Review of Fingerprints of God: Evidences from Near-Death Studies, Scientific Research on Creation, and Mormon Theology (1999), by Arvin S. Gibson

Review of An Ensign to All People: The Sacred Message and Mission of the Book of Mormon (1987), by Monte S. Nyman.

Review of Working toward Zion: Principles of the United Order for the Modern World (1996), by James W. Lucas and Warner P. Woodworth.

Bibliography of publications on the Book of Mormon in 1989.

In the text of the Old Testament Yahweh is described as the Redeemer of Israel. A redeemer in Israelite society was a close family member who was responsible to help his enslaved kinsmen by buying them out of bondage. A comparable family relationship is created between the Lord and individuals by the making of covenants and the giving of a new name. The adoptive covenant becomes the basis for the Lord’s acts of redemption. This pattern of adoptive redemption can be seen in both the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon identifies Yahweh, the God and Redeemer of the Old Testament, with Jesus Christ. It further explains that redemption from spiritual bondage comes through the ransom price of his blood and is available to those who enter into adoptive covenants, which create a familial relationship and allow the Lord to act as their redeemer.

Review of The Book of Mormon: 3 Nephi 9-30, This Is My Gospel (1993), edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr.

Review of Searching the Scriptures: Bringing Power to Your Personal and Family Study (1997), by Gene R. Cook; Treasure Up the Word (1997), by Jay E. Jensen; and Scripture Study: Tools and Suggestions (1999), by James E. Faulconer

Review of Paul Y. Hoskisson, ed. Historicity and the Latter-day Saint Scriptures.

Review of King Benjamin\'s Speech: “That Ye May Learn Wisdom” (1998), edited by John W. Welch and Stephen D. Ricks

A number of texts from the Qumran scrolls demonstrate the community’s interest in heavenly ascent and in communion with angels. This article lays out a pattern observable in some of the poetic/liturgical texts (for example, the Hodayot and other noncanonical psalms) in which the leader of the community is taken up into the divine council of God to be taught the heavenly mysteries, is appointed a teacher of those mysteries, and is then commissioned to share the teachings with his followers. Upon learning the mysteries, the followers are enabled to likewise ascend to heaven to praise God with the angels. In some texts, the human worshippers appear to undergo a transfiguration so that they become like the heavenly beings. This article further illustrates how these elements can be found together in a liturgical text known as the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice; their collective presence suggests that all were part of a ritual sequence. Finally, the article argues that these same elements, or traditions related to them, can be found in passages from the Old Testament.

The slaying of Laban has been a stumbling block for many readers of the Book of Mormon. Although Laban appeared to have legally merited the execution, any explanation of the act is unsatisfactory if Nephi is considered to be acting as an individual. Larsen illustrates that Nephi was acting as a sovereign, with a clear political purpose. When Lehi offered a sacrifice in the Valley of Lemuel, his family became a separate people, with Nephi repeatedly promised the role of ruler. Nephi’s symbolic and literal assuming of this sovereign authority through the act of killing Laban is explained through six different layers: (1) substitutional sovereignty, (2) the assumption of Mosaic authority, (3) the assumption of Davidic authority, (4) private and public motives, (5) the Nephite constitutional order, and (6) explicit declarations of Nephi’s reign. Nephi did not formally assume the role of king for many years, but by slaying Laban he proves that he will be a dutiful king.

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.

In recalling his “First Vision” in 1820, Joseph Smith writes of the “anxieties” over the “contests of [the] parties of religionists” that drove him to seek solace in scripture and “attempt to pray vocally” for the first time in his young life. Smith describes turning to the Epistle of James, a reading that precipitated his calling out for an answer to his “anxieties.” The reply to Smith’s “vocal” prayer initiated a course of events that ultimately led to the publication of The Book of Mormon in March 1830. Since then, the story of the plates whose translation constitutes the text The Book of Mormon has provoked nearly as much-if not more-attention than the exceedingly complex narrative itself. The experience of reading the text poses challenges, though not because of its tedium (as Mark Twain suggested) or the demands it places on one’s willingness to suspend disbelief; instead, the challenges it poses derive, I will argue, from the way in which reading itself is figured in the text. This paper intends to take up the problem of reading and The Book of Mormon, which I believe the text presents but does not fully resolve.

Dale LeBaron counsels us to draw on the power of the Book of Mormon and the words of Christ’s representatives to discover the Lord’s pattern for preparing for the second coming. This preparation entails knowing the signs of the second coming, knowing the patterns of destruction, believing that despite persecution righteousness will prevail, heeding the counsels of the prophets, and studying the ministry of Christ and the teachings about his return.

When the angel Moroni first appeared to the young Prophet Joseph Smith, he told young Joseph that God had a work for him to do, and further, that the work would begin the preparatory work for the second coming of the Messiah. He was further told that the gospel would be preached unto all nations, that a people might be prepared for the millennial reign. The book that Moroni delivered to Joseph, and the other revelations of the Restoration, make it very clear, that one of the greatest responsibilities incumbent upon this dispensation is to prepare a people for the Savior’s second coming.

David A. LeFevre analyzes the studies done by Warren Aston (see page 8), Richard Wellington and George Potter (see page 26), and Kent Brown (see page 44) and compares them, using the text of the Book of Mormon as a guide. These three studies take liberty in interpreting Nephi’s usage of specific terms; LeFevre, however, insists that such interpretations are unnecessary and inaccurate. He analyzes other phrases in a more conservative way in order to find additional information regarding Lehi’s trek. He specifically discusses Lehi’s life in Jerusalem, the route Lehi took from Jerusalem to the Red Sea, the Valley of Lemuel, the route from Shazer to Nahom, the route from Nahom to Bountiful, and the building of the ship at Bountiful.

Review of Into the Light: A Novel (1995), by Keith C. Terry; and The Remnant (1996), by Keith C. Terry and Wesley Jarvis

In Alma 24 we read of the courage of the people of Anti- Nephi-Lehi, Lamanites who had converted to the Lord. Their king pleaded with them, “Let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren” (Alma 24:12). So great was their faith that they covenanted never to take up arms again and buried their weapons of war. When the unconverted Lamanites came against them, the Anti-Nephi- Lehies, rather than resist their attackers, prostrated themselves on the ground to pray and allowed their brethren to slay them.

Review of Clyde R. Forsberg Jr. Equal Rites: The Book of Mormon, Masonry, Gender, and American Culture.

Review of Timely Truths from the Book of Mormon (1995), by Allan K. Burgess

Review of Fingerprints of God: Evidences from Near-Death Studies, Scientific Research on Creation, and Mormon Theology (1999), by Arvin S. Gibson

This new selection of materials from the incomparable Encyclopedia of Mormonism includes 151 Book of Mormon articles by 115 scholars and articulate authors.
Within this compilation, readers will find: 45 illustrative photographs, maps, and charts, bibliographies, a unique list of entries by category, and a full index of passages.

Prior to the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586 BC, Lehi took his family into the wilderness. Around the same time, another group of Jews fled to Elephantine in Egypt. Ludlow evaluates the Nephite group, the Elephantine colony, and the Jews in postexilic Jerusalem to show how the Nephites compared religiously with other Jewish groups. Social relationships, the Sabbath and festivals, priesthood officials, and temples played important roles in all three communities, with the importance and function of each varying among the three. On the other hand, scriptural texts strongly aided the reformation of Jerusalem and played an important role among the Nephites, beginning with the retrieval of brass plates from Laban, but the Elephantine community lacked texts related to the Hebrew Bible. After comparing the three, Ludlow shows that the Nephites created their own religious community, separate and independent from the religious community they left behind.

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).

Victor Ludlow shows that covenants are prominent in the scriptures. He distinguishes between horizontal covenants, which take place between individuals, and vertical covenants, which take place between God and mortals. He discusses what it means to “cut a covenant” and its various applications. He notes how covenants entail requirements that find expression in obedience or disobedience with the consequences of blessings or punishments. He comments on how in 3 Nephi the Savior devotes significant time to speaking about covenants directly or dealing with subjects that are rooted in covenants, such as the teachings found in the Sermon at the Temple, which corresponds to the Sermon on the Mount. Charts and graphs are included.

The title page of the Book of Mormon states that the first purpose of the book is “to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever.” This means that the Book of Mormon is intended, in part, to teach Lehi’s descendants about the covenants that the Lord has made with them. The key covenant they will learn about is that they would be a blessing for all nations—a consecrated people of God. Beyond teaching about the covenants, the Book of Mormon also prophesies key signs and events that will demonstrate when the promised covenant is being fulfilled in the latter days.

Review of Isaiah and the Book of Mormon: A Study Guide for Understanding the Writings of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon (1990), by Philip J. Schlesinger.

Review of Gordon L. Weight. Miracle on Palmyra's Main Street: An “Old-Time” Printer's Perspective on Printing the Original Copies of the Book of Mormon.

These two volumes contain essays written by various authors in honor of Hugh W. Nibley. Many of the articles are related to Book of Mormon topics, such as the sacramental covenants, the Lamanite view, external evidences of the Book of Mormon, Lehi’s family and others. This work is reviewed in D.128.

Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, 27 March 1990.
Essays based on what people have learned from Hugh Nibley.

Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, 27 March 1990.
Essays based on what people have learned from Hugh Nibley.

Michael Lyon examines the importance and significance of hypocephali as works of art and expressions of religious belief. Facsimile 2, associated with the Book of Abraham, belongs to this class of documents. Lyon illustrates that hypocephali symbolize the sacred center of the universe, expressed in Facsimile 2 as well as in the shield of Achilles and the mandala tradition.

Review of Philip Jenkins. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity.