Year: 2014
The “October Surprise” Becomes a “February Flop”
(An image I found on Reddit. This pretty much sums up the “October Surprise” very nicely.) Some of you may remember that the ever incorrigible Tom Phillips has long been promising an “October Surprise” that would, allegedly, shatter the foundations of the Church and send Mormons into panic. It was only a matter of time, … Read more
Words to Live By
Menander (Μένανδρος), one of ancient Greece’s greatest dramatists. Since I mentioned him in my last post, here’s one of my favorite zingers from Menander. ἄλυπον ἄξεις τὸν βίον χωρἰς γάμου. You said it brother!
Alexandrian Academia
A map of ancient Alexandria. Concerning the intellectual culture of ancient Alexandria, Peter Green wryly observes the following. Timon of Philus, a bitter lampoonist . . . wrote of Ptolemy’s Alexandrian think tank: “In the polyglot land of Egypt many now find pasturage as endowed scribblers, endlessly quarreling in the Muses’ birdcage.” . . . … Read more
Richard Bushman on Mormon Reason
Richard Lyman Bushman (b. 1931). Craig A. Evans is an evangelical New Testament scholar whose book Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels I received as a Christmas gift. In his book, Evans stresses the importance of using rational argument to sustain Christian faith, particularly Christian faith in the historical authenticity of the New … Read more
A Lamanite is a Lamanite, of Course, of Course
Joseph Smith Preaching to the Indians (1890) by William Armitage. Some of the responses to the Church’s recent essay on DNA and the Book of Mormon have been rather perplexing. (The responses of certain prominent critics of the Church, who shall, for their sakes, remain nameless, were downright embarrassing.) One of the responses I’ve heard … Read more
“Taking the Stories of Primeval History Seriously”: A Review of In God’s Image and Likeness 2
You’re just a few clicks away from owning this excellent book! So what are you waiting for? The Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price has been the attention of considerable Latter-day Saint scholarship. Beginning with the pioneering work of Hugh Nibley, much work has been done on understanding the history, nature, and … Read more
That Sneaky Snake
The Temptation and Fall of Eve (1808) by William Blake. Here’s another insight from Ziony Zevit, this time about the nature of the serpent in Genesis 3. The serpent was ‘arūwm. People characterized as ‘arūwm conceal what they feel and what they know (Prov 12:16, 23). They esteem knowledge and plan how to use it in … Read more
Book of Mormon Minimalists and the NHM Inscriptions: A Response to Dan Vogel
One of the NHM altar inscriptions. As promised, here is my article (co-written with my good friend Neal Rappleye) responding to Dan Vogel’s arguments against the significance of the NHM altar inscriptions for the Book of Mormon’s historicity. The article can accessed online here. If nothing else, the article will probably serve as a good … Read more
Goethe and Mormonism
Der Meister – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). I am currently taking a senior seminar on the life and writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. My professor, Hans Wilhelm-Kelling, has an article comparing some of Goethe’s (often enigmatic) religious convictions with Latter-day Saint theology. According to Kelling, some of Goethe’s religious thoughts that intersect with … Read more
The Biblical Books of Kings and Chronicles: Their Value and Limitations for the Study of Ancient Israelite History
The so-called Taylor Prism, or Sennacherib’s Annals (circa 690 BCE), describing, among other things, Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE. Introduction Any student of the Bible[1] must inevitably ask him or herself the question of how much credibility one can assign to the historical claims found therein. To many modern readers of the Bible, especially … Read more
Setting a Good Example
Facsimile 1 from the Book of Abraham. Passions can run high when discussing certain controversies within Mormonism. The debate over the Book of Abraham and the Joseph Smith Papyri, for example, can become especially vicious. (I’ve seen first hand just how low some people can sink.) Michael Frassetto, a professor of history at the University … Read more
Die vier Weltalter; or, Schiller as Proto-Mormon
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805). The Council of Gods (1518) by Raphael. Next to the immortal Goethe, Friedrich Schiller stands as the great German polymath of Weimar Classicism and the Sturm und Drang (conventionally translated as “storm and stress”) literary movement. Schiller’s works include dramas, poetry, histories, and philosophical essays. Schiller’s work has endured in popular culture, … Read more