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Full-Text Articles in Religious Education
Farms Book Of Mormon Research Highlighted
Farms Book Of Mormon Research Highlighted
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
During a recent meeting of the FARMS Development Council, four principal investigators on Book of Mormon–related projects reviewed the status of their ongoing work. The reports clarified each project’s goals, highlighted new findings, noted future directions, and expressed appreciation for the crucial support of generous donors, many of whom were in attendance. A summary of the presentations follows.
Forthcoming Publications
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part 1,by Royal Skousen, is the first part of volume 4 of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. Covering the title page through 2 Nephi 10, it analyzes every significant variant in the original and printer’s manuscripts and in 20 important editions of the Book of Mormon (from the 1830 edition to the 1981 edition). The task of this volume is to use the earliest textual sources and patterns of systematic usage to recover the original English-language text. Available August 2004.
Was Aminadab A Zoramite?, Matthew Roper
Was Aminadab A Zoramite?, Matthew Roper
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In one of the more moving narratives found in the Book of Mormon, a group of Lamanites are miraculously prevented from killing the prophets Nephi and Lehi in a prison. The Lamanites and Nephite dissenters are then redeemed from their own spiritual bondage when they are converted to Christ.
The Archaic Vocabulary Of The Book Of Mormon, Royal Skousen
The Archaic Vocabulary Of The Book Of Mormon, Royal Skousen
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In my work as editor of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project (which began in 1988), I was initially interested in discovering the original English-language text of the book. But I soon came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to fully recover the original text by scholarly means, in large part because only 28 percent of the original manuscript is extant. In addition, there are obvious errors in the original manuscript itself that require conjectural emendation. As I have worked on the text of the Book of Mormon, I have come to some surprising conclusions regarding the …
Making The Case For Cultural Diffusion In Ancient Times
Making The Case For Cultural Diffusion In Ancient Times
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Old theories die hard in academia, at least when they are entrenched and have been defended intellectually with fervor. Only with overwhelming evidence to the contrary does the institutional status quo crumble and make way for new theories to find legitimacy within the academic mainstream. Illustrative of this struggle for acceptance in the academy has been the contest between the establishment position that ancient American civilization evolved in complete independence from the Old World and the “cultural diffusion hypothesis.” The latter proposes that American societies did not arise and develop in total isolation but were stimulated by connections from the …
Wordplay On The Name ‘Enos’, Matthew L. Bowen
Wordplay On The Name ‘Enos’, Matthew L. Bowen
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In his analysis of Mosiah 1:2–6 and 1 Nephi 1:1–4, John A. Tvedtnes notes that in many instances “Nephite writers relied on earlier records as they recorded their history.”1 He makes a convincing argument that the description of King Benjamin teaching his sons “in all the language of his fathers” (Mosiah 1:2) is modeled on Nephi’s account.
Latest Findings In The Book Of Mormon Critical Text Project
Latest Findings In The Book Of Mormon Critical Text Project
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
These are the best of times for Book of Mormon studies. Since 2001, FARMS (now part of the Maxwell Institute) has been publishing the long-anticipated findings of Professor Royal Skousen’s Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. Each massive volume in this landmark study, appearing on a yearly basis, averages nearly 670 oversize pages of research and analysis that reward careful examination with expanded views of the founding text of Mormonism.
Occasional Papers Spotlights The Book Of Mormon
Occasional Papers Spotlights The Book Of Mormon
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The latest issue of the Maxwell Institute’s Occasional Papers (number 5 in the series) focuses exclusively on what Joseph Smith called “the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion”—the Book of Mormon. As M. Gerald Bradford, editor of the series and associate executive director of the Maxwell Institute notes, “the papers in this volume show that the Book of Mormon can be studied and understood from a wide variety of scholarly disciplines.”
Book Of Mormon Critical Text Project Continues With New Volume
Book Of Mormon Critical Text Project Continues With New Volume
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Maxwell Institute and Brigham Young University are pleased to announce the release of part 4 of volume 4 of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon. Part 4 analyzes the text from Alma 21 to Alma 55.
New Book Features Work Of Poet, Theologian, Daniel C. Peterson
New Book Features Work Of Poet, Theologian, Daniel C. Peterson
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Maxwell Institute’s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative has released the newest book in its Eastern Christian Texts series, a bilingual Syriac/English edition of Select Poems of Ephrem the Syrian. From the second to the eighth century ad, when Arabic supplanted it, Syriac was a major literary language across the Middle East; it is essentially a Christian form of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, the original apostles, and the first Jewish Christians.
New Appointment For Editor Of Dead Sea Scrolls Electronic Library
New Appointment For Editor Of Dead Sea Scrolls Electronic Library
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Donald W. Parry, Brigham Young University pro fessor of Biblical Hebrew and longtime contribu tor to the work of the Maxwell Institute, has been appointed as an editor for a new edition of Biblia Hebraica, the standard critical edition of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). He is one of about two dozen wellestablished Hebrew scholars from the world wide community also serving as editors for this new edition, and one of three from the United States.
Mentoring Students At The Maxwell Institute
Mentoring Students At The Maxwell Institute
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
We have all felt the excitement that comes from seeing a great scholar at work, whether in the classroom or the archives. No less palpable is the thrill of a personal encounter with the past through direct contact with ancient texts or artifacts. Most of us can trace our fascination with the ancient world back to just such a personal encounter. One of our roles at the Maxwell Institute is to help inspire the next generation of young scholars. We do this by providing opportunities for BYU students to work directly with Institute scholars on new research, and thus to …
Journal Of The Book Of Mormon And Other Restoration Scripture: New Issue Released
Journal Of The Book Of Mormon And Other Restoration Scripture: New Issue Released
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The second issue of the Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture for 2012 features five articles that delve into aspects of words in the Book of Mormon. The cover design reflects that unifying theme and presents word in various languages and scripts.
What’S In A Name? Sebus, Paul Y. Hoskisson
What’S In A Name? Sebus, Paul Y. Hoskisson
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
When I first began studying Book of Mormon proper names more than 30 years ago, the name Sebus appeared to present a Gordian knot. Hebrew words, like other Semitic words in gen- eral, are most often built on a structure of three different consonants. This language feature emphasizes the consonants and their sequence and order. The problem with Sebus is that its first and third consonants, /s/ and /s/, are the same— something that is extremely rare in any Semitic language. That being the case, for a long time I shelved any attempt to etymologize Sebus.