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Brown Bag Wrap-Up

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The last five brown bag lectures of 1999 covered a range of interesting topics related to Bible and Book of Mormon studies. Sponsored by FARMS, these noontime lectures at BYU continue to keep the campus community and others abreast of current research on the scriptures.

Internal Textual Evidence For The Egyptian Origin Of Nephi’S Name, Matthew L. Bowen

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

A proposed etymology of the Book of Mormon name Nephi is that it derives from the ancient Egyptian word nfr,1 which as an adjective means “good,” “fine,” or “goodly” and as a noun denotes “kindness” or “goodness.”2 By Lehi’s time, this word was probably pronounced “ne˘fe¯” (NEH-fee).3 Two Book of Mormon passages contain strong evidence for such an etymology.

New Review A Double Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The latest FARMS Review of Books is actually two issues in one. It reviews 15 books in the usual categories of Book of Mormon, Mormon studies, and biblical studies but also devotes more than 100 pages to a multipronged response to an evangelical book titled The New Mormon Challenge: Responding to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement.

Jbms Welcomes New Editor

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Institute welcomes S. Kent Brown as the new editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. A professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University and former associate editor of the Journal, Brown is its third head editor.

New Volume Honors Truman G. Madsen

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The distinguished career of Truman G. Madsen has earned him wide respect in and outside of LDS circles as an outstanding teacher, scholar, researcher, speaker, university administrator, church leader, and religious ambassador. With the publication of Revelation, Reason, and Faith: Essays in Honor of Truman G. Madsen, the Institute pays tribute to this remarkable man whose many accomplishments include helping to advance Book of Mormon scholarship and related interests of the Institute.

Joseph Smith Right On Target, New Book Shows

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In his writings over the years, Hugh Nibley has often pointed out “hits” and “bull’s-eyes” in the Book of Mormon—details about the ancient world that were unknown until recent times but that Joseph Smith got right anyway. Serious Book of Mormon research took shape in the early 1900s but has accelerated in recent decades, establishing an entire field of scholarly endeavor and yielding many clues to the book’s ancient origins.

Hiding The Secret Plans, John A. Tvedtnes

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Second Conference of Abbot Serenus 21, written about A.D. 426 by the Christian scholar John Cassian, sheds light on statements made in the Book of Mormon and the Book of Moses about Cain, who slew his brother Abel.

Scholars Speak At Fair Conference

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Scholars from BYU spoke at the recent FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research) LDS Apologetics Conference held in August at Utah Valley State College, in Orem, Utah. FAIR, which is not affiliated with BYU or the Institute, is an organization dedicated to defending LDS beliefs and practices with sound scholarship. The theme of the conference was "Turning Stumbling Blocks to Stepping Stones: Responding to Challenging Issues in Mormonism."

New Book Enriches Nt Study

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

A new book from FARMS offers a world of information about the New Testament and its background. Charting the New Testament contains scores of charts, tables, and graphs, each with helpful explanatory and reference materials in a reader-friendly format. Covering a wide array of topics-from the ancient Jewish setting of the New Testament and the world of the Greeks and Romans in which the activities of Jesus and his apostles took place to detailed analysis of the scriptural text itself-the book offers an extensive overview of matters doctrinal, literary, and historical. A companion volume to Charting the Book of Mormon, …

Hugh Nibley Audiotape Collection

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

FARMS has released volumes 3, 4, and 5 of an ongoing audiotape collection of essays titled Preparing for the Millennium, by renowned Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh W. Nibley. Read by Lloyd D. Newell, the audiotapes feature four essays from Nibley’s Approaching Zion and three essays from another volume in his collected works, The Prophetic Book of Mormon.

Egyptian Writing On Gold “Plates”, John Gee

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

A recent issue of a popular journal on ancient Egypt discusses a number of sheets of gold foil incised with Egyptian writing. These artifacts provide some interesting parallels to the Book of Mormon.

Nibley Fellowship Application Deadline, Guidelines

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Each year at about this time we remind graduate students about the Nibley Fellowship Program. Those interested in applying for the first time or who wish to renew their fellowships for the 2002/ 2003 academic year must do so by 30 June 2002.

New Book A Milestone In Mormon Studies, Louis C. Midgley

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Latter-day Saint scholar Terryl L. Givens has recently made two extraordinary contributions to Mormon studies. The first, Viper on the Hearth: Mormons,Myths, and the Construction of Heresy, was published by the prestigious Oxford University Press in 1997 and received virtually uniformly glowing reviews. If one wishes to understand the complex of interests and motivations—pecuniary, personal, and ideological—that fuel both sectarian and secular anti-Mormonism, Viper is the book to consult. The editors at Oxford appreciated the merits of this well-written, informative book and invited Givens to publish again with them. The result is By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture …

‘Scourged’ Vs. ‘Scorched’ In Mosiah 17:13, Royal Skousen

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Very often in my work on the critical text of the Book of Mormon, I have discovered cases where the text reads inappropriately. Book of Mormon researchers have typically attempted to find some circumstance or interpretation to explain a difficult reading, but in many cases I have found that difficult readings are actually the result of simple scribal errors.

Book Of Mormon Word Usage: “Seal You His”, John Gee

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The verb to seal occurs some 34 times in the Book of Mormon. In most of these instances the verb takes (is followed by) a direct object referring to such things as the law, a book, records, words, an account, an epistle, an interpretation, revelation, the truth, and the stone interpreters. Twice, however, the verb to seal takes a person as a direct object that is qualified by a possessive pronoun:

Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be …

Latest Review Rolls Off Press

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The FARMS Review of Books has a long tradition of providing its readers with insightful and substantive reviews of books on the Book of Mormon, Mormon studies, and Christian studies, as well as those books that attack the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The latest issue does not disappoint. It contains reviews and responses to 18 books or articles on diverse topics, such as ancient Nephite culture, the conversion of Alma, hidden ancient records, the temple, the LDS concept of the nature of God, and the ark of the covenant.

Forthcoming Publications

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The FARMS Review (vol. 15, no. 2), edited by Daniel C. Peterson, features reviews and articles on DNA issues, the Mountain Meadows massacre, and secret combinations, as well as responses to a so-called insider’s view of Mormon origins. Available February 2004.

Byu Journal Explores Hebrew Law In The Book Of Mormon

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In February 2001, a conference titled “Hebrew Law in the Book of Mormon” was held at Brigham Young University under the sponsorship of FARMS (see “BYU Conference on Hebrew Law a Success,” Insights 21/4 [2001], available on the FARMS Web site). Among the papers presented there were studies by seven BYU students on aspects of ancient law that might be reflected in the Book of Mormon. These papers are now available in a special issue, copublished by FARMS, of the student journal Studia Antiqua. They treat such topics as slavery, the Noachide laws (minimum standards of social and moral conduct …

New Reader’S Edition Of The Book Of Mormon, Louis Midgley

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

With the recent publication of The Book of Mormon: A Reader‘s Edition, Grant Hardy has provided the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a remarkable new version of their founding text. Although Hardy gears his book to a broad readership, those who truly love the Book of Mormon, seek to be serious students of it, or both will find A Reader’s Edition well worth owning. Why? Because in this edition the text is displayed not in verse format but in discrete, sub-headed sections of greater length with ease of reading the end in view.

Investigating New World Volcanism At The Time Of Christ’S Death

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

A recent article in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies reported that ice cores taken from Greenland and Antarctica yield evidence broadly consistent with the 3 Nephi 8 account of cataclysmic New World events—presumably including a violent volcanic eruption—at the time of Christ’s death (Benjamin R. Jordan, “Volcanic Destruction in the Book of Mormon: Possible Evidence from Ice Cores,” JBMS 12/1 [2003]: 78–87). What other methods might yield corroborating evidence of
such an eruption? Two possibilities are the analysis of tree rings and sea and lake sediments.

“O Ye Fair Ones”: An Additional Note On The Meaning Of The Name Nephi, Matthew L. Bowen

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

An earlier Insights article noted a possible wordplay in the first verse of the Book of Mormon that provides internal textual evidence that the name Nephi derives from the Egyptian word nfr. While nfr denotes “good, fine, goodly" of quality, it also signifies “beautiful, fair” of appearance. Assuming that at least some senses of the Egyptian word passed into Nephite language and culture, this second sense of nfr may have influenced Nephite self-perception. Several Book of Mormon passages evidence the affiliation.

A Call For Emendations, Royal Skousen

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

As I have been working on the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, people have
occasionally written or talked to me about passages in the Book of Mormon that seem strange or difficult. A good many have made specific suggestions about emendations (or revisions to the text). Surprisingly, a large percentage of these have ended up being correct or have led me to come up with an appropriate emendation.

The New World Promised Land’S Economic Base

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

A majority of people in the modern world are absorbed in performing their daily work, conceived in terms of jobs, money, food, and other things practical and economic. Would it have been different for the Nephites or Lamanites? Not really. The center of their daily concerns, too, was “making a living.” But what that meant differed greatly from what we mean by the expression.

Institute Researchers Share Findings At Lds Apologetics Conference

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Three Institute researchers were among the speakers at the fifth annual FAIR conference, held August 7–8 at Utah Valley State College, in Orem, Utah. Founded in 1997, the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research is a nonprofit
corporation dedicated to providing sound information and research that support the doctrine, beliefs, and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, particularly on matters that are challenged by unbelievers.

Confession Of Sins Before Execution, John A. Tvedtnes

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Alma 1:15 records the execution of Nehor for the murder of Gideon: And it came to pass that they took him; and his name was Nehor; and they carried him upon the top of the hill Manti, and there he was caused, or rather did acknowledge, between the heavens and the earth, that what he had taught to the people was contrary to the word of God; and there he suffered an ignominious death.

Etruscan Gold Book From 600 B.C. Discovered

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Bulgarian National Museum of History in Sofia, Bulgaria, recently placed on public display an ancient book comprising six pages of 23.82-karat gold (measuring 5 centimeters in length and 4.5 centimeters in width) bound together by gold rings. The plates contain a text written in Etruscan characters and also depict a horse, a horseman, a Siren, a lyre, and soldiers. According to Elka Penkova, who
heads the museum’s archaeology department, the find may be the oldest complete book in the world, dating to about 600 B.C.

Jacob’S Connections To First Temple Traditions, Kevin Christensen

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In a previous report I showed how the Book of Mormon’s portrayal of Nephi, son of Lehi, compares favorably to a preexilic Hebrew wisdom tradition reconstructed by biblical scholar Margaret Barker.1 This report highlights further connections between the Book of Mormon and traditions from ancient Israel that Barker asserts “have been lost but for the accidents of archaeological discovery and the evidence of pre-Christian texts preserved and transmitted only by Christian hands.”

Forthcoming Publication

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The FARMS Review (vol. 15, no. 1), edited by Daniel C. Peterson, contains reviews of a FARMS publication titled Uncovering the Original Text of the Book of Mormon: History and Findings of the Critical Text Project, Terryl L. Givens’s study of the Book of Mormon titled By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture That Launched a New World Religion (published by Oxford University Press), three books on the Book of Abraham, and an evangelical critique titled The New Mormon
Challenge, initially treated in the last Review. The FARMS Review (formerly FARMS Review of Books) also includes a study of …

Institute News

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Institute appreciates opportunities to facilitate meaningful scholarly discussion of Mormon studies. One recent instance was its cosponsorship of a conference titled “God, Humanity, and Revelation: Perspectives from Mormon Philosophy and History,” held at the Yale University Divinity School on 27–29 March. The event featured more than two dozen scholars and authors, including several Latter-day Saints. A report of the conference will appear in the next issue of Insights.

Nephi, Wisdom, And The Deuteronomist Reform, Kevin Christensen

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Biblical scholar Margaret Barker has argued that Judaism was reformed initially in response to the discovery of the “book of the law” (2 Kings 22: 8; 2 Chronicles 34:14) in King Josiah’s time (reigned 640–609 B.C.) and later in response to the destruction of the Israelite monarchy and the experience of the exile. Those reforms were carried out by a priestly group known to scholars as the Deuteronomists, credited with editing the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings (to celebrate Josiah and to address aspects of later Jewish history) and leaving a distinct imprint on the Hebrew Bible.