Category: Scriptures

  • Scriptures as Seer Stones

    Michael McBride

    To me, the most interesting thing about the seer stone that Joseph used when translating the BoM is not that he used it but that it is really just a rock. From what I understand, if you or I were to pick it up, we couldn’t tell it apart from any other smooth rock of…

  • History and Scripture

    Jim F.

  • Testifying of historicity

    Frank McIntyre

    As I was re-reading conference, I came across this closing statement by President Hinckley:

  • True Neighbors

    Frank McIntyre

    Suppose that you splurged for the $6 version of the Church’s scriptures on CDROM. It has various ancient language toys that I am in no position to evaluate but am happy to play with. It also has a fun little tool such that when you do a search, you can click on a tab “Sort…

  • The KJV: A Sealed Book?

    Julie M. Smith

    I’ve been teaching the second half of the Old Testament in Institute this semester. The KJV is a terrible obstacle to understanding the scriptures.

  • Redeeming Judas?

    Julie M. Smith

    Today’s headlines contain news of a new gospel: The Gospel of Judas.

  • Prophecy vs. History

    John Fowles

    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…

  • Market Dominant Minorities in the Book of Mormon

    John Fowles

    Market Dominant Minorities

  • How to Teach a Scripture Passage

    Julie M. Smith

    Here’s a systematic approach to preparing a lesson on a passage of scripture.

  • The JST

    Julie M. Smith

    So what do we do with the JST?

  • Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar

    Julie M. Smith

    So here is the case for thinking that when the crowd outside of Lot’s house asks to know Lot’s guests (Genesis 19:5) that what it means is just, like, know and not, you know, like, know.

  • Mark 14:3-9: The Anointing at Bethany as Markan Christology

    Julie M. Smith

    This [very, very, very long] post is, basically, my masters thesis. I’ve had a few requests for it, so I thought I’d post it.

  • Is Poverty Satanic?

    J. Nelson-Seawright

    One of the most important scriptural texts for the theological consideration of poverty is to be found in Alma 32. This chapter discusses Alma’s mission to the Zoramites. During a sermon on the hill Onidah, Alma is approached by a group of impoverished individuals who were “poor in heart, because of their poverty as to…

  • Hermeneutics

    Jim F.

    That’s a 25 cent word if there ever was one, something for college kids to show Mom and Dad to prove they got something for their money, something a grad student to lord it over others with in the commons.

  • Authority on Her Head

    Julie M. Smith

    When Paul says that women should cover their heads, is he subjugating them or liberating them?

  • The Pious Bias

    Julie M. Smith

    Perhaps we’ve put white hats on some people in the scriptures who don’t deserve them.

  • Book of the Mormons

    Frank McIntyre

    OK, you finished it, or got close. Maybe you were done months ago, maybe you read 100 pages in the last day.*

  • Theology and Idolatry

    Jim F.

    Let me present a sketch–though only a sketch and a very broad one at that–of how one might think about theology, both about a problem with it and one of the possible responses to that problem.

  • Genesis 38

    Julie M. Smith

    “Puzzling.” “Sordid.” “Audacious, provocative, and titillating.” Those descriptors might very well apply to this week’s box office sensation, but that’s not what this post is about. All of these terms (“Sordid” comes from the Institute Manual) were used to describe the tale told in Genesis 38.

  • Did Nephites ride horses?

    Frank McIntyre

    In our recent tirades about the obvious evils of deer, it was noted , once again, that some scholars think that the horses mentioned in the Book of Mormon may not have been horses, but another hoofed animal. The common one that lives in the right place is similar to a deer. Unfortunately, such comments…

  • Kim Clark and the Book of Mormon

    Frank McIntyre

    A couple quick thoughts on recent prophetic moves.

  • Tenebrae

    Ben Huff

    Yesterday at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, here at Notre Dame, I attended a service of prayer and lamentation called “Tenebrae”, remembering the darkness of the night when Christ suffered in Gethsemane and was arrested, and anticipating his death. It closed with a final candle carried out, leaving us in complete darkness, and the…

  • The Church Has Already Written a Modern English Version of the Book of Mormon

    Nate Oman

    The first installment of Phillip Barlow’s excellent 12 Questions raises the interesting question of whether the Church will ever produce a modern language edition of the Book of Mormon in English. The answer is that it already has.

  • Plainly, the One Shepherd

    Ben Huff

    John goes out of his way to be sure we notice how various prophecies of Christ were fulfilled. For example, at his crucifixion the soldiers did not break his legs, “that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken” (John 19:36). John does not comment so explicitly on Christ’s description…

  • Modern Gadiantons?

    Clark Goble

    One last post, before my non-philosophical blogging stint is done. One thing I’ve thought of with recent events in the middle east was the parallels to the Book of Mormon. I know that’s not exactly an original point to make, but I think the Book of Mormon has a lot of parallels both regarding our…

  • Humility and Pride in Peter and Saul (not Paul)

    Ben Huff

    When Samuel anointed Saul, he anointed a man of kingly stature, handsome and tall, but who thought of himself as the least important man of Israel. Saul said, “Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel?

  • Interpreting Scripture

    Jim F.

    Joe Spencer, Blake Ostler, Larry, and Ivan Wolfe have started talking about the interpretation of scripture on the thread on pride.

  • Proof texts and Polynesians: Why Your Casual Dismissal of the War Chapters of the Book of Mormon is Hopelessly Ethnocentric, and You Should Be Ashamed

    Ryan Bell

    I’ve been witness to many discussions, in and out of the bloggernacle, questioning the importance of some of the stories in the Book of Mormon.

  • ‘And Many Other Women’ Part V

    Julie M. Smith

    I wrote my thesis on Mark 14:3-9, so there’s a lot that I want to say about it, but for now, I’m only going to talk about its relationship to Mark 12:38-44.

  • Savior and Destroyer

    danithew

    William Blake wrote two poems that are usually studied together. These two poems, titled “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” explore the idea that as the Lord God created these animals, He isolated his own (seemingly contradictory) characteristics of meekness and ferocity and imbued each of these creatures with one of them. William Blake is inviting…