Arts and Humanities Commons^™

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.

Negative Questions In The Book Of Mormon, Ben Spackman

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

Much research has been devoted to identifying and examining language patterns in the Book of Mormon that appear to reflect the book’s underlying Semitic character. One possible Hebraism in the Book of Mormon that has not received attention is the use of negative rhetorical questions when a positive meaning is intended. Some modern Bible translations now translate these negative questions in a positive or even emphatic way. This rhetorical device occurs in English, but it is stronger and more com-mon in biblical Hebrew.

Lehi’S Epic Journey Detailed In New Book

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

The seamless blend of scholarship and artistry of the Maxwell Institute’s DVD documentary Journey of Faith continues in expanded form in the new book Journey of Faith: From Jerusalem to the Promised Land. Complemented by numerous additional threads of historical detail and scholarly insight, this visually stunning look at Lehi’s trek through the harsh Arabian desert reflects a synergistic collaboration of talented scholars, artists, and photographers seeking to illuminate an epic event in scriptural history and situate it in a real-world setting.

Making The Case For Cultural Diffusion In Ancient Times

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

Old theories die hard in academia, at least when they are entrenched and have been defended intellectually with fervor. Only with overwhelming evidence to the contrary does the institutional status quo crumble and make way for new theories to find legitimacy within the academic mainstream. Illustrative of this struggle for acceptance in the academy has been the contest between the establishment position that ancient American civilization evolved in complete independence from the Old World and the “cultural diffusion hypothesis.” The latter proposes that American societies did not arise and develop in total isolation but were stimulated by connections from the …

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

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Maxwell Institute Open House

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

The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship invites you to an open house from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in room 3215 of BYU’s Wilkinson Center on Thursday, 24 August 2006, during Campus Education Week. This will be an occasion for you to meet authors, editors, directors, and friends and to celebrate the formation of this new BYU institute.

The Rings That Bound The Gold Plates Together

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

Eyewitnesses to the Book of Mormon plates described in consistent terms the rings that bound the gold plates into a single volume. The rings were three in number and apparently made of the same material as the plates themselves. While our attention naturally focuses on the plates and the translation of the text engraved upon them, the rings may offer another subtle but telling confirmation of the record’s ancient origin.

Wordplay On The Name ‘Enos’, Matthew L. Bowen

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

In his analysis of Mosiah 1:2–6 and 1 Nephi 1:1–4, John A. Tvedtnes notes that in many instances “Nephite writers relied on earlier records as they recorded their history.”1 He makes a convincing argument that the description of King Benjamin teaching his sons “in all the language of his fathers” (Mosiah 1:2) is modeled on Nephi’s account.

Lehi’S Trek Dvd Reissued To Target Broader Audience

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

Journey of Faith, a FARMS documentary about Lehi’s travels through ancient Arabia, has been well received and has generated considerable interest since its release last summer (see report in Insights25/3). Now steps are under way to produce a reissue of the DVD, this time with translations of the commentary into Spanish and Portuguese with English closed-captioning.

Latest Findings In The Book Of Mormon Critical Text Project

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

These are the best of times for Book of Mormon studies. Since 2001, FARMS (now part of the Maxwell Institute) has been publishing the long-anticipated findings of Professor Royal Skousen’s Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. Each massive volume in this landmark study, appearing on a yearly basis, averages nearly 670 oversize pages of research and analysis that reward careful examination with expanded views of the founding text of Mormonism.

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

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Nibley Fellowship

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

Each year at this time we remind graduate students about the Nibley Fellowship Program and its application deadline. Named in honor of the late eminent Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley, this program provides financial aid to students enrolled in accredited PhD programs in areas of study directly related to the work and mission of the Maxwell Institute, particularly work done under the name of FARMS—studies of the Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham, the Old and New Testaments, early Christianity, ancient temples, and related subjects. Applicants cannot be employed at the Institute or be related to an Institute employee.

“Look To God And Live”, Kristian S. Heal

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

Near the end of the children of Israel’s journey to the promised land following their miraculous escape from Egypt, they once again began to complain against the Lord and against Moses. As a result of this sin, the Lord sent “fiery serpents” among them (Numbers 21:6). Faced with physical death, the people went to Moses, confessed their sins, and entreated him to pray to the Lord to take the serpents away. However, the serpents were not taken away as requested. Instead, in what may have seemed an expression of deep irony—but was in reality a sacred symbol—Moses was instructed to …

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

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.

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

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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

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

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

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.

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Quidditas

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Allen D. Breck Award Winner

Quidditas

The Breck Award recognizes the most distinguished paper given by a junior scholar at the annual conference.

Recipient of the Breck Award 2022

Katharine Davidson Bekker

Communication And Social Interactions In The Late Middle Ages: The Fables By The Swiss-German Dominican Ulrich Bonerius, Albrecht Classen

Quidditas

There are many possible and useful approaches to the study of literature. One very effective way proves to be to study literary texts as platforms to explore the meaning, relevance, and workings of human communication, or the very opposite, miscommunication. Such an approach proves to be rather productive both for medieval and modern texts, from the western and the eastern tradition, whether we are reflecting on entertaining, moral, didactic, religious, or political texts. The literary work consists of words exchanged, and thus here we encounter the perfect example of a theoretical platform to discuss human interactions in many different contexts …

How To Teach With Shakespeare: James Baldwin, The Liberal Arts, And The Progymnasmata, Steven Hrdlicka

Quidditas

This review essay addresses pedagogical principles found in Scott Newstok’s recent book How to Think Like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education (2020). Specifically, the essay discusses the progymnasmata exercises of paraphrase and êthopoeia and provides real-life applications and examples. The essay also suggests how such study aims at “fruitful” effects, as well as providing distinctions between “fruitful” and “useful” study. Other points relevant to the fruitful ends of the study of the liberal arts, such as freedom and empathy, are discussed as they pertain to a student’s ability to think creatively and to express thoughts with clarity and originality. …

Linguistic Failure And The “Trembling Parole” In Alain Chartier’S Belle Dame Sans Mercy, Alani Hicks-Bartlett

Quidditas

At first blush, Alain Chartier’s late medieval poem, the Belle Dame sans mercy seems to recount a story that is quite similar to narrations of other frustrated affairs in the courtly love tradition, as it tells of a devoted lover who relentlessly, yet unsuccessfully, begs for the euphemistic “mercy” of his lady. Plying the lady with compliments, assailing her with threats, and attempting to verbally manipulate her, the lover endeavors to force the lady to love him through various unsuccessful linguistic strategies. Although he commits to the lady and presents her with countless arguments about why she should cede to …

In Memoriam: Paul Roger Thomas (1940-2021), Darin Merrill

Quidditas

The Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association announces with great sadness the passing of Paul Thomas, a long-time member of the RMMRA and president ex officio whose unflagging organizational support, irrepressible good humor, unqualified collegiality, and thoughtful scholarship provided an important part of the RMMRA meetings for over three decades.

Elizabethan Technology: Thomas Watson’S Steam Bath For The Relief Of Gout, James Alsop

Quidditas

Thomas Watson (1513-84), Doctor of Divinity and deprived Marian bishop of Lincoln, developed an expertise in the treatment of gout. In his practice of experiential medicine in East Anglia, he used an innovative steam chest: the patient sat in a cut-open empty wine pipe, surrounded by heated bricks, and covered with a sheet. This device, with its method of enclosed steam heat, contrasts sharply with prevailing renaissance therapeutic philosophy.

Those Who Weep: Tears, Eyes, And Blood In The Boussu Hours, Katharine Davidson Bekker

Quidditas

Simon Marmion and the Master of Antoine Rolin’s Boussu Hours (ca. 1490-95) is resplendent with imagery of suffering in its unusual marginal decorations. Holy effluvia—blood and tears—flow from golden pages covered in wounds and weeping eyes. These decorations, surrounding the Hours of the Passion, pictorially enact a theological notion of tears as wounding agents, and spiritually prompt the reader’s contrition. Notable wear on the “bloody” page indicates a pattern of tactile interaction between book and reader; this physical engagement with the marginals represents a quasi-liturgical manifestation of guilt and efforts made to abate it. The gestural touching of the page …

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 …