Category: Origins
A Simple Example from the Book of Mormon Showing Why Scholarship Is Needed
Many Latter-day Saints seem unaware of the great body of scholarship that can strengthen faith and understanding for members of the Church and those exploring it. Such scholarship can be…
A Tough Question: What’s the Single Most Impressive Evidence for the Book of Mormon?
A critic recently asked me a tough question: what’s the single most impressive piece of evidence for the Book of Mormon? I think he wasn’t looking for evidence that might change open his mind, but perhaps was looking to simplify his goal of attacking the Book of Mormon. But for those who really want to understand more, what evidence is most important and impressive? Here I offer a few thoughts and several possibilities for the “one best” issue to consider.
Trying to Take the Shine off Shinehah: Vogel’s Response to a Commonly Cited Evidence for Book of Abraham Authenticity
This morning I was reading from what may be the premier work of Latter-day Saint scholarship on the Book of Abraham, the far-ranging magnum opus of Dr. Hugh Nibley with…
New Scholarship on the Influence of the Small Plates on Mormon’s Writings
One of the things that fascinates me in my role as a co-editor for the Interpreter Foundation’s journal, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, is seeing how…
A Gift From an Early “Anti-Mormon” Attack on the Book of Abraham: Clear Evidence About the Source of Joseph’s Translation
The words of Joseph Smith give us vital evidence about the translation of the Book of Abraham. As Tim Barker demonstrates in a recent FAIR Conference, a large fraction of the characters on the papyrus fragment Joseph allegedly used to translate the Book of Abraham have been placed on Facsimile 2, and Joseph indicated that the explanations for those characters “will be given in the own due time of the Lord.” That is followed by a statement that refers to all the comments made regarding Facs. 2: “The above translation is given as far as we have any right to give at the present time.”
Video of My Presentation with Noel Reynolds, “’Strong Like Unto Moses’: The Case for Ancient Roots in the Book of Moses”
On Sept. 18 and 19, 2020 in Provo, Utah, the Interpreter Foundation sponsored a virtual conference, “Tracing Ancient Threads in the Book of Moses.” Dr. Noel Reynolds and I collaborated…
Turning Gems into Dirt: The Case for Adam Clarke as a Source for the “Inspired Translation” of the Bible
John Dehlin with his podcasts and videos criticizing the Church has recently stirred up a lot of interest in the “amazing” and “historic” case of “plagiarism” against Joseph Smith based…
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…
Some Sources for the Kirtland Egyptian Paper’s Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language, Part Two
In Part 1 of this topic posted earlier this week, I reviewed several pages of entries in the first part of the Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language, one…
Some Sources for the Kirtland Egyptian Paper’s Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language, Part One
One of the vital issues in Book of Abraham debates is the role of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, including the large and mysterious work, the Grammar and Alphabet of the…
