Category: language
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…
A Gift from Biblical Reproductions: Alma the Son of Judah on a Bar Kochba Letter
There’s an interesting business, Biblical Reproductions, selling authorized reproductions of artifacts and documents related to the Bible. One of the products is a reproduction of 5/6Hev 44 Bar Kokhba, a…
Why Does the Book of Mormon Say the Nephites “Had Come Down to Believe in Their [the Gaddianton Robbers’] Works”?
No, I’m not saying anything in this post about secret combinations and how to identify them, but rather pointing out a minor detail that is part of a massive pattern…
Understanding the God of the Old Testament: An Evangelical Scholar Explains the Meaning of “God Is Love”
Evangelical Bible scholar Ben Witherington has written a deeply interesting essay on the meaning of “God is love” for Biblical Archaeology’s “Bible History Daily” column. After explaining the wrong assumptions…
Janus Parallelism in Alma 32 and 33?
Alma uses the verb “spring” in an interesting way in his sermon to the Zoramites in Alma 32 and 33: But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the…
The Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin, India and a Hint of an Ancient Jewish Tradition of Writing on Metal Plates
A recent post here critiqued an attempt to explain the origins of the book of Ether based on inspiration from a rare book, A Key to the Chronology of the…
Four Types of Chiasmus in Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, with Implications for the Book of Mormon
Students of biblical literature and of the Book of Mormon can now access an important new volume on chiasmus, Chiasmus: The State of the Art, just published as a special…
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…
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…
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…
