Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Mormon Critics Evidence Problems Scholarship Scripture

A Rookie Mistake in Forging an Ancient Document

Biblical Archaeology Review just shared an interesting story on a purportedly ancient Jewish document. As reported in October 2016, a papyrus mentioning the city of “Jerusalem,” “the king,” and “jars…

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Posted in Book of Mormon chiasmus Evidence Scholarship

Fifty Years of Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon: The Story of Its Discovery

One of my favorite stories from the world of Book of Mormon studies is the discovery of chiasmus in the text by a young missionary serving in Germany. Fifty years…

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Posted in Apologetics Evidence Scholarship

Elder Holland on LDS Apologetics

Recent weeks have been interesting for the unofficial, highly heterogeneous and sometimes contradictory cluster of so-called “LDS apologists.” I fall into that motley group. In fact, I was doing LDS…

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Posted in Book of Mormon Evidence Scholarship Translation

FairMormon 2017 Conference, Day Two

Day two of the FairMormon 2017 Conference offered another series of outstanding speakers with messages covering a broad spectrum of topics. (See also my summary of day one.) Ben Spackman…

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Posted in Uncategorized

The FairMormon 2017 Conference, Day One

Today was my first time attending the FairMormon Conference. The 2017 event is being held Aug. 3 and 4 at the Utah Valley Convention Center at 220 West Center Street…

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Posted in Book of Mormon Scholarship

Unncessary Attacks, Part 2: In Defense of Grant Hardy

My previous post responded to Duane Boyce’s critique of some modern LDS scholars who pointed to the fallibility of human leaders in the Church in ways that Boyce felt were…

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Posted in Book of Mormon Evidence Translation

Another Surprise in the Dictated Language of the Book of Mormon

For those of you following the surprising findings regarding the language of the Book of Mormon as originally dictated by Joseph Smith, there’s a new set of data to consider…

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Posted in Uncategorized

Another Week, Another New Semitic Wordplay

Matthew Bowen just published his analysis of another fascinating, newly discovered apparent Hebrew wordplay built into the Book of Mormon. This one, like a great many of the interesting Semitic…

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Posted in Uncategorized

Linguist John S. Robertson Reviews Brian Stubbs’ Work on Uto-Aztecan Languages and the Evidence for Old World Influence

“Exploring Semitic and Egyptian in Uto-Aztecan Languages” by Dr. John S. Robertson was just published in the Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture. This is a review of Stubbs’ recent…

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Posted in Bible Book of Mormon Critics Evidence language literature poetry Scholarship Scripture

David and the Psalms in the Book of Mormon: Weakness or Strength?

Overview A 2016 graduate thesis from Kyle Beshears at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “Davidic References in the Book of Mormon as Evidence Against its Historicity,” proposes an intriguing new…

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