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Full-Text Articles in Other Religion

Messianism And Jewish Messiahs In The New Testament Period, Trevan Hatch Jan 2019

Messianism And Jewish Messiahs In The New Testament Period, Trevan Hatch

Faculty Publications

The terms Messiah and Christ are widely used today and are employed almost exclusively by Christians in reference to Jesus. Modern Christians, including Latter-day Saints, associate a litany of notions, implications, and expectations with these titles. Messiah, or mashiach in Hebrew, is synonymous with Christ, or christos in Greek, both meaning “one who is anointed” (with oil). What, however, were the deeper meanings and implications of these terms in Jesus’s day? How did Jews in the first centuries BC and AD interpret Old Testament passages regarding a messiah, and what were their expectations of a future messiah? When some of …


Judaism, Trevan Hatch Jan 2019

Judaism, Trevan Hatch

Faculty Publications

The hostile motivations and painful feelings associated with jealousy and envy have earned these emotions a negative reputation in cultures and religions around the world. However, despite their sometimes destructive motivations, these emotions can also prompt actions that are ultimately beneficial for the experiencer. For example, jealousy can inspire the strengthening of a relationship, while envy can be a catalyst for self-improvement (Henniger and Harris 2014).


Calvin S. Smith: 'Utah’S Fighting Chaplain', Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D. Oct 2018

Calvin S. Smith: 'Utah’S Fighting Chaplain', Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This article shares the World War I experiences of Chaplain Calvin S. Smith, son of Latter-day Saint Church President Joseph F. Smith. From 1910-1913 he served as a missionary from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chaplain Smith was one of three Latter-day Saint chaplains who served in WWI. After commissioning, he reported for service to Camp Lewis, Washington. He saw extensive combat during three major offensives: St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and Lys-Scheldt with service in France and Belgium. He was wounded twice. This article portrays the daily combat life of an American division chaplain, burial duty, support operations, …


Making Ritual Strange: The Temple Cult As The Foundation For Tannaitic Discourse On Idolatry, Avram R. Shannon Jan 2017

Making Ritual Strange: The Temple Cult As The Foundation For Tannaitic Discourse On Idolatry, Avram R. Shannon

Faculty Publications

This article examines the Tannaitic conception of the worship of avodah zarah. The term is commonly translated as “idolatry,”but the definition of what constitutes worship of avodah zarah, in m. Sanh. 7:6, is based on a more nuanced notion than simply worship of foreign gods. For the Sages of the Mishnah, worship of avodah zarah involved misuse of objects and rituals associated with the Temple cult, which constituted a betrayal of covenantal loyalty. This means that although the rabbinic laws against the worship of avodah zarah were based on the biblical prohibitions against worshiping other gods, the actual …


Old Testament Costume Resource Guide, Rory R. Scanlon Nov 2015

Old Testament Costume Resource Guide, Rory R. Scanlon

Faculty Publications

This report offers visual costume research support for artists working on Old Testament Bible projects, with an historical overview of Mesopotamia and how to understand its historical clothing pieces, an annotated listing of the best research sources, a list of garment and fabric terms for the 4000 BC to 0 AD period, and sample sketches from historical artifacts to suggest how to interpret the original research images the artist will encounter.


Book Of Mormon Costume Resource Guide, Rory R. Scanlon Nov 2015

Book Of Mormon Costume Resource Guide, Rory R. Scanlon

Faculty Publications

This report offers visual costume research support for artists working on Book of Mormon projects, with an historical overview of Mesoamerica and how to understand its historical clothing pieces, an annotated listing of the best research sources, a list of garment and fabric terms for the 2000 BC to 600 AD period, and sample sketches from historical artifacts to suggest how to interpret the original research images the artist will encounter.


Bar Mitzvahs And Bat Mitzvahs, Trevan Hatch, Loren Marks Jan 2014

Bar Mitzvahs And Bat Mitzvahs, Trevan Hatch, Loren Marks

Faculty Publications

A bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah, meaning "son/ daughter of the commandment" in Aramaic, refers a Jewish series of rituals performed by adolescent males at age 13 and females at age 12. The ceremony of becoming bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah is not required by Jewish law but is held sacred. The ceremony consists of, among other things, leading part of a worship service and reading the sacred text in front of the assembly. This paramount event in the life of a Jewish youth has evolved over the centuries, but the origins of the ritual date back as early as …


Judaism And Orthodox Judaism, Loren Marks, Trevan Hatch Jan 2014

Judaism And Orthodox Judaism, Loren Marks, Trevan Hatch

Faculty Publications

The Term Jew, which began as a tribal name and later became a national title, today refers to many things: an ethnic group a philosophy, a religion (Judaism), a tradition, or a way of life. Although Jews have comprised a relatively small portion of the world population, over the last 3,000 years the sacred tects and monotheistic tradition of the Jewish people have been foundational in Western civilization. The Jews, while suffering some of the greatest persecutions of any group in recorded history


Sharia Law, Trevan Hatch Jan 2014

Sharia Law, Trevan Hatch

Faculty Publications

Sharia is the Islamic legal code that serves as an ethical, practical, and religious guide for practicing Muslims. Sharia has been variously translated from Arabic as "the way," "the correcting path," or literally "the path leading to the watering place." Sharia has Sunni and Shia variations as well as different schools of jurisprudence within those traditions, but all sharia is rooter in the Qur'an (or Koran, the primary sacred text of Islam) and the lived example of the Prophet Muhammad, as discussed in the hadith (a body of traditions concerning the Prophet Muhammad's life and revelations). these two sources are …


Islam, Zahra Alghafli, Trevan Hatch, Loren Marks Jan 2014

Islam, Zahra Alghafli, Trevan Hatch, Loren Marks

Faculty Publications

Islam, meaning peace or submission, is a major world religion founded by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century c.e. Muslims (literally “ones who submit”) number more than 1 billion, approximately one-fifth of the world’s population. Because of the perceived negative portrayal of Islam in the media, particularly in the United States and other Western countries, Muslim organizations have begun to stress that traditional and moderate Islam—which is observed by a large majority of the global Muslim population—is family-centered and nonviolent.


Acts 17: Paul Before The Areopagus, Michael R. Preece Jul 2013

Acts 17: Paul Before The Areopagus, Michael R. Preece

Theses and Dissertations

Luke's record of Paul in Athens is among the most interesting and widely studied topics in the life of the Apostle Paul. Luke recorded that Paul taught in the Athenian marketplace, where he was asked to present his doctrines before the Areopagus. Many have commented on the controversial aspects of Paul's speech before the council as recounted by Luke. Much of this scholarly commentary has been centered on the speech itself and the historical authenticity of the account. The purpose of this thesis is to reexamine the context and the setting of the speech as recorded by Luke in the …


Book Of Mormon Atonement Doctrine Examined In Context Of Atonement Theology In The Environment Of Its Publication, David Scott Wetzel Aug 2012

Book Of Mormon Atonement Doctrine Examined In Context Of Atonement Theology In The Environment Of Its Publication, David Scott Wetzel

Theses and Dissertations

Alexander Campbell, a contemporary of Joseph Smith, was the first to publish a critique of the Book of Mormon after actually having read it. Among other allegations, he arraigned that Joseph Smith wrote the book to resolve, with a voice of prophecy, theological issues contemporary to its publication. This study undertakes to examine Campbell's charge with regard to atonement doctrine. To assess the statement, this study first identifies the controversies about atonement doctrine in the years prior to the publication of the Book of Mormon, in the Northeastern region of the United States. It then compares the teachings inherent to …


The Influence Of Israelite Temple Rites And Early Christian Esoteric Rites On The Development Of Christian Baptism, Ryan T. Wilkins Dec 2011

The Influence Of Israelite Temple Rites And Early Christian Esoteric Rites On The Development Of Christian Baptism, Ryan T. Wilkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to answer the question of the origin of some of the most fundamental additions made to early Christian baptism. Christian baptism began in a relatively simple liturgical form, but became, by the fourth century, a much more dramatic set of initiation rituals. Among the added elements to baptism were washing ceremonies in the nude, physical anointing with oil, being marked or signed with the cross on the forehead, and receiving white garments. Scholars have proposed different theories as to the origins of these baptismal rituals. Some claim the elements existed in the New Testament practice of the …


"Levantine Thinking In Egypt" The Footprint Of Intellectual Influence, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2011

"Levantine Thinking In Egypt" The Footprint Of Intellectual Influence, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Upon examination of material and textual remains, there is a great deal of evidence for more contact with the Levant than many have supposed. This contact took the form of both Eyptians in the Levant and Asiatics in Egypt. Futhermore, the Shipwrecked Sailor bears hallmarks of Levantine literature. This famous tale may thus say something significant about Egyptian/Levantine relations. It seems to attest to intellectual influence flowing into Egypt from the Levant.


Egyptian Papyri And The Book Of Abraham: Some Questions And Answers, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2010

Egyptian Papyri And The Book Of Abraham: Some Questions And Answers, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

In 1835 Joseph Smith began translating some ancient Egyptian papyri that he had obtained from an exhibitor passing through Kirtland, Ohio. He soon announced, “Much to our joy [we] found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham.” While we do not know how much the Prophet translated, we do know that some of his translation was published in serial form and eventually canonized as the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. For nearly one hundred years, it was thought that all these papyri had eventually made their way to the Wood Museum in Chicago, …


Ruth, Redemption, Covenant, And Christ, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2009

Ruth, Redemption, Covenant, And Christ, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

The book of Ruth is one of the most loved stories of the Old Testament. Yet sometimes it remains just that: a story from which some readers gain little in the way of doctrine or application. We identify with the story because the principal actors are neither kings nor prophets but the average people of a typical village. There are neither mighty warriors nor great conflicts, but there are intense struggles for surviving life's difficulties and genuine battles with grief. We love the story because it is so well told, because it has characters we can identify with, because it …


Teaching Egyptian History: Some Discipline-Specific Pedagogical Notes, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2009

Teaching Egyptian History: Some Discipline-Specific Pedagogical Notes, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

This paper was originally given at the professional workshop In Search of Egypt's Past: Problems and Perspectives of the Historiography of Ancient Egypt; A North American workshop at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, inaugurating the Journal of Egyptian History, April 23-24, 2008, most of the remaining papers of which will appear in Fascicle 2 of this journal. While many Egyptologists teach Egyptian history, we often fail to carefully conceive of just what this means. Teaching history is more than conveying facts about a time period, it is also teaching how to analyze and (re)construct history. Our classes may often …


Encircling Astronomy And The Egyptians: An Approach To Abraham 3, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2009

Encircling Astronomy And The Egyptians: An Approach To Abraham 3, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Abraham 3 is one of the most enigmatic sections of the Pearl of Great Price. Teacher and student together sense there is something more to the text than the meaning they are drawing out of it. Each thorough exploration gently nudges another layer of understanding from the text, but we always feel we have unraveled only the smallest portion of what it has to offer. Though I do not pretend to have a great key to unlock this revelation, I believe there are some apperceptive principles that cast light on Abraham's night vision.


One Continuous Flow: Revelations Surrounding The New Translation, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2008

One Continuous Flow: Revelations Surrounding The New Translation, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

We often underestimate both the complexity and continuity of Joseph Smith's revelatory life. His visions rolled, he said, "like an overflowing surge before [his] mind." Now that they have been compartmentalized into different sections, chapters, and books, we tend to compartmentalize them in our minds. Such a practice, however, limits our ability to see how powerful and continuous this "overflowing surge" really was.


Royal Executions: Evidence Bearing On The Subject Of Sanctioned Killing In The Middle Kingdom, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2008

Royal Executions: Evidence Bearing On The Subject Of Sanctioned Killing In The Middle Kingdom, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

The pages of this journal, and other publications, have seen disagreement in the past regarding the methods of and reasons for sanctioned killing in Ancient Egypt. Some of this disagreement stems from having looked at large expanses of time without regard to change, and to arbitrarily imposed limitations. By looking at a larger corpus of evidence and restricting the examination to a specific period of time, this paper establishes that the Middle Kingdom engaged in a number of methods of sanctioned killing for more reasons than has often been supposed.


Isaiah's Burden Prophecies As Spirtual Formulas, Justin Brent Top Dec 2007

Isaiah's Burden Prophecies As Spirtual Formulas, Justin Brent Top

Theses and Dissertations

The Book of Mormon makes it clear that Isaiah's message is of great importance to the modern reader. In order to facilitate modern and personal spiritual application of Isaiah's writings, spiritual "formulas" or principles may be discovered or formulated. These formulas are statements of truth based on the prophet's writings that may be applied in multiple situations and time periods. Such formulas of truth offer valuable insighst across time. These formulas may be understood by analyzing the historical setting of the chapter(s) under review, and through critical examination of the text itself. These formulas provide a solid foundation upon which …


Empty Threats? How Egyptians' Self-Ontology Should Affect The Way We Read Many Texts, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2007

Empty Threats? How Egyptians' Self-Ontology Should Affect The Way We Read Many Texts, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Egyptologists have typically divided texts into those that dealt with the divine and those that treated the mundane. This false dichotomy is not one that the Egyptians themselves would have imposed. They saw themselves as mortal beings that interacted with the divine realm and the afterlife. The texts they created reflect this understanding, and thus we are greatly hampered when we insist that the language of a decree, threat formula, or other texts, must refer to either the mundane or the supernatural, but not both. There is ample evidence that the Egyptians often intended specific wording to invoke multiple realms, …


To Know The One True God: Reconciling The God Of The Old Testament With The God Of The New Testament, Kelly D. Newman Jun 2006

To Know The One True God: Reconciling The God Of The Old Testament With The God Of The New Testament, Kelly D. Newman

Theses and Dissertations

There is a popular misconception in the world that Jehovah is too severe on occasion while Jesus Christ is always kind and merciful. The Latter-day Saint belief that Jehovah and Jesus are the same person presents a supposed conflict. There has not been much written on this subject by either non-Latter-day Saints or Latter-day Saints, thus, this thesis represents a unique contribution to a common perception prevalent in many Christian circles. The research of this thesis shows that the misconception is based on three problems: first, a misinterpretation of biblical stories in both the Old and New Testament; second, a …


Approaching Understandings In The Book Of Abraham, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2006

Approaching Understandings In The Book Of Abraham, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

The Book of Abraham is replete with important and rich doctrines for Latter-day Saints. The existence of papyri connected with the Book of Abraham furthers interest in this volume of scripture. While much research has been conducted into the doctrines and also the origins of the Book of Abraham, clearly much more remains to be done.


Insights Available As We Approach The Original Text, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2006

Insights Available As We Approach The Original Text, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

What excites me most about Royal Skousen's Analysis of Textual Variants,Part One: 1 Nephi 1 2 Nephi 10 (hereafter Analysis) is what it says about Latter-day Saints' commitment to the scriptures in general and to the Book of Mormon specifically. This volume, like others in the series published to date, bespeaks our desire to know, as accurately as possible, what the text actually says. We understand that even those with the best intentions sometimes introduce mistakes into the most sacred and important texts. Skousen demonstrates that he and others value the Book of Mormon so much that meticulous and intense …


From Clay Tablets To Canon: The Story Of The Formation Of Scripture, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2006

From Clay Tablets To Canon: The Story Of The Formation Of Scripture, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Presented at the 35th Sperry Symposium. The Sidney B. Sperry Symposium is sponsored by Brigham Young University Religious Education and the Church Educational System. It is difficult for us, in the age of information, to appreciate the impact of both the sweeping movements and technical advances that allowed for the creation of the canonized book we call the Bible. We live in a time when we regularly turn to written documents for the "final word", and we take for granted an astounding volume of written works and easy access to them. Indeed, it has been argued that U.S. culture has …


The Book Of Breathings In Its Place, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2005

The Book Of Breathings In Its Place, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Michael D. Rhodes's publication on the Hor Book of Breathings is an unusual book in many ways. It is a scholarly Egyptological work, dealing with an understudied type of text from an understudied era of Egyptian history, appearing in the midst of a series that has been dedicated to the exploration of a book considered to be scripture by the Latter-day Saints. Additionally, it deals with what many have incorrectly considered to be a text that can be used to test the revelatory ability of the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.


Binding With Heraldic Plants, Kerry M. Muhlestein Sep 2004

Binding With Heraldic Plants, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Binding prisoners is a pictorial icon which spans the entire length of ancient Egyptian history; therefore various aspects of this image have received scholarly treatment from time to time. One sub-motif which has received little attention is the image of binding prisoners, seemingly exclusively foreign prisoners, with the heraldic plants.


Prelude To The Pearl: Sweeping Events Leading To The Discovery Of The Joseph Smith Papyri, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2004

Prelude To The Pearl: Sweeping Events Leading To The Discovery Of The Joseph Smith Papyri, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

In a general presentation, Elder John A. Widtsoe of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that "throughout all the ages of history the hand of God has overruled the actions of mankind, that nothing is done except as the Lord may use it for the accomplishment of his mighty purposes. The things accomplished by humanity become in the end God's accomplishments, as he makes use of them in working out his infinite purposes. Even the great movements of nations and armies often serve to accomplish the workings of the Lord, such as when the empire of Assyria rose to …


European Views Of Egyptian Magic And Mystery: A Cultural Context For The Magic Flute, Kerry M. Muhlestein Jan 2004

European Views Of Egyptian Magic And Mystery: A Cultural Context For The Magic Flute, Kerry M. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Emanuel Schikaneder lived and created during the height of eighteenth-century interest in and fascination with Egypt. The Magic Flute's Egyptian setting would therefore evoke in their contemporaneous audience notions of a distant land with an exotic and magical culture. The numerous Egyptian elements of the work are representative of its era and are situated near the end of a continuum of European thought about ancient Egypt before the solid foundation of modern day Egyptology had been laid.