Lds Scholar, Scientist Weigh In On Talk Radio Dna Debate,
2022
Brigham Young University
Lds Scholar, Scientist Weigh In On Talk Radio Dna Debate
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
On 23 February 2006 BYU professor Daniel C. Peterson and DNA scientist John M. Butler were interviewed on the Hugh Hewitt radio program concerning DNA and the Book of Mormon. One week earlier, the Los Angeles Times had run a front-page story on how human DNA studies contradict the Book of Mormon because they suggest an Asian ancestry for people native to the Americas; and on that same day the Times reporter, William Lobdell, was a guest on Hewitt’s program.
Farms Review Answers Critics, Sizes Up Scholarship,
2022
Brigham Young University
Farms Review Answers Critics, Sizes Up Scholarship
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
At 500 pages, the new FARMS Review (vol. 17, no. 2) nearly bursts its binding with items of interest for anyone desiring to be well-informed on Mormon studies. The coverage ranges from Lehi’s encampments in Arabia and the resurgence of the all-but-dead Spalding theory to Jewish-Mormon relations, creation ex nihilo, and the Egyptian Hor Book of Breathings.
Full Issue,
2022
Brigham Young University
Full Issue
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Farms Unveils New Web Site,
2022
Brigham Young University
Farms Unveils New Web Site
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In December 2005 FARMS released a new version of its Web site. In response to feedback from people who have used the site over the last several years, the new FARMS site boasts additional content and enhanced features.
Farms Documentary Premieres In Washington Dc,
2022
Brigham Young University
Farms Documentary Premieres In Washington Dc
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Golden Road: The Ancient Incense Trail, a new FARMS documentary about the legendary route used by Arabia’s incense traders, premiered at the Washington DC Temple Visitors’ Center on 5 November 2005 to a group of foreign and U.S. dignitaries.
New Translation Launches Meti’S Library Of The Christian East Series,
2022
Brigham Young University
New Translation Launches Meti’S Library Of The Christian East Series
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
One of the misconceptions that many Westerners have is that all Arabs are Muslims and that all Muslims are Arabs. In fact, many of the major Islamic countries in the world (e.g., Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and the most populous of them all, Indonesia) are not Arab, and large minorities in some Arab countries are not Muslim. Christianity is a Near Eastern religion, not a European one, and it has been in the Near East since its origin. (An Egyptian Christian friend once complained to me about how tired he had become of Americans and Europeans asking him whether his …
Ispart Renamed Neal A. Maxwell Institute For Religious Scholarship,
2022
Brigham Young University
Ispart Renamed Neal A. Maxwell Institute For Religious Scholarship
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Brigham Young University’s Board of Trustees recently approved the renaming of BYU’s Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (ISPART) to the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
Same Purpose, New Approach: A Case Study Of The North Dakota Bismarck Mission Using Social Media During Covid-19,
2022
Brigham Young University
Same Purpose, New Approach: A Case Study Of The North Dakota Bismarck Mission Using Social Media During Covid-19, Scott L. Howell
Faculty Publications
This is the story of how one mission in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church) adapted its approach, but not its purpose, to invite all to come unto Jesus Christ during the first 16 months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to July 2021). The North Dakota Bismarck Mission (NDBM hereafter) covers all or parts of the states of North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, and Nebraska, and, like the other 404 missions¹ throughout the world, traditional approaches to missionary work were significantly disrupted by the effects of COVID-19. No longer were missionaries able to find and …
Full Issue,
2022
Brigham Young University
Full Issue
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Joseph Smith, Responses To Early Missionaries Topics In Byu Studies,
2022
Brigham Young University
Joseph Smith, Responses To Early Missionaries Topics In Byu Studies
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Following closely on the heels of a recent double-sized issue on Mormons and film, the latest issue of BYU Studies contains a landmark study by historian Max H Parkin entitled “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832–1834.” Never before have the historical documents been so thoroughly and masterfully marshaled to give readers a heightened appreciation for the importance of the “United Firm” in the early Church. Along with all else that Joseph Smith was revealing and directing during these years, the consecrated legacy …
Journey Of Faith: The New World Screened In Hawaii,
2022
Brigham Young University
Journey Of Faith: The New World Screened In Hawaii
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
On November 9, 2007, the new Willes Center-sponsored DVD, Journey of Faith: The New World, was shown to a large audience in the IMAX Theater of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Hawaii, adjacent to the campus of BYU–Hawaii. The screening was offered in connection with a three-day international business conference cosponsored by the University. The founder of the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies, Mark H. Willes, opened the screening by explaining how the film came about, its significance as a study aid to help all better understand the cultural and geo-graphical setting of events leading …
Byu And Oxford Brookes University Collaborate On Transcription Of Syriac Texts,
2022
Brigham Young University
Byu And Oxford Brookes University Collaborate On Transcription Of Syriac Texts
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Following the success of the BYU Dead Seas Scrolls Electronic Library (2nd ed., Brill, 2006), the Maxwell Institute’s Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (CPART) has initiated a project to produce an electronic library of ancient Syriac literature. Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his disciples. Syriac was the language spoken by ancient Christians throughout the Middle East, from Syria to India, and a large and important body of early Christian literature is preserved in it. Electronic libraries have been produced for Greek, Latin and other ancient literatures, but this will be the …
Dss Library Wins Ala Choice Award,
2022
Brigham Young University
Dss Library Wins Ala Choice Award
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Each year in January, Choice magazine recognizes a short list of the best academic titles from among the 7,000 or so reviewed in the previous year. Among the winners of the January 2008 awards is BYU’s Dead Sea Scrolls Electronic Library, which was produced by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship and published by Brill Academic Press. This electronic database contains searchable texts of all of the published non-biblical scrolls. High resolution images of the scrolls and a complete English translation accompany the texts. The latest version of the database, published at the end of 2006, is the …
Scripture Update: El Niño And Lehi’S Voyage Revisited,
2022
Brigham Young University
Scripture Update: El Niño And Lehi’S Voyage Revisited, Warren P. Aston
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In recent years several scholars have drawn the attention of Latter-day Saints to the phenomenon popularly known as “El Niño.”1 In 1990 David L. Clark highlighted the fact that a mechanism was now known to science that would permit, periodically, easterly sea travel across the Pacific, the direction Lehi’s party is understood to have traveled.2 ENSO, the more formal acronym for this phenomenon, comes from El Niño (the Christ child) and Southern Oscillation, referring to the fact that the changes commence in the southern Pacific Ocean. The intermittent ENSO effect creates an easterly equatorial current running counter to the prevailing …
Documentary Exploring The Life Of Jesus Christ Planned,
2022
Brigham Young University
Documentary Exploring The Life Of Jesus Christ Planned
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
With the full backing of the BYU administration, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship—in partnership with Religious Education, BYU Broadcasting and the department of Theatre and Media Arts—is laying plans to begin filming a seven-part documentary series on the ministry and life of Jesus Christ, beginning with his role as premortal Deity, continuing through his mortality, and ending with his role as judge of all. The series is provisionally titled Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God. The project envisions a high definition series that presents the views of Brigham Young University scholars. Each of the twenty-six minute episodes …
Occasional Papers Spotlights The Book Of Mormon,
2022
Brigham Young University
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.”
Full Issue,
2022
Brigham Young University
Full Issue
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Featured Publications,
2022
Brigham Young University
Featured Publications
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Encyclopedia of Mormonism, published in 1992, is now available online at www.lib.byu.edu/spc/Macmillan/, or search Google for Encyclopedia of Mormonism. This valuable resource answers many questions about Church doctrine and history and is useful in any teaching situation. BYU Studies will be assisting the Harold B. Lee Library to add links and update content in coming months.
Research At The Shrine Of The Book Continues,
2022
Brigham Young University
Research At The Shrine Of The Book Continues
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Irene Lewitt, assistant director of the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, visited Brigham Young University on June 20, 2007. Donald W. Parry, professor of Hebrew Bible studies, and Steven Booras from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, hosted Ms. Lewitt during her visit. A portion of her tour included a demonstration of multispectral imaging. A luncheon sponsored by the Maxwell Institute was also held in her honor. The Shrine of the Book is a museum that houses many of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the Great Isaiah Scroll and the Temple Scroll, and other significant archaeological findings. …
Worth Repeating: “The Book Of Mormon As A Mesoamerican Record”,
2022
Brigham Young University
Worth Repeating: “The Book Of Mormon As A Mesoamerican Record”, John L. Sorenson
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Nephite account is a record that resembles in form, nature, and functions—in scores of characteristics, in fact—what we would expect in an ancient Mesoamerican codex, a type of document that was utterly unknown to Joseph Smith.
