Former BYU religion professor Robert J. Matthews, called the world's authority on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible by one LDS apostle, died Sunday, Aug. 30, of complications following open-heart surgery.

He was 82.

Almost always working quietly and behind the scenes, Matthews helped shape the way members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints study and worship. He played an important role with the committee that published a new LDS edition of the King James Version of the Bible in 1979. He made major contributions to a new Bible Dictionary included in that publication.

Matthews also served as a senior editor of "The Encyclopedia of Mormonism," published in 1991.



LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson was a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve in the 1970s when he headed the church's Scriptures Publication Committee with Elder Boyd K. Packer and Elder Bruce R. McConkie.

President Monson wrote in his journal about the importance of the new LDS edition of the scriptures: "I have said in private this is one of the major contributions during my service as a general authority."

It was Elder McConkie who called Matthews the "world's authority" on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible.

That 1979 LDS edition of the Bible, and every subsequent one, included excerpts from the Joseph Smith Translation in the footnotes.

In the 1950s, LDS church leaders and members looked with some suspicion on the printed versions of what church founder Joseph Smith said were inspired revisions to the King James Version.

The original manuscripts were owned by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now called the Community of Christ) and no Mormon scholar had inspected them.

A soft-spoken, unassuming man, Matthews worked tirelessly to gain the trust and friendship of several members of the RLDS Church and received permission to look at the original manuscripts. His work opened the door for use of the translation by the LDS Church.

Matthews was 17 when he first heard Elder Joseph Fielding Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve mention Smith's translation of the Bible during a KSL radio broadcast in July 1944. He said he felt prompted to study the subject.

"The real thing that triggered my interest in the JST," Matthews said in an interview with John Sorenson, an editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, "was a statement that Joseph Fielding Smith made on the radio when he quoted John 1:18: 'No man hath seen God at any time.' Then he said, 'That's not right. Joseph Smith corrected that verse by revelation.' I hadn't known that Joseph Smith had made some corrections in the Bible. Joseph Fielding Smith's statement penetrated me.

"By January 1946, I was on my mission. I asked my mission president about Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible and he said, 'Well, I don't know everything about it, but I know it is true.' This was Bruce McConkie's father. He said, 'I have heard Bruce talk about it.' None of us knew who Bruce was. Bruce was not a General Authority then. But my mission president told me, 'If you are interested in it, you ought to work on it. But not on your mission. Wait until your mission is over. Then if you want to do something about it, you can.' "

Matthews earned a bachelor's degree at BYU, then earned a master's degree there. His thesis was a "A Study of the Doctrinal Significance of Certain Textual Changes Made by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Four Gospels of the Inspired Version of the New Testament." He also earned his doctorate at BYU, and his dissertation formed the core of his seminal book, " 'A Plainer Translation': Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible."
Matthews was born Sept. 12, 1926, in Evanston, Wyo. He joined the BYU faculty in 1971, served as dean of Religious Education at BYU and was a professor of Ancient Scripture before his retirement in 1992.

Matthews served as the first president of the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple. He previously had served as a stake missionary, a full-time missionary to California, a high councilor, twice as a bishop, as president of the BYU 8th Stake, as a patriarch and as a member of the Adult Correlation Review Committee of the Church.

Mr. Matthews was honored on his 80th birthday in 2007 with the publication of a collection of essays -- "A Witness for the Restoration: Essays to Honor Robert J. Matthews" -- inspired by his wide-ranging interests and academic achievements.
He married the former Shirley Neves, with whom he had four children.