The New World Promised Land’S Economic Base,
2022
Brigham Young University
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.
The Desert Libraries Of Timbuktu,
2022
Brigham Young University
The Desert Libraries Of Timbuktu
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution have opened an exhibit titled “Ancient Manuscripts from the Desert Libraries of Timbuktu,” the famous trading town at the edge of the Sahara Desert in Mali. The manuscripts include Qur’anic teachings, mathematics, physics, medicine, and astronomy.
Institute Researchers Share Findings At Lds Apologetics Conference,
2022
Brigham Young University
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.
Brown Bag Report,
2022
Brigham Young University
Brown Bag Report
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
With fall semester under way at Brigham Young University, we look forward to keeping you abreast of another round of Institute-sponsored brown bag lectures. These presentations, which are not open to the general public, enable researchers to share their expertise and findings with their peers in related fields and to receive constructive input. Following are reports of three such presentations from earlier this year.
Confession Of Sins Before Execution,
2022
Brigham Young University
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,
2022
Brigham Young University
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.
Full Issue,
2022
Brigham Young University
Full Issue
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Jacob’S Connections To First Temple Traditions,
2022
Brigham Young University
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.”
Latest Meti Book Probes Soul, Self-Knowledge,
2022
Brigham Young University
Latest Meti Book Probes Soul, Self-Knowledge
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
A parallel English-Arabic text of the Islamic philosophical work Iksir al-Arifin, or Elixir of the Gnostics, is the latest publication in the Islamic Translation Series, part of the Institute’s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative. The author, Sadr al-Din Muhammad Shirazi, better known as Mulla Íadrā (A.D. 1572–1640), is considered one of the greatest Islamic philosophers of the last 600 years and in recent years has become one of the most well known. Adept at finding flaws in the work of previous great thinkers, he was at the same time able to think independently of them, creating his own philosophical approach that …
Biblical Scholar Presents Lectures At Byu,
2022
Brigham Young University
Biblical Scholar Presents Lectures At Byu
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
During the week of 5–9 May, the Institute sponsored a visit by British biblical scholar Margaret Barker to Brigham Young University. Each morning, Barker offered a seminar (usually three hours in length) to a group of invited faculty and guests in which she summarized her research and numerous publications. She also delivered a university forum address during her stay, as well as an evening public lecture in the auditorium of the Harold B. Lee Library.
Full Issue,
2022
Brigham Young University
Full Issue
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Institute News,
2022
Brigham Young University
Institute News
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Noel B. Reynolds has been appointed director of the Institute. A professor of political science and a past president of FARMS, he recently completed a five-year term as associate academic vice president for undergraduate studies at BYU. Further coverage on this change in leadership will appear in a future issue of Insights.
The Baptism Of Little Children In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica,
2022
Brigham Young University
The Baptism Of Little Children In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Matthew P. Roper
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In a letter to his son Moroni, Mormon warns against the practice of baptizing little children. He identifies two false assumptions of his day used to justify infant baptism: little children are born with sin (see Moroni 8:8) and will suffer divine punishment in hell if they die without having been baptized (see Moroni 8:13). While the exact nature of this aberrant practice is unknown, it was apparently common enough among the Nephites of Mormon’s day to warrant swift and unequivocal prophetic censure. Mormon describes the rite as particularly wicked and erroneous in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Farms Review Probes Cowdery, Chosenness, Chiasmus, And More,
2022
Brigham Young University
Farms Review Probes Cowdery, Chosenness, Chiasmus, And More
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Keeping step with its expanding role, The FARMS Review sports a new title and cover design. Further departures from tradition are the introduction, written for the first time by someone other than the founding editor; a book notes section; and a study relating to chiasmus that not only gives an update on contemporary works on the subject but also surveys those available in the 1820s.
Yale Conference On Mormon Perspectives,
2022
Brigham Young University
Yale Conference On Mormon Perspectives, Matthew P. Roper
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Between 250 and 300 people took part on 27–29 March 2003 in a conference in New Haven, Connecticut, devoted to the subject of “God, Humanity, and Revelation: Perspectives from Mormon Philosophy and History.” The conference, hosted by the Divinity School of Yale University, was organized by Kenneth West, a Latter-day Saint graduate student there. The Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts was one of the conference sponsors.
Full Issue,
2022
Brigham Young University
Full Issue
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Forthcoming Publication,
2022
Brigham Young University
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 …
Upcoming Event,
2022
Brigham Young University
Upcoming Event
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
A set of meetings on the Institute’s Graeco-Arabic Sciences and Philosophy series (GrASP), a part of the Institute’s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, will be held at the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C. Under the joint sponsorship of the Library and the Institute, the event will include a meeting of GrASP’s international advisory board, a meeting of that board with key Library curators, and a public meeting on the field of Graeco-Arabic sciences and philosophy and on the aims and character of the series. Other possible events remain to be finalized. Watch the Web site for further details.
Institute News,
2022
Brigham Young University
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,
2022
Brigham Young University
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.
