Scholars are People Too: Attitudes, Assumptions, and Perspectives
“It is a vulgar superstition, now, fortunately being dispelled, that archaeology is an empirical discipline . . . archaeological interpretations are a function not only of the evidence at hand, but...
View ArticleHugh Nibley on John Sorenson's Book
In 1998 John Sorenson's book, Images of Ancient America : Visualizing the Book of Mormon was published by FARMS. This book, now out of print, provides a beautifully illustrated and systematic...
View Article"The learned shall not read them" (2 Nephi 27:20)
One morning, several years ago, I had to acquire some materials for a research project I was working on. In company with two friends, I visited a small Salt Lake City bookstore operated by a well-known...
View ArticleThe Name Zarahemla (Howlers # 29)
In 1917, the American Journal of Psychology published an article by Walter Prince in which he argued that Book of Mormon names were simply a product of Joseph Smith's imagined obsession with...
View Article"The Great Spirit of whom our fathers have spoken" Alma 18:4 (Howlers # 30 )
"The Book of Mormon teaches that the Lamanites (the American Indians) originally believed in the existence of a `Great Spirit'; research has conclusively proved that this deity was wholly an invention...
View ArticleSome Earlier Posts Relating to Seer Stones at Ether's Cave
As news about Seer Stones have been in the news including Church news, some might be interested in several related posts which have appeared at Ether's cave in the past. "A Seer Stone Story""Revelation...
View ArticleBeware the "Horse Shoe Prophecy"
To friends, family, and fellow Latter-day Saints,From time to time old canards, false rumors, and purported prophecies and revelations are dug up, recycled and recirculated, warmed up and presented to...
View ArticleLoose Writings and False Prophets
In the 1972 October General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Harold B. Lee gave an address which still has relevance today. The following is an extract from that...
View ArticleMythical Mesoamerican Conspiracy and Book of Mormon Geography
For those who are interested in discussions about Early Interpretations of Book of Mormon Geography, Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture has just published the first of a series of three...
View Article“This land” and “this continent”
Those who have read my recent article last Friday Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture may be interested in two earlier articles I published several years ago dealing with the same general...
View ArticleThe term “Country” in Early Latter-day Saints Usage in the Context of the...
Joseph Smith, in his 1842 letter to John Wentworth, said that Moroni informed him of “the aboriginal inhabitants of this country” and their connection with the Book of Mormon and was told that the...
View Article“Indians” in Early Latter-day Saint Usage
Webster’s 1828 English Dictionary notes that the term Indianis “is particularly applied to any native of the American continent.” That is, it need not apply exclusively to the native peoples of the...
View ArticleA Gift to a Prophet and the Saints
Here is the second article, "John Bernhisel's Gift to a Prophet: Incidents of Travel in Central America and the Book of Mormon," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 16 (2015): 207-53.This is an...
View ArticleFire and Brimstone
The oft repeated comparison of the torment of the wicked to “a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever” (Mosiah 3:27), conveys volcanic...
View ArticleSetting the Record Straight
Jonathan Neville first visited me at my office at the Maxwell Institute on January 11, 2015. He told me he had previously spoken with Jack Welch and that Jack had sent him to me. He told me he had...
View ArticleSome Earlier Posts on 1 Nephi
Since we have been studying 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon for Gospel Doctrine in Sunday School this month, I thought I would provide a list of some previous posts from Ether's Cave for those who may be...
View ArticleBlood, Passover, and Third Nephi
When in bondage to the Egyptians, the Lord commanded the children of Israel to take a male lamb without blemish, sacrifice it, take the blood of the lamb, and put some of it on the door posts of their...
View ArticleFor What Crime Was Nehor Executed?
Those who are interested in legal issues relating to the Book of Mormon will be interested in a superb book published by by John Welch on the legal cases in the Book of Mormon. In a recent essay in...
View ArticleWhat were Jaredite Swords Made of?
Several earlier posts here and here discuss evidence for Pre-Columbian swords in ancient Mesoamerica. Swords were an important weapon in the arsenal of Book of Mormon peoples. It is likely that most...
View ArticleA Night Without Darkness (Howlers # 31)
"I will here remark, a singular night, as light as the day. We Yankees have been taught to believe, that the light was called day, and the darkness called night; but Mormons, to outdo all others, they...
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