BYU hosts multiple religious conferences every year with their most recent titled "For a Wise Purpose in Him" in honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland.
The Interpreter Foundation sponsored the conference to explore the purpose of the small plates of Nephi, which includes the writings from the first six books of the Book of Mormon, and why they are so important to modern scriptural canon.
Jeff Bradshaw, a board member for the Interpreter Foundation shared his testimony and some of the motivations behind the conference's theme.
"The small plates are something very, very special, we know they were created with a special purpose, God foresaw their being written long, long before and Nephi waited many years of his life to write them," Bradshaw said.
During the conference, researchers explored why Nephi created the small plates and how those writings shaped the narrative of the Book of Mormon.
Martin Harris, one of the original scribes of the Book of Mormon, lost 116 pages of the manuscript. However, the small plates of Nephi were included by the prophet Mormon in ancient times and the stories were preserved.
One of the presenters at the conference, Stephen O. Smoot, was an adjunct professor at BYU's department of ancient scripture and spoke about the Book of Jacob and how the myth of death and hell represented by a monster gave more credence to the veracity of the Book of Mormon.
"Could you imagine if our Book of Mormon started with King Benjamin's speech in Mosiah chapter one... imagine if we didn't have Lehi, Nephi, Jacob, that's what we would have without the small plates of Nephi," Smoot said.
Throughout the weekend, attendees gathered across campus for presentations, discussions and workshops focused on Book of Mormon scholarship.
"A big part of it is to network, to meet with colleagues and friends that have a similar interest and a similar passion in these topics…this is where you come to workshop what you're working on…" Smoot said.
Speakers were drawn from the article submissions to the Interpreter Foundation's weekly journal.
Daniel Peterson, the founder of the Interpreter Foundation, was a former professor at BYU in Islamic Studies and Arabic.
"Our primary criteria is not what your degrees are, but what you have to say, to back it up with whatever evidence you may have," Peterson said.
The Interpreter Foundation is devoted to Latter-day Saint scripture, issues, topics and history. They also publish an online weekly journal.
"Anyways, it's been a lot of fun to be involved with, and it's grown into something way bigger than i ever imagined, and so people ask me, how's retirement, and you know it would be fun to try," Peterson said.
What began as a small volunteer effort has grown into a major publication and a voice for promoting scholarship in church literature.
The Interpreter Foundation has many upcoming projects including a docuseries about the prophet Brigham Young and their next conference about temples in the New Testament.