Category: Antiquity
The Divine Is in the Details: How Paying Attention to Word Choice in the Book of Mormon Can Reveal Important Meaning
When you read the Book of Mormon, do you ever notice how common language can connect two distant verses and sometimes add meaning? For example, when you read the angry…
Was the Sacrifice of the Messiah Really Needed? How the Book of Moses + Book of Mormon May Help Remove a Stumbling Block
I received a thoughtful question from a former member of the Church who struggles with our belief that a sacrifice of the Messiah was really necessary to save mankind. Based…
Register for Margaret Barker’s Master Classes on the Hebrew Scriptures
The Interpreter Foundation is pleased to offer two seminars from noted scholar Dr. Margaret Barker. Her presentations will be on two successive Saturdays, November 9 and November 16, both beginning…
Speaking at the Independence, Missouri Stake Center on Thursday Afternoon, the Fourth of July
On Thursday, the Fourth of July, I’ll be attending a luncheon at the Independence, Missouri Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offered by the Hill…
Further Thoughts on Nephi’s Three-Day Journey: Going the Distance with Google Earth
My recent post on Nephi’s three-day journey, the leg of Lehi’s Trail that reaches the River Laman in the Valley of Lemuel, discussed the significance of Exodus themes in Nephi’s…
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…
