Category: language
New Podcast with Stanford Carmack on Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Over on the FAIRMormon blog, you can listen to “Syntax and Book of Mormon Authorship – Interview with Stanford Carmack.” This new podcast lets Stanford share more about the strong…
Joseph Smith’s Hick Language in the Original Book of Mormon Manuscript: Divine Irony?
Executive Summary Skousen’s study of the first Book of Mormon manuscripts found evidence that the awkward grammar often displayed Semitic influence or, in some cases, came from Early Modern English,…
LDS.org Offers “Gospel Topics” Section on the Historicity and Translation of the Book of Abraham
Among the growing body of helpful and carefully researched topics discussed in the “Gospel Topics” section of the LDS.org website, the Church has recently provided a statement that addresses some…
Hebraic Language Influence in Ancient America?
I’ve been reading John Sorenson’s Mormon’s Codex, whose electronic version happily now includes the maps, added in an update a few days ago. It’s a monumental work with many treasures…
A Temple Gone Dark: An Important New Slant on the Themes of Nephi’s Vision and Lehi’s Dream
Lehi’s famous dream and Nephi’s expanded version of the vision just became more meaningful, thanks to the insights offered by D. John Butler in his ebook, Plain and Precious Things:…
What A Non-LDS Scholar Said about Chiasmus
I recommend reading http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1131&index=1 to the scholarly book, Chiasmus in Antiquity, edited by John Welch. The full text of that intriguing book is available free online at the Maxwell Institute….
Textual Criticism and the Book of Mormon (Emphasis on 2 Nephi 26-27)
Robert F. Smith’s chapter, “Textual Criticism of the Book of Mormon” is one of many interesting sections in the book Reexploring the Book of Mormon by John W. Welch. Detailed…
More on Word Pairs and Hebraisms
My previous post linked to a significant 1997 article by Kevin Barney that revealed the presence in the Book of Mormon of a recently recognized traditional element of ancient Hebrew…
Two Paths in a Complex Book
In my last post, I discussed the issue of war in the Book of Mormon and the diverse experiences it covers. One reader commented that the Book of Mormon doesn’t…
Truer Than Ever: The Book of Abraham
One of the biggest challenges to my personal testimony of the reality of the Restoration came when I was serving as Bishop years ago. I was exploring one of the…
