Craig J. Ostler

Craig James Ostler is a historian and was a professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. He retired in 2020. With Susan Easton Black and Joseph Fielding McConkie, he created much of the Virtual Historian material. He co-wrote Revelations of the Restoration with McConkie. He has also been a co-editor of the compilation of the Sperry Symposium talks on at least three occasions, including The Doctrine and Covenants: A Book of Answers : The 25th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium. He also co-edited Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint History: Ohio and Upper Canada and co-wrote Salt Lake City: Ensign to the Nations: Hallowed Ground, Sacred Journeys.

Before coming to BYU, he taught in the Church Educational System. He directed many BYU Travel Study Tours throughout the United States to American heritage and Church history sites, as well as through Israel, Egypt, and Jordan.

Ostler holds degrees from BYU, including a PhD.

Ostler and his wife, Sandy, have seven children. He and his family lived in Jerusalem while he was a faculty member at the BYU Center for Near Eastern Studies. 

He served as a missionary in the Colombia Bogotá Mission and has served as a bishop once and as a high councilor twice.