Skip to main content
Intellect

Brent L. Top new chair of BYU Church History and Doctrine Department

Dean Terry B. Ball of the Brigham Young University College of Religious Education has announced the appointment of Brent L. Top as chair of the Church History and Doctrine Department with Steven C. Harper as associate chair.

Top replaces Arnold K. Garr as chair, and Harper replaces John P. Livingstone as associate chair. The change was effective June 30, 2009, with Garr and Livingstone both returning to teaching and research within the department.

A professor of Church History and Doctrine, Top held the college’s endowed professorship in moral education from 2002 to 2004. He is a former president of the Illinois Peoria Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a former associate dean of Religious Education at BYU.

Prior to joining the BYU religion faculty in 1987, Top worked for the LDS Church’s Educational System as a teacher and administrator. He received a bachelor’s degree in history, a master’s degree in instructional media and a doctoral degree in instructional science and technology from BYU.

Steven C. Harper is an associate professor of Church History and Doctrine and an editor of the Joseph Smith Papers Project. He taught religion and history at BYU-Hawaii before joining the BYU faculty in 2002.

Harper graduated from BYU in 1994 with a major in history. He earned his doctoral degree in early American history from Lehigh University.

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Wildflowers not wildfires: How BYU and Provo City are helping to restore Rock Canyon Trailhead

July 10, 2025
At Rock Canyon Trailhead in Provo, Utah, BYU researchers are fighting fires with flowers. By replacing a problematic weed called cheatgrass with wildflowers, students and faculty are working to protect and restore one of Provo’s most popular hiking spots.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Wildfires in residential areas are on the rise; why hydrants and the water system behind them were never meant to stop those fires

July 01, 2025
BYU professor Rob Sowby teaches and studies environmental engineering, urban water infrastructure and sustainability. He has particular expertise in the planning, design, construction and operation of public water systems. That expertise has been increasingly important (and regularly sought out) in the wake of apocalyptic wildfires that have taxed those public water systems.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Meet the BYU math student helping make wildfire predictions faster and smarter

June 25, 2025
Using machine learning and math, a BYU student improved a key tool firefighters rely on during wildfire season
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=