Category: Antiquity
Exciting News on an Apparent Breakthrough in Deciphering the Indus Valley Script: A Great Way to Turn the Hearts of the Children to Their Ancestors
The closing words of the Old Testament are a prophecy about the Lord sending Elijah, who “shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of…
Relational Faith: An Essential Book for Understanding “Faith” as Used in New Testament Times and for Appreciating the Restoration
There’s a new book, Brent Schmidt’s Relational Faith, that may be one of the best resources around to help Latter-day Saints and perhaps many other Christians understand and explain what…
Geocentric Astronomy in the Book of Abraham? Dan Vogel’s Refutation of LDS Scholars
Circumpolar star trails in a long-exposure photo of several hours, showing that stars closer to Polaris move on shorter trails, thus moving more slowly. The circumpolar stars always stay…
An Update in the Scholarship Regarding the Archaic Language in the Book of Mormon
One of the most interesting puzzles about the Book of Mormon is the recent discovery that much of the language is archaic in ways not easily explained by imitating the…
Plagiarism Made Harder, or, The Book of Ether and the Genius of Joseph’s Plagiarism
Students of the Book of Mormon have long noted that the brief book of Ether is quite different in its content and style than the rest of the Book of…
More on the Meaning of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers: Recent Explorations Based on Comments at Interpreter
One of the best things about finally having a reply from the Joseph Smith Papers Project on the issue of alleged flaws in scholarship in their volume on the Book…
Guest Post from Brian Stubbs: A Response to Chris Rogers’ “A Review of the Afro-Asiatic: Uto-Aztecan Proposal” in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies
I’m pleased to offer an important guest post from Brian Stubbs, one of the world’s leading experts in Uto-Aztecan languages and a scholar whom I deeply respect for his insights…
Sights from a Trip to Israel and Jordan
One of the advantages of working in China is having long national holidays like the Chinese New Year, making it easier to take interesting trips to other lands. There’s a…
John 8 and the Woman Taken in Adultery: A Faith Promoting Fabrication?
For years I’ve had a question mark in my mind over John 8:1-11 with its beautiful and inspiring story of Christ’s merciful treatment of the woman taken in adultery. The…
Further Notes on One of the Earliest Hebrew Texts, the Silver Amulets of Ketef Hinnom
Last year I discussed an intriguing archaeological find near Jerusalem: two inscriptions on silver amulets which appear to be the oldest Hebrew inscriptions found so far. See “The Oldest Hebrew…
