Harper is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served a mission for the LDS Church in Canada Winnipeg Mission.[ 1]
Harper earned his B.A. in history from BYU in 1994. While a student at BYU he worked as an editorial assistant at BYU Studies William E. McLellin for publication.[ 2] M.A. in American history from Utah State University in 1996, and a Ph.D. in early American history from Lehigh University in 2001.[ 3] graduate studies Harper also took a summer seminar in Latter-day Saint history directed by Richard L. Bushman .[ 4]
He taught history and religion at BYU-Hawaii from 2000 to 2001 and joined the faculty in the Department of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah , in 2002. Since that time he has also served as an editor of The Joseph Smith Papers [ 3]
At the start of 2019 Harper became editor-in-chief of BYU Studies Quarterly
Harper, Steven C. (2005). Joseph the Seer . Provo, UT: Harper Publishing. ISBN 0-9773879-0-9 —— (2006). Promised Land: Penn's Holy Experiment, the Walking Purchase, and the Dispossession of Delawares, 1600-1763 Lehigh University Press . ISBN 0-934223-77-7 —— (2007). The Word of Wisdom . Setting the Record Straight. Orem, UT: Millennial Press. ISBN 978-1-932597-43-1 —— (2008). Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants: A Guided Tour Through Modern Revelation . Salt Lake City: Deseret Book . ISBN 978-1-59038-921-8 Smith, Joseph Jr. (2009). Harper, Steven C.; Jensen, Robin Scott; Woodford, Robert J. (eds.). Revelations and Translations: Manuscript Revelation Books . The Joseph Smith Papers (Facsimile ed.). Salt Lake City: Church Historian's Press . ISBN 978-1-57008-850-6 Harper, Steven C. (2019). First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins . New York City: Oxford University Press . ISBN 978-0-19-932947-2 Harper has also been co-editor of Prelude to the Restoration: Apostasy to the Restored Church with Fred E. Woods , Andrew H. Hedges , Patty Smith and Thomas R. Valletta. In 2010 Preserving the History of the Latter-day Saints that he co-edited with Richard E. Turley, Jr. was published. In 2012 Exploring the First Vision that he co-edited with Samuel Alonzo Dodge . In 2008 Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: The Pacific Isles that Harper co-edited with Fred E. Woods, Reid L. Neilson , Craig K. Manscill and Mary Jane Woodger was published.
Harper, Steven C. (Spring 2000). "The Restoration of Mormonism to Erie County, Pennsylvania" (PDF) . Mormon Historical Studies 1 (1): 3– 19. —— (Winter 2000). "Infallible Proofs, Both Human and Divine: The Persuasiveness of Mormonism for Early Converts". Religion and American Culture 10 (1): 99– 118. doi :10.1525/rac.2000.10.1.03a00040 . —— (2002). "Drawing Lessons From a Life: William McLellin, 1831-1832". Lives of the Saints: Writing Mormon Biography and Autobiography . Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History . —— (2002). "Van Wagoner's Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Biographical Excess" FARMS Review 14 (1): 261– 74. doi :10.2307/44795406 . JSTOR 44795406 . —— (2003). "Nothing Less Than Miraculous: The First Decade of Mormonism in Mongolia" . BYU Studies 42 (1): 19– 49. —— (2003). " . BYU Studies 42 (2): 5– 22. —— (2003). "Trustworthy History?" FARMS Review 15 (2): 273– 308. doi :10.5406/farmsreview.15.2.0273 . —— (2004). "Delawares and Pennsylvanians After the Walking Purchase". Friends and Enemies in Penn's Woods: Indians, Colonists, and the Racial Construction of Pennsylvania . Pennsylvania State University Press . ISBN 0-271-02384-8 —— (2004). "Elizabeth Harris". New Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press . —— (2004). "Endowed with Power" (PDF) . The Religious Educator 5 (2). [permanent dead link —— (2004). "Thomas Müntzer and the Radical Reformation". Prelude to the Restoration, 33rd Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium Deseret Book . pp. 59– 69. ISBN 1-59038-329-X —— (2005). "On the Eve of the First Vision". In Susan Easton Black ; Andrew C. Skinner (eds.). Joseph: Exploring the Life and Ministry of the Prophet . Salt Lake City: Deseret Book . ISBN 1-59038-471-7 —— (2005). "Susan Easton Black ; Andrew C. Skinner (eds.). Joseph: Exploring the Life and Ministry of the Prophet . Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book . ISBN 1-59038-471-7 ——; Milton V. Backman, Jr. (Spring 2005). "History is People, Places, Sources, and Stories: An Interview with Milton V. Backman Jr" (PDF) . Mormon Historical Studies 6 (1): 99– 122. —— (2005). "John W. Welch ; Erick B. Carlson (eds.). Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844 Brigham Young University Press and Deseret Book . pp. 327– 71. ISBN 0-8425-2607-2 the original on 2010-06-26. Retrieved 2010-03-01 . ——; Richard Neitzel Holzapfel (2006). " . BYU Studies 45 (2): 112– 16. Archived from the original on 2010-04-08. —— (2006). "Manscill ; Craig James Ostler (eds.). Ohio and Upper Canada Religious Studies Center . pp. 39– 52. ISBN 0-8425-2653-6 —— (Summer 2006). "Journal of the Early Republic 26 (2): 275– 304. doi :10.1353/jer.2006.0026 . S2CID 144432177 . ——; Mark B. Nelson (2006). "The Imprisonment of Martin Harris in 1833" . BYU Studies 45 (4): 113– 19. Archived from the original on 2011-06-09. ——; Jordan Watkins (2007). " . BYU Studies 46 (1): 95– 100. Archived from the original on 2011-06-09. —— (2007). "Mormon Authority and Identity in America". In Trepanier, Lee (ed.). Democracy, Pluralism, and Utah . Cedar City: Southern Utah University Press . ISBN 978-0-935615-22-7 —— (2008). "Andrew H. Hedges ; J. Spencer Fluhman; Alonzo L. Gaskill (eds.). The Doctrine and Covenants: Revelations in Context: The 37th Annual Brigham Young University Sidney B. Sperry Symposium Religious Studies Center . pp. 212– 28. ISBN 978-1-60641-015-8 the original on 2010-03-13. Retrieved 2010-03-01 . —— (2008). "The Rich Man, Lazarus, and Doctrine & Covenants 104:18" . BYU Studies 47 (4): 51– 54. Archived from the original on 2011-06-09. —— (Fall 2008). "Mormon Historical Studies 9 (2): 1– 16. —— (2009). "Oliver Cowdery as Second Witness of Priesthood Restoration". In Alexander L. Baugh (ed.). Days Never to be Forgotten: Oliver Cowdery (PDF) . Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah: Religious Studies Center , Brigham Young University and Deseret Book . pp. 73– 90. ISBN 978-0-8425-2742-2 [permanent dead link 
