Category: Scriptures

  • 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…

  • ‘And Many Other Women’ Part IV

    Julie M. Smith

    Today I’m thinking about John 8:1-11, commonly called ‘The Woman Taken in Adultery.’

  • 12 Answers from Royal Skousen

    Jim F.

    Professor Royal Skousen has gone far beyond what we asked of him and provided a full and fascinating response to our twelve questions.

  • A Book I Would Like to See

    Nate Oman

    With luck we should soon be hearing from Professor Royal Skousen, who is the mastermind of the critical text of the Book of Mormon. There is another critical text edition that I would like to see: A critical text of the Doctrine and Covenants.

  • Political Discourse

    Gordon Smith

    During this election season in the U.S., I have been troubled repeatedly by the tone of political discourse among my friends, in my community, on the internet, and in the mainstream media. I have been astonished by the extent to which the dominant motivation for political action has become hate. Most people I know are…

  • Shameless Self-Promotion, or Thoughts on Writing an Apologetic Article

    Nate Oman

    The most recent issue of the FARMS Review has arrived, and it finally contains my article, “‘Secret Combinations’: A Legal Analysis”. I actually wrote this article two years ago, so it has been a while in coming. It is fun to finally see it in print. The article is essentially apologetic. I am trying to…

  • The Challenge of Adam-ondi-Ahman

    Nate Oman

    Various debates about the historicity of scripture have captured a fair chunk of the Mormon intelligentsia (and pseudo-intelligentsia) for the last decade or more. The “Big Issue” of course is the Book of Mormon. This seems to have replaced evolution and the creation story of Genesis as a situs for conflict about the scriptures. Lost…

  • A Different Kind of ‘Likening’

    Julie M. Smith

    There is a great conversation over at that other blog about that classically difficult story, Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac. Among the many excellent comments, this one from danithew stood out to me: “In my Quranic Studies course today the professor talked about how one of the first things Islamic scholars used to do was look…

  • The Place of the JST

    Kaimi Wenger

    Over at Intellectual Exhibitionist, Ryan Bell comments on a topic that I’ve wondered about on occasion: The Joseph Smith translation is not the official bible of the church. So we still rely on the KJV as the official word. This is exceedingly odd to me– we have one take on the Bible that’s the source…