Teraphim And The Urim And Thummim, Matthew Roper

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

Biblical scholars have long puzzled over the nature and function of objects referred to as "teraphim" in the biblical record. A recent study of divination practices in the ancient Near East notes that the term "is of disputed derivation and uncertain meaning" and that in the biblical text it "does not consistently designate the same type of object." Yet evidence in Hosea 3:4 (8th century B.C.) suggests that, in the preexilic Israelite religion, the teraphim may once have been considered "a legitimate method" of divination until they were taken away from Israel during a period of discipline.

New Research On Hidden Books In Ancient Times

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

In The Book of Mormon and Other Hidden Books: "Out of Darkness unto Light," a new book from FARMS, John A. Tvedtnes, associate director of research at FARMS, demonstrates how "various elements of the Book of Mormon story have antecedents in the ancient world that were not known to Joseph Smith or his contemporaries."

Early Christianity Initiative Launched

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

Last March the FARMS Board of Trustees approved an effort to consolidate a number of research projects and to launch new ones, all of which deal with various aspects of the early formative period of Christianity. Known as the Early Christianity Initiative (ECI), this effort will enable scholars to coordinate work on texts of the New Testament, related ancient texts, and the history of early Christianity.

Full Issue

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

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New Audiotapes On Temples, Dead Sea Scrolls

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

The latest addition to FARMS' s Hugh Nibley Audiotape Signature Series, Temples Everywhere contains Nibley's address of the same title given last year at BYU's "Temples through the Ages" conference. Nibley explores temple worship in ancient times as the source for religious rites and beliefs seen in diverse cultures throughout history. He discusses how the temple was "the only solution to the one great problem that has ever haunted the human race, the problem of facing death." This address includes remarks on ancient Egyptian funerary lore, the prevalence of "creation-drama" rites worldwide, the rise of royal courts and rhetoric, the …

Traveling Scrolls Exhibit A Success

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

Since February of this year, FARMS has been showing an exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls in LDS stake centers throughout the Midwest.

The Remnant Of Joseph, John A. Tvedtnes

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

In a speech of encouragement to his troops, the Nephite chief captain Moroni spoke of his people as "a remnant of [the seed of] Joseph" who had been sold into Egypt by his brothers (Alma 46:23-24, 27). This phrase and variations of it appear elsewhere in the Book of Mormon as well (e.g., 3 Nephi 5:23; 10:17; 15:12; Ether 13:6-8, 10).

Early Study Of Fraudulent 'Michigan Relics' Available

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

Now available from FARMS is a reprint of Dr. James E. Talmage's 1911 report that goes a long way toward exposing the "Michigan relics" as forgeries. From 1874 through 1920, hundreds of archaeologically anomalous objects-including tablets, tools, weapons, vessels, and ornaments-bearing crudely rendered inscriptions were reportedly dug up from various sites near Detroit, Michigan. The inscriptions somewhat resembled characters from cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Greek, Hebrew, Assyrian, and Phoenician alphabets. Moreover, some of the objects contained pictographic representations that suggested ties to Hebraic peoples.

Redesigned Farms Review Of Books Released

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

Sporting a new cover design and format, the latest issue of the FARMS Review of Books (vol. 12, no. 1) looks at an array of recent books related to Mormon studies, biblical studies, and scripture study. In the editor's introduction, Daniel C. Peterson sets the record straight concerning a particularly infamous example of contemporary anti-Mormon rhetoric. His remarks set the stage for much of the nearly 500-page Review, which in addition to several positive book reviews, includes a thorough debunking of another anti-Mormon publication, the Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism.

Full Issue

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

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“Do Not Procrastinate The Day Of Your Repentance”, John A. Tvedtnes, Matthew P. Roper

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

One of the more frequently quoted yet misunderstood passages of the Book of Mormon is found in Alma 34:32–34, where Amulek declares that, "this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors. . . . Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can …

Farms Reference Service

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

“Are there studies of ancient American ruins that will contribute to my understanding of the Book of Mormon?” “What is known about the Joseph Smith Papyri?” “How does the Sermon at the Temple in the Book of Mormon relate to the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament?”

Inverted Quotations In The Book Of Mormon, David Bokovoy

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

When the Book of Mormon appeared in 1830, the Western world had only a limited knowledge of the impressive literary and editorial techniques utilized by ancient Semitic authors. Even today, many students of the Bible remain unaware of exciting discoveries by Israeli scholars whose work has appeared only in Hebrew.

Farms Welcomes New Board Members

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

The Foundation is pleased to announce the appointments of Brigham Young University professors John F. Hall and Andrew C. Skinner to the FARMS Board of Trustees. Their formal training and experience in subject areas suited to the research interests of FARMS will be of great value to the board.

New Guide On The Joseph Smith Papyri

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

Since their rediscovery in 1967, the Joseph Smith Papyri have been the target of conflicting and often confusing claims. New from FARMS, A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri, by Egyptologist and FARMS associate John Gee, is a full-color, reader-friendly guide that sets forth the basic facts and major theories about the papyri.

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

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Brown Bag Wrap-Up

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

With the beginning of fall semester at Brigham Young University, FARMS resumed its sponsorship of a noontime lecture series aimed at keeping attendees from the campus community and elsewhere abreast of research in ancient studies.

Rock Marks ‘House Of Wisdom’

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

A large granite rock quarried from the Wasatch Moun tains now welcomes visitors to the East Stadium House, offices of the Islamic Translation Division of BYU’s Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (CPART). The Arabic inscription on the rock transcribes as bayt alhikma, “House of Wisdom.” According to CPART research associate Glen Cooper, this was the name of the association of translators believed to have been patronized by the great Caliph of Islam, al-Ma-mum (died A.D. 833), who translated important Greek scientific and philosophical texts into Arabic. Because CPART publishes editions of important Arabic works with accompanying English …

King Mosiah And The Judgeship, John A. Tvedtnes

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

The immediate situation that prompted Mosiah2 to institute a system of judges to govern the Nephites was the departure of his four sons. The people asked that Aaron be appointed king, but he and his brothers had gone to the land of Nephi to preach to the Lamanites and had renounced their claims to the monarchy (Mosiah 29:1–6).

Nibley Fellowships Awarded

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

FARMS has awarded Nibley Fellowships to 16 rising scholars who are pursuing advanced degrees in fields of special interest to FARMS. Named in honor of eminent Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley, the Nibley Fellowship is made possible by generous donations from individuals committed to helping further the mission of the Foundation.

Farms Launches Occasional Papers Series

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

The Foundation launches a new series, the Occasional Papers, with the publication of “Deification: The Content of Athanasian Soteriology,” by Keith Edward Norman. The purpose of the series is to publish important articles and books on ancient studies that may lack marketability but are nonetheless important scholarly works that present Latter-day Saint perspectives on antiquity.

Black Women And Theoretical Frameworks, Laschanda Johnson

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

Despite the upsurge in the number of woman students as well as novice faculty /administrators, there are still too few women leaders to inspire the shifting demographics. The growing number of female undergraduate students in most parts of the world has created the erroneous perception that gender equality in higher education has been attained. While women's contribution to higher education has increased, the attainment of leadership positions is practically unknown from the global perspective. Given that higher education is becoming a more complicated global enterprise, gender equality in leadership is not only an issue of impartiality but also a need …

Weather In Middle-Earth Or Tolkien: The Weather-Master?, Jonas Mertens

Journal of Tolkien Research

Abstract

This article attempts to shed light on the use of weather in general and meteorological expressions in The Lord of the Rings, as J. R. R. Tolkien is well known to be a writer for whom the environment and natural world is closely intertwined with his storytelling. Both a manual count and a count which a digital text analysis tool were combined to find the frequency of previously selected weather terms. In total, more than 2,000 references were found in the books, with the words ‘sun’, ‘wind’ and ‘cold’ being the most abundant. Meteorological expressions are frequently encountered in …

Anti-Rationalist Developments: Supernaturalism And The German Religious Awakening, Kevin M. Vander Schel

Religious Studies Faculty Scholarship

The emergence of post-Kantian theological rationalism in early-nineteenth-century German Protestantism ushered in a variety of novel theological approaches that sought to move beyond traditional presentations of doctrine to examine anew the rational and historical basis of religious faith. It also met with strong opposition from preachers and theologians, who rejected the accommodation with Enlightenment rationalism, defended the inescapably supernatural character of Christian revelation, and sought to reimagine the relation of Christian communities to the state and its civil and educational institutions. This chapter presents an inquiry into this opposition to theological rationalism, which proceeds in three parts. It explores: (1) …

The Impact Of The Blended Learning Approach On Sustainable Efl Learning In An Egyptian Context, Wesam Khairy Morsi

English Language and Literature

The blended learning approach (BLA) is a popular trend in higher education because it combines the merits of traditional, face-to-face (FTF) learning, and online learning. This research aims to investigate the effect of implementing the BLA via eLearning on Egyptian undergraduates’ EFL reading and writing achievement compared to their peers’ achievement who only received FTF instruction. The study is qu- asi experimental. A total of 55 freshmen at a private university in Egypt were divided into two experi- mental (study) groups and one control (FTF) group. Students had a reading and writing pre-test before the treatment, and after the treatment, …

Book Review: Derviš M. Korkut: A Biography—Rescuer Of The Sarajevo Haggadah, Ehlimana Memišević

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

At the beginning of 2020, the Sarajevo-based publishing house El-Kalem, released a biography of Derviš M. Korkut, a Bosniak hero, to whom Yad Vashem posthumously awarded Righteous among the Nations on December 14, 1994.

Winston Churchill's words, with which the author begins the biography—that the Balkans produce more history than they can handle—best describe the difficult times in which Korkut lived. For Korkut and his fellow Bosnians, these difficult times lasted from the beginning of the 20th century to its very end.

The book is based on exhaustive archival research and reconstructs Korkut’s life very precisely, while the concise overview …

Crazier Hypotheses: Panpsychism, José E. Burgos, Giselle M. Castañeda

Animal Sentience

Abstract: Segundo-Ortin & Calvo (S&C) invite readers to consider seriously the hypothesis that plants have phenomenal consciousness or sentience. Their case is based on behavioral evidence to support their hypothesis. While the hypothesis seems crazy to many, there is a crazier hypothesis – panpsychism – according to which everything is sentient. We discuss panpsychism to raise a number of philosophical questions about S&C’s hypothesis.

Book Review: Anthropological Witness: Lessons From The Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Suzanne Schot

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

The Uk Museum Boom: Continuity And Change 1960-2019, Fiona Candlin, Andrea Ballatore, Jamie Larkin, Mark Liebenrood, Alexandra Poulovassilis, Valeri Katerinchuk

CCI Articles and Research

During the late-twentieth century there was a significant increase in the number of museums in the UK. Apart from the polemic heritage debates of the 1980s and 1990s, the boom in museums was not much investigated. Our project “Mapping Museums” collected and analysed data on over 4000 UK museums that were open in the period from 1960 to 2019. Here we present our findings. We show that the number of museums increased from around 1000 to a highpoint of 3360 in 2016, that the sector continuously expanded for 55 years, but that the rate of growth and closure varied depending …

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.