intro from Givens is a good place to start.

[Bryan Sebesta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book by Terryl Givens. The previous book in the series, Spencer's volume on 1 Nephi, was more of a close-read: picking apart important sections of the book, while also reviewing the larger structure of the book, to get at Nephi's intent. Givens' volume is more free-ranging and thematic. Some of Givens' previous work is remixed, but in novel ways; and there are some excellent exegetical insights throughout. The last chapter is especially dense.

[Jenny Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent thematic introduction to 2 Nephi, centered around an exploration of covenant and Christ. Givens has treated these themes in other works, but here they are distilled in a way that increases their potency. When he asks question about the text itself, they are thought-provoking (why split 1 and 2 Nephi this way, for example, and what does that tell us about Nephi’s understanding of his project?); I only wish he’d found a way to do more of this throughout.

[Tyler Critchfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great thought-provoking perspective on many doctrinal themes in 2 Nephi. I'm really enjoying this series so far. Each book is short (maybe 2-3 hours of reading) yet both I've read so far are full of powerful insights.

[Lisa Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Givens is a great writer. I understand the new, and everlasting covenant like I never have before. This book isn't closely tied to the text, but it worth reading anyway.

[Dan Call · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Spencer's grand slam with 1st Nephi, Givens is up to bat now with his contribution to the "Brief Theological Introductions" to the Book of Mormon series from the Maxwell Institute. Each volume begins with the same concise series introduction, which serves as a baseline from which we can partially evaluate to what degree it accomplishes the larger mission: authors illustrate ways in which we as a church may not yet have grasped the Book of Mormon's "divine architecture;" an assortment of scholarly and devotional perspectives are marshaled to show us the book's inexhaustible semiotic capacity; and the aim that these books be a "joint invitation to readers to engage scripture in their own way."
It was important for me to keep this in mind as I read this second text, since it's difference in tone and content from the first entry was jarring at times. Givens' perspective tends towards the cosmic, and he makes the case that 2nd Nephi is intentionally packed with covenant theology, meant to orient individuals and societies toward a relation to God. He does this well, particularly with his clever observation about a glaring fact that most readers never bother to ask: why is there a 2nd book, instead of one continuous narrative? (Side note: polling your own friends and family with this same question is a great exercise in pushing them to think about the writer and his intentions!) Boiling down the answers he's found is his work in most of the rest of the volume, and the results are fairly convincing: this portion of the Book of Mormon is about reteaching the Lehites their understanding of *the* Covenant, both correcting some erroneous beliefs they brought from Jerusalem, and reassuring them that, even in the wake of the cataclysmic bombshell their patriarch drops on them, "all is not lost."
The author's style would fit in nicely with the best works by Neal A. Maxwell and Hugh Nibley, which is both comforting in it's towering command of literature, and sometimes disappointing for it's distance from those of us on the ground. For instance, Mormondom is replete with offshoot groups that seem to reenact the "Jerusalem is destroyed/corrupt, but we have been chosen to carry on the covenant" motif - take the Westover family in "Educated," for example. In another section, he beautifully explains Lehi's teachings that sin is it's own form of punishment (p. 75), but stops short of bringing the implications of this closer to home: how might we use this knowledge to dismantle our cultural and ecclesiastical practice, alive and well in many congregations, of finding, shaming and punishing sinners? But these limitations are at least partially anticipated in the title itself: Brief introductions can only do so much, so we shouldn't be expecting an exhaustive exposition. And with this in mind, by offering us such a different volume in this series, written in his own hard-earned idiom, Givens accomplishes the task nicely, leaving ample space for the other authors in this stellar lineup to step up and surprise us with their own readings of the keystone of our religion.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little book provides some of the most essential insights into understanding the Book of Mormon’s unique place in Christian thought. Although focused only on the second book of Nephi, it illuminates the theology of the restoration in condensed form.

[Peter Andrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of Book of Mormon insight I love. It's thoughtful, deeply researched, and vision-expanding. The discussion about the new and everlasting covenant being eternal is amazing. I enjoyed how he explains that some people view the Old Testament as a story of God's failed covenant with Israel, and the New Testament as his backup plan in Jesus Christ. As Latter-Day Saints, we know that isn't the case, and that Jesus Christ was ordained from before the foundation of the world.

What a marvelous little book. So much insight and light packed into such a tiny package. Bravo Bro. Givens!

Also, this is the first book I've ever read on Kindle.

[Jenicca Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had some great insights. I enjoy that each author has their own approach to the text.

By far the most impactful thing for me about this book was the focus on covenants. God’s covenant with us is not a fragile thing. Despite the Nephites being displaced from the land of their inheritance three times in a matter of generations, separated from home and family, the covenant prevails. God prevails. We get worked up about how things will work out when family goes astray or when the promises given to us by God don’t turn out the way we expected. We can learn from the faithful Nephites and faithful early Latter-Day Saints- trust in God. He will always keep his eternal promises.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terryl Givens continues to be a treasure. I appreciated his insights on how the "lost and lonesome people" of Lehi's family are still part of the covenant people of God. His remarks on baptism as adoption (what I take to be mutual agreement and acknowledgment of one's place as a child of God) and scripture as a way to make Christ real were also helpful.

Even though this is an introduction to 2 Nephi, it is also a very good introduction to many key points in Latter-Day Saint theology. If anyone is ever interested in this, Givens is always a good place to start.

[Aaron White · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first Terryl Givens book & loved every page. Wonderful insight into what has always been for me the most difficult book from the Book of Mormon to read. His few pages on Baptism are some of the best insights into Baptism that I have ever read:

"Baptism is the first formal ordinance that sets in motion our incorporation into this new kind of relationship to Heavenly Parents. to Christ as our personal healer & redeemer from death, & to a larger community of brothers & sisters.

[Brad Rees · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great doctrinal intro to 2nd Nephi and a highlight of the old covenant, the new covenant, and what those mean in the broader context of Christ’s coming.

The purpose of the book is to teach the everlasting covenant and to persuade the reader to believe in Christ.

[Courtney Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a privilege to read anything Terryl Givens writes. This second publication in the Maxwell Institute’s Brief Theological Introductions series is not as strong as the first book because it does less of a close reading and looks at the text on more of a macro level. Even then, it will nudge you to look at the text in new ways and grow in your love and appreciation for 2nd Nephi

[Hollie Andrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeper insights into 2 Nephi, yes please. This book opened my eyes to new insights-and finishes with a beautiful sermon on Jesus Christ and building a personal relationship with Him. I highlight key pieces in each book in this series and kept asking myself “what DON’T I highlight?” Each sentence was that good. I feel I need to read this again and again to get it to sink in more.

[RK Bitton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed. Probably not as engaging as the first volume but it is a completely different book. It is marvelous to see just how much scholarship exists out there and the heavy footnotes illustrates that. The reframing of concepts like repentance was enlightening.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think one of the most repeated refrains I see in comment threads in the bloggernacle is that our Church meetings generally lack the vibrancy and ability to deeply engage with the scriptures and ideas in ways that can stimulate interest and growth.  As Terryl L. Givens put it in a recent interview, “one of the main reasons we’re losing people is that we’re boring them to death.”  The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship is one organization that is working to provide resources that provide thought-provoking discussions, deep thought, and spiritual growth to members of the Church.  One of their most ambitious projects this year has been the production of a series of short books discussing the Book of Mormon—the Brief Theological Introductions to the Book of Mormon series.  I recently finished Terryl Givens’s 2nd Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction, and really enjoyed the experience of reading it.

I suspect that the purpose of the series is partly two-fold—to excite people about the richness of our scriptural cannon and to introduce the work of some of the great minds at the Institute’s disposal to a broader audience. (Though certainly not all of those great minds—I was disappointed to realize that Philip Barlow would not, in fact, be giving us a 467 page discussion of Amaleki’s 18 verses, for example.)  Terryl Givens is certainly a heavy-weight hitter in that category, having published significant volumes about both the Book of Mormon (By the Hand of Mormon and The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction) and Latter-day Saint Theology (Wrestling the Angel, Feeding the Flock, etc.).  In fact, the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology once called him “the most prolific, best known, and, perhaps, most important Mormon theologian writing today.”  That is high praise, but has a fair amount of truth to it.

This book is a small, quick read and rather than going through the text of Second Nephi comprehensively, it addresses major issues brought up in 2 Nephi in four main chapters.  The introduction focuses on the idea that Nephi split his book into two parts, diving them at the point where it is announced that Jerusalem has fallen.  Givens uses this as the setup to say that the “tasks that Nephi launches in his second book” are that he “has to clarify and reaffirm to his people their place within covenantal history, after the cataclysm of Jerusalem’s fall. And he must teach the full meaning of a covenant. … He has to bring together the covenant’s ancient roots and its future fulfillment, centering and orienting that covenant around the person of Jesus Christ.”  The first chapter follows up on this by discussing the Everlasting Covenant, putting the Abrahamic Covenant into the context of being an expression of a covenant made between God and humankind in the premortal existence that is “the master framework that encompasses the entire gospel.”  The second chapter discusses how the Abrahamic covenant continued to apply to Lehi’s family even though they were no longer living in the Levant land promised to Abraham, developing the idea of a “movable land of promise” and that “Zion is not dependent on place,” as also demonstrated in history of the modern Church.  Thus, the first two chapters focus on the first of Nephi’s goal, the reaffirmation of Lehi’s people (and ours) within covenantal history.

The other two chapters are oriented around Jesus Christ and the Gospel as articulated in 2nd Nephi.  The third chapter discusses the Christocentric nature of the text, particularly addressing the issue of foreknowledge about the Christ among the Nephites hundreds of years before his birth (pre-Christian Christians).  The fourth and final chapter dwells on important “points of theological clarity and correction [that] emerge” through Nephi’s efforts to discuss the covenant and affirm Jesus as the Christ.  These points are: “the fall as fortunate, the principal of opposition, teachings on atonement, the centrality of agency, and the doctrine of Christ.”  This last chapter was, perhaps, the most interesting part for me, as it laid the groundwork for some interesting discussion about atonement and Jesus the Christ as “our present Hope and Healer.”

The style and content of the book resembles previous works by Givens (though I'll hasten to point out, that’s not a bad thing).  For example, his discussions of the Everlasting Covenant and baptism are similar to what is found in Feeding the Flock.  His discussion of pre-Christian Christians resembles the discussion of the same topic in The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction.  His discussion of agency and atonement has a fair amount in common with what he discusses in both his essay in the Oxford Handbook of Mormonism and the book co-written with his wife Fiona, The Christ Who Heals.  The book also follows Givens’s established style of turning to the revelations, writings, sermons, and experiences of Joseph Smith to flesh out his ideas and using other Western thinkers and theologians as foils to compare them against.  While the discussion is rooted in 2 Nephi throughout, much of it is handled as 2 Nephi illuminated though the broader lens of the Restoration.

One area of the book that I felt could have been strengthened was the discussion of Isaiah in 2 Nephi.  In one interview, Givens expressed that he hoped “to at least provide a pretty good explanation of why Nephi puts such emphasis on Isaiah and how we might more willingly embrace the challenge of trying to make Isaiah relevant to ourselves in our situation today.”  He does make that effort on at least two occasions in the book, indicating that Nephi quotes Isaiah to his family to reaffirm that “they had not been abandoned by God and that their people would be brought back into God’s fold.”  He follows this statement with a list of themes in the Isaiah texts of 2 Nephi that support that goal.  Later, while talking about feasting on the word, Givens discusses how Nephi appropriates Isaiah, working “to adapt Isaiah’s words to his people’s particular predicament … repurposing them to fit a people and place Isaiah may never have had in mind.”  There was, however, very little discussion of what Isaiah may have had in mind when the text was written (Assyria, for example, isn’t a word in the book).  A discussion of that original context could have been used to strengthen the discussion of how Nephi adapts Isaiah.  Givens also does little to grapple with contemporary scholarship about Isaiah.  For example, rather than addressing issues of what parts of Isaiah are truly Messianic when viewed in context, Givens simply states that: “Contemporary biblical scholarship may dispute the extent to which Isaiah’s prophecies are Messianic; however, Nephi explicitly invokes Isaiah because ‘he verily saw my Redeemer’ and ‘my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ.’”  Saying it that way felt a bit blithe when compared to, say, Joseph Spencer’s discussion of the issue in The Vision of All.  Thus, I think my only real complaint about the book was that there wasn’t more investment in discussing Isaiah’s place in Second Nephi.

I recognize, however, that the book is intended to be brief, touching on topics enough to show new ways to read the text and sharing interesting thoughts to chew on while studying the text for ourselves.  Terryl Givens’s book hits the mark on those accounts.  The prose throughout the book is beautiful and the discussion is stimulating and interesting.  I feel like the discussion of the Atonement is the centerpiece of the book and that it goes beyond some of ways that Terryl Givens has approached the topic before.  There was a greater emphasis on the idea of the Atonement of Jesus Christ being an at-one-ment or reconciliation with God.  As Givens writes, “The word atonement should not serve primarily as a description of heroic sacrifice—but as description of the product, the outcome, of that sacrifice. Atonement is not a legal term referencing reparation or ransom or payment for sin … it refers to a mode of being that the sacrifice is meant to accomplish.”  There is also greater emphasis on the importance of being grateful for the resurrection provided through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.  For example, after quoting Jacob’s rhapsody of praise about the greatness of God in providing the resurrection (2 Nephi 9:8-13), Givens remarks that: “The atonement addresses sin as well as death; but—as we might expect in a text that was not filtered through a traditional Christian lens—abundant life, not forgiveness, is the focus” in Second Nephi.  There is a lot of rich discussion about atonement in the book—more than I can or should cover in a brief review, but that discussion is a huge part of what makes the book a gem.

So, in brief, I recommend picking up a copy of Terryl Givens’s 2nd Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction.  It’s a quick read and well worth the time and (the very affordable) cost.  It does a lot of great contextualizing of Second Nephi and drawing out the richness of the theology presented by Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob in the second book of the Book of Mormon and making that theology and their experiences relevant to a Latter-day Saint audience.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

With this book I've now finished half of the 12 books in the brief theological introduction series. Prior to reading this book, 4 of the 5 books I had finished provided me new insights and significantly expanded the way I understand and think about the text.

This one does not rise to the same level. Instead of digging into the text and helping me get into Nephi's head, it explores the state of Christian thought in the early 1800s and how the doctrines set forth by Nephi expand upon and correct that thought.

There are some important points made and it is not a bad book, just not what I am looking for with this series. It falls somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me so I've been generous and rated it a 4.

Notes I took while reading:

Context: Jerusalem had been destroyed. Nephi's writings are all about the covenant.

Christians of Joseph Smith's time saw the old covenant (emphasizing obedience to the law) and the new covenant (emphasis on grace) as very distinct. The book of Mormon collapses these into one everlasting covenant.

After the destruction of Jerusalem, Lehi "immediately acts to recalibrate his family's understanding and expectations with regard to their place in the covenant"

Covenant was largely tied to place in that old testament

Nephites were driven out of homes and lands multiple times

Zion is not dependent on place. The focus changed from a promised place to a promised people.
We follow the same covenant path that Nephi outlined for his people.

We need to make our knowledge of Christ and His atonement personal and experiential.

Mosaic law and Christian worship are intermingled in the book of Mormon rather than opposed or successive covenants.

The Restoration was not as much about correcting particular doctrines or practices as much as it was about restoring their cosmic context. E.g. losing sight of the fact that the fall was necessary and premeditated.

Nephi associates a commitment to life of discipleship with feasting upon the word of Christ. We should feast but with a clearly intended pattern: we find in the scriptures our personal path to Christ.

[alisonwonderland (Alison) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gained some great insights into what I consider some of the most important topics of the Book of Mormon, the Fall of Adam and Eve and the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Two of this series down, ten to go. I listened to this one, excellently read by Bruce Lindsay.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never disappoints

Givens shares his remarkable scholarship pointing the reader, as always, to Christ. He makes the work of other great scholars and theologians accessible. There is brightness and hope in his writing!

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are wonderful and I can't wait to read and reread all of them.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one wasn't as impressive to me as 1st Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction. A lot of the material in it was of the "yeah, I knew that" variety for me. It is very well written, with a good structure and a lot of references to theologists from different traditions throughout history that not only place 2 Nephi within a broader theological context, but also show how remarkable and important its contributions are.

Givens organizes his four chapters around showing how 2 Nephi exemplifies the purpose of the Book of Mormon given on the title page. Chapter 1 is about what the new and everlasting covenant is, chapter 2 is about how Nephi showed his people through extensive quoting of Isaiah that they were not cut off from the Lord, chapter 3 shows how 2 Nephi contributes to convincing the world that Jesus is the Christ, and chapter 4 is about plain and precious things restored in 2 Nephi.

They're all good, but chapter 4 is where Givens contributed most to my understanding. He has a discussion on the Fall of Adam and Eve and how restoration theology is so very different from prevailing Christian thought on the purpose of the fall and its relationship to Christ's Atonement. In connection, he talks about how the Fall was necessary to give mankind the ability to choose, and quotes scriptures in 2 Nephi 2, including verse 26 that proclaims that because of the Atonement, men are "free forever". Even though this verse ends with the assertion, repeated elsewhere in 2 Nephi 2, that they're not free from the punishment of the law, these verses have always bothered me because they seem awful close to unconditional grace. I just never understood what Lehi was talking about when he said men were free forever.

Givens places it in the context of the chapter. The freedom he's talking about is freedom to determine our destiny. Because of the Fall, mankind gained the ability to make choices between good and evil with eternal consequences. Without the Fall, there were no choices to be made, and no change in condition. In addition, the Atonement gives us the opportunity to choose to forsake our bad choices and choose good eternal consequences instead of evil. Of course, that's in verse 27 right after the verse with that phrase that bugged me. Most people probably got this already, because it's pretty plain in the text, but, despite reading these verses several times in my life, it was this book that helped me put together these concepts and understand what Lehi was saying. For that I'm grateful.

My appreciation to my friend Ryan, who gifted me this book.

[Paul Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful take on 2 Nephi, which tackles several structural questions, including:
1. Why is there a 2 Nephi? Why did Nephi feel compelled to write two books instead of one?
2. Why did Nephi quote so much from Isaiah? What was he hoping accomplish?
Terryl Givens's central theme is that the Book of Mormon unifies what the Bible bifurcates. The division of the Bible into Old and New Testaments (covenants) gives the impression that something changed with the ministry of Jesus Christ, that a new relationship was established between God and His children which is fundamentally different from the prior relationship. The Book of Mormon tells a different story, bridging both time periods and intermingling Old Testament teachings with testimonies of Jesus Christ.
Parts 2 and 3 of this 4-part book provide a vivid illustration of that principle. Givens points out that two of the purposes of the Book of Mormon (as defined on the Title Page) are borrowed from 2 Nephi:
1. To help us understand that we are "not cast off," that God's covenants apply to us as they did to ancient Israel.
2. To convince us that "Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God."
The juxtaposition of these two purposes exemplifies the unity of the covenant. As Givens explains, "Only when one recalls the eternal nature of the everlasting covenant do these two propositions not only coexist logically but they become indissolubly connected."
In part 4, Givens provides a number of observations on doctrines in 2 Nephi, including the fall, the atonement of Jesus Christ, agency, and opposition.
It's easy to read 2 Nephi as a collection of related but disparate writings: Lehi's final counsel to his sons, Jacob's sermon to the people of Nephi, an extended excerpt from Isaiah, and Nephi's explanation of Isaiah's words. With this brief introduction, Givens identifies the overarching purposes of the book. In doing so, he has not only helped me see 2 Nephi as a unified whole, he has also demonstrated how 2 Nephi lays the foundation for the rest of the Book of Mormon.

[William Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terryl Givens is a well-known Latter-day Saint author and theologian, whose work I am familiar with despite not having read any of his longer-form works, so I was expecting scholarly, thought-provoking writing, and I was not disappointed.

Givens has a literary and scholarly style, unsurprisingly, and though I am a student of both literature and theology I did not find this as accessible to begin with as I would have liked, especially in comparison with Spencer’s Brief Theological Introduction for 1st Nephi which I read earlier in 2024. Spencer gave a helpful overview of the structure and context of the book he covered, which Givens does not do as comprehensively, and I think this volume would have been improved if it included such a treatment. Instead, he devotes himself to the main purposes of 2nd Nephi as he understands them: the eternal nature of the covenant with God, the hope of redemption through Christ, and the evangelizing mission of Nephi and subsequent Book of Mormon authors to persuade others to believe in and come into Christ. Each of these receives a brief treatise of their own, followed by a grab bag of “plain and precious” truths that 2nd Nephi features that are lost in other Christian scripture.

This last section is where I felt Givens’s insights really shine and the portion of the volume that had the biggest impact on my own understanding of certain verses and teachings, providing a unique and well reasoned perspective that added layers of meaning to my own testimony and knowledge. Givens very skillfully relates each of his insights to the central, Christ-centered purposes he elucidates earlier in the book, and contextualizes them in a way that makes for straightforward understanding and possible, practical implementation where appropriate.

I have enjoyed this series very much so far—I can’t wait to continue and see what further, fresh insights I can glean from these writers. Like with Spencer’s work, I am now eager to pick up some of Givens’s other writing.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading the first volume on 1st Nephi, I was expecting this second volume to focus on the text of 2nd Nephi, examining things we can learn from that book's structure and primary content. Instead, this volume takes a different route, focusing on the what Latter-Day Saints believe about the main themes found in 2nd Nephi, using teachings from Joseph Smith and other early church leaders, as well as quotes from other authors of the Book of Mormon and from other volumes of restoration scripture. While informative, this approach was not quite as insightful as that in the prior volume covering 1st Nephi. Additionally, this volume seemed to have been rushed through the writing and editing process, particularly the first chapter, which contains a few typos and is apparently missing several footnotes. Givens has still written with his usual beautiful style, presenting many thought-provoking concepts, backed up by some great historical insight. I particularly enjoyed his discussion of the collapse of the distinction between an old and a new covenant between God and man. I definitely plan to purchase and read future volumes.

[conor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terryl Givens’ 2nd Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction is structurally quite different from Joe Spencer’s volume on 1st Nephi, demonstrating the flexibility and openness of the ‘theological introduction’ as an approach to The Book of Mormon. The approach that Givens uses resonates less with me than Spencer’s minute, close reading. What Givens offers here is more of a broad overview of what 2nd Nephi is doing, highlighting major theological questions that drive the text and providing some insight into various large concerns of Nephi’s text. The volume does carry over the interest and engagement that Spencer shows with the importance and centrality of ‘covenants’ to both books.

Once again, I find myself eager to read the next volumes in the series (particularly since I’ve listened to the authors’ conversations with Blair Hodges on the Maxwell Institute Podcast). This volume provides some interesting framing for 2nd Nephi that promises to provoke further insight as I wrestle with it in my return to the scriptural text and that seems to be precisely what such books should do.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bias acknowledged: I am drawn to Given’s writings. I am drawn to this series.

Why:
• The search for truth has been and continues to be an unceasing passion.
• Discerning misconception, bias, and error, irrespective of its source is necessarily part of that passion.
• Givens and other authors of this series seem similarly impassioned to seek precise meaning beyond sometimes-too-oft-or-too-quickly-stated therefore-lightly-or-wholly-misconceived truth.
• And he / they are willing to “risk” exploration from which I infer a right-mindedness regarding truth seeking.

Thus is more fully revealed “The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men.”

The Spirit of Truth.

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although excellent, I didn't think this volume catered to my personal interests as well as Joseph Spencer's take on 1 Nephi in volume one of the series. While Spencer leveraged textual analysis to tease out specific themes and insights in 1 Nephi, Givens focus much more on the big picture in this book. Spencer descended into the narrative to pick it apart and repackage it; Givens seems to use the text merely as a jumping off point for theological exposition. One likely reason for this difference is that 1 Nephi runs much more centrally on a narrative thread than 2 Nephi. Nevertheless, I found Spencer's methods more interesting and fulfilling, personally, although Givens is very effective as well in this volume.

[A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, and this may be an unpopular opinion, but I didn't like this at all. I have really enjoyed a lot of other Givens' works, so this un-enjoyment came as a surprise and disappointment, but I felt like he blathered on forever, jumped around a lot, and used a lot of words to say very little. It was incredibly disappointing after how much I loved Joseph Spencer's 1st Nephi (I know they are different authors with different style, but it was more than jarring for me. Totally not my jam, and my husband didn't like it either).

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing to enjoy this series. Givens asserts that the purpose of 2nd Nephi is 1) to confirm to the people that they are still part of the covenant and 2) to testify of Christ. Highlights for me include the discussion of how the LDS concept of the Fall is defined here and separates us rather dramatically from the way other Christ-centered faiths perceive it. I also really enjoyed the discussion of what opposition in all things means in a broader sense, as well as how it relates to agency and the atonement.