tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43545756381727317612024-02-02T11:55:55.701-08:00LDS StudiesA personal study of Mormon scripture, doctrine, history and culture.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-78591938705305808112018-09-03T10:42:00.003-07:002018-09-03T10:45:46.312-07:00Abraham - Prophet, Priest, and King
Marvin Sweeney's essay on form criticism provides an interesting perspective on Genesis 15 and specifically, the various forms or genres present in the chapter depicting Abraham as a prophet, priest, and king. Looking at the literary markers in the chapter and the "comparative identification of typical language forms in the text that appear elsewhere in biblical and ancient Near Eastern Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-62307403459051047862018-08-12T15:01:00.003-07:002018-08-12T15:01:34.660-07:00
Hugh Nibley grew up with our children. We were always Uncle LeGrand and Aunt Ina to him.
His mother told me that he read the Book of Mormon eleven times by the time he was twelve years old, and then commenced studying it. He says it is the greatest book in the world.
While he was teaching at the Brigham Young University, I asked President Wilkinson how he got along with the other faculty Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-60985840045845221642018-07-25T12:24:00.001-07:002018-07-25T12:24:23.792-07:00Ancient Near Eastern Metallurgy
Dan Levene and Beno Rothenberg wrote about "Tin and Tin-Lead Alloys in Hebrew and Jewish Aramaic,"1 which may have some indirect relevance to the plates of the Book of Mormon. They write that tin, in its metallic, unalloyed form was traded as early as the middle of the third millennium BCE. They then mention archival material from Anatolia recording "a flourishing trade in tin ingots andUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-25712049085873036352017-11-19T09:27:00.002-08:002018-03-28T16:22:50.187-07:00Allusive Soundplay in the Hebrew Bible
From Jonathan Kline, "What ultimately underlies the biblical writers' use of allusive paronomasia to express their conceptions about God and his relationship to humanity is a belief in the power of language that permeated the world in which the Bible arose. On the broadest level, then, by focusing on the way the biblical writers used allusive paronomasia to harness language to great Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-27730033245705487102017-05-22T14:47:00.003-07:002017-05-22T14:47:57.267-07:00Centralized Temple Worship in Israel?
It is often argued that "temple worship" outside of Jerusalem was beyond the boundaries allowed by the Torah (or Pentateuch). H.L. Ellison, however, argues that this argument is relative:
The dominant view both in Jewish and Christian circles that passages like Deut. 12:5-7, 11-14; 16:2; 26:2 demand one exclusive central sanctuary is probably incorrect. A comparison of Deut. 12:14 and 23:16 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-80916440342239455702017-04-20T19:43:00.003-07:002017-04-20T19:43:48.896-07:00Reading Scripture in Context
"When we study God's word, over time we realize that the intent of the author may be different from what we intuitively understand in a contemporary context. The more we learn about the ancient Near East, the more we are confronted with the perspective of the original audience. We learn to reflect on how God spoke to a specific people in a specific time according to their understanding and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-12404443169261326702016-11-14T13:30:00.002-08:002016-11-14T13:31:02.244-08:00Holiness and the Temple
Thomas King's study of the priestly literature in the Pentateuch includes discussion of holiness and the temple. His description of ancient Israelite belief and practice resonates strongly with the restored Gospel teachings, including latter-day temple worship. He writes:
Another foundational theme implicit in P is the concern for personal holiness, especially reflected in relationship to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-36078642161553829872016-09-11T15:50:00.002-07:002016-09-21T11:00:50.989-07:00Noah and the Flood - Elder Mark E. Petersen
A number of years ago I had made a goal that I would obtain every book written by or about the Apostles and Prophets. This is still mostly true. There are some books, however, that I'm okay reading once and clearing out of my library, including Elder Mark E. Petersen's set of books on individual prophets and other Biblical and Book of Mormon figures.
Noah and the Flood is a short Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-26822059565976324192016-06-27T16:58:00.002-07:002016-07-03T22:53:31.676-07:00"When Joseph Smith Saw a Vision of Heavenly Mother" Corrected
LDS Living posted an article claiming that Joseph Smith saw a vision of Heavenly Mother. The same problematic information was related by Fiona Givens (as posted by Jana Riess) at Flunking Sainthood (with Religion News Service). I worry that this little "discovery" will make its rounds throughout the Bloggernacle and be received uncritically. The problem with the assertion, at least in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-6065379485546833372016-06-18T02:32:00.003-07:002016-07-12T11:40:12.807-07:00The Book of Mormon "Pride Cycle" and Deuteronomy 8
President Ezra Taft Benson has been a strong influence upon the membership of the Church with respect to appreciation for the Book of Mormon. His enthusiasm for this book of scripture is encouraging and inspiring, and this enthusiasm is apparent in a number of his conference talks. One of his conference talks seems to have permeated Mormon consciousness more than others though and that is hisUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-90107967274243257602016-05-31T19:35:00.002-07:002016-06-01T10:34:56.232-07:00Book of Mormon Geography - Benjamin Winchester Part 3
The previous Times and Seasons editorial provided a lengthy extract from Stephens and Catherwood's Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. The author of that editorial believed that the structures found in Palenque provided incontrovertible evidence in support of the Book of Mormon. In the same volume and issue of the Church-owned newspaper as the last editorial, this Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-53035558384385741932016-05-31T18:49:00.003-07:002016-05-31T18:59:03.451-07:00Book of Mormon Geography - Benjamin Winchester Part 2
In the previous post I discussed the first editorial in the Times and Seasons wherein Stephens and Catherwood's book was referenced as supporting the Book of Mormon. It was noted that the writer of the editorial actually understood Ohio, Tennessee, and Central America as locations supporting the Book of Mormon. Each of these locations seemed to contribute to the general term "this continent"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-15038527705958502992016-05-23T13:56:00.001-07:002016-05-23T15:12:55.844-07:00Book of Mormon Geography - Benjamin Winchester
I've read the first several chapters in Moroni's America and there are several points raised that I'd like to address; however, I will be returning to most of those points in a separate post. In the meantime, I wanted to comment on the Times and Seasons editorials regarding John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood's book, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-60405615433825606472016-05-17T11:49:00.002-07:002016-05-18T11:29:09.756-07:00Book of Mormon Geography - Entering the Discussion
I've never cared that much about Book of Mormon geography. I do care about Book of Mormon historicity though, and the concern about where the narrative in the Book of Mormon took place has immediate relevance to the concern that it did take place. Nevertheless, geography has always been tangential to my primary interests, and like many others I've been comfortable with the assumption that Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-73397071876537643342016-05-10T12:32:00.004-07:002016-05-10T12:33:51.348-07:00Richard Bennett on Oliver Cowdery's Return
"It is not without consequence that Oliver Cowdery, "the second elder" of the Church (D&C 20:3), fell away and was excommunicated from the Church during the dark and troubling days of Kirtland, Ohio, and Far West, Missouri, in 1838. The details of his disaffection and excommunication are perhaps not as important to this study as are his return and rebaptism. Thanks to the intrepid effortsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-69793865713671149642016-05-10T10:52:00.002-07:002016-05-10T10:52:41.837-07:00Richard Bennett on Joseph Smith's "First Vision" Environment
"A close examination into the nature of the revivals near Palmyra in 1820 does reveal "a strife of words" and "a contest about opinions" (Joseph Smith-History 1:8); however, not all the revivals were of the circus variety, full of zealous sermonizing, converts barking up trees or baying like dogs, and women swooning in trancelike devotion. Most of the revivals took on the personality and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-73690026907501050242016-03-31T13:28:00.001-07:002016-03-31T13:29:27.926-07:00Richard Bennett on the Book of Mormon Translation
"It would appear that the process was less one of decoding or deciphering the precise meaning of the individual characters and inscriptions found on the plates, as Champollion had so painstakingly done with the Rosetta Stone, and more one of discerning the meanings conveyed thereon and then, in addition, transforming such meanings into acceptable King James Bible literary English. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-57548996951326052842016-02-28T23:28:00.003-08:002016-02-29T15:10:26.624-08:00No Greater Sacrifice - Steven Shields
This book by Steven L. Shields is a compilation of discourses by Latter-day Saint leaders on the atonement and plan of redemption. Since I'm trying to clear out some of my library, the purpose of this post is to basically reproduce his entire book here by linking to the articles and discourses that Shields' provides in No Greater Sacrifice:
"The Plan of Redemption," The Evening and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-69311383356634038482016-02-22T19:18:00.000-08:002016-02-22T19:20:36.385-08:00Covenants and Salvation - Joseph F McConkie
Two quotations worth preserving from this book:
"President Harold B. Lee said, "That person is not truly converted until he sees the power of God resting upon the leaders of this Church, and until it goes down into his heart like fire." (CR, April 1972, p. 118)."1
"Significantly, there are no group ordinances in the Church. All covenants are made on a personal basis. It does not matter what Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-86251676301379698852016-02-20T20:08:00.003-08:002016-02-20T20:09:56.019-08:00Witnesses of the Book of Mormon - Preston Nibley
Preston Nibley's Witnesses of the Book of Mormon is primarily a compilation of information about the witnesses to the Book of Mormon plates. The book contains minimal narrative, thus its value is based on the depth of resources providing biographical and other information about the witnesses. Since scholarship over the last several decades has produced numerous sources on the witnesses, the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-82836477954040897032016-01-31T18:05:00.003-08:002016-01-31T18:09:02.465-08:00First Temple vs. Second Temple: "Comparisons and Contrasts"
R.T. Beckwith provides a good summary of the some of the changes that took place from the First Temple to the Second Temple in terms of physical objects within the sanctuary:
The information which we are given about the Second Temple is not sufficient to enable us to compare it in detail with Solomon's Temple, though a comparison of Ezra 6:3 with 1 Kings 6:2 indicates that it was twice Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-13293291791705530882015-11-25T11:40:00.003-08:002016-05-01T13:27:30.607-07:00"Let us go up": Nephi's Literary Allusion to the Exodus and the Temple
Several LDS authors have pointed out the prevalent usage of the Exodus motif in Book of Mormon texts. S. Kent Brown, for example, observed that "The memory of Israel's exodus from Egypt runs so deeply and clearly in the Book of Mormon that it has naturally drawn the attention of modern students."1 Joseph Spencer, citing George Tate, points out that the importance of this theme Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-9677692628952694142015-11-16T01:43:00.003-08:002015-12-16T10:30:37.724-08:00Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin, Part 2: Theological Exegesis on Leviticus
A superficial understanding of the Bible emphasizes the New Testament at the expense of the Old Testament by simply discounting these scriptures as having been superseded. The notion that Christ changed the law to effectively relegate the Hebrew Bible as though it no longer had relevancy is to assert ignorance regarding the Savior's exegesis on Psalms, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, and other Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-79631338378714491092015-10-31T15:48:00.001-07:002015-11-02T11:03:43.876-08:00Keeping the Faith
Elder Clayton’s General Conference address earlier this year in April summarized the story of Sailor Gutzler, a 7 year old girl who was the sole survivor of an airplane crash. Her family was on a small private airplane, returning home to Illinois from a vacation in Florida. The airplane, which was piloted by Sailor’s father, began having engine trouble as they crossed over from Tennessee intoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354575638172731761.post-5836668559328086692015-10-31T12:03:00.000-07:002015-11-02T11:08:01.460-08:00Temple Worship in Ancient Israel
With sacrifice playing such a large role in temple worship throughout the scriptures, one may wonder what other purposes the temple may have served. Certainly it served as a locus for prayer. Donald W. Parry wrote an article regarding a possible reference to a prayer circle in Psalm 24. In Psalm 27:4 reference is made to inquiring of the Lord within the temple. Robert Fyall, in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1