The other week I was riding in the car of a senior missionary couple when the senior sister asked me, “If the Book of Mormon was written for our day, why doesn’t it say anything about homosexuality? After all, the Bible has the story of Sodom. Why doesn’t the Book of Mormon have anything like … Read more
The first half of the eighth Article of Faith reads, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.” This simple statement captures the theological position on the Bible accepted by Latter-day Saints. Unlike their Protestant friends, Latter-day Saints reject the doctrine of sola scriptura and instead … Read more
Pope Pius XII (1876–1958) I recently celebrated my birthday. (Being single at 25, I believe I am now officially a “menace to society.”) Per my usual habit whenever I get gift money, I bought myself some books off of my Amazon wish list. One of the books I purchased is Lawrence Boadt’s Reading the Old … Read more
The biblical scholar Avigdor Horovitz wrote a brief email to Henrik Johnsson back in 1999 with some insightful advice on how to best study the Bible in its ancient Near Eastern context. Below is an image of the email exchange and my transcription. I got my hands on a copy of this exchange at some point … Read more
Professor Joshua Berman Joshua Berman, a professor of Bible at Bar-Ilan University and at Shalem College in Israel, and a research fellow at the Herzl Institute, has authored an excellent article in the Jewish online magazine Mosaic on the question of the historicity of the exodus account in the Book of Exodus. I had the … Read more
The following notes come from Paul Sanders in his volume The Provenance of Deuteronomy 32 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996). For the record, here is Deuteronomy 32:7–9, 43 (NRSV): 7 Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell … Read more
El sueño de Jacob by José de Ribera (1638). Genesis 28 narrates Jacob’s dream at Bethel, wherein he saw Yahweh standing at the top of a stairway leading into heaven. The answer, according to the Hebrew Bible, is pretty clear. (All translations from the Hebrew are my own.) וַֽיִּשְׁמְע֞וּ אֶת־קֹ֨ול יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהִ֛ים מִתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ בַּגָּ֖ן לְר֣וּחַ הַיֹּ֑ום וַיִּתְחַבֵּ֨א הָֽאָדָ֜ם וְאִשְׁתֹּ֗ו מִפְּנֵי֙ יְהוָ֣האֱלֹהִ֔ים בְּתֹ֖וךְ עֵ֥ץ הַגָּֽן׃ And they heard the voice of … Read more
A man who needs no introduction. One thing I have always admired about Brigham Young is his pragmatic advice. Here is the first of two quotes by Brother Brigham on how to read the Bible that reflects his trademark pragmatism. [If] there is a scholar on the earth who professes to be a Christian, and he … Read more