Category: Evidence
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…
Nutrition and COVID: We Need More Science to Follow
While there has been a lot of good news for the country in recent weeks, with millions now vaccinated, with COVID rates plummeting, and with some states now opening now…
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 Highlight from Dan Vogel’s Book: A Clever Explanation for the Most Obvious Evidence of Scribes Using an Existing Translation in Making the Book of Abraham Manuscripts
In my previous posts reviewing Dan Vogel’s recent Book of Abraham Apologetics (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 2021), including Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, I’ve noted that…
Many Hits But Plenty of Misses in Vogel’s Book: Part 2 of My Review of Book of Abraham Apologetics
I’m nearly finished with Dan Vogel’s book, Book of Abraham Apologetics: A Review and Critique (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 2021). It’s a fascinating read for those seeking to…
Just Started Dan Vogel’s New Book: Already Chagrined by the Treatment of Champollion
I just began reading the latest book on the Book of Abraham, Dan Vogel’s Book of Abraham Apologetics: A Review and Critique (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 2021). After…
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…
More on the Book of Abraham Manuscripts: What Spelling Errors Teach Us
I received a kind email from Kyler Rasmussen in response to arguments I have made about the spelling in the book of Abraham manuscripts that are part of the Kirtland…
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.”
