John W. Welch

“It is with great pleasure that I add my voice of congratulation and commendation in honor of Stephen Ricks. As friends, colleagues, collaborators, and coauthors, we have been blessed to think alike, and our lives have crossed paths in university assignments, church callings, family education, and scholarly pursuits. From the first moment we met in Oxford on Stephen’s way home from his mission in Switzerland, I knew that his heart, mind, and soul had been prepared, raised up, and refined to contribute in many brilliant ways to correctly aimed scholarship in the kingdom of God. Dynamically, whole-heartedly, and even whole-mindedly, Stephen was one of the first of a crew of recently minted PhDs to join ranks with the new FARMS organization in the early 1980s. Along with earning tenure and excelling in his departmental responsibilities, Stephen distinguished himself in many areas of scriptural, linguistic, historical, and spiritual religious studies, especially in the Book of Mormon, the Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament. It is in recognition of his wide-ranging contributions in so many areas that I pay tribute to him through the following widely based reflection on the parable of the prodigal son.” John W. Welch

Abstract: It is natural to wonder how the day on which Jesus was crucified could come to be known as Good Friday. In this exploration of the topic, John Welch examines the many events which occurred on that fateful day and the meaning they have for us today.

The following article was published in the Regent University Law Review in the first number of its 2008-2009 volume, pages 79-103. The article is reprinted here by permission without any substantive modifications. Because law reviews are not easily available on the Web or elsewhere to most readers, I am pleased to give wider exposure to this first foray into the idea of a Mormon jurisprudence. Regent University is an Evangelical Christian institution.