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Insights Available As We Approach The Original Text, Kerry Muhlestein

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

In his effort to correct and preserve the original text of the Book of the Mormon, Royal Skousen has also increased our understanding of and appreciation for this volume of sacred scripture. Skousen’s close examination of the use of words and phrases throughout the book highlights its intertextuality and demonstrates that Book of Mormon authors were aware of and influenced by the words of previous authors. Moreover, restoring the original text helps clarify some vague constructions and should also caution us against putting too much emphasis on the exact wording of the present Book of Mormon. Skousen’s analysis of how …

Editor's Introduction, The Witchcraft Paradigm: On Claims To “Second Sight” By People Who Say It Doesn't Exist, Daniel C. Peterson

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

No abstract provided.

The Old Testament As Reliable History, John Gee

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

Review of Kenneth A. Kitchen. On the Reliability of the Old Testament.

Vol. 18 Num. 2 The Farms Review, Farms Review

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

No abstract provided.

From Clay Tablets To Canon: The Story Of The Formation Of Scripture, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Presented at the 35th Sperry Symposium. The Sidney B. Sperry Symposium is sponsored by Brigham Young University Religious Education and the Church Educational System. It is difficult for us, in the age of information, to appreciate the impact of both the sweeping movements and technical advances that allowed for the creation of the canonized book we call the Bible. We live in a time when we regularly turn to written documents for the "final word", and we take for granted an astounding volume of written works and easy access to them. Indeed, it has been argued that U.S. culture has …

Approaching Understandings In The Book Of Abraham, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

The Book of Abraham is replete with important and rich doctrines for Latter-day Saints. The existence of papyri connected with the Book of Abraham furthers interest in this volume of scripture. While much research has been conducted into the doctrines and also the origins of the Book of Abraham, clearly much more remains to be done.

Insights Available As We Approach The Original Text, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

What excites me most about Royal Skousen's Analysis of Textual Variants,Part One: 1 Nephi 1 2 Nephi 10 (hereafter Analysis) is what it says about Latter-day Saints' commitment to the scriptures in general and to the Book of Mormon specifically. This volume, like others in the series published to date, bespeaks our desire to know, as accurately as possible, what the text actually says. We understand that even those with the best intentions sometimes introduce mistakes into the most sacred and important texts. Skousen demonstrates that he and others value the Book of Mormon so much that meticulous and intense …

Understanding The Purpose Of Creation Accounts, Terry Ball

Faculty Publications

Jeopardy is a popular and longrunning TV game show in the United States. It is somewhat unusual in the world of game shows. In typical game shows, contestants are asked questions and then awarded money for providing correct answers. But, in Jeopardy that process is reversed: the contestants are given the answers and then receive money for correctly providing the questions. For example, contestants might be given the answer "a biblical measurement of volume approximately equivalent to eight gallons." The contestant who first correctly asks the question "What is an ephah?" would then be awarded money. Unlike much of what …

Matthew As An Editor Of The Life And Teachings Of Jesus, Gaye Strathearn

Faculty Publications

The Gospel According to Matthew, or, as the Joseph Smith Translation notes, the Testimony of St. Matthew, is the first of the four Gospels in our New Testament.1 This Gospel was very influential among early Christians.2 Tertullian, one of the early Church Fathers (c. AD 155–230), described Matthew as the “most faithful chronicler of the Gospel.”3 In this dispensation, the Prophet Joseph often used the first Gospel in his sermons.4 Although modern scholars have debated the authorship of this Gospel, ancient Christian writings are unanimous in ascribing it to the tax collector named Matthew in Matthew 9:9.

Joseph Smith And The Past, John W. Welch

BYU Studies

My thoughts on Joseph Smith’s interest in past worlds cluster into three sections. The first deals with the challenge of evaluating and assessing Joseph Smith’s recoveries of texts or views from past worlds or civilizations. The second develops a list of ways in which the past functioned in Joseph Smith’s process of continuing revelation. The third focuses on the dynamic link between the past and the present in Joseph Smith’s concept of priesthood authority and its restoration.

Behold I, Kent P. Jackson

BYU Studies

On two occasions while he worked on his New Translation of Genesis in 1830, the Prophet Joseph Smith dictated to his scribe Oliver Cowdery a word combination that in English is awkward and ungrammatical, though in the Hebrew it is not: "Behold I." The first occurrence reads, "Behold I I am the Lord God Almighty." The second reads, "Behold I send me." Both passages are in the Book of Moses in the Pear of Great Price, but "Behold I" is not found in either of those passages today because, after the time of Joseph Smith, each was edited out of …

Teaching Through Exegesis: Helping Students Ask Questions Of The Text, Eric D. Huntsman

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Descendants Of Israel: Intimate Interactions Between The New Zealand Maori And The Mormon Missionaries

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

Since the first Maori to be taught the gospel from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the early 1880's, countless have become converted. Most of which were baptized only within the span of a few years of receiving the gospel. It is evident that the early Mormon missionaries clearly demonstrated a dramatic impact upon the indigenous tribes of Maori of New Zealand. However, what were the differentiating factors about Latter Day-Saint missionaries that set them apart from other missionaries, whom of which had already been in the country for roughly sixty-five years!? The course of this research …

Behind The Mask, Behind The Curtain: Uncovering The Illusion, Brant A. Gardner

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

Review of Joel P. Kramer and Scott R. Johnson. The Bible vs. the Book of Mormon.

Vol. 17 Num. 2 The Farms Review, Farms Review

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

No abstract provided.

Editor's Introduction, Not So Easily Dismissed: Some Facts For Which Counterexplanations Of The Book Of Mormon Will Need To Account, Daniel C. Peterson

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

No abstract provided.

The Curse Of Ham: Race And Slavery In Early Judaism, Christianity, And Islam By David M. Goldenberg And Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification Of American Slavery By Stephen R. Haynes, Stirling Adams

BYU Studies

David M. Goldenbert. The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Stephen R. Haynes. Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

The Book Of Breathings In Its Place, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Michael D. Rhodes's publication on the Hor Book of Breathings is an unusual book in many ways. It is a scholarly Egyptological work, dealing with an understudied type of text from an understudied era of Egyptian history, appearing in the midst of a series that has been dedicated to the exploration of a book considered to be scripture by the Latter-day Saints. Additionally, it deals with what many have incorrectly considered to be a text that can be used to test the revelatory ability of the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.

Binding With Heraldic Plants, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Binding prisoners is a pictorial icon which spans the entire length of ancient Egyptian history; therefore various aspects of this image have received scholarly treatment from time to time. One sub-motif which has received little attention is the image of binding prisoners, seemingly exclusively foreign prisoners, with the heraldic plants.

Exploring The Isaiah Code: Ascending The Seven Steps On The Stairway To Heaven, David Rolph Seely

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

Review of Avraham Gileadi. Isaiah Decoded: Ascending the Ladder to Heaven.

Swimming In Symbols, Ben Spackman

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

Review of Alonzo L. Gaskill. The Lost Language of Symbolism: An Essential Guide for Recognizing and Interpreting Symbols of the Gospel.

The Book Of Mormon Reference Companion, Dennis L. Largey

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

The Savior’S Final Hours, M. Gerald Bradford

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

Review of Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment, eds. From the Last Supper through the Resurrection: The Savior’s Final Hours.

European Views Of Egyptian Magic And Mystery: A Cultural Context For The Magic Flute, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Emanuel Schikaneder lived and created during the height of eighteenth-century interest in and fascination with Egypt. The Magic Flute's Egyptian setting would therefore evoke in their contemporaneous audience notions of a distant land with an exotic and magical culture. The numerous Egyptian elements of the work are representative of its era and are situated near the end of a continuum of European thought about ancient Egypt before the solid foundation of modern day Egyptology had been laid.

Prelude To The Pearl: Sweeping Events Leading To The Discovery Of The Joseph Smith Papyri, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

In a general presentation, Elder John A. Widtsoe of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that "throughout all the ages of history the hand of God has overruled the actions of mankind, that nothing is done except as the Lord may use it for the accomplishment of his mighty purposes. The things accomplished by humanity become in the end God's accomplishments, as he makes use of them in working out his infinite purposes. Even the great movements of nations and armies often serve to accomplish the workings of the Lord, such as when the empire of Assyria rose to …

Erasmus And Switzerland, Edmund J. Campion

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Although Erasmus (1467?-1536) lived in Switzerland for ten years, a longer period of time than in any country except his native Holland, and was, in fact, buried in Basel, scholars have written very little of substance on his lengthy connections with Switzerland and Swiss intellectuals and publishers. This is surprising because links between Erasmus and specific European countries have attracted a great deal of interest from leading Erasmus scholars. In his 1954 book Erasme et l 'Italie, Augustin Renaudet examined the important connections between Erasmus and Italian theologians and philosophers. Not only did Erasmus earn his doctorate in sacred theology …

Word Pairs And Distinctive Combinations In The Book Of Mormon, James T. Duke

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

The literary richness of the Book of Mormon is attested by the appearance of word pairs, in both parallel and conjoined pairs. On occasion, combinations of three, four, or even more words appear together more than once. Possible reasons for the scriptural use of word pairs include literary functions, echoes of the law of Moses, theological terms, universals (or merisms), repetition, and mnemonic function. Duke builds on previous studies of word pairs in the Book of Mormon by Kevin Barney and John Tvedtnes. The frequency of word pairs and other combinations of words witnesses to the Hebrew roots of the …

The Charge Of A Man With A Broken Lance (But Look What He Doesn’T Tell Us), Davis Bitton

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

Review of Grant H. Palmer. An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins.

How Much Was Known About Chiasmus In 1829 When The Book Of Mormon Was Translated?, John W. Welch

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

Article

Isaiah Interwoven, Kevin L. Barney

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

Review of Donald W. Parry. Harmonizing Isaiah: Combining Ancient Sources.