Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Mormon Egyptian Evidence Hebrew language wordplays

The Rod of Iron: Part of Another Intriguing Wordplay in the Book of Mormon

In a recent article I prepared for The Interpreter, “The Great and Spacious Book of Mormon Arcade Game: More Curious Works from Book of Mormon Critics” (Interpreter: A Journal of…

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Posted in Bible Book of Mormon Critics Evidence language literature poetry Scholarship Scripture

David and the Psalms in the Book of Mormon: Weakness or Strength?

Overview A 2016 graduate thesis from Kyle Beshears at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “Davidic References in the Book of Mormon as Evidence Against its Historicity,” proposes an intriguing new…

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Posted in Book of Mormon Evidence history Mesoamerica Scholarship

Evidence At Last: The Many Aspects of John Lloyd Stephens’ Work That Strengthened Mormons in the 1840s

A delightful trend in modern Book of Mormon criticism today is to scour books, articles, and maps for information that hypothetically could have aided Joseph Smith in fabricating many of…

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Posted in Book of Mormon Evidence history Mesoamerica Problems Scholarship

In Defense of Dr. John E. Clark’s “Ludicrous” Assessment of Early Criticism of the Book of Mormon

Dr. John E. Clark’s presentation on archaeology and the Book of Mormon, the subject of a recent post here, has been taken to task by one of our critics for…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Evidence Mesoamerica Origins Problems Scholarship Science Videos

Evaluating Book of Mormon Claims: Where Do We Stand after 187 Years?

After 187 years of critics poking fun at the Book of Mormon and exposing its weaknesses, today it seems to be the established view of numerous highly educated elites that…

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Posted in Book of Mormon Evidence Hebrew language wordplays

Janus Parallelism: Book of Mormon Hints? Part 3

In Part 1 and Part 2, we looked at a total of 7 possibilities for Janus parallelism in the Book of Mormon, relying primarily on examples identified by Scott Noegel…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Mormon Evidence Hebrew language poetry Scholarship

Janus Parallelism in the Hebrew Bible: Could It Also Be in the Book of Mormon?

One of the most interesting books that I have read recently is Scott B. Noegel’s excellent research work, Janus Parallelism in the Book of Job (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press,…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Mormon Books Egyptian Evidence Hebrew Israel language Mesoamerica Scholarship Translation

Uto-Aztecan and Its Connection to Near Eastern Languages, Part 3: The Egyptian Infusion, Plus the Explanatory Power of Stubbs’ Framework

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we introduced examples of cognates characteristic of two Semitic infusions into Uto-Aztecan, named by Stubbs as the Semitic-p and Semitic-kw infusions,…

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Posted in Book of Mormon chiasmus dust Evidence poetry

Dusting Off the Chiasmus in Alma 36: The “Loose” Parts May Have More Structure Than We Thought

Part 3 of my series on dust-related themes in the Book of Mormon has just published:  “‘Arise from the Dust’: Insights from Dust-Related Themes in the Book of Mormon (Part…

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Posted in Book of Mormon Egyptian Evidence Hebrew language Scholarship

Robert F. Smith and the Preposterous Book of Mormon

Having raised the issue of linguistics and Book of Mormon evidence in my last post, let me point to an intriguing recent presentation with some weighty discoveries relevant to the…

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