Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Conference On The Apostle Paul Convened

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

On 6 November FARMS sponsored a conference at BYU on the New Testament letters of the apostle Paul. Titled "We Follow the Admonition of Paul," the half-day event featured presentations by the authors of two recent books on Paul's writings and responses from a panel of BYU professors.

Full Issue

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

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New Book Probes Ancient Near Eastern Backgrounds Of Book Of Mormon

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

The Most Correct Book: Insights from a Book of Mormon Scholar, a new book by John A. Tvedtnes, associate director of research at FARMS, provides more than 45 insights into the text and teachings of the Book of Mormon. Published by Cornerstone, the book deals with linguistic, historical, cultural, and theological matters that underscore the accuracy and internal consistency of the Book of Mormon.

Conference Focuses On Book Of Abraham

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

A FARMS-sponsored conference held at BYU on Saturday, 16 October, highlighted recent research on the Book of Abraham. Titled "The Book of Abraham: Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant," the half-day event represented a broad, interdisciplinary approach to deepening understanding of the content and backgrounds of the Book of Abraham.

2 Insights, November 1999 Farms Through The Years, Part 1: A Conversation With John Welch And John Sorenson

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

FARMS's 20th anniversary this month gives reason to reflect on the Foundation's past progress and future promise. The following article begins a three-part series, each installment featuring comments from two people who figure prominently in the history and ongoing work of FARMS. John W. (Jack) Welch and John L. Sorenson were involved with FARMS since its inception, Stephen D. Ricks and Noel B. Reynolds were administrative officers during the organization's middle years, and Daniel C. Peterson and Daniel Oswald are current administrative officers at FARMS. This first segment presents responses from separate interviews conducted by Don Brugger, managing editor of …

Book On Romans 1 Launches New Series

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

Romans 1: Notes and Reflections, by James E. Faulconer, is the inaugural volume in FARMS's new Ancient Texts and Mormon Studies series. The · aim of this series is to explain the historical origins and purposes of ancient religious texts and to show their main points of value to modern religious readers. Like forthcoming volumes in the series, Romans 1 includes the ancient text, a readable English translation, and general commentary.

Elder Pinnock, Professor Nibley To Speak On Temples

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

On 4 December FARMS will sponsor a conference at BYU titled "Temples through the Ages." The three-hour event will comprise four presentations, including a keynote address by Elder Hugh W. Pinnock and a concluding lecture by Hugh W. Nibley.

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

Grammar And The Book Of Mormon

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

In a discourse delivered at the Old Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on 15 November 1863, President George A. Smith addressed a criticism that is repeated today by detractors of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

Three Trees In The Book Of Mormon, John W. Welch

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

The tree is a primary symbol in three Book of Mormon texts: Zenos' s allegory of the olive tree (Jacob 5), Lehi's dream of the tree of life (1 Nephi 8), and Alma's discourse on the seed of faith (Alma 32). Interestingly, these three symbolic uses of the tree reflect a shifting emphasis from one era to the next.

Jacob 5, Romans 11: A Common Textual Tradition?

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

Readers who are currently studying the letters of Paul will find an article by James E. Faulconer to be of interest. In "The Olive Tree and the Work of God: Jacob 5 and Romans 11," published in The Allegory of the Olive Tree, he suggests that the olive tree passages in Jacob 5 and Romans 11 are connected by a common text. He first discusses differences between the two passages, noting that they seem to show that the passages simply share a common rhetorical tradition. However, Faulconer goes on to consider that other linguistic evidence "suggests the possibility of …

The "Missionary Voice": Bona Fide Sociolect Or Figment Of The Mormon Linguistic Imagination?, Joshua Stevenson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Can members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consistently identify the so-called “missionary voice”? That is, when presented with a series of unidentified speech samples that are a mix of currently serving young missionaries and their college-aged peers, how accurate will they be at selecting missionaries from the lineup? Additionally, what features (prosodic and otherwise) make the missionary voice distinct? That is, which characteristics of missionary speech most strongly index it as such? In this paper, I seek to answer both of these questions through a sociolinguistic lens (and, in part, via the tools of perceptual dialectology). …

Student Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Mindfulness Interventions In The Esl Classroom, Lauren Smith

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mindfulness has received increased attention in recent years in educational contexts as a tool to help students mitigate negative emotions, enhance resilience, and improve academic performance (Dawson et al., 2020; Galante et al., 2018). Although interventions teaching principles of mindfulness have flourished in elementary schools and university contexts (Felver et al., 2016; Ma et al., 2019), limited research has looked at the effects of mindfulness interventions in ESL (English as a Second Language) educational contexts. This thesis details a study investigating student perceptions of the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions in an Intensive English Program (IEP) for nonmatriculated university students over …

Songs On The Road: A Novel, Lane Welch

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Songs on the Road: A Novel reimagines the open road of mid-century American literature, a literary phenomenon that frequently imbued the mundane with a power bordering on the fantastic, as literally fantastic in a way that examines and deconstructs literary tropes from the mysterious hitchhiker to the film noir detective. This thesis includes excerpts from the novel and a critical introduction exploring the works of literature the novel draws from and engages in dialogue with.

Civilizational Security: Why The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Shows That ‘National Security’ Is Not Enough To Understand Geopolitics, Greg (Grzegorz) Lewicki

Comparative Civilizations Review

This paper argues that the idea of “national security” is sometimes overwritten by “civilizational security” in security-related considerations. Civilizational security, as understood in this paper, refers to a country's security stemming from its belonging to a cultural zone or a civilization. The author clarifies the terms “a civilization,” “civilizational identity,” and “civilizational security.” Citing the examples of Poland, Ukraine, and Russia when considering the parameter of civilizational security allows us to better analyze and predict some processes, including geopolitical dilemmas and civilizational trends. It is argued that prior to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia misunderstood its own civilizational security …

Editor's Note, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

Claude-Henri, Comte de Saint-Simon, a father of modern sociology, observed that the history of the world alternated between two poles: organic periods (in which the social and political institutions are in harmony with the state of civilization), followed by critical periods, which are transitional and marked by conflict and destructive criticism.

Rector's Welcome, Robert Kosowski Phd

Comparative Civilizations Review

With immense pleasure, we welcome the beginning of cooperation of the War Studies University with the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (ISCSC). As an Organizing Partner of the 2023 ISCSC annual conference entitled "Civilizational Security", we will facilitate solutions to make the conference impactful, memorable and internationally fruitful.

Here, There, And In-Between: On The Civilizing Process And Civilizational Analysis, Michael Palencia-Roth

Comparative Civilizations Review

This essay presents a cautionary tale about certain problems with systematization and abstraction in comparative civilizational studies. It advocates instead for the analysis of single works, limited events, or particular figures, within larger issues pertaining to what is understood as a “civilization” or “culture”. It prioritizes certain aspects of the civilizing process: the here, or the civilizing and interpretive gaze; the there, or the Other that is the object of that gaze; and the in-between. It further suggests that insights and methods from Mikhail Bakhtin, Hans-Georg Gadamer and others from the humanities, social sciences, and philosophy can …

The Applicability Of Lessons From American Society For The European Union: Tolerance, Demographic Change, And Social Structure, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

While Americans have long tended to see our society and civilization as exceptional, in fact the civilization is primarily based on European precedent. We see ourselves, in the words of one of our most significant poets, Emma Lazarus, as the new colossus, “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp cries she... I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” We claim to be an exception; that means that we are unique, different, what many, alluding to the New Testament as viewed by the Pilgrim founding fathers, have called “a shining city upon a hill.”2 And as “a beacon of hope.”

The Economic Regions Of Chinese Civilization: A Gis-Based Analysis Of Grain Markets In China, 1736-1842, Karl Ryavec, Mark Henderson, Rocco Bowman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Philip Ball. The Water Kingdom: A Secret History Of China, Robert Bedeski

Comparative Civilizations Review

Over centuries scores of sinologists have sought to define the essence of China. Philip Ball addresses and goes well beyond the materialist paradigm of Karl Wittfogel’s hydraulic thesis, which described the role of water management in China as stimulating state development. In his theory, government emerged as the central institution to manage transportation, flood control and irrigation. Ball also sees water management as critical in Chinese civilization and injects his description with spiritual and moral content, drawing on poetry, art, biography and extensive reference to historical events. His book is an exploration of the role of water in China’s culture, …

Global Security In The Third Millennium Of The Common Era, Michael Andregg

Comparative Civilizations Review

The primary purpose of this short essay is to catalyze discussion among security professionals about how perspectives on ‘global security’ and ‘wise civilizations’ might affect military affairs during a time of great, interdisciplinary stresses that impact everyone on earth today.

Global civilization faces two main existential threats this century. The first is a quick death from general thermonuclear war or release of other Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) like exotic, genetically engineered biological weapons. The second is a slow death from incremental destruction of the living system that supports all civilizations, wise or unwise, by mechanisms like deforestation, desertification, climate …

Book Review: Steven Sabol. The Touch Of Civilization: Comparing American And Russian Internal Colonization, Robert Bedeski

Comparative Civilizations Review

America and Russia are derivative civilizations from the same Greco-Roman source, with very different results. After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, Russia proclaimed itself to be the Third Rome as it lifted the Tatar yoke. Although the U.S. did not become a country for another three centuries, the colonial experience and culture remained closer to England’s – a nation proudly conscious of its lineage.

End Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Is Civilization A Good Thing?, David Wilkinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

How do we feel about “Civilization”? What emotions does the idea of “civilization” evoke from us? Why are these emotions attached to that idea? In more technical terms, what are the “connotations” of “civilization”? Laudatory or derogatory? And why do we feel the way we feel about it? What makes us welcome civilization, fear it, praise it or shun it?

The Possibility Of A Global Civilization, Robert Elliott Allinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

This article inquires into the question of what is civilization. It considers that a sine qua non of a civilization is a non-violent culture. It investigates the concept of violence and extends the concept to cover examples of citizens who live in conditions of poverty, ill health, lack of food, lack of education, lack of adequate housing, and inadequate living conditions. The argument in the article is that a civilization that allows such conditions to exist perpetrates violence upon its citizens and therefore does not deserve the appellation, ‘civilization.’ Those citizens who do not protest against such violence are not …

Front Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

The Theoretical Status Of The Concept Of Civilization, Roger W. Wescott

Comparative Civilizations Review

This paper may be regarded as an effort to answer some questions concerning the conceptualization of civilization.

1. Whether or not concepts are essentially verbal, is the concept of civilization primarily denotative (referential) or connotative (emotive) in meaning?

2. If the concept of civilization is primarily emotive, is its emotive force predominantly laudatory or derogatory in effect?

3. When the concept of civilization is derogatory, is it decadence or outdatedness that is primarily derogated?

4. If the concept of civilization is primarily denotative, is its denotation primarily abstract (referring to culture and associated mentifacts) or primarily concrete (referring to people …

Monitoring Wise Civilization By Creating An Index, Andrew Targowski

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Wise Civilization Index will assess how wise we are in developing and living in a sustainable civilization.

Recently, people have started to worry about the state of the climate. This has been reflected in the finding that the climate temperature should be kept to a growth of below two degrees Celsius by 2100 to save our species from a slow death (The Paris Agreement of 2015). After all, raising the human body temperature by two degrees threatens illness and even death by four degrees. The same (relatively) can be done with Earth. However, apart from the climate, the problem …