An article about being in the world but not of the world.

7 pages.

A talk in which ancient and modern ordinances are compared, and the notes therein.

Questions and answers given at an unknown time and place.

Answers the following questions: “What is the Prophet’s attraction to Egypt?”; “Why have the vast majority of people never known the Gospel?”; “What is the relationship between the Osiris myth and the Abraham story?”; “What is the pattern we must follow to become sons of God, to gain eternal life?”; “How do the three Facsimiles relate to that pattern?”; “What specifically is the Hypocephalus?”; and “What is the appeal of Light to the Egyptians? What does the Sun represent?” —from Gary Gillum

The materials were collected after 1965.

A class handout which consists of a medley of quotations from various people, for example, Karl Popper, arranged under headings.

Indexes of volumes 1–13 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, printed as a half page booklet. Contains an alphabetical article listing at end.

Reprinted in Mormonism and Early Christianity, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 4.

A note from author Hugh Nibley: “The rapid amassing of primary source works and auxiliary documents at Brigham Young University through the purchase of large collections and sets both in this country and abroad has made it possible for the first time to examine the Latter-day Saint position with reference to many ancient and valuable texts, which has been the custom of Christian scholars in general either to pass by in silence or to interpret arbitrarily. This article is in the nature of a preliminary survey dealing with a subject that has meant little to church historians in the past but on which in recent years a surprising amount of evidence has been brought to light.” Portions of Nibley’s position on baptism for the dead were briefly described and then rejected by Bernard M. Foschini, in “‘Those Who Are Baptized for the Dead,’ 1 Cor. 15:29,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 13/1 (1951): 52–55, 70–73. Foschini offered a treatment of the language used by Paul and tried to explain away his apparent reference to baptism for the dead in a 96-page series appearing in five numbers of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly—12/3, 4 (July, October 1950): 260–76, 379–88; 13/1, 2, 3 (January, April, July 1951): 46–79, 172–98, 278–83.

G-2 Reports—a series of handouts prepared in the fifties and early sixties for distribution to various audiences. “Years ago it was my custom to communicate to the General Authorities in an occasional brash and self-appointed newsletter (called “G-2 Report”) items of interest dealing with new discoveries which I considered significant. My boldness was not ill-received.” Quoting a letter from Nibley to Elder Bruce R. McConkie, 2 October 1979.

In 1954, Hugh Nibley delivered a series of weekly lectures on KSL Radio. The series called “Time Vindicates the Prophets” was given in answer to those who were challenging the right of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to call themselves Christians.

Reprinted in When the Lights Went Out, 1970.

Reprinted in When the Lights Went Out, 1970.

In this letter to a BYU graduate student, Hugh Nibley advocates the program of the school of the prophets as a way to meet the challenges of academia. He explores four obvious ways of meeting the challenges of the learned world: ignoring them, running away from them, agreeing with them, or meeting the opposition on their own grounds.

Hugh Nibley begins by showing the interrelatedness of ancient records, regardless of their origin, a phenomenon called “pattemism.” He proposes that Joseph Smith presented the world with authentic ancient records. The Prophet brought forth many of the same concepts that are found in ancient temple libraries, such as the council in heaven during the premortal period, the casting out of Satan, the doctrine of the “two ways,” the fallen nature of mankind, and the need for a redeemer. Accompanying the doctrines is a body of rites or ordinances, and Nibley gives special attention to the Nag Hammadi documents.

Hugh Nibley discusses Reverend F. S. Spaulding’s handling of the booklet Joseph Smith as a Translator, concluding that Spaulding was partial in his method of consulting the opinions of the great Egyptologists of 1912 concerning the book of Abraham. An examination of their comments reveals inadequacy and inconsistency This paper anticipates the first section of the series A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price.

“Fact and Fancy in the Interpretation of Ancient Records.” 55 pp.

With characteristic energy, Hugh Nibley describes the character of Brigham Young and discusses his teachings. The issues explored in this essay include the problem of evil and the power of the devil, temptation and necessary opposition, consequences of sin, and truth obtained by the light of Christ.

Alexander T. Stecker reviewed “Since Cumorah” in BYU Studies 8, no. 4 (1968): 465–68. Robert Mesle provided a critical RLDS reaction to it (Courage 2, no. 1 [September 1971]: 331–32). For a sympathetic commentary on the last seventy pages of Since Cumorah, the portion of the book that did not appear in the original series in Improvement Era; see Louis Midgley, “The Secular Relevance of the Gospel,“ Dialogue 4 no. 4 (1969): 76–85. A complaint was registered against Nibley’s position by Duane Stanfield. See the exchange of letters between Stanfield and Midgley, “Letters to the Editor,” Dialogue 5, no. 2 (1970): 5–7.

At the time he published this review, Mesle was a student at the Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa, where he now teaches religion and philosophy. Mesle granted that Nibley appeared to be a “very competent scholar in the field of ancient documents and their languages” but observed that Nibley is not “at all objective or critical in the sphere of his own religion.” The reason for this observation is that Nibley takes the Book of Mormon seriously as an historically authentic ancient document. Mesle, who claims that in order to be properly objective and sufficiently critical, one must hold that the Book of Mormon and the gospel are fraudulent and spurious rather than authentic and genuine, claimed that Nibley’s work is “trite and naive”; it is “both confident scholarship and the tritest of religious defenses,” though he neglected to indicate what in Since Cumorah was either hackneyed or unsophisticated.

Original article.

These are comments about the roles of ancient temples in general, with an emphasis on Mesoamerican temples as centers of religion, culture, the arts, and world view.

A home evening lesson.

Also reprinted from Nibley’s The World and the Prophets (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1954), and reprinted in Understanding Death, ed. Brent Barlow (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1979), 189–96.

Discussion of better ways to remember the dead.

Hugh Nibley’s sixty-fifth birthday in the Varsity Theater, Brigham Young University, in connection with the 1975 Annual Welch Lecture Series by Klaus Baer and others.

Reprinted in Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present.

This lecture was originally accompanied by slides. It was circulated in two different editions in 1986 and 1987 and was available in a much expanded version, including illustrations, in 1988.

Reprinted in Mormonism and Early Christianity, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 4, 45–99. Also reprinted in LDS Views on Early Christianity and Apocrypha: Articles from BYU Studies, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.

Draws upon a host of sources and shows certain parallels between an early Christian form of prayer and that of the Latter-day Saint prayer circle.

The essays in this volume, including four on today’s world, were selected by a panel of Hugh Nibley’s colleagues. They are singular in their penetration, their originality, and their vitality. Reaching from the apocalyptic visions of original “treasures in heaven” down to the climax of history, they are more than mind-stretching. The delight of Nibley’s brilliant and sometimes biting prose style imparts a sense of the agelessness of what he calls the “three-act play” of human existence. Written specially for this book, the author’s own “intellectual autobiography,” together with his introductory paragraphs for the various chapters, complete the work of making the book a fitting and permanent record of one of the past outstanding historians. The text available here is from the 2nd edition published in 2004. It is available only in PDF format. ISBN 0-8849-4338-0

Also reprinted from Nibley’s The World and the Prophets (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1954).

Discussion of better ways to remember the dead.

Hugh Nibley has gathered a collection of statements from Church Fathers and modern scholars that acknowledge that views concerning God changed. The early church was based on the Hebrew Bible but churchmen were later influenced by the arguments of different philosophers.

This packet consists of a collection of translated statements by ancient Greek philosophers concerning their perceptions of divinity. It quotes Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, and others on such abstract concepts as Absolute, causes, the One, the Nous (mind), and the uncreated.

Hugh Nibley places the Word of Wisdom in perspective: it is not given to the Saints by eternal covenant because it involves a strictly temporal matter. In other words, living the Word of Wisdom is not an issue in the world to come. The significant point is the word wisdom; the Word of Wisdom is a wise code to guide our consumption.

This presentation contains suggestions for interpreting various features found in the Pearl of Great Price facsimiles. Hugh Nibley notes that variations within stereotyped images, such as a person about to be sacrificed on the lion couch, can have widely divergent interpretations, thus leaving room for Joseph Smith’s interpretation of Abraham on the altar. Facsimile 2 can be compared to apocryphal books about Abraham that describe a cosmic journey with elements resembling certain features in the book of Abraham. The coronation scene in Facsimile 3 also shows authentic elements.

Hugh Nibley addresses issues that cause people to question the historicity of the Book of Mormon. He gives evidence to support the claim that people inhabited the American continent for centuries before the arrival of the Nephites, that the Hill Cumorah was not too far away for Moroni to reach, and that the “fulness of iniquity” described in the Book of Mormon has much evidence in extant art from that time.

Hugh Nibley assembles statements by non-LDS scholars on the identity of Jesus, the rediscovery of the church, eschatology (the study of last things), authority, revelation, Israel, liturgy, the survival of the church, and the Vatican excavations.

This is a collection of statements by scientists on the following topics: how scientists have become impatient with religion, how science has all the answers, how difficult it is to truly understand the past, the question of whether science is a cause or a pretext, the assertion that science is not based on purely inductive reasoning, and the illusion of already knowing as the greatest enemy to serious research.

This prayer given by Hugh Nibley at a devotional assembly is a plea for the Father’s spirit and a humble recognition of the great limits of human knowledge, judgment, and faith.

These lecture notes discuss the history of humanism from the Sophists to Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare. Hugh Nibley emphasizes the fallacies of such a philosophy. Humanism is a substitute for religion when religion goes sour, and as such, humanism is dogmatic, careerist, and intolerant.

This is a very rough transcript of Nibley’s contributions to a panel discussion about ancient writing, scientific methodology, and testing of the Book of Mormon.

Hugh Nibley answers a series of questions about what became of church authority and doctrine in the centuries following the ministry of Jesus Christ. He compares scriptural prediction with historical fulfillment to answer questions like “What became of general authority in the church?” and “Would God allow his church to be destroyed?”

It is very important for Latter-day Saints to keep pace, more or Less, with the fast-moving developments in the fields of Bible and related studies. By failing to do this we run the risk of laboring to accommodate our religion to scientific and scholarly teachings that have long since been superceded, altered, or completely discarded.

Dr. Hugh W. Nibley, professor emeritus of ancient scriptures at Brigham Young University, gave the following twenty-six lectures in an honors class on The Pearl of Great Price. This class was videotaped in the Maesar Building during winter semester 1986 and the text was then transcribed and is included here in this book.

Perhaps same as Gillum’s “Alaska: Joseph Smith’s Contributions: Scriptural, Institutional, Doctrinal, and Historical.” 19 pages, d.s., n.d. (given in Alaska after March 1983).

A talk in which the accomplishments of Joseph Smith are set forth and defended. Contributions mentioned include the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the restoration of the priesthood, and temples.

Reprinted in Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 17, 238–51.

The talk is essentially a commentary on certain portions of the Gospel of Matthew.

In a portion of a chapter of a book put out by the Manti Temple Centennial Committee celebrating the hundredth anniversary of that edifice, Nibley interprets the decorations found on six numbered “artifacts” in the Manti Temple (for example, door hinges and handles).

482 pp. Transcripts of 29 lectures.

Hugh Nibley is one of the best-known and most highly revered of Latter-day Saint scholars. For over forty years this near-legendary teacher has enthralled his readers and listeners with his encyclopedic knowledge

This concerns pollution of Geneva Steel in Orem.

A four-part series that emphasizes that the Book of Mormon teaches the correct principles of the Atonement. The power of resurrection is provided only by the Savior. Only the Book of Mormon teaches the fulness of the truth of the Atonement, why life is as it is, and how one may approach God to be at one with him. Since all fall short, the blood sacrifice of the Savior was the indispensable step. Atonement is both individual and collective and so God’s people must be “of one heart and one mind.” “The Atonement is one of the grand constants in nature.”

Published as “The Circle and the Square” in Temple and Cosmos: Beyond THis Ignorant Present, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 12.

This transcript is a brief commentary on Doctrine and Covenants 109, the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple. Hugh Nibley describes the temple as a meeting place that is set off from the world. It is a location where we are invited to have clear, receptive intellects and enjoy heightened spirituality. We experience an atmosphere of purity in contrast to the pollution of the world.

Originally titled “Endowment History,” 1992.

A discussion on how the endowment answers many of life’s most important questions.

In this informal lecture, Hugh Nibley proposes that exploring the explanations of the facsimiles was not timely in Joseph Smith’s day, but the 1960s opened avenues for serious investigation. He reviews some of the mythical details in the Egyptian account of the premortal council. He also cites examples of Egyptian truisms that relate to Hebrew wisdom literature.

An article written about Brother Nibley’s acceptance of the 1995 Frankie and John Kenneth Orton Award for LDS Literature.

Republished in King Benjamin’s Speech Made Simple and Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple.

A look into what makes King Benjamin’s address to his people not only an assembly but also an atonement.

Originally published in King Benjamin’s Speech: That Ye May Learn Wisdom.

A look into what makes King Benjamin’s address to his people not only an assembly but also an atonement.

Hugh Nibley discusses how Abraham was an ordinary man who held no office and worked no miracles, and yet he was one of the greatest minds of the last forty centuries. Nibley discusses Abraham’s relationship with the temple and gives an overview of the ancient temple. He also shows how the Book of Abraham answers what Nibley calls the “terrible questions”: Where do I come from? Why am I here? How does the universe figure in the gospel? How did it all begin, and how will it all end? Nibley argues that the vision given to Abraham in the Book of Abraham contains stage directions indicating that the vision is dramatized, and the Book of Abraham includes the script.

In this short series of communications, Hugh Nibley expresses his philosophy that “the function of the poet is to hold one’s head while he pukes.”

Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 17. 483–500.

Discusses the importance of the temple throughout history and in various civilizations to show its importance in modern day.

New to this edition is Gary Gillum’s “Hugh Nibley: Scholar of the Spirit, Missionary of the Mind”; the bibliography has been dropped.

The essays in this volume, including four on today’s world, were selected by a panel of Hugh Nibley’s colleagues. They are singular in their penetration, their originality, and their vitality. Reaching from the apocalyptic visions of original “treasures in heaven” down to the climax of history, they are more than mind-stretching. The delight of Nibley’s brilliant and sometimes biting prose style imparts a sense of the agelessness of what he calls the “three-act play” of human existence. Written specially for this book, the author’s own “intellectual autobiography,” together with his introductory paragraphs for the various chapters, complete the work of making the book a fitting and permanent record of one of the past outstanding historians

Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 17. 483–500.

Discusses the importance of the temple throughout history and in various civilizations to show its importance in modern day.

A quick obituary-like article that focuses on Hugh Nibley outside the Church proper, including some controversy and some remarks about his work.

This short article was originally published in the journal Concilium: An International Review of Theology and as such is addressed to a non-LDS audience. Nibley begins by giving a brief historical and theological background to the Book of Mormon. He then makes the point that the Book of Mormon includes topics that leave it open to scholars in many different disciplines to study and to put on trial. Finally, he comments on the remarkable coherence with which the prophetic editors were able to compile the Book of Mormon.

A practice that was eventually condemned by the church because of its Jewish affinities—being found, for example, in the Testaments of Abraham and Job and in the writings of Philo—the prayer circle has a long and complex history in Christian practice. This practice was considered one of the “ mysteries” and therefore was protected from all who weren’t initiated. For the initiated participants, this was a very sacred practice, which demanded unity between all those involved. The prayer circle, generally referred to as a “ dance,” often included hymns, prayers for the living and the dead, and gestures that would prepare the participants for heavenly visitations.

Patriarch Tarasius and various bishops and monks condemn the Acts of John, in which an account of the early Christian prayer circle is recorded.

This text, from a Christian “Book of Breathings,” highlights the importance of the prayer circle in early Christian worship.

Hugh Nibley, late professor of ancient history and religion at Brigham Young University and one of the foremost scholars of the ancient world in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, discussed the Rule of the Community in an appendix to his 1975 book The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri. The Joseph Smith Papyri is an initiatory text; the Rule of the Community is both an initiatory text, enumerating details for entrance into the Essene community at Qumran, and a covenant document, listing elements in the covenant made between God and individuals entering the Essene community at Qumran. This piece is an excerpt from the appendix of his text mentioned above and outlines the various aspects of this Rule of the Community as found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QS).

Select bibliography of LDS research on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This article can now be found in the Deseret News archives.

Reflections about how Hugh Nibley’s book One Eternal Round was completed after his death.

Responding to an inquiry from a member of a different faith about why the Book of Mormon was translated into the English of the King James Version of the Bible, Nibley discusses the use of biblical language in contemporary society, citing in particular the language of prayer and the use of King James English in the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This article also serves as a platform for Nibley to discuss other issues raised about the Book of Mormon, especially in reference to the King James version of the Bible.

Unpublished.

Discussion about Hugh Nibley, then some Nibley remarks on mystery and its relativity.

A collection of conversations with various people about Hugh Nibley, his works, and his impact.

A collection of blog posts written about Hugh Nibley and his works.

A series of handouts prepared in the fifties and early sixties for distribution to various audiences.

“Years ago, it was my custom to communicate to the General Authorities in an occasional brash and self-appointed newsletter (called a ‘G-2 Report’) items of interest dealing with new discoveries which I considered significant. My boldness was not ill-received.” —Quoting a letter from Nibley to Elder Bruce R. McConkie, 2 October 1979.

“Now for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.” So lamented Moses in utter humility after seeing in vision the complexities of the planet Earth and her countless inhabitants. Shortly thereafter Moses was to see once again the earth and her. Imagine, however, his profound astonishment when, in answer to his plea for an explanation, the Lord revealed himself to Moses and told him of even more wondrous creations. “And worlds without number have I created. . . . For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power.” Other heavens and earths had already expired. New heavens, star systems with inhabitable planets, would be born in the distant future. Moses would surely have felt even more insignificant had not the Lord reassured him with his presence and the counsel that “all things are numbered unto me.”

This article will join the procession of articles dealing with the problem of scriptural change and its impact upon LDS theology. There will be concern to explain the nature of the material undergoing change, the historical, situations in which these changes occurred, and the impact of these facts upon a concept of revelation. As it is in the book of Moses that the most important changes have occurred, an explanation of how and why these changes were made in this text should satisfy the reader.

Pointed social commentary concerning the state of the natural environment.

Reprinted in Enoch the Prophet, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 2. 91–301.

A discussion of the worldview and scenario of the Hopis. Editor’s note: With the October 1975 issue, the Ensign began a series on the book of Enoch authored by Hugh Nibley. As Part 1 recounts, early Christian writers knew and respected the book of Enoch, but biblical scholars neglected it in scorn after the excitement of the Reformation was over. However, James Bruce, exploring the sources of the Nile in 1773, brought back three copies. Part 2 describes the critical response—or lack of it—to these documents and then turns to examining the four versions of the book of Enoch against which Joseph Smith’s writing must be judged.

In most forms of Gnosticism secret oral tradition is often associated with accounts of the creation of the world, the experiences of Adam and Eve in the Garden, and the fall of man. It is usually in this creation setting or in a temple or on a mountaintop that Gnosticism places the revelation of the esoteric mysteries and the knowledge needed to thwart the archontic powers and return to God.

Gnosticism is primarily concerned with the questions, Who am I? Where am I from? and What is my destiny? That the answers to these questions are often associated with the creation, the Garden, and the fall of man is probably due to the Gnostic presupposition that the end of all things is to be found in their beginning. Of those documents which manifest this concern, the Nag Hammadi Apocalypse of Adam is perhaps the prime example.

Joseph Smith taught that the first principle of revealed religion is to know for a certainty the character of God, and his reaffirmation of Deity as the loving, personal Father of the scriptures stands in conspicuous contrast to the confusion and obscurity of traditional and modern theologies. Just as the orthodox doctrine of an incomprehensible God who creates ex nihilo is clearly odds with the prophetic proclamation in both the Old and New Testaments, by the same measure the Latter-day Saint conception of divine creation in terms of the organization of eternal man provides a remarkable commentary on Joseph Smith’s claim to be a prophet of the Living God and on his work in the restitution of all things.

Reprinted in Old Testament and Related Studies, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 1. 87–114.

An address given at the BYU Women’s Conference, 1 February 1980.

There is a striking example of a “narrative” type call in the prophetic commission of Enoch in Moses 6:23–36. This study considers the elements of the narrative call pattern; those elements of this form found in the prophetic commission of Enoch are examined and compared with the biblical narrative call passages.

The report of the prophetic vocation of Enoch in the book of Moses accords with impressive consistency with the call narratives in the Bible. All of the elements of the prophetic call pattern isolated and examined by Habel in the calls of Moses, Gideon, and Jeremiah are also found in the Enoch passage; with one minor exception, the order of the elements in the vocation of Enoch is the same as in the call accounts recorded in the Bible. This additional authenticating detail places Enoch more securely in the tradition of the prophets and the book of Moses more firmly in the form and tradition of the prophetic literature.

Published as Ancient Documents and the Pearl of Great Price.

Dr. Hugh W. Nibley, professor emeritus of ancient scriptures at Brigham Young University, gave the following twenty-six lectures in an honors class on The Pearl of Great Price. This class was videotaped in the Maesar Building during winter semester 1986 and the text was then transcribed and is included here in this book.

Perhaps no doctrine has had greater impact on Latter-day Saint theology than the doctrine of preexistence, or the belief in the existence of the human spirit before its mortal birth. Fundamental concepts such as the nature of man as an eternal being, his singular relationship as the offspring of Deity and concomitant brotherhood with all mankind, the talents and privileges with which he is born into the world, and his potential godhood are all inextricably connected to the doctrine of preexistence. This distinctive LDS doctrine was not immediately comprehended by the early Saints in the more fully developed form in which it is understood today.

Like many of the other teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, it was revealed line upon line and adapted to the Saints’ understanding. Moreover, there was a natural tendency to view initial teachings on preexistence in light of previously held beliefs until greater clarity was given to the doctrine. This study traces the early development of the doctrine by examining chronologically the revelations and recorded sermons and writings on preexistence by the Prophet Joseph Smith in light of contemporary commentary by his associates. Seeing how early Saints perceived preexistence enhances our own understanding of the doctrine and leads to a greater appreciation of our theological heritage.

“For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pas the immortality and eternal life of man.” This profound doctrinal statement is one of many contained in the Pearl of Great Price, the smallest of the standard works and the last to be canonized. Studying that scripture in depth adds immensely to our understanding of the Lord’s eternal plan. Comprising addresses delivered at a symposium on the Pearl of Great Price, this book combines the insights and testimonies of thirteen gospel scholars. All things were created to bear witness of God. As here shown, the Pearl of Great Price does that in many ways.

Papers presented at the BYU Symposium ‘As Translated Correctly’: Joseph Smith’s Translations of the Bible, January 13–14, 1995

Joseph Smith spent Sunday afternoon, April 7, 1844, in a grove behind the Nauvoo Temple. There he gave a funeral sermon, which lasted for over two hours, dedicated to a loyal friend named King Follett, who had been crushed by a bucket of rocks while repairing a well.1 Known today as the King Follett Discourse and widely believed to be the Prophet’s greatest sermon,2 this address was Joseph’s most cogent and forceful presentation of his Nauvoo doctrine on the nature of God, including the ideas of a plurality of Gods and the potential of man to become as God.3 Several times in the first part of the discourse, Joseph expressed his intention to “go back to the beginning” in searching out the nature of God, and a little before midway through the sermon, he undertook a commentary on the first few words of the Hebrew Bible in support of the speech’s doctrinal positions.

The book of Moses is an extract from Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible. It was revealed to the Prophet in 1830 and in early 1831, not long after the organization of the Church. This article is a brief introduction to the origin of the book of Moses and the Bible translation from which it derives.

In Why Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner provides an insightful reading of the creation story in Genesis. He argues that the creation has not yet ended, that we are still somewhere in “day six,” and that “pockets of chaos remain.” For me, as a Latter-day Saint, this argument is very interesting because this reading is even more a propos of the creation account in the Book of Moses than it is of the account in Genesis.

Teachers should eagerly anticipate the lesson when their students will learn about the Fall of Adam and Eve. This doctrine is one of three great doctrinal topics that all Latter-day Saints should understand. According to Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “These three are the very pillars of eternity itself. They are the most important events that ever have or will occur in all eternity. They are the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement.”

The essays in this volume, including four on today’s world, were selected by a panel of Hugh Nibley’s colleagues. They are singular in their penetration, their originality, and their vitality. Reaching from the apocalyptic visions of original “treasures in heaven” down to the climax of history, they are more than mind-stretching. The delight of Nibley’s brilliant and sometimes biting prose style imparts a sense of the agelessness of what he calls the “three-act play” of human existence. Written specially for this book, the author’s own “intellectual autobiography,” together with his introductory paragraphs for the various chapters, complete the work of making the book a fitting and permanent record of one of the past outstanding historians

Ever since the days of the Prophet Joseph, presidents of the Church have appealed to the Saints to be magnanimous and forbearing toward all of God’s creatures. But in the great West, where everything was up for grabs, it was more than human nature could endure to be left out of the great grabbing game, especially when one happened to get there first, as the Mormons often did. One morning, just a week after we had moved into our house on Seventh North, as I was leaving for work, I found a group of shouting, arm-waving boys gathered around the big fir tree in the front yard. They had sticks and stones, and in a state of high excitement were fiercely attacking the lowest branches of the tree, which hung to the ground. Why? I asked. There was a quail in the tree, they said in breathless zeal, a quail! Of course, said I, what is wrong with that? But don’t you see, it is a live quail? A wild one! So they just had to kill it. They were on their way to the old B. Y. High School and were Boy Scouts. Does this story surprise you? What surprised me was when I later went to Chicago and saw squirrels running around the city parks in broad daylight; they would not last a day in Provo. Like Varro’s patrician friends, we have taught our children by precept and example that every living thing exists to be converted into cash, and that whatever would not yield a return should be quickly exterminated to make way for creatures that do. (We have referred to this elsewhere as the Mahan Principle; Moses 5:31.) I have heard influential Latter-day Saints express this philosophy. The earth is our enemy, I was taught does it not bring forth noxious weeds to afflict and torment man? And who cared if his allergies were the result of the Fall, man’s own doing? But one thing worried me: if God were to despise all things beneath Him, as we do, where would that leave us? Inquiring about today, one discovers that many Latter-day Saints feel that the time has come to put an end to the killing.

Discussions on the Pearl of Great Price — The Ministry of Enoch

Brigham Young University professors discuss the ministry of ancient prophets.

Discussions on the Pearl of Great Price — The Premortal Life/Canning/Boarding House

BYU religion faculty members discuss the doctrines found in the Pearl of Great Price about the premortal life.

Discussions on the Pearl of Great Price — Obedience and Sacrifice/The Bicycle

Members of BYU\'s religion department discuss docrtines and themes of obedience and sacrifice found in the Pearl of Great Price.

Discussions on the Pearl of Great Price — Atonement and Rebirth

Listen as religion faculty from Brigham Young University discuss the doctrines and themes of Atonement and rebirth that are found in the Pearl of Great Price.

The Lord told Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, “Look unto me in every thought” (D&C 6:36). In the ordinance of the sacrament we covenant each week to “always remember him,” that we “may always have his Spirit” to be with us (D&C 20:77). The Book of Mormon testifies that “all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all thing that are upon the face of it” (Alma 30:44). Thus, God has given all things as a type or representation of Christ to help us remember Him (see 2 Nephi 11:4; Helaman 8:24). The key to understanding the things of God is to see Christ in them, including His creations.

On two occasions while he worked on his New Translation of Genesis in 1830, the Prophet Joseph Smith dictated to his scribe Oliver Cowdery a word combination that in English is awkward and umgrammatical, though in the Hebrew it is not: “Behold I.” The first occurrence reads, “Behold I am the Lord God Almighty.” The second reads, “Behold I send me.” Both passages are in the Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, but “Behold I” is not found in either of those passages today because, after the time of Joseph Smith, each was edited out of the text . .

Terryl Givens has set Joseph Smith in the religious and cultural context of his time and raised many important issues. I should like to take a few of these issues and set them in another context, that of preexilic Jerusalem. I am not a scholar of Mormon texts and traditions. I am a biblical scholar specializing in the Old Testament, and until some Mormon scholars made contact with me a few years ago, I would never have considered using Mormon texts and traditions as part of my work. Since that initial contact I have had many good and fruitful exchanges and have begun to look at these texts very closely. I am still, however, very much an amateur in this area. What I offer can only be the reactions of an Old Testament scholar: are the revelations to Joseph Smith consistent with the situation in Jerusalem in about 600 BCE? Do the revelations to Joseph Smith fit in that context, the reign of King Zedekiah, who is mentioned at the beginning of the First Book of Nephi, which begins in the “first year of the reign of Zedekiah” (1 Nephi 1:4)? Zedekiah was installed as king in Jerusalem in 597 BCE.

No abstract available.

Referring to ancient and long-lost scripture that Joseph Smith restored, Wilford Woodruff declared it to be part of “the rich treasures that are revealed unto us in the last days.” One such treasure is Moses chapter 1, a scriptural jewel we have hardly begun to appreciate but whose luster has become more apparent in light of various ancient texts and traditions that have emerged since Joseph Smith’s day. So striking are the parallels as to recall Joseph’s own prophecy that “the world will prove Joseph Smith a true prophet by circumstantial evidence.”

When Alma the Younger returned to Zarahemla following his mission to the Zoramites, “he caused that his sons should be gathered together, that he might give unto them every one his charge, separately, concerning the things pertaining to righteousness” (Alma 35:16). The Book of Mormon contains a significantly larger amount of counsel from Alma to his wayward son Corianton than to Helaman and Shiblon.

Within Alma’s teachings, we discover a concise explanation of the Fall of Adam and three elements necessary to reclaim each individual from the Fall, namely, death, the Atonement, and the Resurrection. This chapter will discuss the Fall of Adam and these three elements in Alma’s teachings to Corianton and also in the inspired teachings of modern apostles and prophets. This chapter will conclude that we can control only one of the three elements necessary to reclaim mankind from the Fall: whether we use the Atonement to repent of our sins and forgive others.

While the first chapter of the book of Moses is often understood as introductory to the rest of the book, the chapter itself is an inclusive text centering on Moses’s transformation through three separate encounters with supernatural beings. In each encounter he is taught something of the meaning of truth and experiences the power that the comprehension of truth brings. His example is particularly instructive in light of the doctrine that “truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come” (D&C 93:24).

The first section of Moses 1 contains Moses’s encounter with God (see vv. 1–11). Second is his confrontation with the adversary (see vv. 12–23). The third and final section records his meeting with God (see vv. 24–41). In these three encounters, Moses becomes a type for all who seek to understand things as they really are.

Many parents, as they have labored through the process of raising a teenager, may have wondered at times if Satan’s idea of destroying agency was such a bad idea. However, most parents have learned from experience that trying to control a child’s decisions, even in the right direction, can often result in the child’s rebellion. Very few, if any, like to be forced to do something, even if it is good. Having the right to live according to our personal desires and to exercise our agency, even if what we choose is not wise or good for us, is very precious to us. We prize our moral agency so highly that any attempt to undermine, circumvent, manipulate, control, or eliminate it often leads to conflict. These battles have spanned heaven and earth and have included both individuals and great assemblies.

Some believe Adam and Eve’s partaking of the fruit of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9) to be the cause of all that is evil and tragic in the world today. Others believe our first parents merely to be mythical beings whose existence is only a metaphor used to explain mankind’s existence. The doctrines of the restored gospel concerning the historical reality of Adam and Eve and the doctrine of the Fall provide a wealth of understanding concerning the purposes of adversity and opposition and the vital need for the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the scriptural accounts of the Creation from a scientific point of view with particular emphasis on physics and astronomy, although of necessity I will also have to deal to some extent with biology, chemistry, and geology. The views expressed here are my own and are not meant to represent the views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Brigham Young University. They are a distillation of my thoughts and conclusions over two decades of teaching and research.

In this article, I will explore the notion of communal ascent to heaven in ancient Jewish and Christian literature and seek to answer the questions, Can an entire community ascend to heaven? and Do we see this theme in ancient texts, or is this a complete innovation on the part of Joseph Smith as he sought to unite his followers around an inspiring and unifying goal? To arrive at the answers to these questions, I will analyze a number of ancient Jewish and Christian religious texts that feature the ascent to heaven motif and suggest that not only did their authors envision an individual ascent, but they also imagined groups or communities raised up to the celestial realm.

The creation and flood accounts in Genesis in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) contain variations on a phrase commonly translated “the breath of life.” This phrase additionally occurs in some uniquely Latter-day Saint materials relating to creation. After overviewing and analyzing this phrase and its meaning in the Bible, this paper then examines the occurrences of the phrase “the breath of life” in important early Latter-day Saint texts.1 The purpose of this study is to illustrate and explain how and why many Latter-day Saints have come to often employ the phrase “the breath of life,” transforming its traditional biblical meaning into a new, Restoration-oriented use referencing the embodiment of the first human’s premortal spirit and, by extension, the embodiment of all other people’s spirits.

The greatest concept we can study or teach is the plan of redemption—sometimes called the plan of salvation or the plan of happiness. The doctrines of the plan of redemption have more power to bring men to God than any other truth or concept. Many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints quickly recognize the following diagram.

Human beings in other guise lived before the creation of our world. This belief is at once controversial and durable, pervading the history of Western thought and bearing analogues elsewhere. That gods, angels, or other celestial beings rebelled against their superiors or engaged in cosmic conflict prior to earth’s creation is a related concept, widespread in the ancient world. Depictions or allusions to such contests appear in the myths, lore, art, literature, and sacred texts of Babylon, Egypt, Israel, Persia, Greece, Rome, far-flung tribal religions, and elsewhere. In certain cases, the older traditions endure even to the present, as in Sufi (Muslim) expressions of Iblis’s rebellion against Allah.

The Book of Moses is canonized scripture spanning the epochs of Creation, Adam and Eve, Enoch, and Noah. Its content was revealed anciently by God to Moses and re-revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in modern times. This book explores the origins and development of the Book of Moses, its ancient nuances, the linguistic features of its revelations, and how its sweeping visions and rich doctrines inspired and guided Joseph Smith and the early members of what would become The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their pursuit of Zion.

This chapter is adapted from a review of Douglas F. Salmon, “Parallelomania and the Study of Latter-day Scripture: Confirmation, Coincidence, or the Collective Unconscious,“ Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 33, no. 2 (2000): 129–56. The article was originally published as William J. Hamblin and Gordon C. Thomasson, “Joseph or Jung? A Response to Douglas Salmon,“ FARMS Review of Books 13, no. 2 (2001): 87–107.

A review of an article written by Douglas F. Salmon.