Val D. Greenwood's Comments

My journalism career never materialized, for I spent the next nine years working first as a genealogist then as a college instructor. At age 34 and with a young family, I entered the University of Idaho law school, where I earned my Juris Doctor degree in 1974. By this time, I had written "The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy," a first-in-its-field textbook that is still going strong in its third edition. Today it is considered a classic.

Though I was admitted to the Utah Bar, I opted to work for the Genealogical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then transferred to the Temple Department in 1981; I retired as a director in 1999. During those years, I answered questions on both genealogy and temple issues for the Church’s Ensign magazine.

I love the scriptures, both to study and to teach them. I taught them at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) in the 1960s and 70s and at the Santa Barbara (CA) Institute of Religion while serving a mission with my wife in 2000 and 2001. Back in Utah in 2002, I became obsessed with the notion of writing Bible stories from an LDS viewpoint. And, as they say, the rest is history.

"How Often Would I Have Gathered You," my new book, contains 229 stories from the Old Testament. These stories are based on the King James Version of the Bible and are written specifically for adult and young adult Latter-day Saints. But they will also be of interest to anyone who wants to better understand the Old Testament.

The stories appear, as nearly as possible, in chronological sequence. The first story is the story of the Grand Council in heaven and the last story, from the book of Nehemiah, tells of some of the challenges faced by the Jews following their return from captivity. Most of the stories are short--one page or less. There are a few, however, that are three or four pages long. Some relate to only a small portion of one chapter in the Old Testament; others cover entire books.

The book contains a pronunciation guide and a chart showing the kings of both Judah and Israel from the division of Israel into two kingdoms until Judah was taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in 587 BC. The chart shows the approximate times in which each king served and lists those stories in the book that relate to the reign of each. Other study aids include a pronunciation guide, two indexes (one to names and the other to subjects), maps for geographical perspective, and original illustrations by Owen Richardson. There are also copious footnotes (not endnotes) that provide background and insight to the stories. There are also footnotes that provide cross-references between related stories.

Most of the stories use dialog to enhance their message--staying as close to the scriptural dialog as possible. The stories are both simplified and shortened where appropriate. I have made careful efforts to enhance but not to embellish or to fictionalize. I think you will like "How Often Would I Have Gathered You.