Brigham Young University’s Board of Trustees recently approved the renaming of BYU’s Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (ISPART) to the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
“By renaming ISPART, BYU honors the memory and life’s work of Elder Maxwell,” said BYU President Cecil O. Samuelson. “This change firmly sets the future direction of the institute, which is to promote profound scholarship supporting the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ--something Elder Maxwell cared about deeply.”
Elder Maxwell served The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 23 years as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “He was an articulate voice of reason and revelation--the consummate disciple-scholar who served the church and the people of the world,” said Andrew C. Skinner, executive director of the Maxwell Institute.
“The scholars associated with the Maxwell Institute are honored to come under the umbrella of Elder Maxwell’s name,” Skinner added.
Cory Maxwell, son of Elder and Sister Maxwell, said his family is pleased by this development and honored that Elder Maxwell’s name is being associated with that to which he devoted his life.
For more than 25 years, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) has been conducting research and publishing books and periodicals that have both furthered scholarship and made friends for the university and the Church of Jesus Christ. Five years ago FARMS was joined by the Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (CPART) and the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI) to form ISPART.