Using the life of Neal A. Maxwell as a standard, Bruce C. Hafen, in his Neal A. Maxwell Lecture, delivered 21 March 2008, discusses the relationship between intellect and spirituality. While many people struggle to understand how reason and faith can coexist, Elder Maxwell exemplified how the two notions are, in fact, complementary to each other.

Review of Gadiantons and the Silver Sword: A Novel (1991), by Chris Heimerdinger.

The Book of Mormon provides many good examples to Latter-day Saint writers of how to magnify their work. By following the patterns of the Book of Mormon, writers can understand what to emphasize and how to include the Spirit in their writing.

Review of Mormons, Scriptures, and the Ancient World: Studies in Honor of John L. Sorenson (1998), edited by Davis Bitton

A linguistic analysis of the symbol of a barren woman associated with Zion, the earth, and the Lord’s servants

Third Nephi 22 (quoting Isaiah 54) addresses a desolate woman who will be redeemed in the latter days. The desolate woman represents Zion, which itself signifies the city of Enoch in ancient times, the hill where the temple was built in Jerusalem, the celestial city of God, the kingdom of God on earth, and a covenant community of temple-worthy Saints. The Lord promises to relieve the desolation of Zion felt through barrenness, lack of a permanent home, and being forsaken and persecuted. The destiny of Zion parallels the pattern of Noah—both remain faithful to their covenants and witness a cleansing of the earth. The Savior serves as Zion’s husband. The servants of the Lord are equated with Zion—the Lord will not allow oppressors to be successful against Zion. The Lord promises to redeem Zion as he sings a song of redeeming love.

The use of the word judge in the scriptures can cause confusion. By researching the etymologies and scriptural uses of the words judge and righteous, Cynthia Hallen observes that there is a difference between judging and judging righteously.

This article explains the benefits of studying specific words in the context of the Book of Mormon. Focusing on the origin of a word provides additional meaning and insight to a particular verse of scripture and helps the reader better understand the intended meaning of the author.

Scriptural records are important in preserving the words of prophets as well as the language of our ancestors. An etymological study of the important words in scriptures can link us to the thoughts and feelings of people who lived in the past. An example is the word heart, which has meaning both as an essential body part and as a metaphor for one’s thoughts and feelings.

The word tender is used repeatedly throughout the Book of Mormon, but the modern connotations of the term may skew readers’ understanding of what Book of Mormon authors intended to convey when employing it in their writing. By examining the etymology of tender and the etymologies of similar words, readers can better comprehend the intended meaning of the ancient Book of Mormon authors.

Cynthia Hallen invited students in her History of the English Language course to search for conjoined word pairs in the scriptures as a term project. They searched for pairs of words linked with conjunctions in order to better understand the meaning of selected set expressions in the King James Bible and the Book of Mormon. Hallen summarizes and comments on their research.

A two-pronged approach to studying the scriptures emphasizes language as well as doctrine. Some typical syntactic structures that appear in 19th-century Book of Mormon English include word-order variation, interruption, parenthesis, ellipsis, fragment, conjunctions, and parallel structure.

Review of “Apologetic and Critical Assumptions about Book of Mormon Historicity” (1993), by Brent Lee Metcalfe.

Anti-Mormon criticisms of the Book of Mormon are frequently based on a questionable set of assumptions concerning the nature of historical and archaeological evidence, the role of governing presuppositions, and the nature of historical proof. Using arguments found in a recent anti-Mormon critique by Luke Wilson as a foundation, this article analyzes difficulties of reconstructing ancient geographies, problems with the discontinuity of Mesoamerican toponyms, the historical development of the idea of a limited geography model, and challenges of textual and artifactual interpretation when trying to relate the Book of Mormon to archaeological remains.

Introduction to the current volume.

Review of Explorers of Pre-Columbian America? The Diffusionist-Inventionist Controversy (1994), by Eugene R. Fingerhut; and Legend and Lore of the Americas before 1492: An Encyclopedia of Visitors, Explorers, and Immigrants (1993), by Ronald H. Fritze.

Review of How Wide the Divide: A mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation (1997), by Craig L. Blomberg and Stephen E. Robinson

Review of Archaeology and the Book of Mormon (1972), by Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner

Review of “Parallelomania and the Study of Latter-day Saint Scripture: Confirmation, Coincidence, or the Collective Unconscious?” (2000), by Douglas F. Salmon

Review of ?Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection? (1994), by Lance S. Owens

The failure of those who reject the historicity of the Book of Mormon to respond cogently to the increasing body of evidence and argument supporting historicity is becoming painfully apparent. Stephen E. Thompson’s recent review of Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 6/1 (1994) is one of the most recent examples of this "straw man" approach.

Review of The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology (1994), by John L. Brooke.

Review of Christopher Hitchens. God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

This paper is part of a series of F.A.R.M.S. papers intended to give clear, concise answers to criticisms that have been raised against the Book of Mormon. As can be seen in the footnotes, much is owed to previous researchers who have addressed these criticisms. The foundation wishes to thank Matthew Roper for his help in gathering and summarizing large portions of the raw material for this series of papers. The authors wish to thank Robert Durocher for his help with this paper.

Review of Robert M. Price. “Prophecy and Palimpsest.” Dialogue 35/3.

In this article William Hamblin responds to critics of the Book of Mormon who claim that there is no language known as reformed Egyptian, a term found in Mormon 9:32. Hamblin reminds readers that reformed Egyptian is a modern term for an ancient language and lists examples of other ancient records written in languages that could also be considered reformed Egyptian.

This article discusses the term reformed Egyptian as used in the Book of Mormon. Many critics claim that reformed Egyptian does not exist; however, languages and writing systems inevitably change over time, making the Nephites’ language a reformed version of Egyptian.

Review of The Sanctity of Dissent (1994), by Paul Toscano.

Significant evidence reveals that bronze and other metals were historically used for writing sacred texts. This article uses that information to demonstrate the plausibility that the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi would have followed the same practice.

Review of Deciphering the Geography of the Book of Mormon (1988), by F. Richard Hauck

William Hamblin considers concepts related to the temple that are found in Jesus’ prayer recorded in John 17. For example, the word for glorify recalls the glory of the Lord that filled the tabernacle and temple. The word for given in John 17:2 can have the implication of endow, in the sense of giving a gift. To know God implies being familiar with his glory. The name of the Father is known by a few but is not revealed to the many.

Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (1998), by D. Michael Quinn

Since 1989, the Review of Books on the Book of Mormon has published review essays to help serious readers make informed choices and judgments about books and other publications on topics related to the Latter-day Saint religious tradition. It has also published substantial freestanding essays that made further contributions to the field of Mormon studies. In 1996, the journal changed its name to the FARMS Review with Volume 8, No 1. In 2011, the journal was renamed Mormon Studies Review.
Review of An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1988), by Hugh Nibley.

“People may well ask: Why study warfare in the Book of Mormon? There are so many answers, among which are these: to understand better the events in the Book of Mormon, to develop a perspective against which to understand its teachings and messages, to enjoy the interesting lives of a remarkable people, and to aid in assaying the historicity of the book, ” writes John W. Welch at the beginning of Warfare in the Book of Mormon.

The wars and battles described in the Book of Mormon include some of the most detailed narratives of the book. Those accounts provide us with an excellent chance to examine how consistent and complex the text is. Joseph Smith lived in an age of warfare with guns, yet the Book of Mormon displays patterns of warfare that made sense only before gunpowder was used. This can be seen in both the general patterns and in the tiny details of the text. Descriptions of weapons and tactics in the Book of Mormon are definitely ancient. Furthermore, the warfare in the Book of Mormon differs from what we read about in the Bible. It differs in the same way that war in ancient Mesoamerica differed from biblical warfare.

Review of The Lord's University: Freedom and Authority at BYU (1998), by Bryan Waterman and Brian Kagel

Review of The Book of Mormon and the Constitution (1995), by H. Verlan Andersen; and If Men Were Angels: The Book of Mormon, Christ and the Constitution (1995), by Brad E. Hainsworth.

Review of C. John Sommerville. The Decline of the Secular Unversity.

In the Old World Jesus taught, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6), yet in the New World he says, “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 12:6). Attention, understandably, has been given to the differences, large and small, between the Sermon on the Mount as recounted in the New Testament and the similar sermon given in the New World. At times, we note slight shifts in emphasis (here in the New World, for example, Jesus makes this promise to “all”), more complete understandings (we are filled specifically with the influence of the Holy Ghost), and so on. And these differences raise compelling questions about the possibility that plain and precious truths were lost in translation in the Bible but are restored again in the Book of Mormon. The differences might also suggest the importance of a shifting context that moves Jesus to vary his speech. One wonders if one version is more authoritative than the other. But there is an additional question the two accounts of Christ’s sermon raise. What do readers make of the fact that in most cases the wording is exactly coincident? What might that signify?

Harold I. Hansen directed the Hill Cumorah Pageant from 1937 to 1977 (excluding the years 1943–47 when the pageant was suspended for the duration of World War II). He passed away in 1992. This article is an excerpt from his unfinished history of the pageant. His narrative includes details of his efforts to revive the pageant in 1948 and mentions the assistance of Bishop Thorpe B. Isaacson of the Presiding Bishopric, who visited the pageant in 1949. Because of his visit and recommendation to the First Presidency, the pageant was again established as an annual event and moved from an Eastern States Mission activity to a church-recognized production. Hansen includes a statement of support from President David O. McKay and reminiscences of Elder Richard L. Evans, the missionaries, and Harris Cooper, who provided lighting for the production for many years.

Review of Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example (1996), by D. Michael Quinn

Both Hansen and Lawrence review Grant Hardy’s The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition. Not meant to replace the 1981 edition published by the church, this edition appears in a reader-friendly format and provides additional notes and appendices.

Nephi was the only Book of Mormon author to receive what might be called a classical Hebrew education. He had ambivalent feelings about his training—indeed, he specifically noted that the tradition would end with himself: “I . . . have not taught my children after the manner of the Jews” (2 Nephi 25:6; see vv. 1–2). So it is not surprising that he remains the most literate, book-learned of the Nephite prophets. That is to say, his writings exhibit the most connections with earlier prophecies and texts, and he structures his teachings in a way that suggests he is working from written documents. In particular, he is eager to tie his own visions of the future of the House of Israel to the words of Isaiah, and his commentary at 1 Nephi 22—where he weaves phrases from the two Isaiah chapters he has just quoted into a new revelatory discourse—is a masterpiece of prophetic interpretation. The same style of commentary, which by placing familiar phrases into new contexts reinterprets as it explains, is found in a slightly more diffuse form at 2 Nephi 25–30.

Grant Hardy responds to the six essays written about Understanding the Book of Mormon. He pairs up the authors and imagines conversations between them, as in a book club exchange. He acknowledges their comments and expresses interest in ongoing dialogues fostered by the ideas in his book.

Mormon’s choices are most revealing when the message of his editing seems to contradict the facts that he recorded. Mormon’s honesty as a historian sometimes forced him to include facts that did not exactly support the message he was trying to convey. This tension is frequent in the Book of Mormon as Mormon tried to make spiritual sense of historical events. For me at least, this tension is evidence that Mormon was an actual person, since we all face similar difficulties in making sense of our own lives.

Hardy hypothesizes that the misplacement of Alma 13:16 (which, he proposes, actually belongs three verses earlier) is an example of a mistake in handwriting and copying known as homoeoteleuton.

As is well known, when the words of the Book of Mormon were translated “by the gift and power of God,” there was no punctuation at all in the early manuscripts, and that is the way the translated text was delivered to E. B. Grandin’s print shop. Type-setter John Gilbert reported that when he sat down to prepare the text for publication, “every chapter . . . was one solid paragraph, without a punctuation mark, from beginning to end.”¹ So he added punctuation and paragraphing as he went along. He did a good job, especially for someone reading the book for the first time, but there are a few sentences that could have been punctuated in more than one way, with slightly different results. Since the punctuation of the Book of Mormon does not enjoy the same revealed status as the words themselves, it may be worth considering some of the alternatives.

Until now, nearly all commentaries on the Book of Mormon have focused mainly on issues of doctrine rather than beginning with the text itself. Royal Skousen’s critical text project does the opposite by treating the text itself on the word and phrase level. Skousen weighs nearly all possible evidence to deduce the events that may have led to the variations seen in the texts and to draw conclusions about which readings are most likely original. Some conclusions may surprise readers, but Skousen is more interested in candidly documenting what the texts reveal than in interpreting all the implications. Several lengthy excerpts from Skousen’s work show the scholarly depth and rigor of his analysis. In the end, Skousen may have produced the seminal work of Book of Mormon textual criticism that scholars and students will still be using hundreds of years from now.

Review of Digging in Cumorah: Relcaiming Book of Mormon Narratives (1999), by Mark D. Thomas

Review of Robert A. Rees and Eugene England, eds. The Reader's Book of Mormon. and Review of The Book of Mormon. Translated by Joseph Smith. Introduction by Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp.

The Book of Mormon is clearly a didactic text, with its narrators using plainness, explicitness, and repetition to keep the message clear and straightforward. However, Hardy offers a more in-depth analysis of the text’s rhetorical design that also reveals it as a literary text. The Book of Mormon is both a primer for judgment and a guidebook for sanctification. Parallel narratives are compared through clusters of similar narrative elements or phrasal borrowing between the multiple accounts. In Mosiah, Mormon tells the story of the bondage and delivery of Alma and his people after recounting the story of the bondage of the people of Limhi. Hardy explains that ambiguity, indirection, comparison, and allusions are all used to suggest the larger context of these two narratives. The ability to read the book as a guidebook for sanctification, rather than just as a straightforward didactic primer, will provide insight and guidance in the process of living a faithful life.

Third Nephi testifies to the fulfillment of Jesus’s eschatological prophecies, even though Mormon, the prophet-historian who records the remarkable events, was unaware of the content of Jesus’s mortal teachings. He nevertheless recognizes Christ’s postresurrection visit as both the fulfillment of Nephite prophecy and the reenactment of particular episodes of their sacred history by incorporating numerous scriptural allusions into his account. Mormon’s independent witness in which he recounts a day of divine judgment, the coming of the Lord, and the inauguration of the kingdom of God within the timeframe Jesus had prescribed validates Jesus’s prophecies in Galilee and Judea. Despite the ironic incongruity between what was expected and how it was fulfilled, Mormon’s narrative confirms the New Testament’s proclamation and thus serves to save the credibility of Christianity that has long been challenged by the problem of the delayed parousia—that is, that Jesus’s prophecies of an imminent theocratic kingdom seem to have failed.

Review of Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess (1994), by Richard S. Van Wagoner

Review of Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess (1994), by Richard S. Van Wagoner

Review of Grant H. Palmer. An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins.

Review of Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess (1994), by Richard S. Van Wagoner

Study of the varied metaphorical levels of the Book of Mormon continues to yield new insights into the message and meaning of that book. Several prominent typological readings of aspects of the Book of Mormon have been published, but despite calls for such an effort, little inquiry into its possible archetypal levels, or what has been called “the mythic dimension” of the book, has yet been undertaken. As an initial attempt at such an endeavor, I compare certain events described in 1 Nephi with the elements of one prominent mythic archetype, the hero’s journey, as elucidated by Joseph Campbell in his famous The Hero with a Thousand Faces. A strong correlation between the hero’s journey archetype and the events from 1 Nephi is intriguing and seems to demonstrate at least the presence of mythic patterns in the Book of Mormon. This leads to some preliminary conclusions about what the apparent presence of such patterns might signify.

Nephi’s older brother Sam was a holy and just man who experienced and witnessed many events in early Nephite history.

Introduction to the current issue.

Introduction to the current issue.

Introduction to the current issue.

Review of E. Douglas Clark. The Blessing of Abraham: Becoming a Zion People.

Review of Strangers in Paradox: Explorations in Mormon Theology (1990), by Margaret and Paul Toscano.

Review of The Book of Mormon: Alma, The Testimony of the Word (1992), edited by Monte S. Numan and Charles D. Tate Jr.

Review of The Most Correct Book: Why the Book of Mormon Is the Keystone Scripture (1991), by Monte S. Nyman.

Review of C. Reynolds Mackay. Muhammad, Judah, and Joseph Smith.

Review of The Book of Mormon: Restored Covenant Edition (1999), by Zarahemla Research Foundation

Review of Jeffrey M. Bradshaw. In God's Image and Likeness: Ancient and Modern Perspectives on the Book of Moses.

Since 1989, the Review of Books on the Book of Mormon has published review essays to help serious readers make informed choices and judgments about books and other publications on topics related to the Latter-day Saint religious tradition. It has also published substantial freestanding essays that made further contributions to the field of Mormon studies. In 1996, the journal changed its name to the FARMS Review with Volume 8, No 1. In 2011, the journal was renamed Mormon Studies Review.
Review of Hugh Nibley. Abraham in Egypt.

The Book of Mormon was written in a language that was grounded in Hebrew and Egyptian; the people of the Book of Mormon most likely spoke this same language. It is interesting, then, that the Book of Mormon authors periodically included definitions for certain terms that they used in their writing, as if their audience did not understand them. This technique, known as a gloss, suggests that those terms may not have been a part of that ancient language. In an attempt to uncover the true origin of such words, this article dissects the Book of Mormon term Irreantum and delves into its linguistic characteristics to determine whether the term could have originated from Hebrew, Egyptian, ancient South Semitic, or another language.

Includes three papers: \"Who Controls the Water? Yahweh vs. Baal\" (Fred E. Woods), \"Justice and Mercy in the Book of Deuteronomy (Is There Mercy in the Old Testament?)\" (Jared W. Ludlow) and \"Garment of Joseph: An Update\" (Brian M. Hauglid).

The Book of Mormon includes a narration of the Jaredites and records that this people brought honeybees with them from the Old World to the New World. A study of the history of beekeeping in the ancient Near East supports the plausibility of the Jaredites’ story.

This article explores the ancient Near Eastern rituals that endowed kings with this power, specifically the rites suggested by the Investiture Panel at the palace of Mari, with specific focus on the motifs of creation, sacred garden, and divine kingship. Because contemporary evidence at Mari relating to an interpretation of the panel and the functions of various rooms of the palace is limited, it will be necessary to rely in part on a careful comparative analysis of religious texts, images, and architecture throughout the ancient Near East, including the Old Testament. Comparative analysis not only has the benefit of increasing our understanding of ancient Mesopotamian religion but also can enrich our understanding of the Bible.

In September, Morgan Davis, Daniel Peterson, and I led a development council tour through some of Turkey’s most remarkable religious sites. In doing so, we followed in the footsteps of a fifth-century abbott called Daniel, who was told not to go to Jerusalem as he had planned, but instead to “go to Byzantium and you will see a second Jerusalem!” Daniel did indeed go to Byzantium, or Constantinople as it was called then, and found a city filled with Christian sites. Fifteen hundred years later, Maxwell Institute friends and scholars descended on Turkey to ex- plore the ancient ruins and religious sites of this other holy land.

Volume 2 (2010) of Studies in the Bible and Antiquity promises to be a significant contribution to the ongoing Latter-day Saint scholarly conversation on the Dead Sea Scrolls. This volume features essays from Donald W. Parry, Dana M. Pike, and Andrew C. Skinner, all of whom have served on the international team of editors of the Dead Sea Scrolls and have helped produce several of the 40 volumes in the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series.

Ephrem the Syrian, who died in ad 373 in Edessa, wrote one of earliest extant commentaries on Genesis and Exodus. In this commentary he weaves a new biblical story by selecting from both the narrative background and foreground—not in an arbitrary way, but as a very deliberate process. One of the new themes that Ephrem weaves into his retelling is the unwavering righteousness and spiritual receptiveness of the patriarchal wives.

Near the end of the children of Israel’s journey to the promised land following their miraculous escape from Egypt, they once again began to complain against the Lord and against Moses. As a result of this sin, the Lord sent “fiery serpents” among them (Numbers 21:6). Faced with physical death, the people went to Moses, confessed their sins, and entreated him to pray to the Lord to take the serpents away. However, the serpents were not taken away as requested. Instead, in what may have seemed an expression of deep irony—but was in reality a sacred symbol—Moses was instructed to raise up a brass serpent as the means of healing those bitten. This Moses did: “And it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. And the children of Israel set forward” (Numbers 21:9–10). There ends the story in the Bible account.

After Joseph Smith received the gold plates from the angel Moroni, he had to take great measures to protect them from people who wanted to steal them for their monetary value. Although Joseph did not leave much documentation of such experiences, the people who were closely associated with him at the time did. Using what records still exist, Hedges pieces together some of the stories of Joseph’s challenges in obtaining and protecting the gold plates.

Richard Lloyd Anderson is a scholars’ scholar. Among Latter-day Saints, he is dean and master of two separate fields of academic study: the New Testament and early LDS Church history.
His passion for history has profoundly influenced his scholarly career; his passion for order and system has shaped his missionary work and directed him into studying law; and his love for Brigham Young University and loyalty to its mission and destiny have guided his academic path.
This volume, as you can see from the table of contents, contains essays written by outstanding LDS scholars on Book of Mormon Studies, Old Testament Studies and Ancient History, and New Testament Studies and Early Christian History.

Richard Lloyd Anderson is a scholars’ scholar. Among Latter-day Saints, he is dean and master of two separate fields of academic study: the New Testament and early LDS Church history. His passion for history has profoundly influenced his scholarly career; his passion for order and system has shaped his missionary work and directed him into studying law; and his love for Brigham Young University and loyalty to its mission and destiny have guided his academic path. This volume, as you can see from the table of contents, contains essays written by outstanding LDS scholars on Book of Mormon Studies, Old Testament Studies and Ancient History, and New Testament Studies and Early Christian History.

The editor gives a brief history of the Journal and gives his vision for the future of the publication.

Summary of current issue.

Review of View of the Hebrews (2nd ed., 1996), by Ethan Smith

The use of the Bible and especially Isaiah by ministers at the time of Joseph Smith

Review of Dan Vogel. Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet.

Review of Dan Vogel. Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet.

Heiser responds to Bokovoy’s critique of his argument against the traditional interpretation of Elohim as developed from Psalm 82.

Heiser discusses Psalm 82 and the interpretations of Elohim that Latter-day Saints and evangelicals derive from that scriptural passage. Heiser then offers alternative interpretations from his own study.

Robert Hughes collected eighteen poems about the Hill Cumorah from 170 years of church magazines and periodicals. Author Louise Helps presents these poems in their entirety in this article and discusses the themes, images, and techniques of the poets. The poems give insight into the feelings and attitudes of the poets as well as the then-current fashions in poetry.

This article contains descriptions of the gold plates quoted directly from individuals who were closely associated with Joseph Smith Jr. Among those quoted are Martin Harris, Orson Pratt, and Emma Smith. The compiler also comments on the material of the plates.

Review of “A Hard Day for Professor Midgley: An Essay for Fawn McKay Brodie” (1999), by Glen J. Hettinger

Review of Keith Bailey Schofield. How to Increase Your Enjoyment of the Book of Mormon: Striking New Insights Into the Life of Mormon and His Work.

As specified by revelation, one of the responsibilities given to Emma Smith was to select hymns for the church. However, almost immediately after the revelation was given, tension arose as to who should compile the hymnbook and what its nature should be. This eventually led to more than one “official” hymn book for the church—the 1840 hymnbook created by the Quorum of the Twelve during their mission in England and Emma’s 1841 hymnbook. Whereas the apostles’ hymnbook focused mainly on restoration, millennial, and missionary topics, Emma’s felt more Protestant, focusing in many instances on the cross, the blood of Jesus, and grace. With the departure of the Saints from Nauvoo and Emma’s choice to remain behind, however, it was ultimately the apostles’ hymn book that was in a position to shape the hymnody for the present-day church.

Review of About the Three Nephites (1992), by C. Douglas Beardall and Jewel N. Beardall.

We construct a detailed geographical model of the Nephite homeland areas of Manti, Zarahemla, and the river Sidon using the Book of Mormon text of around 80 BC. This model assumes that these areas are located in Mesoamerica, that the names of their surrounding seas do not necessarily correspond to local compass directions, and that the directions stated in the text are to be understood in the nontechnical normal English sense. We then describe the southern end of the Grijalva river basin, located across the southern part of the Mexico–Guatemala border. We nominate this area as a possible candidate for the ancient Nephite homeland because it corresponds to the text’s topography from the most general to the most detailed parts of the description. Furthermore, significant geographical and climatic changes in this area over the last 2,000 years are unlikely. The number and detail of the topological matches encourage further careful study.

Over the last twenty years, various objective author-attribution techniques have been applied to the English Book of Mormon in order to shed light on the question of multiple authorship of Book of Mormon texts. Two methods, one based on rates of use of noncontextual words and one based on word-pattern ratios, measure patterns consistent with multiple authorship in the Book of Mormon. Another method, based on vocabulary-richness measures, suggests that only one author is involved. These apparently contradictory results are reconciled by showing that for texts of known authorship, the method based on vocabulary-richness measures is not as powerful in discerning differences among authors as are the other methods, especially for works translated into English by a single translator.

We construct a detailed geographical model of the Nephite homeland areas of Manti, Zarahemla, and the river Sidon using the Book of Mormon text of around 80 BC. This model assumes that these areas are located in Mesoamerica, that the names of their surrounding seas do not necessarily correspond to local compass directions, and that the directions stated in the text are to be understood in the nontechnical normal English sense. We then describe the southern end of the Grijalva river basin, located across the southern part of the Mexico–Guatemala border. We nominate this area as a possible candidate for the ancient Nephite homeland because it corresponds to the text’s topography from the most general to the most detailed parts of the description. Furthermore, significant geographical and climatic changes in this area over the last 2,000 years are unlikely. The number and detail of the topological matches encourage further careful study.

Editor’s Introductory Note: The following letter and accompanying critique of the stylometric studies of Ernest Taves have been sent to F.A.R.M.S. by John L. Hilton. Hilton and his colleagues, who have been actively involved in stylometric analyses of the Book of Mormon for several years, plan in the near future to complete their own extensive and thorough stylometric study of Book of Mormon texts. The following general review of Taves’ book serves to introduce John Hilton’s more detailed remarks.

While Jacob records 15,000 words in the Book of Mormon, he is often underappreciated, perhaps living in the shadow of his older brother Nephi. This study illustrates how Nephi, King Benjamin, and Moroni used Jacob’s words and expanded the influence of his literary legacy.

The word resurrection is employed at varying frequencies in specific books and by individual writers in the Book of Mormon. Although Alma uses resurrection most often overall, Abinadi uses it more often per thousand words spoken. Some phrases in which resurrection is used in unique patterns by different speakers include power of the resurrection, first resurrection, and resurrection with the words time or with body. Some phrasal uses of resurrection in the Book of Mormon are not found in the Bible (such as resurrection and presence appearing together). This study of the usage of one individual word appears to show that individual voices are preserved in the Book of Mormon.

Thirty years after publishing In Search of Lehi’s Trail, Lynn M. Hilton looks back at the progress of research on the journey of Lehi and his family from Jerusalem to Bountiful. Hilton starts by briefly reviewing the known aspects of the party’s travel, such as the location of Jerusalem and their initial “south-southeast direction.” Following their trail, he gives an overview of the discoveries that have helped identify and describe potential sites for several key locales mentioned in Nephi’s narrative of the journey: the Valley of Lemuel, Nahom, and Bountiful. In the past thirty years, many important discoveries have expanded our understanding of the real-life setting of Lehi’s travel through the Arabian Peninsula.

The following outline is a rough summary of the basic information about Nephite wars and warfare in the Book of Mormon. It is designed as a research tool, especially to aid in further studies of the conditions and circumstances of war and peace in the Book of Mormon which are now underway. This outline has been divided into sections generally corresponding with the main eras and campaigns in Nephite military history, and approximate dates have been supplied. Hopefully this data will facilitate and promote a closer examination of the text itself as further research progresses.

Nancy Goldberg Hilton shares her experiences growing up in the Jewish religion. Although she felt close to God while reciting verses from the Old Testament, she was confused about God’s true nature and current role. Hilton eventually abandoned her belief in God until she had a miraculous experience at Rainbow Bridge on Lake Powell in Utah. This experience helped her to feel the reality of God and of Jesus Christ, and she soon began to search for further information about their doctrine. When a business contact gave her a Book of Mormon, she read it and was delighted to discover how the book connected the life of Jesus Christ to her Jewish heritage and to the life she was now living. Hilton agreed to meet with missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and she was baptized shortly thereafter.

In this statement, the First Presidency requests that the Book of Mormon not be rewritten into familiar or modern English because of “risks that this process may introduce doctrinal errors or obscure evidence of its ancient origin.”

Review of Shawn McCraney. I Was a Born-Again Mormon: Moving Toward Christian Authenticity.

Swords often symbolize divine authority and kingship. Numerous examples from the mythology, literature, and history of the world attest to distinct patterns. The sword of Laban from the Book of Mormon fits these patterns and can be compared to the sword of Goliath. The sword of Laban can also be traced as part of the royal regalia that provides authority throughout Nephite history and later as it appears in the restoration. The sword of Laban as associated with Joseph Smith came to be an additional witness of his authority and of the divine sanction for his work.

Elder Jeffrey Holland bears testimony of the Book of Mormon as the keystone of Mormonism. The Book of Mormon is either what it says it is, and Joseph Smith’s account of its origin is true, or it and the Prophet are simply discredited. Three great witnesses of Christ in the Book of Mormon are Nephi, Jacob, and Isaiah.

Review of Douglas E. Cowan. Bearing False Witness? An Introduction to the Christian Countercult.

Since time immemorial, humans have found meaning and purpose in revering sites because of events that transpired there. Such sites offer an opportunity for pilgrims to visit sacred places. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ have tried not to create shrines or pilgrimage sites per se, but they often experience deep religious attachment to sacred places where significant events occurred. In the early 19th century, however, relatively few people traveled for tourism or pleasure. The few who were able to visit sites associated with the early years of Mormonism provided word pictures or visual presentations for those who did not have the opportunity to visit the sites. This article explores the visual images of the Hill Cumorah, from a woodcut printed in 1841 through photographs taken in 1935 when the Hill Cumorah Monument was dedicated.

In the year 1850, Elder Lorenzo Snow of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles arrived in Italy as a missionary. He and his companions spent much of their time with a Waldensian community. Elder Snow soon began sending missionaries to Switzerland to preach the gospel to French speakers there and began publishing church materials into French. The new materials caused a lot of opposition from Swiss Protestants and Italian Catholics. Elder Snow then went to England, where he solicited the help of an anonymous translator, and together they completed the translation of the Book of Mormon into Italian. Elder Snow returned to Italy soon after, bringing copies of Il Libro di Mormon with him, but he and the other missionaries did not find much success. Because of the influence of the Catholic Church on the government, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not given much freedom in their preaching. Il Libro di Mormon similarly did not significantly help the missionary work. Almost all the Italian converts to the church were French-speaking Waldensians. Because of the lack of progress, the Italian mission was closed in 1867 and not reopened until a century later, in 1966.

Also available for free at BYU ScholarsArchive.
A review of Lehi in the Desert, The World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 5.

Review of Warfare in the Book of Mormon (1990), edited by Stephen D. Ricks and William J. Hamblin.

The title page of the Book of Mormon acts as a historiographical introduction to the editorial guidelines followed by Mormon in his work of compilation and redaction. These guidelines defined what was important for Mormon to incorporate in his historical record and included the themes of genealogy, covenants, and the teaching and testifying of Christ.

The Zoramite narratives of Alma 31-35 and Alma 43-44 are richly symbolic accounts woven with many subtle details regarding the imporatnce of costly apparel and riches as an outward evidence of pride. This literary analysis focuses on how Mormon as editor structured the Zoramite narrative and used clothing as a metaphor to show the dangers of pride and the blessings afforded by humble adherence to God’s teachings and covenants. The Zoramite’s pride--as evidenced by their focus on costly apparel, gold, silver, and fine goods (Alma 31:24-25, 28)--competes with the foundational Book of Mormon teaching that the obedient will “ prosper in the land” (1 Nephi 4:14; Mosiah 1:7). The story deveops this tension between pride and true prosperity by employing the metaphor of clothing to set up several dramatic ironies.

Review of “God” (1998), by Francis J. Beckwith

This article provides insights on the story of Aaron and the golden calf in the Bible, explaining why Aaron may have decided to make it and why his punishment for doing so was minor in comparison to other biblical reprimands.

Testifying of the purifying power of Christ in an address entitled “Oh How Surely Christ Sanc­ tifies His Own,” Alan C. Ashton, cofounder of WordPerfect Corporation and Thanksgiving Point, gave the seventh annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture on April 12, 2012.

Review of Little Known Evidences of the Book of Mormon (1989), by Brenton G. Yorgason.

All of us are familiar with puns, wordplays, and the fun such word games provide. Euphemisms, where an objectionable word is replaced by a less objectionable one, are a practical and sometimes amusing aspect of these word games. For example, in the nineteenth century and extending into the twentieth century, the word pregnant seems not to have been common in polite conversation. Instead, euphemisms such as “with child” or “in a family way” were used. I can remember my mother, in hushed conversations, rather than saying “pregnant,” would quietly declare, “She is PG.” This may explain why the large, white block letter on the mountain (a common occurrence in intermountain western states) above the city of Pleasant Grove, Utah, is simply “G” and not “PG.”

Review of Christ's Answer to the Atheist, to the Jew: Who Wrote It? (1987), by Earl W. Carlsen.

Summary of current issue.

Summary of current issue and a letter to the editor.

This second of two volumes of essays honoring Hugh Nibley includes scholarly papers based on what the authors have learned from Nibley. Nearly every major subject that Dr. Nibley has encompassed in his vast learning and scholarly production is represented here by at least one article. Topics include the sacrament covenant in Third Nephi, the Lamanite view of Book of Mormon history, external evidences of the Book of Mormon, proper names in the Book of Mormon, the brass plates version of Genesis, the composition of Lehi’s family, ancient burials of metal documents in stone boxes, repentance as rethinking, Mormon history’s encounter with secular modernity, and Judaism in the 20th century.
A discussion about proper names for the Book of Mormon and the relevance of name studies to studying the Book of Mormon.

Many scattered and disconnected statements (mostly proffered etymologies) have been made about the proper names in the Book of Mormon. Because of the mixed quality of these statements this paper proposes an apposite methodology. First a few words need to be said about the relevance of name studies to our understanding.

In our search for understanding, it is often instructive to determine what something does not mean. This is the case with the ending on some Book of Mormon names, -(i)hah. Because one of the most common names ending with -(i)hah is Moronihah, the son of Moroni, it might be tempting to understand these names as patronymic; however, of eleven names with the suffix -(i)hah, Moronihah is the only occurrence in which the father is known. The case of the brothers Mathoni and Mathonihah also casts doubt on this interpretation. The suffix -(i)hah can also be interpreted as a shortened form of Jehovah, yhwh. For this to occur, however, -i(j)ah would have to switch to -(i)hah through metathesis, which is extremely rare in Semitic languages. Among other arguments against this understanding are that there are no instances in the corpus in which -(i)hah is used as a shortened form of Jehovah and, with one possible exception, no geographical name compounds with yhwh, as -(i)hah does in the Book of Mormon. Although this leaves the question currently unresolved, the use of sound methodology has helped to settle what -(i)hah is not, which will ultimately aid in determining what it is.

Ancient authors loved to play with their composi­tions much more than we do today. In fact, it was much easier to manipulate words and structure in some ancient languages than it is in Modern English. Ancient writers even played games with the readers of their work. One such ancient Hebrew game is called atbash, and Jeremiah used it quite effectively.

Hoskisson begins the onomastic discussion with the names Lehi and Sariah. These are two Book of Mormon names that are close in time and space to ancient Jerusalem. Hoskisson suggests etymologies for these two names. He introduces his explanation of their names with a discussion of ancient names in general. He suggests that Sariah’s name is composed of common Hebrew and Semitic elements and probably means “Jehovah is my prince.” Lehi’s name has a few possible meanings, evidence that it is not yet possible to come to a firm conclusion about some names. Ambiguity reminds scholars that the study of onomastica does not always yield clear results, that conclusions cannot be dogmatic, that previous suggestions should always be reevaluated, and that new suggestions are welcome.

Review of Every Person in the Book of Mormon: A Chronological Reference and Synopsis (1995), by Lynn F. Price

In teaching Book of Mormon at Brigham Young University over the past quarter century, I have rarely found a student, whether true freshman or returned missionary, who knows what the word mark means in Jacob 4:14.1 Most of them know that the mark symbolizes Christ in this verse, but they do not know what a mark is. That is, if a mark symbolizes Christ, then mark must be something in real life other than Christ. In fact, most Book of Mormon readers justifiably feel satisfied and uplifted by relying on what they think mark means in this verse. While it is true that great lessons can be learned from this verse by relying simply on the symbolic meaning of mark, when the meaning of mark as it fell from the Prophet’s lips while translating becomes clear, whole new, additional dimensions of understandings of Jacob’s warning begin to unfold.

When the writer of the Gospel of Matthew listed the genealogy of Christ, he divided it into three sections, each containing 14 generations, to wit, Abraham to David, David to the Exile, and the Exile to Christ (Matthew 1:17; also 1–17). In order to do this he had to manipulate the names by leaving out several ancestors mentioned in the Old Testament. The reason Matthew thought it necessary to create this mathematical/genealogical fiction has never been explained adequately.

An announcement made in Jerusalem—claiming that parts of the text found in the pyramid of Wenis were ancient Semitic and not Egyptian—could have implications applicable to the Latter-day Saints. If the claim proves to be true, these spells would be one of the oldest attestations of any Semitic language. Egyptologists have tended to reject the possibility of influence from non-Egyptians, but the existence of these Semitic lines would force them to reconsider that possibility. The reverse would also have to be considered, supporting the Book of Mormon’s suggestion that the Hebrews adopted Egyptian script to write Hebrew. However, the assertion has only been made and has yet to be proven.

Hoskisson responds to and elaborates on the comments about the names Lehi and Sariah that Chadwick, Pike, and Tvedtnes provided in this onomastic discussion. Where Hoskisson disagrees with their conclusions, he uses examples to defend his position. He acknowledges the contribution this discussion has provided to the study of Book of Mormon proper names. He welcomes further examples on the points suggested by these scholars

Confusion between the use of strait and straight existed in Joseph Smith’s day and continues to persist today. This confusion is manifest in the spelling of the term in the original manuscript (strait preserved in 10 of 11 existing occurrences), the printer’s manuscript (all 27 instances spelled strait), and the 1830 edition (in which the compositor changed all 27 instances to straight). Through close examination of meanings, comparison to Hebrew words and usage, and analysis of poetic form, Hoskisson examines each instance of strai(gh)t in the Book of Mormon and recommends a spelling for each one.

There are two ways to read a text, through exegesis and through eisegesis. The first means, approximately, “reading out of the text,” while the second means, approximately, “reading into the text.” Both are legitimate ways of approaching a text. Anyone who reads the scriptures will at times engage in both exegesis and eisegesis, whether knowingly or unwittingly. Therefore, the more conscientiously and consciously we engage in rigorous and careful exegesis and eisegesis, the better the chance that our reading of the scriptures will truly enlighten the mind and provide substance for the soul. I will illustrate both approaches using the term familiar spirit found in 2 Nephi 26:12, Isaiah 29:4, and 1 Samuel 28.

Bountiful Harvest: Essays in Honor of S. Kent Brown compiles recent studies by two dozen scholars who respect Professor Brown and his scholar­ ship and whose own research in this Festschrift is worthy of its honoree. A recognized expert on early Christian literature and history and a past director of Ancient Studies at BYU, Brown has devoted his career not only to expanding the scholarly literature in his field but also to building the faith of believers through more popular works such as his literary/historical study of the Book of Mormon entitled From Jerusalem to Zarahemla and the seven­-part TV documen­tary Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God.

The name Alma appears more frequently in the Book of Mormon than any other name besides Nephi. The name has a logical derivation from a Hebrew root that means “youth” or “lad.”

The Book of Mormon was written in a language that was grounded in Hebrew and Egyptian; the people of the Book of Mormon most likely spoke this same language. It is interesting, then, that the Book of Mormon authors periodically included definitions for certain terms that they used in their writing, as if their audience did not understand them. This technique, known as a gloss, suggests that those terms may not have been a part of that ancient language. In an attempt to uncover the true origin of such words, this article dissects the Book of Mormon term Irreantum and delves into its linguistic characteristics to determine whether the term could have originated from Hebrew, Egyptian, ancient South Semitic, or another language.

Despite sporadic attempts to sideline the name Mormon in favor of “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter­day Saints,” it continues to be used as the most ubiquitous moniker for the Church. Members of the Church are known as “Mormons.” It appears in the title of the keystone publication of the Restoration, The Book of Mormon. Within the book bearing this name, Mormon is, firstof all, the name of the waters in the forest of Mormon (Mosiah 18:8; Alma 5:3) in the land of Mormon (Mosiah 18:30). Of course, Mormon is also the name of the military leader who abridged the Nephite records (Words of Mormon 1:1, 3; Mormon 1:1; 2:1).

In part 1 of my discussion of the name Mormon, I presented the evidence that Joseph Smith did not originally write the letter published over his signature in the 1843 Times and Seasons, but that he made some corrections to the letter William W. Phelps had composed and then gave his approval to have it published. I also mentioned the fact that B. H. Roberts left most of the letter out of his History of the Church because he believed the full letter was “based on inaccurate premises and was offensively pedantic.”

When I first began studying Book of Mormon proper names more than 30 years ago, the name Sebus appeared to present a Gordian knot. Hebrew words, like other Semitic words in gen- eral, are most often built on a structure of three different consonants. This language feature emphasizes the consonants and their sequence and order. The problem with Sebus is that its first and third consonants, /s/ and /s/, are the same— something that is extremely rare in any Semitic language. That being the case, for a long time I shelved any attempt to etymologize Sebus.

Though the name Nephi conforms in some ways to common Semitic patterns, none of the possible consonantal roots that appear in Hebrew can be applied to the name. Other possible sources such as Ugaritic or Egyptian may be considered.

Unlike the case of some place-names in the Book of Mormon, the book does not explain how the land and the hill Cumorah received their designation in the Nephite record. The name Cumorah lends itself to several possible etymological explanations, which Hoskisson discusses in this article.

Review of Temple Themes in Christian Worship (2008), by Margaret Barker.

One approach to reconstructing the Prophet Joseph Smith’s pronunciation of the proper names in the Book of Mormon is to determine how his close associates in the early days of the church later pronounced the names. In the Deseret Alphabet we have a record of the pronunciation in vogue in 1869. It is plausible that pronunciation of the names did not change much between 1830, when the scripture first appeared in English, and the publication of the Deseret Alphabet Book of Mormon in 1869. This article includes a table of pronunciation of eighteen names from the Book of Mormon according to the phonetic Deseret Alphabet characters compared with the sounds recommended in the “Pronouncing Guide,” which appears in all English-language editions today.

Review of Written by the Finger of God (1993), by Joe Sampson.

Review of Richard R. Hopkins. How Greek Philosophy Corrupted the Christian Concept of God.

Review of “Is Mormonism Christian?” (2002), by Craig L. Blomberg

The title of liberty fashioned by Moroni represented a rallying point for those who would defend the most cherished aspects of Nephite culture: families, religion, peace, and freedom. A key facet of the title of liberty incident is its deep-rooted martial setting, suggesting that the title of liberty functioned as a war banner. Numerous aspects of the title of liberty episode related to warfare and battle standards fit comfortably in an ancient Mesoamerican context. Additionally, various linguistic and poetic features in the details surrounding the title of liberty in Alma 46 closely correlate to Mesoamerican traditions, indicative of a common cultural origin.

The small detail of the “chief market” mentioned in the story of Nephi’s prayer on his tower (Helaman 7:10) corresponds well to what is known of marketplaces in ancient Mesoamerica.

This paper shows that the account of Moses’ brazen serpent as taught by the Nephite leaders parallels the symbol and name of the Mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl. It further shows that the term flying, used in the Nephite but not in the biblical account of the fiery serpent, has parallels in the Old and New Worlds.

Review of S. Kent Brown. Voices from the Dust: Book of Mormon Insights.

Critical to understanding the widespread symbolism and imagery pointing to Jesus Christ in the New Testament is an exegetical grasp of the content--that is, an understanding of the historical, literary, and theological context of the language. The image of water recurs frequently throughout the New Testament Gospels as a symbol of the Savior’s purity, cleansing power, true doctrine, and so forth. Similarly, blood is used often to reflect the sacred mission of Christ and the price of our salvation. This article investigates this imagery, particularly as used by Apostle John, to explain the significance of the Savior’s mission in mortality and the miracle of his mercy in immortality.