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2021

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Articles 2281 - 2310 of 3346

Full-Text Articles in Religion

Matthew Black And Mircea Eliade Meet Hugh Nibley, Gordon C. Thomasson Jan 2021

Matthew Black And Mircea Eliade Meet Hugh Nibley, Gordon C. Thomasson

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

As a graduate student, Gordon Thomasson had the opportunity to introduce two internationally renowned scholars to the publications and scholarship of Hugh Nibley: Matthew Black, an eminent scholar of ancient Enoch writings; and Mircea Eliade, famed chair of the History of Religions program at the University of Chicago. Upon hearing of Nibley’s Enoch discoveries, Black made an immediate, impromptu visit to BYU to meet him. Upon reading one of Nibley’s studies, Eliade proposed hiring him on the spot, exclaiming, “He knows my field better than I do, and his translations are elegant!”

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“Put Off Thy Shoes From Off Thy Feet”: Sandals And Sacred Space, John Gee Jan 2021

“Put Off Thy Shoes From Off Thy Feet”: Sandals And Sacred Space, John Gee

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

While many have written on ancient temples looking at the big picture, John Gee discusses one small detail on a single Egyptian temple from the New Kingdom. He focuses on depictions of Ramses III in and out of the temple of Medinet Habu. Outside the temple and when entering and leaving there are depictions of him wearing sandals. Inside the temple proper the king is always shown barefoot. Ramses III built Medinet Habu only slightly after the time of Moses and as Gee further notes, while not wearing footwear was a clear practice among the Egyptians it is far more …

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The Brass Plates: Can Modern Scholarship Help Identify Their Contents?, A. Keith Thompson Jan 2021

The Brass Plates: Can Modern Scholarship Help Identify Their Contents?, A. Keith Thompson

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

The Book of Mormon contains little information about what the Brass Plates contain. Nephi said it was a larger record than the Hebrew Bible brought to America by the Gentiles. But it could not have contained the records of Old Testament prophets who wrote after Lehi’s party left Jerusalem or the New Testament. We know it contained some writings from Zenos, Zenock, Neum, and Ezias, but what else could it have contained? Though the proposal from modern biblical source criticism that the Christian Bible is the product of redactors sometimes working with multiple sources is distasteful to many Christians, this …

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Remembering Hugh Nibley As A Scholar And, More Importantly, As A Man: Observing The Faith Of The Observer, David Rolph Seely Jan 2021

Remembering Hugh Nibley As A Scholar And, More Importantly, As A Man: Observing The Faith Of The Observer, David Rolph Seely

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

Those who knew Brother Nibley best knew he was a remarkable man of both depth and breadth. This new volume plumbs both that depth and breadth in the recounting of personal stories and colorful history. This volume is a welcome addition to any library.

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Did Captain Moroni Lack The Typical Religious Virtues?, Duane Boyce Jan 2021

Did Captain Moroni Lack The Typical Religious Virtues?, Duane Boyce

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

In his well-known volume about the Book of Mormon, Grant Hardy focuses primarily on the book’s main narrators. However, he also makes a number of observations about other figures in the book that are of particular interest, including some about Captain Moroni. In addition to those I address elsewhere, these observations include the claim that Moroni lacked the typical religious virtues — which Hardy identifies as “humility, self-sacrifice, kindness, and relying upon the Lord.” They also include the assertion that Helaman, in his manifest reliance upon God, serves as a counterexample to Moroni’s military leadership. A close look at the …

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Seeking A Global Context For The First Vision, Brian C. Hales Jan 2021

Seeking A Global Context For The First Vision, Brian C. Hales

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

Richard E. Bennett’s latest volume, 1820: Dawning of the Restoration, is not a book about the First Vision. Instead, it describes the world in 1820 through thirteen biographies that provide useful context to the seminal event. Included are Napoleon Bonaparte, Jean Francois Champollion, Alexander I, Ludwig van Beethoven, Theodore Gericault, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, George IV/Queen Caroline, John Wesley/William Wilberforce/ Hannah More, Simon Bolivar, John Williams, Henry Clay, Alexander Von Humboldt, and Joseph Smith. Topics of military conquest, music, science, literature, art, linguistics, religion, politics, and the industrial revolution receive extensive coverage for 1820 and the surrounding decades. Even if readers …

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Understanding The Year 1820, Craig L. Foster Jan 2021

Understanding The Year 1820, Craig L. Foster

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

Richard E. Bennett’s 1820: Dawning of the Restoration takes a look at this significant year in a global historical context. He has produced a fascinating book for both members of the Church and non-members

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De Profundis, Daniel C. Peterson Jan 2021

De Profundis, Daniel C. Peterson

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

In describing the operation of the spindles in the Liahona, Nephi’s statement that “the one pointed the way” in 1 Nephi 16:10 is frequently taken to mean that one of the two spindles indicated the direction to travel. However, Nephi’s apparent use of the Hebrew word האחד (ha’echad)1 may imply a different mechanism in which the direction was being shown when both operated as one. If so, there may be added symbolism of unity and oneness inherent in Nephi’s and Alma’s descriptions of the Liahona. Additionally, I provide a detailed analysis of words and phrases used by Nephi and Alma …

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Nephi’S Gethsemane: Seventeen Comparisons From The Literary Record, Taylor Halverson Jan 2021

Nephi’S Gethsemane: Seventeen Comparisons From The Literary Record, Taylor Halverson

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

This note explores a literary comparison between Nephi’s confronting of Laban and shrinking from the act of shedding blood, to Jesus’s experience in the Garden of Gethsemane of shrinking from the act of shedding blood. Comparing these two stories suggests that we can profitably read Nephi’s experience with Laban as Nephi’s personal Gethsemane.

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Early Christian Temples And Baptism For The Dead: Defining Sacred Space In The Late Antique Near East, David Calabro Jan 2021

Early Christian Temples And Baptism For The Dead: Defining Sacred Space In The Late Antique Near East, David Calabro

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

This paper addresses the early Christian transition from templebased Judaism to the Constantinian basilica of the fourth century. David argues that some Christians of the second and early third centuries may have had places of worship that, while not monumental in scale, qualify typologically as temples and were understood as such. These sacred structures may have been used for the performance of baptisms for the dead, as suggested by Doctrine and Covenants 124. In support of this thesis, he takes as case studies the Christian places of worship at ancient Edessa and Dura Europos, based on a combination of textual …

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From Dust To Exalted Crown: Royal And Temple Themes Common To The Psalms And The Dead Sea Scrolls, David J. Larsen Jan 2021

From Dust To Exalted Crown: Royal And Temple Themes Common To The Psalms And The Dead Sea Scrolls, David J. Larsen

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

David J. Larsen, after showing how many of the Qumran texts rely on the “Royal Psalms” in the Bible—which have a vital connection to the temple drama—then goes on to exaltation in the views of the Qumran community. He indicates how Adam and Eve are archetypal for Israelite temple ritual, which makes humans kings and priests, bringing the participant into the presence of God by a journey accompanied with covenants, making him part of the Divine Council. Bestowed with knowledge of the divine mysteries, one then becomes a teacher helping others on the way through divine mysteries, who then, as …

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Job: An Lds Reading, Mack C. Stirling Jan 2021

Job: An Lds Reading, Mack C. Stirling

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

Mack C. Stirling examines the well-known story of Job, one of the literary books of the Bible and part of the Wisdom literature (which is heavy in temple mysticism and symbols), and proposes the story follows the temple endowment to the T. Following Hugh Nibley’s lead in The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, the temple endowment is not discussed. Stirling focuses only on Job’s story, drawing on analysis of literary genres and literary tools, like chiasms, focusing on the existential questions asked by the ancient author. Doing this, he concludes that Job’s is a story about a spiritual journey, …

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The Practice And Meaning Of Declaring Lineage In Patriarchal Blessings, M. Steven Andersen Jan 2021

The Practice And Meaning Of Declaring Lineage In Patriarchal Blessings, M. Steven Andersen

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

In this paper, I show that declarations of lineage in patriarchal blessings have, since the earliest days of the Restoration, evolved in terms of frequency of inclusion, which tribal lineages predominate, and understanding of the meaning of the declaration. I argue for a non- literal understanding consistent with scripture and science, but posit that these declarations have deep and important significance in connection with the gathering of Israel.

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Axes Mundi: Ritual Complexes In Mesoamerica And The Book Of Mormon, Mark Alan Wright Jan 2021

Axes Mundi: Ritual Complexes In Mesoamerica And The Book Of Mormon, Mark Alan Wright

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

An axis mundi refers to a sacred place that connects heaven and earth and is believed to be the center of the world. These places are sanctified through ritual consecration or through a divine manifestation that results in qualitatively detaching that space from the surrounding cosmos. Often expressed in architecture as a universal pillar, these axes mundi incorporate and put in communication three cosmic levels — earth, heaven, and the underworld. As Mark Alan Wright notes, Mesoamerican sacred architecture was designed according to cosmological principles and finds a modern analogy in Latter-day Saint temples. Also, among Mesoamerican civilizations and in …

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Types Of Repetition And Shadows Of History In Hebraic Narrative, Alan Goff Jan 2021

Types Of Repetition And Shadows Of History In Hebraic Narrative, Alan Goff

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

Modern readers too often misunderstand ancient narrative. Typical of this incomprehension has been the inclination of modern biblical critics to view repetitions as narrative failures. Whether you call such repetitions types, narrative analogies, type scenes, midrashic recurrences, or numerous other names, this view of repeated elements has dominated modern readings of Hebraic narratives for at least 200 years. Robert Alter, who introduced a new yet antique understanding of repetitions in the Hebrew Bible in the 1980s, began to reverse this trend. Such repeated elements aren’t failures or shortcomings but are themselves artistic clues to narrative meaning that call readers to …

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Mormon, Moses, And The Representation Of Reality, Richard L. Bushman Jan 2021

Mormon, Moses, And The Representation Of Reality, Richard L. Bushman

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

In this essay, Richard Bushman borrows a critical perspective from Erich Auerbach’s Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. He analyzes the representation of antiquity in two of Joseph Smith’s striking translations, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Moses. The two texts, produced within a few years of one another, created distinctive stages on which to dramatize the human-God relationship. The question is: What can we learn from this comparison about God, prophets, and human destiny?

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Joseph Smith As A Book Of Mormon Storyteller, Brian C. Hales Jan 2021

Joseph Smith As A Book Of Mormon Storyteller, Brian C. Hales

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

For nearly 200 years, skeptics have promoted different naturalistic explanations to describe how Joseph Smith generated all the words of the Book of Mormon. The more popular theories include plagiarism (e.g. of the Solomon Spaulding manuscript), collaboration (with Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, etc.), mental illness (bipolar, dissociative, or narcissistic personality disorders) and automatic writing, also called “spirit writing, “trance writing,” or “channeling.” A fifth and currently the most popular theory posits that Joseph Smith possessed all the intellectual abilities needed to complete the task. A variation on this last explanation proposes that he used the methods of professional storytellers. For …

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The Implications Of Some Standard Assumptions Of New Testament Scholars: Responding To A Modern Anti-Christ, John Gee Jan 2021

The Implications Of Some Standard Assumptions Of New Testament Scholars: Responding To A Modern Anti-Christ, John Gee

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

In a recent book, Raphael Lataster correctly argues that the acceptance of the general premises of New Testament scholarship, exemplified in the writings of Bart Ehrman, brings into question whether Jesus ever existed. Latter-day Saints who are serious about their witness of Jesus Christ need to be aware that acceptance of these presuppositions undermines their witness of the reality of Jesus Christ and his atonement and makes their faith vain.

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The Goodness Of God And His Children As A Fundamental Theological Concept In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds Jan 2021

The Goodness Of God And His Children As A Fundamental Theological Concept In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds

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

The phrase goodness of God does occur occasionally in the Hebrew Bible but has not been considered by Old Testament scholars to be an independent principle in Israelite theology. Rather, it has been interpreted as just another way of talking about God’s acts of hesed, or loving kindness for his covenant people and is usually interpreted in the context of the covenants Israel received through Abraham and Moses. The Book of Mormon clearly echoes that Old Testament pattern but also presents two additional conceptual frameworks that are explained in terms of the goodness of God. It advances an explicit divine …

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Adam, Eve, The Book Of Moses, And The Temple: The Story Of Receiving Christ’S Atonement, Bruce C. Hafen, Marie K. Hafen Jan 2021

Adam, Eve, The Book Of Moses, And The Temple: The Story Of Receiving Christ’S Atonement, Bruce C. Hafen, Marie K. Hafen

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

The authors begin by the highlighting the importance of Book of Moses research that has discovered plausible findings for its historicity, rendering it at least reasonable to give the benefit of the doubt to sacred premises — even if, ultimately, the choice of premises is just that, a choice. Emphasizing the relevance of the Book of Moses to the temple, they note that the Book of Moses is not only an ancient temple text, but also the ideal scriptural context for a modern temple preparation course. Going further, the authors address an important question raised by some who have asked: …

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Celebrating Exactitude, When It’S Appropriate, Daniel C. Peterson Jan 2021

Celebrating Exactitude, When It’S Appropriate, Daniel C. Peterson

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

It’s almost always better to be right than to be wrong, to be exact than to be sloppy. In scholarship generally and serious scriptural study specifically, it’s important to work toward precision in both interpretation and explanation. However, the Lord is fully capable of reaching us where we are, despite our imperfect languages and our limited capacities. “These commandments are of me,” he says at D&C 1:24, “and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding.”

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“If Ye Believe On His Name”: Wordplay On The Name Samuel In Helaman 14:2, 12–13 And 3 Nephi 23:9 And The Doctrine Of Christ In Samuel’S Speech, Matthew L. Bowen Jan 2021

“If Ye Believe On His Name”: Wordplay On The Name Samuel In Helaman 14:2, 12–13 And 3 Nephi 23:9 And The Doctrine Of Christ In Samuel’S Speech, Matthew L. Bowen

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

The Semitic/Hebrew name Samuel (šĕmûʾēl) most likely means “his name is El” — i.e., “his name [the name that he calls upon in worship] is El” — although it was also associated with “hearing” (šāmaʿ) God (e.g., 1 Samuel 3:9–11). In the ancient Near East, the parental hope for one thus named is that the son (and “his name”) would glorify El (a name later understood in ancient Israel to refer to God); or, like the biblical prophet Samuel, the child would hear El/God (“El is heard”). The name šĕmûʾēl thus constituted an appropriate symbol of the mission of the …

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Alma’S Reality: Reading Alma As Sinful, Repentant, Traumatized, Questioning, And Righteous, Amanda Brown Jan 2021

Alma’S Reality: Reading Alma As Sinful, Repentant, Traumatized, Questioning, And Righteous, Amanda Brown

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

Kylie Nielson Turley delves deep into the conversion and ministry of Alma the Younger, reading new life into a well-known narrative. By analyzing Alma’s story with the full weight of his humanity in mind, she breathes emotion into Alma’s conversion and missionary efforts. Her efforts to read Alma without a veneer of superhumanity result in a highly relatable figure who has known wickedness, repentance, loss, depression, and righteousness.

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Additional Janus Parallels In The Book Of Mormon, Paul Y. Hoskisson Jan 2021

Additional Janus Parallels In The Book Of Mormon, Paul Y. Hoskisson

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

A little more than 40 years ago, Cyrus Gordon discovered and described for the first time an ancient literary technique which he had found in the Hebrew Bible, and he gave it a name — a Janus parallel. That is why no one, more than 40 years ago, could have faked a Hebrew Janus parallel in an English translation of an ancient document. But, as I reasoned, if Janus parallels were a Hebrew literary device at the time Lehi left Jerusalem (for an analog see chiasmus), then such parallels probably can be found in the Book of Mormon. In this …

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The Good God Hermeneutic: A Reconsideration Of Religious Vocabulary, Garrett R. Maxwell Jan 2021

The Good God Hermeneutic: A Reconsideration Of Religious Vocabulary, Garrett R. Maxwell

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

Fiona and Terryl Givens once again deliver a book worthy of the comparatively wide readership they have gained within Latter- day Saint circles. Their orderly treatment of individual gospel concepts in this book can rightly be seen as a distillation and unification of their previous work, boldly attempting to awaken us from our ignorance of the sheer novelty and vitality contained in the Restoration vision of God and humanity. They convincingly argue that the historically wrought semantic baggage that comes with the most basic religious vocabulary we use must be consciously jettisoned to fully appreciate and articulate the meaning of …

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The People Of Canaan: A New Reading Of Moses 7, Adam Stokes Jan 2021

The People Of Canaan: A New Reading Of Moses 7, Adam Stokes

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

Moses 7 is one of the most famous passages in all of Restoration scripture. It is also one of the most problematic in regard to its description of the people of Canaan as black (v. 8) and as a people who were not preached to by the patriarch Enoch (v. 12). Later there is also a mention of “the seed of Cain,” who also are said to be black (v. 22). This article examines the history of interpretation of Moses 7 and proposes an alternative understanding based on a close reading of the text. In contrast to traditional views, it …

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Vox Populi And Vox Dei: Allusive Explorations Of Biblical And Book Of Mormon Politeias, Alan Goff Jan 2021

Vox Populi And Vox Dei: Allusive Explorations Of Biblical And Book Of Mormon Politeias, Alan Goff

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

David Gore’s book The Voice of the People: Political Rhetoric in the Book of Mormon is a welcome reading of Book of Mormon passages which engage in conversation with the biblical politeia — those parts of the Hebrew Bible that explore the constituent parts of the Israelite governance under judges and kings. Gore asserts that the Book of Mormon politeia in Mosiah is in allusive dialogue not just with the Bible but also the Jaredite experience of kingship in Ether. This allusive (intertextual) feature is present not just in the Book of Mormon but any text (Dead Sea Scrolls, New …

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Oh, That I Were An Angel!, Daniel C. Peterson Jan 2021

Oh, That I Were An Angel!, Daniel C. Peterson

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

Alma’s conversion experience was both unusual and unusually powerful, and yet he fervently wished that he could provide others with the same experience. So much so, in fact, that he actually feared that he might be sinning in his wish by seeming to oppose the will of God. Increasingly, though, I find myself sharing that wish. My involvement with the Interpreter Foundation can correctly be regarded as one manifestation of that fact. I invite others to join us.

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Ancient Sacred Vestments: Scriptural Symbols And Meanings, Donald W. Parry Jan 2021

Ancient Sacred Vestments: Scriptural Symbols And Meanings, Donald W. Parry

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

In this essay Parry starts with the symbology of ritual vestments, and then discusses in detail how the ancient clothing worn in Old Testament temples are part of the rituals and religious gestures that are conducted by those who occupy the path that leads from the profane to the sacred. The profane is removed, one is ritually washed, anointed, invested with special clothing, offers sacrifices, is ordained (hands are filled), and offers incense at the altar, before entering the veil. Putting on clothes, in a Christian context, is often seen as symbol of putting on Christ, as witnessed by the …

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An Ishmael Buried Near Nahom, Neal Rappleye Jan 2021

An Ishmael Buried Near Nahom, Neal Rappleye

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

Latter-day Saint scholars generally agree that “the place called… Nahom,” where Ishmael was buried (1 Nephi 16:34) is identified as the Nihm tribal region in Yemen. Significantly, a funerary stela with the name ys1mʿʾl — the South Arabian equivalent of Ishmael — was found near the Nihm region and dated to ca. 6th century bc. Although it cannot be determined with certainty that this is the Ishmael from the Book of Mormon, circumstantial evidence suggests that such is a possibility worth considering.

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