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Notes from hither and yon

AHLDuke summarizes the SBL conference on his blog. I hear it was a good time.

Across town from SBL, JP Moreland at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting accuses Evangelicals of bibliolatry, in his address entitled “How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It.” As this summary post puts it, “to accuse evangelicals of over-commitment to the Bible at ETS would be like accusing environmentalists of talking too much about climate change at a Sierra Club meeting. But Moreland, who has gained some prominence as a philosopher and apologist, wasn’t pulling any punches.” No kidding.

Another  blogger answers the question, is Christian academic an oxymoron? Though his (and most of the comments’ as well) perspective is conservative Evangelical and thus has some different concerns and assumptions, the conversation in the comments sounds familiar, as it dances around some issues that LDS scholars face as well.

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The DeMcConkie-izing of the Church

Elder McConkie, I think, made large contributions to the Church. He systematized and provided the only real encyclopedic Gospel reference book in a time when computers filled rooms.  I think he provided some things the Church needed at a particular time. That time appears to have passed.

The following should be taken with a grain of salt. I have sources, but most of them are shadowy people I’ve met in dark parking garages.

Mormon Doctrine, written by a member of the 70 in 1957, has outlived its usefulness. High church leadership intended The Encyclopedia of Mormonism to replace it (which has unfortunately not come to pass), and Deseret Book will not republish it after the current printing sells out.

The introduction to the Book of Mormon, penned at least in part by Elder McConkie, has recently been modified. (See discussion and links here and here.)*

New Institute manuals are being written, and for at least one volume, the writers have been instructed not to use Elder McConkie (among others) as a source.

The man’s testimony still stands, but his intellectual contributions have been surpassed.

*Frankly, I don’t see this as a tempest in a teapot, and it changes very little. The intro as written (“primary” “principal ancestors”) still allows for the presence of peoples other than those in the Book of Mormon, something Elder McConkie believed. As changed, it still allows Book of Mormon genes and descent to Native Americans whether in North or South America. It’s not doctrinal revisionism, nor is it messing with any canonized text. I don’t see much of a difference, except that it diffuses absolutist misreadings.

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Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, and Various Near Eastern Texts

Two quick notes:

Non-LDS scholar Peter Flint gave a lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls the other day at BYU. You can watch it or listen to the audio at Aquinas’ blog. (Hat tip to, uh, Aquinas.)

And Logos is doing it to me again. They’ve got two new databases, wheat amongst the chaff on the prepublication list, which means a reduced price is available before Logos finishes building the databases. (This link explains how the prepublication process works.)

The first database is a morphologically-tagged text of the Biblical Dead Sea Scroll texts. The sectarian texts have been around for a while in multiple electronic formats, but not the Biblical texts, which are useful for textual criticism, among other things.

The second database consists of the 16 volume Writings of the Ancient World series by the Society of Biblical Literature, whose conference rapidly approaches. (BYU has given money to some promising undergrads to attend this year.) This is a very good series of books, with different genres (legal texts, epistolary texts, ritual texts, etc.) and different groups (Ugaritic, Hittite, Mesopotamian, etc.) represented. I’ve used a few for classwork and research.

While they’re in prepublication status, the DSS go for $79, and the SBL volumes for $306. Clearly, I need more funding 🙂

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Five Recommended books for Understanding the Old Testament

Five or so…

First, a good Bible or two, meant for understanding and personal study. Given only one choice, I’d recommend the Jewish Study Bible. The JPS translation is dynamic (thought-for-thought),the commentary is useful, and the essays included in the back are excellent. If I were to add a second Bible, I’d recommend the NIV Study Bible. It’s Evangelical and conservative, but I find it’s OT notes useful, the translation quite readable.

Continue reading “Five Recommended books for Understanding the Old Testament”

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LDS at SBL: Roll call

The annual Society of Biblical Literature conference will be held next month in San Diego, in combination with the American Academy of Religion or AAR. ( The American School of Oriental Research or ASOR used to hold theirs concurrently as well.) SBL is probably the largest conference of its kind, lasting several days, with several thousand people in attendance. The best parts are the socializing and networking, and the Bookanalia, in which hundreds of academic book and software publishers set up booths and offer their wares at serious discount.  I guess there are lectures to attend, too.

Numerous LDS presenters  are on the list, a paper copy of which is sent to all registered to attend. Some are students or recently graduated, some participate in the bloggernaccle, and some are on faculty at BYU.

There is also a relatively new section, the “LDS and the Bible Consultation” (S19-72), which appears to have mostly LDS presenters, exceptions being Margaret Barker and  Alden Thompson.

In short, it should be a good interesting conference.

Which among you will be in attendance? Roll call.

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Rate My Institute Teacher

Any teacher worth their salt as a teacher desires constructive feedback. Students desire to leave feedback, often anonymously, especially if it’s negative. From early personal experience, I know it’s hard to get sincere and thoughtful feedback when spontaneously asking the question face-to-face. Thus was RateMyProfessor.com born, in which students can rate their professors on a variety of characteristics and provide a brief description.

Assuming one can get an accurate enough perspective to be useful in decision making, would a similar site be appropriate for Institute or Gospel Doctrine teachers, in which prospective students at a University or prospective members of a ward could take the measure of a teacher ahead of time? Why or why not? How would it be different from the informal ward shopping LDS inevitably do when moving?

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What Makes New Yorkers Love New York?

An off-topic post.

My wife and I are visiting New York in the next little while, and contemplating a potential move there in a year. I’ve only been to NY once, and it was quite short.

Since visiting as a tourist is quite different from living there, my question is this: What do locals do in New York that makes them love New York?

Convince me.

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A Disappointment

I posted recently about a little Iraqi boy who had been doused in gasoline and lit by fellow Iraqis. I did so to call attention to his plight, to mourn the evil in the world, and try to counteract it with good by bringing it to light.

Two Evangelical bloggers decided that it was an appropriate time not to sympathize, not to speak of action or support, not to mourn, but to take swings at LDS theology.

One of them, perhaps, was simply in jest or bad taste. He later suggested I remove his comment, which I did. The other who commented, well, let’s just say I’m not surprised, given what I know of him. He fits the Evangelical stereotype many LDS hold.

I grew up with two good EV friends, one who went on to get a PhD in Christian Ethics. I think she would be disappointed in those comments, and make sure I, as a Mormon, knew that not all EV’s would have responded the same way. I’m glad to have had her example in the past. I wish I had more of them.

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Hell is Too Good for People like This

Words fail me.

Follow-up, and some goodness left in the world.

Edit: It looks like less than 1/4 of those who have read this post today actually follow the links, so I’ll summarize. A happy intelligent 5-year old boy in Iraq is playing in the park, then is randomly seized by fellow Iraqis, doused in gasoline, and set ablaze while his attackers flee. He survives, but what kind of life can he lead? What kind of twisted evil people do this to a child?