Digital Commons Network^™

Nephi’S Later Reflections On The Tree Of Life Vision, Michael B. Parker

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

An interesting phenomenon concerning 1 and 2 Nephi is that parts of the latter book draw on the tree of life vision that Nephi and his father shared, as recorded in 1 Nephi 8, 11–15. In an earlier FARMS Update, John A. Tvedtnes demonstrated that Nephi drew on this vision when composing the psalm in 2 Nephi 4. Further study suggests the likelihood that Nephi’s exhortation in 2 Nephi 31 was similarly informed by that sublime vision.

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Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Beautiful Patience, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Believers in the God of Abraham — who include not only Jews and Christians but also Muslims — are exhorted to call upon him every day, as well as in times of need. We are promised that he will respond to petitionary prayers. Moreover, we are assured that, in the end, believers will prosper, that their faith or trust in him will prove justified. But we are not promised that rewards, compensation, or justice will come to us on our mortal timetable — and this raises sometimes burningly acute questions about Providence and even, for more than a few, about …

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Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Credo, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

The Restoration began with the stunning divine declaration to the Prophet Joseph Smith that the Christian sects of his day were “all wrong,” that “all their creeds were an abomination in [God’s] sight.” It’s a powerful condemnation, but what, exactly, does it mean? Later in his life, Joseph reflected that he felt that creeds set limits “and say ‘hitherto shalt thou come & no further’ — which I cannot subscribe to.” Certainly, as I realized during a wonderful musical experience many years ago, there is little if anything in one of the great ecumenical creeds with which a believing Latter-day …

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Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

“Signals Of Transcendence”1, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Hints of a different and better world — sometimes dimly remembered, often intuited, and commonly hoped for — and of a glorious, mighty power behind the world in which we currently live, are all around us. They are not so powerful that they cannot be missed or even ignored, but they have been and remain present for those with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to feel. As he always does, God has not left us without witnesses but he does not seek to compel. He loves us, but he also respects our agency

“In This Batter’D Caravanserai”, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

In the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, based upon verses composed by an eleventh-century Persian mathematician and astronomer, the English Victorian poet Edward FitzGerald eloquently portrays human life in an indifferent, deterministic universe that lacks any evident purpose and is bereft of divine Providence. The poem’s suggested response to such a universe is an unambitious life of hedonism, distraction, and gentle despair. It is curiously modern, and those considering the adoption of anything like its worldview might want to read it, and to think about its implications, very carefully.

How Things Look From Here, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Do defenders of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ see themselves as fighting a desperate rearguard battle against the evidence, hoping to save at least a faint shred of credibility for its claims? Hardly. But, at the same time, we don’t pretend to be able to prove those claims beyond any possibility of doubt. Such a prospect, we think, was never God’s intent. “For now we see through a glass, darkly,” as the prophet and apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12. “Now [we] know in part.” That is an important part of the plan. There is abundant evidence to …

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Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

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.

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

No abstract provided.

Byu And Institute Projects Showcased At Aar/Sbl Meetings

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

BYU and Institute scholars gave presentations at all five sessions of the Rocky Mountain–Great Plains regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature on 26–27 March 2004. Because several sessions took place on the BYU campus for the first time, and because one-third of the 51 presenters were BYU-affiliated scholars (8 of them closely associated with the Institute), the event was an ideal opportunity for the university to showcase its contributions to religious scholarship.

Arabs: A 3,000 Year History Of Peoples, Tribes, And Empires By Tim Mackintosh-Smith, Garrett Maxwell

Studia Antiqua

No abstract provided.

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

No abstract provided.

Maxwell Institute Scholars Speak At Fair Conference

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

Scholars from the Maxwell Institute, as well as a number of authors who contribute to the institute’s publications, delivered papers at the recent FAIR conference held in Sandy, Utah, in August. The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of Latter-day Saint doctrine, belief, and practice.

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

Maxwell Institute Well Represented At Fair Conference

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

Four scholars from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship spoke at the FAIR conference held in Sandy, Utah, in August. FAIR, the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of Latter-day Saint doctrine, belief, and practice.

Peterson Awarded For Scholastic Excellence

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

The Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters held its annual awards banquet on Friday, October 12, at Weber State University. The academy awarded Daniel C. Peterson, professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at Brigham Young University and director of the Maxwell Institute’s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI), the highest award of the evening, naming him a Utah Academy Fellow and lifetime member of the organization.

New Documentary Focuses On New World

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

Journey of Faith: The New World premiered to large audiences at BYU Education Week in a sneak preview. S. Kent Brown, director of the newly formed Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies and one of the lead historical consultants on the documentary, and Peter N. Johnson, director, hosted the premier. A number of people returned for a second viewing because of the sweep of information in the film. “Packing a long history into 80 or 90 minutes of film presented a huge challenge to the filmmakers,” Johnson said. The new film enjoys the sponsorship of the Neal …

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

No abstract provided.

Second Volume Of Maimonides Series Continues To Illuminate Ancient Medicine

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

With the publication of Medical Aphorisms: Treatises 6–9, the second volume of the Medical Works of Moses Maimonides series, the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI) at the Maxwell Institute continues its project of bringing to light original texts and translations from the scientific, philosophical, and theological traditions of the three great religious civilizations that trace their ancestry to Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Now with added funding from the Library of Congress, METI continues to actively edit and prepare for publication works in all three of these branches of faith-oriented learning.

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

Maxwell Institute Well Represented At Fair Conference

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

Several scholars associated with the Maxwell Institute spoke at the FAIR conference held in Sandy, Utah, in August. As explained on its Web site (www.fairlds.org), FAIR (the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research) is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of Latter-day Saint doctrine, belief, and practice.

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

Peterson Participates In World Parliament

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

Daniel C. Peterson, professor of Islamic studies and Arabic and editor in chief of the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, will chair a plenary session at the Parliament of the World’s Religions held December 3–9, 2009, in Melbourne, Australia.

Entitled “Islam and the West: Creating an Accord of Civilisations,” the panel discussion will center on understanding Islam. Peterson’s involvement illustrates METI’s engagement with scholars worldwide.

Valuable Research Tool Available Soon

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

By the end of this year, “Nineteenth-Century Publications about the Book of Mormon (1829–1844)” will be made available as one of the Harold B. Lee Library’s digital collections.

Building on the work of previous generations of researchers, Matthew Roper, research scholar with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, has collected digital facsimiles and electronic transcriptions of as many of these early publications as could be found.

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

No abstract provided.