Religious Education Commons^™

Farms Web Site Offers Video Lectures, Periodicals In Member Services Section

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

The newly designed FARMS Web site is divided into three · major sections: Free Services, FARMS Member Services, and Catalog. In the Member Services section, FARMS subscribers can access lectures on video, plus articles from the three periodicals published by FARMS, the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, FARMS Review of Books, and INSIGHTS. Member Services also contains all the items offered in the Free Services section but includes more content for each item.

Reflections Of Nephi's Vision In His Psalm, John A. Tvedtnes

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

Second Nephi 4:16-35 comprises a beautiful psalm written by Nephi. Portions of the psalm suggest that he was contemplating his earlier vision of the tree of life and the future of his people, recorded in 1 Nephi 11-14. Among the elements common to both the psalm and the vision are the appearance of angels in visions, mention of the condescension of God, temptations, the devil (" evil one") and hell, and the straight path.

Farms And Byu Participate In The 1999 Aar And Sbl Annual Meetings In Boston

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

Since 1995 FARMS representatives have attended the joint annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). AAR and SBL are longstanding learned societies with members from colleges, universities, seminaries, and other academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Each year they jointly hold their annual meetings, which constitute the largest gathering of religion scholars in the world, offering sessions on subjects ranging from the history of Christianity and the study of Islam to biblical texts and their ancient contexts.

New Book On Book Of Mormon Geography Provides Maps, Helpful Explanations

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

As Mormon edited the Book of Mormon, he must have had a map in his mind of the places and physical features that were the setting for the events described in that book. In Mormon's Map, a new book from FARMS, John L. Sorenson attempts to reconstruct that mental map" Mormon's Map"-using information in the Book of Mormon text.

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

Your Year 2000 Membership Card

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

Dear FARMS member,

Enclosed is your member discount card. Please use this card for a 20% discount at the LDS bookstores listed below. Your membership number printed on the outside envelope is good for accessing the Member Services portion of the FARMS Web site-http:/ /farms.byu.edu. To validate your card, please write that number on your membership card on the back side where indicated. We appreciate your support and look forward to another successful year of meaningful research and publication. Please contact us with any questions or concerns.

Farms Order Form

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

Hugh W. Pinnock, Finding Biblical Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon, 1999, 201 pp., hardbound.

Brown Bag Wrap-Up

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

The last five brown bag lectures of 1999 covered a range of interesting topics related to Bible and Book of Mormon studies. Sponsored by FARMS, these noontime lectures at BYU continue to keep the campus community and others abreast of current research on the scriptures.

Tibetan-Mongolian Glossary Donated

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

Recently FARMS received a 16th-century glossary of Tibetan religious terms from Malan Jackson, director of the Center for International Studies at Utah Valley State College. The glossary, which translates many Tibetan words into Mongolian, was originally compiled to assist Mongolian Buddhist monks who chanted Tibetan scriptures but did not know the original meanings. The unbound glossary is wrapped in a worn, brown cloth and measures two feet long, four inches wide, and one inch thick. Each page contains three rows of Tibetan and Mongolian characters finely penned in red and black ink.

Farms Web Site Sports New Look And Services

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

FARMS has redesigned its Web site in an attempt to better serve its members and visitors to the site. New graphics and navigational features make it easier to find, access, and view information. A considerable amount of new content has been added.

Farms Through The Years, Part 3: A Conversation With Daniel Peterson And Daniel Oswald

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

When did you first become involved with FARMS? Peterson: In the late 1970s and early 80s, Stephen Ricks and I and, a little bit later, Bill Hamblin and I began to talk about the need for an organization like FARMS. We didn't realize that Jack Welch was already launching the Foundation. My actual involvement with FARMS began on a very low level while I was a doctoral student in California, and then accelerated rapidly when I became a member of the BYU faculty in the fall of 1985.

New Book Continues Series On Temples

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

FARMS's recent publication of The Temple in Time and Eternity ends a long wait for those who enjoyed the 1994 book Temples of the Ancient World, the inaugural volume of the "Temples through the Ages" series.

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

Call For Papers

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

The Institute invites interested persons to submit papers for a conference on Latter-day Saint views on the sacrifice of Isaac. The conference will be held at BYU on 11 October 2003.

Brown Bag Report

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

25 September 2002: BYU professors John W.Welch (law) and John F. Hall (classics) reported on projects involving the Institute’s Early Christianity Initiative.Welch spoke of a presentation he gave in Berlin to the International Society of Biblical Literature in which he showed the results of an Institute team’s digital imaging of a dozen early New Testament manuscripts. He also described imaging projects involving (1) a large collection of early manuscripts damaged during World War II (among them are eighth- and ninth-century copies of the Pauline epistles, including a rare copy of an apocryphal epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans); and (2) …

A Note On Benjamin And Lehi, John A. Tvedtnes

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

Mosiah 1:2–6, which describes how King Benjamin taught his sons, seems to be patterned after Lehi’s teaching of his son Nephi. The italicized words in the extracts below highlight the parallels in the two accounts.

Internal Textual Evidence For The Egyptian Origin Of Nephi’S Name, Matthew L. Bowen

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

A proposed etymology of the Book of Mormon name Nephi is that it derives from the ancient Egyptian word nfr,1 which as an adjective means “good,” “fine,” or “goodly” and as a noun denotes “kindness” or “goodness.”2 By Lehi’s time, this word was probably pronounced “ne˘fe¯” (NEH-fee).3 Two Book of Mormon passages contain strong evidence for such an etymology.

Treatise On Ethics Launches Eastern Christian Texts Series

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

The Institute is pleased to announce the publication of the first volume in the Eastern Christian Texts series, part of the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative. The Reformation of Morals was written by Yahyå ibn ‘Ad• (893–974 C.E.), one of the most important Christian authors to have written in Arabic. Although devoutly Syrian Orthodox, Yahyå ibn ‘Ad• studied in Baghdad under the Muslim philosopher al-Fåråb• and counted Muslims and Christians of all sects among his own disciples. He was a leading figure in the 10th-century translation movement in Baghdad and the author of numerous works of philosophy and theology.

New Review A Double Issue

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

The latest FARMS Review of Books is actually two issues in one. It reviews 15 books in the usual categories of Book of Mormon, Mormon studies, and biblical studies but also devotes more than 100 pages to a multipronged response to an evangelical book titled The New Mormon Challenge: Responding to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement.

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

Institute News

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

The Institute recently benefited from a generous gift of books and Mesoamerican artifacts from Jay and Ursula Krenusz. The donation of books, initially made to BYU's Harold B. Lee Library, was divided among the Lee Library, BYU- Idaho, and the Institute. The large collection of artifacts was donated to BYU's Museum of Peoples and Cultures.

Joseph's Coat And Moroni's Covenant Of Liberty, Matthew Roper

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

In the biblical account, after Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery, they kill a goat, dip Joseph's coat in the blood of the animal, and send the coat to their father, Jacob, to make him think that Joseph has been killed by a wild beast (see Genesis 37:3 1-33). Later we read that Joseph refused the advances of Potiphar's wife in order to remain faithful to God but was nevertheless falsely accused and imprisoned (see Genesis 39).

Jbms Welcomes New Editor

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

The Institute welcomes S. Kent Brown as the new editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. A professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University and former associate editor of the Journal, Brown is its third head editor.

New Volume Honors Truman G. Madsen

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

The distinguished career of Truman G. Madsen has earned him wide respect in and outside of LDS circles as an outstanding teacher, scholar, researcher, speaker, university administrator, church leader, and religious ambassador. With the publication of Revelation, Reason, and Faith: Essays in Honor of Truman G. Madsen, the Institute pays tribute to this remarkable man whose many accomplishments include helping to advance Book of Mormon scholarship and related interests of the Institute.

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

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Forthcoming Publications

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

FARMS Review of Books (vol. 14, no. 1–2), edited by Daniel C. Peterson, reviews books on Book of Mormon geography limited to the Great Lakes region, a book on the life of Joseph Smith, a book by evangelical scholars who challenge LDS apologetic scholarship, and other books. Available in late November 2002.

Institute News

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

The Institute is pleased to have assisted with a new publication by the American Center for Oriental Research, in Amman, Jordan. Titled The Petra Papyri I, this volume on the carbonized scrolls from ancient Petra features 26 full plates of multispectral images taken by Steven Booras and Gene Ware during their Institute-sponsored work of imaging the Petra papyri. Access to the superior MSI images enabled scholars to transcribe the burned scrolls with greater accuracy than ever before. The Institute looks forward not only to providing additional images to ACOR for the remaining volumes of its Petra series, but also to …

“Let Us Be Strong”: Nephi’S Courage In The Context Of Ancient Near Eastern Military Exhortations, David E. Bokovoy

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

The ancient Near East often witnessed the rise and fall of powerful nations, a fact of life reflected in the literary and cultural traditions of the time. Given the constant specter of war, military leaders frequently needed to exhort their people to extraordinary levels of bravery. Literary evidence shows that the phrase to “be strong” was commonly used in a military sense. The Book of Mormon, with its roots in the ancient Near East, also reflects that usage.

Joseph Smith Right On Target, New Book Shows

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

In his writings over the years, Hugh Nibley has often pointed out “hits” and “bull’s-eyes” in the Book of Mormon—details about the ancient world that were unknown until recent times but that Joseph Smith got right anyway. Serious Book of Mormon research took shape in the early 1900s but has accelerated in recent decades, establishing an entire field of scholarly endeavor and yielding many clues to the book’s ancient origins.

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.