The atheist controversialist Richard Dawkins has, on a few occasions, centered Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon in his polemical crosshairs. When he does speak about Mormonism, Mr. Dawkins typically brings up the Jacobean English of the Book of Mormon as evidence...
read more1 Nephi 1:1-4 After a previous failure, Nephi has to convince Laman and Lemuel to allow him one more opportunity. Nephi sets up this attempt not only with the historical recounting of failure, but with the information he provides about Laban’s power and position when...
read more1 Nephi 2:1-2 There is no original chapter break at this point, though there is a clear shift in the narration. Nephi apparently saw the insertion of his editorial comment in 1 Nephi 1:20 (second sentence) as an aside rather than a complete separate separation. What...
read moreThe Book of Nephi An account of Lehi and his wife Sariah, and his four sons, being called, (beginning at the eldest) Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. The Lord warns Lehi to depart out of the land of Jerusalem, because he prophesieth unto the people concerning their...
read moreI readily confess to being obsessed with the Book of Mormon. Perhaps to the detriment of my eternal salvation, I am often interested in things other than its instructions for my spiritual welfare. I have come to understand the people of the Book of Mormon as though...
read moreSince the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the British Press has had an interest in Mormonism. Over the years there have been newspaper and magazine articles and exposés discussing just about every aspect of Mormonism from polygamy and the anti-polygamy crusades in the last quarter of the nineteenth-century to the building of the London Temple in the 1950s and Mitt Romney's quest for the presidency of the United States....
read moreThis blog post was originally posted here. Iconotropy is an English neologism from Greek, meaning literally “image turning.” It is defined as “the accidental or deliberate misinterpretation by one culture of the images or myths of another one, especially so as to...
read moreThe following originally appeared on John Gee’s blog. Speaking about the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (which would later be renamed the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship) at the FARMS Annual Recognition Banquet, 27...
read moreNote: this blog post first appeared at this link. Joseph Spencer gave two interesting papers at the Mysticism conference of the Mormon Scholars in the Humanities meeting last week. In them he proposed (if I understood him correctly) that there is a “way forward” in...
read moreThis is my analysis of the changes in the 2013 edition text of the Book of Mormon, which will be discussed in my lecture on Tuesday, March 5th....
read more1 Nephi 5:1 Nephi shifts the scene from outside Jerusalem’s walls to in the wilderness near his father’s tent. There is no chapter break between our 1 Ne. 4:38 and this first verse in chapter 5, so Nephi saw them as not only connected, but probably as an intentional...
read more1 Nephi 3:1 1 Nephi 2:15 indicates “and my father dwelt in a tent.” That simple sentence has no specific meaning in the narrative, but is simply used as a division marker. In this case, the “the tent of my father” starts the discussion of Nephi’s revelation from the...
read moreWe are taught to study thoroughly and prayerfully and to have faith, even in the midst of doubt....
read moreAs I was reading Karel Van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible ((Karel Van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible (Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2007).)) I began to recognize Nephi in Van der Toorn’s...
read moreThe 183rd Annual General Conference of the Church featured, among other things, remarks by three General Authorities that touched on the importance of members to sustain and defend the Church. Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles began his...
read moreThis is a cross-posting (with permission) from John Gee’s blog. Five times in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah uses the refrain: For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. (Isaiah 5:25; 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4) This phrase was recently...
read moreHere is a collection of links covering videos, articles, and references about Easter. ChurchofJesusChrist.org Videos https://churchofjesuschrist.org/bible-videos/videos/he-is-risen?lang=eng Daniel C. Peterson...
read more[Reposted] In a recent blog comment Ben Park describes “a different approach to apologetics,” apparently favored by some young scholars. He describes it by quoting Richard Bushman: These younger scholars have a new attitude toward Mormon apologetics. They are no...
read moreA retouched and colorized version of the best photo available of David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon....
read moreAn attempt to retouch and colorize an early 19th century daguerreotype which may depict Oliver Cowdery....
read more
