Latter-day Khumrot and “Fences Around the Law”

Jesus disputed with the Pharisees over matters of the Law of Moses on a number of recorded occasions. (From LDS.org) In Judaism exists the concept of the khumrot (חומרות), or proscriptions that are implemented to safeguard the halakhah (הלכה)–––the body of Jewish religious laws–––from being transgressed. The khumrot of Orthodox Judaism are not the laws themselves, but are instead … Read more

Social Deification in Ancient Egyptian and Mormon Theology

Detail of an image inside the tomb of Sennedjem, discovered at the necropolis of Deir el-Medina and dating to the 19th dynasty. Here Sennedjem is accompanied by his wife Lyneferti and wields the “sekhem-scepter, a symbol of power.” (Image and description via Tour Egypt.) The German Egyptologist Jan Assmann has some interesting observations about the ancient … Read more