View source for J. Wyley Sessions

'''James Wylie Sessions''' (11 December, [[1885]] – 21 April [[1977]]) was the first [[Institute of Religion]] director in [http://comeuntochrist.org The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]. He was sent in 1926 by [[President of the Church|church president]] [[Heber J. Grant]] to head the Institute of Religion in Moscow, [[Idaho]]. Sessions later served as the head of the church's mission home in [[Salt Lake City]], [[Utah]] for many years.

In 1921, Sessions became the [[Mission president|president]] of the Church's South African Mission, succeeding [[Nicholas G. Smith]].<ref>[[Andrew Jenson]], ''Latter-day Saints Biographical Encyclopedia'', vol. 4, p. 167.</ref> Sessions continued in this position until 1926, when he returned to Utah and almost immediately was sent to direct the institute in Idaho. Over the next decade, Sessions set up Institutes of Religion at several universities in the western United States. He believed that institutes should offer strong academic classes, social interaction, and be housed in permanent and respectable buildings.<ref>Cowan, Richard O. ''The Church in the 20th Century'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1985) p. 115.</ref> In 1935, Sessions was serving as the institute director in Pocatello, Idaho.<ref>J. Wylie Sessions, [http://gospelink.com/next/doc?book_doc_id=240629 "The Latter-day Saint Institutes"], ''[[Church Magazines|Improvement Era]]'' (1935).</ref>  

From 1939 to 1947, Sessions was the head of the Division of Religion at [[Brigham Young University]].

==Notes==
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==References==
*[[Arnold K. Garr|Garr, Arnold K.]], [[Donald Q. Cannon]] and [[Richard O. Cowan]], ed., ''Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History'', pp. 541, 1090.

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[[Category:American Latter-day Saints]]
[[Category:Brigham Young University faculty]]
[[Category:Missionaries in South Africa]]
[[Category:Missionaries in the United States]]