Book of Mormon

The Real World of the Book of Mormon

February 2, 2012 | 7 comments
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The Real World of the Book of Mormon

This is the fourth in a series of posts taking a broad look at the Book of Mormon. This post continues the discussion of the prior post, The Book of Mormon as Narrative, by considering verisimilitude. This term refers to how faithfully a text represents the real world or, to various degrees, depicts events that do not conform to the readers’ view of the real world. First, a tighter definition of verisimilitude : The semblance of truth or reality in literary works; or the literary principle that requires a consistent illusion of truth to life. The term covers... Read more »

The Book of Mormon as Narrative

January 27, 2012 | 12 comments
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The Book of Mormon as Narrative

This is the third post in a series taking a broad view of the Book of Mormon (first, second). In this post I will discuss aspects of narrative encountered in the text. Not all scripture is narrative: consider the lengthy legal codes in the Torah and the moral exhortation found in James. Not all historical accounts are in the form of a narrative, although most history books written for the popular market are narrative histories. Most novels are in the form of a narrative, including historical fiction, which adds authorial speculation to large chunks of authentic history, often mixing... Read more »

The Book of Mormon: What has it done for you lately?

January 12, 2012 | 29 comments
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Julie is posting detailed commentary and Kent is providing literary reflection; I’m afraid all I have to offer on the Book of Mormon is general observations. This week let’s talk about situating the book as a whole, not so much in terms of content and form (which I’ll address in later posts) but in terms of function and use. How does the Church use the Book of Mormon? How do you use the Book of Mormon? Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Desert and a Just Society

September 18, 2011 | 99 comments
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The 2010 poverty level in the U.S., we learned on Tuesday, is the highest it has been since 1993. In 2010, about one in six Americans lived below the poverty line. In June, 14.6% of Americans received food stamps. To some extent, the high poverty rate is probably related to the high unemployment rate, which was 9.1% in August. I throw out all of these numbers to suggest that, as a society, we have a problem. That problem needs to be fixed. And we, as Mormons, undoubtedly have something that we can bring to the discussion of how to... Read more »

12 Questions with Grant Hardy – part II

September 8, 2011 | 10 comments
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12 Questions with Grant Hardy – part II

Here is the conclusion of Times & Seasons look at Grant Hardy’s new book Understanding the Book of Mormon, and the second half of our 12 Questions interview: 1 person likes this post. Like Unlike Read more »

12 Questions with Grant Hardy – part I

September 7, 2011 | 30 comments
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12 Questions with Grant Hardy – part I

To cap off our roundtable review of Grant Hardy’s new book Understanding the Book of Mormon we’re fortunate to feature an interview with the book’s author. The interview will be posted in two parts. Our thanks to all who have participated, and especially Bro. Hardy. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Grant Hardy and Personal Scripture Study

August 19, 2011 | 11 comments
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Grant Hardy and Personal Scripture Study

Every semester, one of my principal goals in my tax classes is to get my students to engage with the Internal Revenue Code. And it’s harder than you might think: often they don’t read the Code itself, focusing instead on the explanations in their casebook. And their aversion to reading the Code is completely understandable: unlike court decisions, the mainstay of law school, there is no narrative flow, no character, no imagery, nothing that we traditionally latch onto in order to immerse ourselves in a text. And frankly, using the casebook isn’t a bad short-term decision. The casebook explains... Read more »

Grant Hardy’s Subject Problem

August 16, 2011 | 27 comments
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Grant Hardy’s Subject Problem

Criticisms of the Book of Mormon generally fall into one of two categories: objections to its historical claims on the one hand, and on the other critiques of its literary style. The two prongs are often combined in a single attack, for instance in the suggestion that the awkward style of the book reflects the naïve voice of an unlettered youngster. For their part, the book’s defenders also tend to elide the two categories, arguing that passages of inelegant prose are better understood as latent Hebraisms laboring under English syntax. Most of the time, of course, devout readers of... Read more »

Royal Skousen’s 12 questions — The Critical Text Version

October 3, 2009 | one comment
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Last month we posted Royal Skousen’s discussion of his work on recovering the earliest version of the Book of Mormon, along with some updates.  Unfortunately, that post garnered some annoying formatting problems — mostly due to the new format T&S adopted this year.  We’re happy to now present to you mark III of Royal Skousen’s 12 questions interview.  Royal Skousen’s book, The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, was published last month by Yale University Press and yes, you can order  it at Amazon. 5 people like this post. Like Unlike Read more »

12 Questions and a Book by Royal Skousen

September 6, 2009 | 68 comments
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5 years ago we published one of my favorite “12 Questions” posts, in which Royal Skousen discussed in some depth what he has learned from his extensive work on the earliest editions of the Book of Mormon.  His book, The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, is being published in September by Yale University Press (and yes, you can order  it at Amazon right now).  To mark this milestone, Royal was kind enough to update his “12 questions” discussion, which we have posted below, for the benefit of those who did not catch it the first time.   Enjoy!... Read more »

The Question of Pacifism

July 17, 2009 | 55 comments
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I’m not, by nature, a pacifist. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

DNA Delight

May 14, 2009 | 46 comments
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A recent DNA study has gotten some attention, both on our sidebar and in a post by J. Nelson-Seawright at By Common Consent. The Mormon question that inevitably comes up from such a study is does it cast any light on the question of whether Lehi really landed in the Americas long ago? J. Nelson-Seawright discusses some possible ramifications if the study (or ones like it) do matter. Let me make clear that, for those who think Lehi landed in an already populated America, this study is basically irrelevant. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

What Does My Lack of Personal Trials Say About Me?

May 7, 2009 | 33 comments
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I’ve been thinking long and hard about what I should talk about in my inaugural post on this blog.  Quite honestly, when I agreed to do a stint as a guest blogger, I thought it would be pretty easy.  But, lately, it seems that all my Mormonism-related thoughts have been trite and meaningless.  For example, I considered drafting a post complaining about one of the teachers Elders Quorum and his refusal to teach out of the manual.  But, honestly, I think that post would have just ended up being a rant about a quorum discussion outlining the evils of... Read more »

Reading Nephi Reading Isaiah at BYU

March 27, 2009 | 3 comments
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This looks like the sort of conference that makes me sad at times that I don’t live in Utah: Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Getting over Nibley

February 15, 2009 | 36 comments
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Of late I have been thinking of late about how to read Mormon scriptures.  In particular, I have been working on some passages in the Book of Mormon on legal interpretation and thinking about how best to approach these sections.  By and large, it seems to me that there have been three basic models of how to read LDS scriptures.  First, there has been what I think of as an external, sectarian reading.  This consists essentially of proof texting in debates and discussions with Protestant outsiders.  There is a sense in which this is the oldest kind of LDS hermeneutic.  The... Read more »

Woe to the Outcast

February 14, 2009 | 12 comments
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Marginal groups get into the Second Coming. We contemplate with pleasant savagery the haves and the snobs getting smashed. “Kings shall see that which they had not considered.” “Bottom rail top dis time.” Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Commentary on 1 Ne. 17, concluded

February 3, 2009 | 2 comments
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Continuing part 1 , part 2, and part 3. Nephi’s response to his brothers directly attacks their understanding of Moses’s significance. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Commentary on 1 Nephi 17, pt. 3

January 26, 2009 | 8 comments
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Continuing part 1 and part 2. Laman and Lemuel offer up their gloss on the story of Moses in verse 22 and in so doing model a particular type of scriptural and legal interpretation.  They say: And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses; wherefore, we know that they are a righteous people; and our father hath judged them, and hath led us away because we would hearken unto his... Read more »

Commentary on 1 Nephi 17, pt. 2

January 22, 2009 | 2 comments
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Laman and Lemuel make their appearance in chapter 17 in verse 17, where they say: Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Relics

December 9, 2008 | 17 comments
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The Book of Mormon is a reliquary in prose. In some extensive sections and at some critical moments, what drives the narrative is the question: how did a set of golden plates, a steel sword, a ball of curious workmanship, a breastplate, and two translucent stones end up inside a stone box buried in a hill in the state of New York? For a religion that attaches little to no significance to relics, it’s striking that large sections of our distinctive book of scripture are concerned with the provenance—the origin and the later cultural significance—of a particular set of... Read more »

Bones

November 13, 2008 | 21 comments
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One of the subterranean threads running throughout the Book of Mormon is the mystery of whose bones are heaped upon the land northward. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

The Canonization of the Book of Mormon?

November 10, 2008 | 29 comments
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The Canonization of the Book of Mormon?

Penguin Books has just published a “Penguin Classics” edition of the Book of Mormon edited by Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp. Penguin Classics, of course, are the paperback editions of literary staples like Jane Austen or Charles Dickens. They are printed and marketed largely as texts for college classes. The assumption is that a text included in the Penguin series has become a stable part of the high-brow diet of books, or at least ought to be. It is worth reflecting a little bit about what this edition of the Book of Mormon might or might not mean. The Penguin book... Read more »

The War Chapters

August 31, 2008 | 46 comments
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And a great sleep did come over the land; yea, verily, there was much dozing and nodding of heads in all of the sabbath schools. 1 person likes this post. Like Unlike Read more »

Korihor and the United States Reports

July 1, 2008 | 40 comments
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Let’s read the Book of Mormon as a commentary on American constitutional law and vice versa. Alma 30:7-10 reads: Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Egyptian Brass Plates and a naming contest

April 22, 2008 | 9 comments
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If this is common knowledge I completely missed it. So I post this in memory of all those who also slept through indecent chunks of early morning Seminary. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Amazon’s take on the Book of Mormon

March 8, 2007 | 16 comments
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Amazon.com has an algorithm for noting the “Statistically Improbably Phrases” in any given book. The idea is to look for word combinations that are uncommon generally but common in the book in the hope that this provides potential buyers some insight into what the book is about. Here are the ones for the Doubleday edition of the Book of Mormon: Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

History and Scripture

June 24, 2006 | 65 comments
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Testifying of historicity

June 8, 2006 | 124 comments
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As I was re-reading conference, I came across this closing statement by President Hinckley: Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Prophecy vs. History

March 24, 2006 | 32 comments
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Not too long ago, I stumbled across the PBS presentation of Jared Diamond’s book Guns, Germs, and Steel (2d ed. 1999). It reminded me of dealing with the book at college and enjoying the ideas presented and the sweeping take of world history that it offered. But while watching the presentation and contemplating the message of the book itself, I was reminded about how much Diamond’s whole analysis depends solely on inference from extremely scant historical evidence. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Market Dominant Minorities in the Book of Mormon

March 16, 2006 | 42 comments
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Market Dominant Minorities Read more »

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  • FPR Begins Series on Teaching Seminary (Ben S.)
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