Professor John W. Welch has been appointed as the inaugural John A. Widtsoe Foundation Distinguished Scholar. He is the Robert K. Thomas Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, where he teaches courses on Joseph Smith and the Law, Biblical Law, and Tax-Exempt Organizations.
He grew up in Southern California and practiced law at O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles. A widely-published author, he is the founder of FARMS, the editor-in-chief of BYU Studies, and the originator of Book of Mormon Central. As the Distinguished Scholar, Welch will help shape and direct several current initiatives of the Widtsoe Foundation, giving them a rigorous depth and breadth of scholarship.
These initiatives will be made available to academicians and practitioners of faith-based studies, with the goal of enlarging the discussion about commonalities across faith traditions.