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By Hugh Nibley
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Unknown Publication Dates
This paper includes many quotations from Brigham Young and the scriptures.
An article about being in the world but not of the world.
This is a manuscript dealing with authority and the councils, possibly related to the 155-page manuscript that became the volume Apostles and Bishops in Early Christianity, which focuses more on the office of Bishop.
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
A treatment of the role and symbolic power of Jerusalem for Christians. This was also circulated in pamphlet form by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Cf. the various versions of Nibley’s talk on the Lachish letters.
Published by FARMS in 1984, indexed as N-LES, as part of the Nibley Archive, 13 pp.
Discusses the Book of Mormon and Lehi to give a better view of how the future might view our day.
Follows Eduard Meyer’s Ursprung und Geschichte der Mormonen to compare Mohammad with Joseph Smith.
Typed transcript
Later published through FARMS, Brigham Young University.
The views of Aristophanes are set forth on corruption in the commercial world of the time. This is then linked to certain themes in the Platonic dialogues (Phaedrus, Gorgius, Sophist, Meno, Apology) in which language can be found in which Socrates quarrels with the Sophists over such matters.
An excellent description of what the priesthood is.
“Reformatted by
Gary Gillum 16 May 2006.“
Seems to be a combination of Nibley’s G-2 reports or the outline for a lecture or book. Thirty separate points are outlined.
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.
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple.
This short autobiography seems to be an introduction to a series in the Improvement Era or elsewhere.
1910 — 1949
The Juvenile Instructor was a magazine for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It began publication in 1866 as a private publication, but by the late 1860s served as the de facto publication of the LDS Church’s Deseret Sunday School Union organization. It was an official periodical of the LDS Church from 1901 to 1929, after which the church replaced it with The Instructor.
Caption says: Drawn by Hugh Nibley, Age 10, Portland, Oregon.
Reprinted in Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life, Boyd J. Peterson, Sandy, UT: Greg Kofford Books Inc, 2002, 56.
Reprinted in Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life, 2002. 55.
Poem written for his grandmother when he was 16.
Reprinted in Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life, 2002. 56–58
“At the end of the work, Nibley writes in long hand: This is unfortunately not the end—I have over one hundred pages that go on
like this. Authorities and sources for all quotations and other exact assertions will be freely revealed on request.“
An overview of the Republic following stream of conscious.
Copy in HBLL SC box 27 folder 4 through box 29 folder 1. Nibley’s dissertation was completed and approved by December 1938. The library at the University of California at Berkeley catalogued the dissertation in early 1939.
Presentation to the American Historical Association.
Reprinted in The Ancient State, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 10. 303–10.
Adds some notes to Mr. Warren Blake’s study of the life and works of Joseph Justs Scaliger to correct some common misconceptions.
Compiled in Compiegne, France (at the end of World War II) using J. G. Hava, Arabic-English Dictionary for the Use of Students (Beirut: Catholic University Press, 1921).
Reprinted in The Ancient State.
Considers the nature and importance of the sparsiones by looking at three points: (1) what was distributed by sparsio, (2) by whom and on what occasions, and (3) by what particular methods.
Commenting on the reception of Fawn Brodie’s biography of Joseph Smith, Thomas G. Alexander claims that “perhaps no book in recent years has evinced more comment.” He then contrasted “the scholarly Marvin Hill’s” two reviews of Brodie’s biography of Joseph Smith (Dialogue 7, no. 4 [1972]: 72–85; Church History 43, no. 1 [March 1974]: 78–96) with “the rather outrageous Hugh Nibley’s No Ma’am That’s Not History. . .’” See Thomas G. Alexander, “The Place of Joseph Smith in the Development of American Religion: A Historiographical Inquiry,” Journal of Mormon History 5 (1978): 3–17, at 10, no. 9. The bibliographer-historian Dale L. Morgan, who provided Fawn Brodie with considerable assistance with both the contents and style of her biography of Joseph Smith, described Nibley’s pamphlet as “something of a slapstick performance, and the irony of it is, Nibley . . . is much more intoxicated with his own language than you, the ‘glib English major’ are.” See Morgan’s letter to Fawn Brodie, dated 9 June 1946, in Dale Morgan on Early Mormonism: Correspondence & A New History, ed. John P. Walker (Salt Lake City: Signature Press, 1986), 125. Tertius Chandler, a dilettantish polymath and friend of Morgan, included a polemic against Nibley’s pamphlet in Chandler’s Half-Encyclopedia ([Dedham, MA]: privately printed, 1956), 662–79. (The entry is entitled “The Controversy over Joseph Smith” and is dated 14 July 1952; it was extended to include other LDS responses to Brodie’s biography of Joseph Smith in “The Controversy over Joseph Smith—Part II,” dated 1 September 1952, 675–79). BYU Special Collections has a primitive typescript version of Chandler’s “The Controversy over Joseph Smith,” dated 1 September 1952, 22 pp.
This is a short, witty reply to Fawn M. Brodie’s No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, 2nd ed., rev. and enlarged (New York: Knopf, 1945; 1971). Nibley’s response to Brodie signaled to the Saints that there was still room for a nonnaturalistic account of Joseph Smith’s prophetic claims and revelations. Cultural Mormons who celebrated a new enlightenment with the appearance of Brodie’s treatment of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon were often troubled by what they considered Nibley’s flippant response to Brodie. Opposition to his views has also been a common feature of the secular, revisionist element in the so-called New Mormon History, which has tended to see in Brodie’s account of Joseph Smith the beginning or basic outline of an acceptable naturalistic account of Mormon things.
Reprinted in a 1970 Improvement Era article.
“The average man,” wrote the great A. E. Housman, “believes that the text of ancient authors is generally sound, not because he has acquainted himself with the elements of the problem but because he would feel uncomfortable if he did not believe it.” The Book of Mormon has enjoyed no such popular support. Indeed, the “average man” would like nothing better than to see it thoroughly exposed once and for all; it has made him feel uncomfortable for over a century. What is holding up the show? The earliest version of Nibley’s theory that a portion of the meaning and the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon can be uncovered and tested by drawing upon the literary remains of the Near East. This essay contains Nibley’s initial speculation on possible links between Book of Mormon names and Egyptian etymologies. The series drew the attention of Wesley Walters, who drafted a statement concerning its contents, a statement which was signed by William F. Albright in 1949. Since that time the Reverend Walters has been an anti-Mormon polemicist.
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.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A study of early texts that suggests that the weight of early Christian doctrine wasn’t on the cross but on the work of Christ as a teacher, marking the way of eternal progress for the living and the dead.
This talks about the teaching of the Lord after his resurrection.
This talked about how the dead received baptism.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A study of Christ’s second mission, when he rose from the dead.
The conclusion to the series, this article goes into the details of ancient saints and apostles and their stances on baptism for the dead.
Reprinted in The Ancient State: The Rulers and the Ruled, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 10.
A study showing how prehistoric hunters used marked arrows to mark territory, then applied the same techniques to come to the creation of a centralized state in historic times.
1950 — 1959
Virtually all that is known of the world in which Lehi is purported to have lived has been discovered within the last hundred years, mostly within the last thirty. How does this information check with that in the book of 1 Nephi? A classic reflection on Lehi’s world in Arabia: poetry, tree of life, family affairs, politics, imagery, travel, tents, and foods. One of the first attempts to test the Book of Mormon against known geographical and cultural details in the regions where Lehi probably traveled in the Old World.
Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites (1952)
Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites (1980)
Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites. An unedited reprinting of the original version (1987)
Lehi in the Desert; The World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites (1988)
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 17.
EDITORS NOTE: With Christmas still fresh in our memories, Professor Hugh Nibley, in this article especially prepared for the readers of the Millennial Star, gives us an interesting insight into what the world looks for in the celebration of Christmas. Nibley briefly looked into the question of whether it is possible that the bewildering profusion of Christmas observances might contain, among other things, a latent longing for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Discusses the eschatological theories of the early Christian church. Intended to be included in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Tests the story of Lehi against various markers certain Egyptologists use to test the authenticity of other Egyptian stories.
This talks about the teaching of the Lord after his resurrection.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Looks at the various dreams of prophets and how they related to the prophets’ lives at the time they had them.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Discusses the distinction that Lehi dwelt in a tent as showing him of a different class as those who dwelt in sturdier houses.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
States that Lehi’s family did not run into any important contacts throughout their eight years of wandering the desert because they didn’t light fires. It discusses this being a common practice even today so as to not attract the attention of prowling raiding parties.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Discusses Middle Eastern traditions of naming a place you have discovered after you and how that relates to the names of places within the Book of Mormon.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A study of early desert poems.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
States that the actions of Lehi’s sons when they go back for the brass plates are typical of people from that time and even from today in the Middle East.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A discussion about the history of using metal plates for more important records.
Draws the conclusion that Lehi took the shortest and safest route through the desert during his journeys in the Book of Mormon.
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley.
Reprinted in Ancient State: The Rulers and the Ruled, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 10.
How most modern traditions come from ancient ones, and why and how.
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.
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.
“The Religious Picture”: Changes in the religious world and in scholarship concerning religion are illustrated by numerous quotations from various writers.“
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.
Changes in religious scholarship further illustrated. Quotations are arranged under headings such as “Revelation,” No Longer a Dirty Word,” “Neo-orthodoxy,” and “Science.”“
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.
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.
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.
This report is a summary of the teachings of the early church fathers on the nature of God.“
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.
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.
Including such topics as no more infallible books, more revelation needed, the language problem, the textual problem, Paul quotes the ancients, the statue of John, the historical Jesus, and the present impasse.“
A series of handouts prepared in the fifties and early sixties for distribution to various audiences. This report includes excerpts from the Expository Times by Nibley in the form of a G-2 Report. 14 pages, s.s., 1984. Most excerpts deal with the state of Christianity in 1983 and 1984.
““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.
Two topics or reports are included. Includes various quotations from the Expository Times on Old Testament biblical research. See “New Age of Discovery” in Since Cumorah, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 7.“
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.
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.
Topics include the flood, the patriarchal age, the Old Testament as history, the Old Testament in its Near Eastern setting, patterning, language of the Old Testament, and the integrity of the text.“
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.
Reprinted as the second half of Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites (1952); and reprinted in Lehi in the Desert; The World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites. These articles were written in the form of expository letters to a fictitious “Professor F.”
A detailed reconstruction of the epic milieu and ancient historical setting in the third millennium B.C. in Mesopotamia and Asia relative to details about the Jaredites: their ships, shining stones, government, wars, society, and worldview.
Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites (1952)
Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites (1980)
Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites. An unedited reprinting of the original version (1987)
Lehi in the Desert; The World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites (1988)
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
The epistolary form of this series of articles, is the style in which the writer most commonly expounds his views. Although “Professor F.” to whom these letters are addressed is a purely fictitious anthropologist in an eastern university, he is typical of many a real correspondent, and the letters themselves are no less typical. If “F.” seems unduly meek and teachable, that is because with the limited space at our disposal it would be folly to engage in long and needless controversies.
This talks about the teaching of the Lord after his resurrection.
This talked about how the dead received baptism.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Gives a historical parallel to the Big Wind to show that it such a thing was possible.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A study into the deseret, or honeybee.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Studies the Jaredite practice of “drawing off” followers to an army to builds its forces and bides its time to show that this was a normal practice at the time.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Looks at ancient thrones and suggests that they all go back to the old Asiatic pattern.
The purpose of these articles is to (1) call attention to some of the long-ignored aspects of the Joseph Smith account of Enoch in the book of Moses and in the Inspired Version of Genesis and (2) provide at the same time some of the evidence that establishes the authenticity of that remarkable text. Contemporary learning offered few checks to the imagination of Joseph Smith; the enthusiasm of his followers presented none.
Addresses the dangers of oversimplifying the scriptures and attempts to look at the Book of Mormon without such oversimplification.
This exciting and penetrating comparison of the Joseph Smith book of Enoch, with four known variant manuscripts of that ancient work, provides yet another evidence of the Prophet’s inspiration and the scope of his vision in the great work of the Restoration.
A conclusion to the World of the Jaredites series.
The bulk of these materials appeared in the Improvement Era between 1950 and 1952. The original illustrations and some other materials were not included in the book.
“Lehi in the Desert” (1950)
“The World of the Jaredites” (1951)
Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites (1980)
Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites. An unedited reprinting of the original version (1987)
Lehi in the Desert; The World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites (1988)
Reprinted in LDS Views on Early Christianity and Apocrypha: Articles from BYU Studies, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
A compendium of passages from the New Testament, from the early fathers of the church and from historians of Christian antiquity on the question of the apostasy. The issues raised in this handout were eventually dealt with systematically in the series that appeared in the Improvement Era between January and December 1955 called “The Way of the Church,” and also in the essay entitled “The Passing of the Church,” Church History 30, no. 2 (June 1961): 131–54; reprinted in When the Lights Went Out (1970), 1–32; and in “The Passing of the Church: Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme,” BYU Studies 16, no. 1 (1975): 135–64; “The Passing of the Primitive Church,” in Mormonism and Early Christianity, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 4. 209–322; and “The Passing of the Primitive Church: Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme,” in When the Lights Went Out (2001), 1–47.
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley.
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley.
Reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon.
Writing on tally sticks is related to Ezekiel 37 and the meaning of the prophecy that two sticks shall become one. Extensive commentary on the traditional interpretations given to Ezekiel 37.
“Reprinted in The Ancient State.
An examination of the problem of loyalty in the 4th century, with obvious significance for our own time. — Midgley“
Considers three significant aspects of the Roman loyalty program in the period designated.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
“Demonstrates not only that
our interpretation of Ezekial 37:15ff is
a possible one—for there are many
possibilities—but that it is also the
one most likely intended by the
Prophet Ezekiel. “
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A look at what the sticks of Judah and Joseph were or what they referred to.
This talked about how the dead received baptism.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A discussion of the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph as scepters.
A conclusion to the Stick of Judah and the Stick of Joseph series.
Reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 8.
Relevant to 1 Nephi 13:11–12, this brief article gives historical evidence showing that Columbus was moved upon by the Holy Ghost.
Reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon.
Vividly displays internal and external evidences to test whether the Book of Mormon is or is not a forgery, using the standard scholarly criteria for detecting forged writings. Very insightful comments on methodology for studying the Book of Mormon, evaluating evidence, using newly discovered documents, metal plates, literary criticism, poetry, lower criticism, and history. Also comments on animals, weights and measures, and the use of the Bible in the Book of Mormon.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A study of new discoveries that answer questions critics of the Book of Mormon had been using to disprove its authenticity.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Discusses forgery throughout religious history and how we might test whether or not Joseph Smith forged the Book of Mormon.
This talked about how the dead received baptism.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Looks at circumstancial evidence attending the production of the Book of Mormon and how it suggests that the Book of Mormon is true.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Discusses the language of the Scrolls, specifically how it is not the language the Jews of the time should have been speaking and writing.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Suggests that the author of the Book of Mormon merely wanted people to believe in it and studies what the author might have gained from that.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Addresses the idea that the Book of Mormon may include as many or more Egyptianisms as Hebraisms and suggests that the translation of the Book of Mormon had to have been done by revelation in order for people to believe in its verity.
The purpose of these articles is to (1) call attention to some of the long-ignored aspects of the Joseph Smith account of Enoch in the book of Moses and in the Inspired Version of Genesis and (2) provide at the same time some of the evidence that establishes the authenticity of that remarkable text. Contemporary learning offered few checks to the imagination of Joseph Smith; the enthusiasm of his followers presented none.
A conclusion to the New Approaches to Book of Mormon Study series.
The original publication of the series of talks.
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.
“Time Vindicates the Prophets” (1954)
The World and the Prophets (1962)
The World and the Prophets (1987)
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.
The World and the Prophets (1954)
The World and the Prophets (1962)
The World and the Prophets (1987)
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
This talk was later called, “How Will It Be when None More Saith ‘I Saw’?”
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
A discussion of what a prophet is and a suggestion that a prophet’s reward isn’t acceptance in this life.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Discusses what a prophet is not to show what a prophet is.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Addresses the need for scriptures and revelation and suggests that the two are not controversial but complementary.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Considers the second of two twin pillars of conventional Christianity: tradition, specifically traditions within the Church and how the Church breaks other Christian traditions.
Reprinted in Immortality: Famed Discourses on Eternal Progression and Future Existence and The World and the Prophets, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 3.
“Easter and the Prophets” (1974)
“Easter and the Prophets” (1987)
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Discusses the degree to which a spiritual message can or must be implemented in a physical manner.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Discusses the weaknesses of judging prophets based on our experience of peaceful living and of the “quiet” life.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Discusses the claim that a prophet is just another preacher and explains that this is false.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Suggests that the Church is the only non-speculative church in a world of speculative churches, which enhances its claim of being the primitive church.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
A discussion of members as Christians by the definition of believing in Christ and a discussion of how the idea of Christianity as one who subscribes to the creeds of Christiandom came to be.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Discussion of better ways to remember the dead.
“Two Ways to Remember the Dead” (1974)
“Two Ways to Remember the Dead” (1979)
“Two Ways to Remember the Dead” (1987)
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Discusses man’s tendency to only believe in God’s word where it matches man’s understanding and how this ties in with the Plan of Life.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Discusses the idea that members consistently find themselves in the company of ancient saints and removed from behaviors and acts of contemporary Christians, especially when it comes to the search for God.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
A discussion of what martyrdom is and how Joseph Smith’s relates to those found throughout history.
Part of a weekly lecture series featured on KSL radio.
A discussion about liberty and ancient beliefs involving such.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Suggests that the end of the primitive church came about due to the ceasing of prophetic revelations.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
A history of schools and how they’ve affected prophets over the years.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
A comparison of Latter-day Saint pioneers with ancient members and followers of Christ.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Talks about what St. Augustine’s great task was during life.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Addresses various peoples’ ideas that one can find certitude without revelation and discusses the idea that where there is no revelation, there is no certitude.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Discusses Mysticism, the definition most scholars give it, and how that relates to prophets.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Discussion of rhetoric having the impression of knowledge with no actual knowledge. This is contrasted with revelation, which provides true knowledge.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Looks at the idea of miracles within the Church and compares them with those found in the world.
Reprinted as a chapter in The World and the Prophets, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 3.
Radio talk on the Book of Mormon as a witness of continuing revelation and God’s dealings with mankind.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Talks about Hebrews 6: 4, 6. Suggests that it is possible for men to be gifted with everything only to later lose everything; then, it is not possible for them to regain those blessings by their own works.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Discusses a scientific religion that matches exactly with human experience and suggests that this is not actually a religion but a reduced, meaningless attempt.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
A discussion of how prophets are essential to a True Church.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Suggests that religion is not practical for this life but is essential for the next.
Reprinted in The World and the Prophets, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 3.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Suggests that joy is the main message prophets bring to mankind.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Reprinted in Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 12.
This is the published version of the first of several exchanges between Nibley and Sterling M. McMurrin. The exchange was held on 23 March 1955 under the sponsorship of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Utah. McMurrin’s address, “Religion and the Denial of History,” is published on pp. 5–21, although Nibley spoke first.
This series was to have been continued but was actually abandoned. The materials were eventually used in “The Passing of the Church,” Church History 30, no. 2 (June 1961): 131–54; reprinted in When the Lights Went Out (1970): 1–32; in BYU Studies 16, no. 1 (1975): 139–64; in Mormonism and Early Christianity, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 4. 209–322; and as “The Passing of the Primitive Church: Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme,” in When the Lights Went Out (2001), 1–47.
The essays cover such subjects as early accounts of Jesus’ childhood, the Savior’s forty-day ministry after his resurrection, baptism for the dead in ancient times, the passing of the primitive church, and the early Christian prayer circle.
A discussion on the question: “Was the church Jesus founded expected to remain upon the earth for a limited time only, or was the ‘apostolic church’ destined ‘to remain firm and steadfast until the end of the world’?”
Part of a series in the Improvement Era, entitled The Way of the Church.
The first article of the series, beginning with a question and going into evidence to answer the question.
Part of a series in the Improvement Era, entitled The Way of the Church.
The second article of the series, addressing the idea that controlling the past controls the present, and the latter controls the future.
Part of a series in the Improvement Era, entitled The Way of the Church.
The third article of the series, describing what censorship has done to the Bible and what that means for readers.
Part of a series in the Improvement Era, entitled The Way of the Church.
Authority is created by people who want that particular authority in place.
Part of a series in the Improvement Era, entitled The Way of the Church.
Power lies in translation, but there are also follies that go with it.
Part of a series in the Improvement Era, entitled The Way of the Church.
The follies of translation continue, and the ups and downs of electronic translators.
A series of articles in three sections printed in 12 parts running from January 1955 through December 1955.
A discussion of the three main arguments modern claimants fall back on to save at least the tattered remnants of the true church: (1) the perfectly irrelevant “gates of hell” passage, (2) the “simple fact” that the church has persisted in the world unintermittently for nigh onto two-thousand years, and (3) that God simply would not allow a comoplete dissolution of his church.
This series was to have been continued but was actually abandoned. The materials were eventually used in “The Passing of the Church,” Church History 30/2 (June 1961): 131–54; reprinted in When the Lights Went Out (1970): 1–32; in BYU Studies 16/1 (1975): 139–64; in Mormonism and Early Christianity, CWHN 4:209–322; and as “The Passing of the Primitive Church: Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme,” in When the Lights Went Out (2001), 1–47.
A discussion of the three main arguments modern claimants fall back on to save at least the tattered remnants of the true church: (1) the perfectly irrelevant “gates of hell” passage, (2) the “simple fact” that the church has persisted in the world unintermittently for nigh onto two-thousand years, and (3) that God simply would not allow a comoplete dissolution of his church.
This series was to have been continued but was actually abandoned. The materials were eventually used in “The Passing of the Church,” Church History 30/2 (June 1961): 131–54; reprinted in When the Lights Went Out (1970): 1–32; in BYU Studies 16/1 (1975): 139–64; in Mormonism and Early Christianity, CWHN 4:209–322; and as “The Passing of the Primitive Church: Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme,” in When the Lights Went Out (2001), 1–47.
A discussion of what true success is: the heavenly kingdom, the second coming, the judgment, and the resurrection.
This series was to have been continued but was actually abandoned. The materials were eventually used in “The Passing of the Church,” Church History 30/2 (June 1961): 131–54; reprinted in When the Lights Went Out (1970): 1–32; in BYU Studies 16/1 (1975): 139–64; in Mormonism and Early Christianity, CWHN 4:209–322; and as “The Passing of the Primitive Church: Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme,” in When the Lights Went Out (2001), 1–47.
A discussion of the fact that the church is not immune to corruption, nor are its members. It also goes through how the true church had become corrupted in previous dispensations.
This series was to have been continued but was actually abandoned. The materials were eventually used in “The Passing of the Church,” Church History 30/2 (June 1961): 131–54; reprinted in When the Lights Went Out (1970): 1–32; in BYU Studies 16/1 (1975): 139–64; in Mormonism and Early Christianity, CWHN 4:209–322; and as “The Passing of the Primitive Church: Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme,” in When the Lights Went Out (2001), 1–47.
A discussion of the “primitive church” and how one might make certain divisions in church history.
A series of articles in three sections printed in 12 parts running from January 1955 through December 1955.
A discussion of eschatology and how it relates to and influences religion.
“In any bibliography of present-day studies on the Christian religion, historical or doctrinal, the word eschatology looms large. . . . What is eschatology?”
“However deplorable the maladjusted state of mind called ‘eschatological’ may be, there can be no denying that it was the prevailing attitude of the early Christians.”
“Reprinted as part three of “Lehi in the Desert”; “The World of the Jaredites”; “There Were Jaredites.” The description of the Jaredite boats seem to resemble the boat of Ut-Napitshtim, who was the Sumerian counterpart of Noah. Old Jewish and even older Indian sources record the use of shining stones that protect the owner beneath the water. These have been traced back to Babylonian tales of the deluge. Since the Jaredite record reports that their boats were patterned after Noah’s ark, ancient myths that surely have their foundation in real events help to provide greater understanding of the book of Ether. The book of Ether meets all the criteria of epic traditions of heroic societies. The remains of heroic societies are difficult to identify.
This wide-ranging series discusses the “epic milieu” of the second millennium B.C. and places the Jaredites in their historical context alongside the Babylonians, Egyptians, early Greeks, and others. It makes a comparison between the book of Ether and ancient writings of Babylon, Egypt, Sumer, and others.
A study of the rhetoric of the second Sophistic movement and its influence on politics and culture generally, with obvious significance for our own time because of remarkable parallel developments in the current world of business.
Part 1 of 5.
An exploration into the book of Ether and its ties to Egypt told via a fictional account.
Part 2 of 5.
An exploration into the book of Ether and its ties to Egypt told via a fictional account.
Part 3 of 5.
An exploration into the book of Ether and its ties to Egypt told via a fictional account.
Part 4 of 5.
An exploration into the book of Ether and its ties to Egypt told via a fictional account.
Part 5 of 5.
An exploration into the book of Ether and its ties to Egypt told via a fictional account.
Later published with the second part as a chapter in Lehi in the Desert; The World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 5.
A look into Babylonian folklore and ritual, written as a story about three students and their professor.
Later published with the first part as a chapter in Lehi in the Desert; The World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 5.
A comparison of Babylonian folklore and Jaredite records, also comparing ritualistic elements and less religious aspects of both records.
The Improvement Era was a magazine published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A discussion of shining stones throughout different religious stories, including several in the Book of Mormon.
Reprinted in Lehi in the Desert; The World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 5.
Discussions of the book of Enoch and its relationship to the Book of Abraham and other ancient texts and folklore.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A description of stories of ancestors from various countries.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A study of conquest during the time the Book of Mormon was written and how the Book of Mormon fits in with that culture.
The description of the Jaredite boats seem to resemble the boat of Ut-Napitshtim, who was the Sumerian counterpart of Noah. Old Jewish and even older Indian sources record the use of shining stones that protect the owner beneath the water. These have been traced back to Babylonian tales of the deluge. Since the Jaredite record reports that their boats were patterned after Noah’s ark, ancient myths that surely have their foundation in real events help to provide greater understanding of the book of Ether. The book of Ether meets all the criteria of epic traditions of heroic societies. The remains of heroic societies are difficult to identify.
This wide-ranging series discusses the “epic milieu” of the second millennium B.C. and places the Jaredites in their historical context alongside the Babylonians, Egyptians, early Greeks, and others. It makes a comparison between the book of Ether and ancient writings of Babylon, Egypt, Sumer, and others.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A study of the book of Ether and how it matches other societies of its day.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Looks at ancient architecture and suggests that ancient Jaredite architecture may still exist, but we have yet to identify them.
Some brief references to the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The great men of the sixth century believed in contemplation and in action, and they weren’t afraid to ask God for revelation. Lehi, Solon, Thales, Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tze, Zarathustra, and Pythagoras are discussed as contemporaries living in an important and booming “axial” era, the seminal 6th century B.C.
Discusses the Book of Mormon and Lehi to give a better view of how the future might view our day.
Reprinted in Old Testament and Related Studies, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 1, 1–19.
Solving the problem of historicity of the Bible: how it came around, and what to do about it.
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
An Approach to the Book of Mormon was mentioned by Marvin S. Hill in an essay entitled “The Historiography of Mormonism,” Church History 28/4 (December 1959): 418–26. Hill seems to have preferred to account for the Book of Mormon with what he called “the Smith hypothesis,” which is the attempt to understand the Book of Mormon as a product of Joseph’s presumably fertile imagination coupled with an unusual responsiveness to his own environment. Hill introduced his comments on Nibley’s work by observing that the conflict between Gentiles and Latter-day Saints is also evident among historians, who are “generally divided into two distinct groups, forging a cleavage of sentiment which is evident in the debates over the origin of the Book of Mormon” (418). According to Hill, the issue “of primary importance is the nature of that unique American scripture, the Book of Mormon. Acclaimed by the faithful as a sacred history of a Christian people in ancient America, the book has been labeled a fraud by non-believers.” “The case for the Latter-day Saints,” Hill acknowledged, “has been stated often, but with no greater sophistication than that exhibited by Hugh Nibley of Brigham Young University in his Approach to the Book of Mormon” (1957). He reviews the culture of the ancient Near East to find that in theme, the details of its narrative, and its use of place and proper names, the Book of Mormon is authentic. He states that the marks of genuine antiquity in the record could not have been imitated by anyone in 1830. However intimate his knowledge of ancient history may be, certain difficulties exist in his argument. He cites many phenomena that seem as much American as they do ancient and exaggerates the significance of details that are hazy or all but lacking. Invariably he handles his topic in an authoritarian fashion, never indicating that some points may be open to question (418).
Hill’s effort to show that “many phenomena,” which Nibley thinks are typical of the ancient Near East, “seem as much American as they do ancient” is supported by citing pp. 140, 202–16, 339, and 348 in Nibley’s book. Hill did not indicate what on those pages supports his assertions, and those pages seem to have been drawn almost at random from Nibley’s book (see 425, n. 3). Hill disagrees with Nibley’s having conceived Lehi as a merchant and also about his drawing parallels between the community at Qumran and “the society described in Alma 23” (see 425, n. 4).
An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1964)
An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1988)
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
This is a general introduction to the lessons. It declares the purpose of the course as being to illustrate and explain the Book of Mormon, rather than to prove it. In many ways the Book of Mormon remains an unknown book, and the justification for these lessons lies in their use of neglected written materials, including ancient sources, which heretofore have not been consulted in the study of the Book of Mormon. In spite of the nature of the evidence to be presented, the average reader is qualified to pursue this course of study, though he is warned to avoid the practice common among the more sophisticated critics of the Book of Mormon of judging that book not in the light of the ancient times in which it purports to have been written but in that of whatever period the critic himself arbitrarily chooses as the time of its production. The Book of Mormon must be read as an ancient, not as a modern book. Its mission, as described by the book itself, depends in great measure for its efficacy on its genuine antiquity. After stating this purpose, the present lesson ends with discussion of the “Great Retreat” from the Bible, which is in full swing in our day and can only be checked in the end by the Book of Mormon.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
“The Book of Mormon can and should be tested. It invites criticism, and the best possible test for its authenticity is provided by its own oft-proclaimed provenance in the Old World. Since the Nephites are really a branch broken off from the main cultural, racial, and religious stock, that provenance can be readily examined.” In case one thinks the Book of Mormon has been adequately examined in the past, it is well to know that today all ancient records are being read anew in the light of new discoveries. In this lesson we discuss some of the overthrows of the last decades that make it necessary to undertake the thoroughgoing re-evaluation of ancient records, including the Bible. The old evolutionary interpretation is being re-examined, while in its place is coming the realization that all ancient records can best be understood if they are read as a single book.
The note of universalism is very strong in the Book of Mormon, while the conventional views of tribal and national loyalties are conspicuously lacking. This peculiar state of things is an authentic reflection of actual conditions in Lehi’s world. Lehi, like Abraham, was the child of a cosmopolitan age. No other time or place could have been more peculiarly auspicious for the launching of a new civilization than the time and place in which he lived. It was a wonderful age of discovery, an age of adventurous undertakings in all fields of human endeavor, of great economic and colonial projects. At the same time the great and brilliant world civilization of Lehi’s day was on the very verge of complete collapse, and men of God like Lehi could see the hollowness of the loudly proclaimed slogans of peace (Jer. 6:14, 8:11) and prosperity. (2 Ne. 28:21.) Lehi’s expedition from Jerusalem in aim and method was entirely in keeping with the accepted practices of his day.
A discussion of Lehi’s beginnings, including what the world Lehi knew was like and how it was on the verge of collapse. It shows that Lehi’s expedition was entirely in keeping with the accepted practices of his day.
There are many indications in the book of First Nephi that Lehi was a merchant. That title meant a great deal in Lehi’s day; there is ample evidence that the greatest men of the ages engaged in the type of business activities in which Lehi himself was occupied. But along with that, these same men were great colonizers, seekers after wisdom, political reformers, and often religious founders. Here we see that Lehi was a typical great man of one of the most remarkable centuries in human history, and we also learn how he was delivered from the bitterness and frustration that beset all the other great men of his time.
“Here we see that Lehi was a typical great man of one of the most remarkable centuries in human history, and we also learn how he was delivered from the bitterness and frustration that beset all the other great men of his time.
“
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
Only within the last few years has it been realized that the ancient Hebrews were not the primitive agricultural people that scholars had always supposed they were, but among other things that they were always very active in trade and commerce. Their commercial contracts reached for many hundreds of miles in all directions, which meant an extensive caravan trade entailing constant dealings with the Arabs. In Lehi’s day the Arabs had suddenly become very aggressive and were pushing Jewish merchants out of their favored positions in the deserts and towns of the north. To carry on large-scale mercantile activities with distant places, it was necessary for merchants to have certain personal and official connections in the cities in which they did business; here we mention the nature of such connections. Jewish merchants were very active in Arabia in Lehi’s day, diligently spreading their religion wherever they went and settling down not only as tradesmen in the towns but as permanent cultivators and colonizers in the open country. Lehi’s activity in this regard is more or less typical and closely resembles that of his predecessor Jonadab ben Rekhab.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
Here we discuss Lehi’s personal contacts with the Arabs, as indicated by his family background and his association with Ishmael, whose descendants in the New World closely resemble the Ishmaelites (Bedouins) of the Old World. The names of Lehi and some of his sons are pure Arabic. The Book of Mormon depicts Lehi as a man of three worlds, and it has recently become generally recognized that the ancient Hebrews shared fully in the culture and traditions of the desert on the one hand and in the cultural heritage of Egypt on the other.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
The Book of Mormon insists emphatically and specifically that Lehi had acquired at least a veneer of Egyptian culture. Only within the last few decades have students come to appreciate the intimate cultural ties between Egypt and Palestine in Lehi’s day. Here we note some of the discoveries that have brought about that surprising realization. Though Lehi’s loyalty to Egypt seems mainly cultural, there is a good deal in the Book of Mormon to indicate business ties as well. Here we present two documents describing business dealings between Egypt and Palestine in ancient times: the one depicts the nature of overland traffic between two regions, the other gives a picture of trade by sea. That Lehi was interested also in the latter type of commerce is apparent from the prominence of the name of Sidon in the Book of Mormon.
From Nephi we learn that the Elders of the Jews were running things and that these Elders hated Lehi. From other sources, it is known that Jerusalem at the time actually was under the control of the Sarim, an upstart aristocracy that surrounded and dominated the weak king and hated and opposed both the prophets and the old aristocratic class to which Lehi belonged. This accounts for Nephi’s own coldness toward “the Jews at Jerusalem.” Among the considerable evidence in the Book of Mormon that identifies Lehi with the old aristocracy, the peculiar conception and institution of “land of one’s inheritance” deserved special mention. Also the peculiar relationship between city and country has now been explained, and with it the declaration of the Book of Mormon that Christ was born in the land of Jerusalem becomes a strong argument in support of its authenticity. Another significant parallel between the Book of Mormon and the political organization of Jerusalem in Lehi’s day is the singular nature and significance of the office of judges. The atmosphere of Jerusalem as described in the first chapters of the Book of Mormon is completely authentic, and the insistence of Nephi on the greatness of the danger and the completeness of the destruction of Judah has recently been vindicated by archaeological finds.
Nephi tells us a great deal about conditions in Jerusalem in his day. Lessons 8, 9, and 10 take a closer look at the city on the eve of its overthrow.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
There is no more authentic bit of Oriental “culture-history” than that presented in Nephi’s account of the brothers’ visits to the city. Because it is so authentic it has appeared strange and overdrawn to western critics unacquainted with the ways of the East, and has been singled out for attack as the most vulnerable part of the Book of Mormon. It contains the most widely discussed and generally condemned episode in the whole book, namely, the slaying of Laban, which many have declared to be unallowable on moral grounds and inadmissible on practical grounds. It is maintained that the thing simply could not have taken place as Nephi describes it. In this lesson, these objections are answered.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
Laban is described very fully, though casually, by Nephi and is seen to be the very type and model of a well-known class of public official in the Ancient East. Everything about him is authentic. Zoram is another authentic type. Both men provide food for thought to men of today: both were highly successful yet greatly to be pitied. They are representatives and symbols of a decadent world. Zoram became a refugee from a society in which he had everything, as Lehi did, because it was no longer a fit place for honest men. What became of “the Jews at Jerusalem” is not half so tragic as what they became. This is a lesson for Americans.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
To appreciate the setting of much of Book of Mormon history it is necessary to get a correct idea of what is meant by wilderness. That word has in the Book of Mormon the same connotation as in the Bible and usually refers to desert country. Throughout their entire history, the Book of Mormon people remain either wanderers in the wilderness or dwellers in close proximity to it. The motif of the Flight into the Wilderness is found throughout the book and has great religious significance as the type and reality of the segregation of the righteous from the wicked and the position of the righteous man as a pilgrim and an outcast on the earth. Both Nephites and Lamanites always retained their nomadic ways.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
The Israelites always looked back upon the days of the wandering in the wilderness as the true schooling of the Chosen People and the time when they were most nearly fulfilling the measure of their existence. The concept of man as a wanderer and an outcast in a dark and dreary world is as old as the records of the human race. The desert has always had two aspects, that of refuge and asylum on the one hand, and of trial and tribulation on the other: in both respects, it is a place where God segregates and tests his people. Throughout the history of Israel, zealous minorities among the people have gone out into the wilderness from time to time in an attempt to get back to the ways of the Patriarchs and to live the old Law in its purity, fleeing from Idumea or the wicked world. This tradition remained very much alive among the early Christians and is still a part of the common Christian heritage, as can be seen from numerous attempts of Christian groups to return to the ways of Israel in the desert. Only the restored Church of Jesus Christ, however, has found itself in the actual position of the ancient saints, being literally driven out into the desert.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
As outcasts and wanderers, the Nephites took particular pains to preserve unbroken the records and traditions that bound them to their ancestors in the Old World. Special emphasis is laid in the Book of Mormon on one particular phase of the record; namely, the care to preserve intact that chain of religious writing that had been transmitted from generation to generation by these people and their ancestors “since the world began.” The Book of Mormon is a religious history. It is specifically the history of one religious community, rather than of a race or nation, beginning with the “people of Nephi,” who became established as a special minority group at the very beginning of Book of Mormon times. The Nephite prophets always preached that the nation could only maintain its integrity and its very existence by remaining a pious religious society. Alma founded a church based on religious traditions brought from the Old World: it was a Church in the Wilderness, a small group of pious dissenters who went forth into the desert for the purpose of living the Law in its fullness. This church was not unique among the Nephites; other “churches of anticipation” flourished in the centuries before Christ, and after Christ came many churches carrying on in the apocalyptic tradition.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
The mystery of the nature and organization of the Primitive Church has recently been considerably illuminated by the discovery of the so-called Dead Sea Scrolls. There is increasing evidence that these documents were deliberately sealed up to come forth at a later time, thus providing a significant parallel to the Book of Mormon record. The Scrolls have caused considerable dismay and confusion among scholars, since they are full of things generally believed to be uniquely Christian, though they were undoubtedly written by pious Jews before the time of Christ. Some Jewish and Christian investigators have condemned the Scrolls as forgeries and suggest leaving them alone on the grounds that they don’t make sense. Actually they make very good sense, but it is a sense quite contrary to conventional ideas of Judaism and Christianity. The Scrolls echo teachings in many apocryphal writings, both of the Jews and the Christians, while at the same time showing undeniable affinities with the Old and the New Testament teachings. The very things which made the Scrolls at first so baffling and hard to accept to many scholars are the very things which in the past have been used to discredit the Book of Mormon. Now the Book of Mormon may be read in a wholly new light, which is considered here in lessons 14, 15, 16, and 17.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
Alma’s church in the wilderness was a typical “church of anticipation.” In many things it presents striking parallels to the “church of anticipation” described in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Both had gone forth into the wilderness in order to live the Law in its fullness, being dissatisfied with the official religion of the time, which both regarded as being little better than apostasy. Both were persecuted by the authorities of the state and the official religion. Both were strictly organized along the same lines and engaged in the same type of religious activities. In both the Old World and the New, these churches in the wilderness were but isolated expressions of a common tradition of great antiquity. In the Book of Mormon, Alma’s church is clearly traced back to this ancient tradition and practice, yet until the recent discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, no one was aware of its existence. We can now read the Book of Mormon in a totally new context, and in that new context, much that has hitherto been strange and perplexing becomes perfectly clear.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
In the light of the Dead Sea Scrolls, all the Apocryphal writings must be read again with a new respect. Today the correctness of the 91st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants as an evaluation of the Apocrypha is vindicated with the acceptance of an identical view by scholars of every persuasion, though a hundred years ago, the proposition set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants seemed preposterous. What all the apocryphal writings have in common with each other and with the scriptures is the Apocalyptic or eschatological theme. This theme is nowhere more fully and clearly set forth than in the Book of Mormon. Fundamental to this theme is the belief in a single prophetic tradition handed down from the beginning of the world in a series of dispensations but hidden from the world in general and often confined to certain holy writings. Central to the doctrine is the Divine Plan behind the creation of the world that is expressed in all history and revealed to holy prophets from time to time. History unfolds in repeating cycles in order to provide all men with a fair and equal test in the time of their probation. Every dispensation, or “Visitation,” it was taught, is followed by an apostasy and a widespread destruction of the wicked, and ultimately by a refreshing or a new visitation.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
This lesson is on an unusual theme. The Book of Mormon story of Moroni’s “Title of Liberty” gives valuable insight into certain practices and traditions of the Nephites, which they took as a matter of course but which are totally unfamiliar not only to the modern world but to the world of Biblical scholarship as well. Since it is being better recognized every day that the Bible is only a sampling (and a carefully edited one) of but one side of ancient Jewish life, the Book of Mormon must almost unavoidably break away from the familiar things from time to time, and show us facets of Old World life untouched by the Bible. The “Title of Liberty” story is a good example of such a welcome departure from beaten paths, being concerned with certain old Hebrew traditions which were perfectly familiar to the Nephites but are nowhere to be found either in the Bible or in the apocryphal writings. These traditions, strange as they are, can now be checked by new and unfamiliar sources turned up in the Old World and are shown to be perfectly authentic.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
In Nephi’s description of his father’s eight years of wandering in the desert, we have an all but foolproof test for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. It can be shown from documents strewn down the centuries that the ways of the desert have not changed, and many first-hand documents have actually survived from Lehi’s age and from the very regions in which he wandered. These inscriptions depict the same hardships and dangers as those described by Nephi and the same reaction to them. A strong point for the Book of Mormon is the claim that Lehi’s people survived only by “keeping to the more fertile parts of the wilderness,” since that is actually the custom followed in those regions, though the fact has only been known to westerners for a short time. Nephi gives us a correct picture of hunting practices both as to weapons and methods used. Even the roughest aspects of desert life at its worst are faithfully and correctly depicted.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
A valuable passage about fire-making in 1 Nephi furnishes the perfect clue to the nature of Lehi’s contacts in the desert. He avoided all contact whenever possible. This behavior is perfectly consistent with the behavior of modern Arabs and with known conditions in the desert in Lehi’s day. The whole story of Lehi’s wandering centers about his tent, which in Nephi’s account receives just the proper emphasis and plays just the proper role. Another authentic touch is Lehi’s altar-building and sacrificing. The troubles and tensions within Lehi’s own family on the march, and the way they were handled and the group led and controlled by Lehi’s authority are entirely in keeping with what is known of conditions both today and in ancient times. The description of the role and the behavior of women in 1 Nephi are also perfectly consistent with what is known of actual conditions from many sources.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
Long ago Sigmund Freud showed that dreams are symbolic, that they take their familiar materials from everyday life and use them to express the dreamer’s real thoughts and desires. Lehi’s dreams have a very authentic undertone of anxiety, of which the writer of 1 Nephi himself seems not fully aware; they are the dreams of a man heavily burdened with worries and responsibilities. The subjects of his unrest are two: the dangerous project he is undertaking and the constant opposition and misbehavior of some of his people, especially his two eldest sons. It may be instructive for the student to look for these two themes in the dreams discussed here. This lesson is devoted to pointing out the peculiar materials of which Lehi’s dreams are made: the images, situations, and dream-scenery, which, though typical, can only come from the desert world in which Lehi was wandering. These thirteen snapshots of desert life are submitted as evidence for that claim.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
One of the most revealing things about Lehi is the nature of his great eloquence. It must not be judged by modern or western standards, as people are prone to judge the Book of Mormon as literature. In this lesson, we take the case of a bit of poetry recited extempore by Lehi to his two sons to illustrate certain peculiarities of the Oriental idiom and especially to serve as a test-case in which a number of very strange and exacting conditions are most rigorously observed in the Book of Mormon account. Those are the conditions under which ancient desert poetry was composed. Some things that appear at first glance to be most damning to the Book of Mormon, such as the famous passage in 2 Nephi 1:14 about no traveler returning from the grave, turn out on closer inspection to provide striking confirmation of its correctness.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
In this lesson, we test certain proper names in the Book of Mormon in the light of actual names from Lehi’s world, unknown in the time of Joseph Smith. Not only do the names agree but the variations follow the correct rules, and the names are found in correct statistical proportions, the Egyptian and Hebrew types being of almost equal frequency, along with a sprinkling of Hittite, Arabic, and Greek names. To reduce speculation to a minimum, the lesson is concerned only with highly distinctive and characteristic names and to clearly stated and universally admitted rules. Even so, the reader must judge for himself. In case of doubt, he or she is encouraged to correspond with recognized experts in the languages concerned. The combination of the names Laman and Lemuel, the absence of Baal names, the predominance of names ending in -iah, such facts as those need no trained philologist to point them out; they can be demonstrated most objectively, and they are powerful evidence in behalf of the Book of Mormon.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
In the writer’s opinion, this lesson presents the most convincing evidence yet brought forth for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Very likely, the reader will be far from sharing this view, since the force of the evidence is cumulative and based on extensive comparative studies that cannot be fully presented here. Still the evidence is so good, and can be so thoroughly tested, that we present it here for the benefit of the reader who wishes to pursue the subject further. Since Gressmann, Jeremias, Mowinckel, and many others began their studies at the start of the century, a vast literature on the subject of the Great Assembly at the New Year and the peculiar and complex rites performed on that occasion has been brought forth. Yet nowhere can one find a fuller description of that institution and its rites than in the Book of Mormon. Since “patternism” (as the awareness of a single universal pattern for all ancient year rites is now being called) is a discovery of the last thirty years, the fact that the now familiar pattern of ritual turns up in a book first published almost 130 years ago is an extremely stimulating one. For it is plain that Mosiah’s account of the Great Year Rite among the Nephites is accurate in every detail, as can be checked by other year-rites throughout the world.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
The Latter-day Saint claim that Ezekiel’s account of the Stick of Joseph and the Stick of Judah is a clear reference to the Book of Mormon has, of course, been challenged. There is no agreement among scholars today as to what the prophet was talking about, and so no competing explanation carries very great authority. The ancient commentators certainly believed that Ezekiel was talking about books of scripture, which they also identify with a staff or rod. As scepters and rods of identification the Two Sticks refer to Judah and Israel or else to the Old Testament and the New. But in this lesson, we present the obvious objections to such an argument. The only alternative is that the Stick of Joseph is something like the Book of Mormon. But did the ancient Jews know about the Lord’s people in this hemisphere? The Book of Mormon says they did not, but in so doing specifies that it was the wicked from whom that knowledge was withheld. Hence it is quite possible that it was had secretly among the righteous, and there is actually some evidence that this was so.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
In this lesson, we pick out some peculiar items in the Book of Ether to show how they vindicate its claim to go back to the very dawn of history. First, the account of the great dispersion has been remarkably confirmed by independent investigators in many fields. Ether, like the Bible, tells of the Great Dispersion, but it goes much further than the Bible in describing accompanying phenomena, especially the driving of cattle and the raging of terrible winds. This part of the picture can now be confirmed from many sources. In Ether, the reign and exploits of King Lib exactly parallel the doings of the first kings of Egypt (entirely unknown, of course, in the time of Joseph Smith) even in the oddest particulars. The story of Jared’s barges can be matched by the earliest Babylonian descriptions of the ark, point by point as to all peculiar features. There is even ample evidence to attest the lighting of Jared’s ships by shining stones, a tradition that in the present century has been traced back to the oldest versions of the Babylonian Flood Story.
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has brought to light the dual nature of ancient Judaism, in which “the official and urban Judaism” is pitted against the more pious Jews “intent on going back to the most authentic sources of Jewish religion . . . in contrast to the rest of backsliding Israel” (Moscati). The official Judaism is the work of “intellectuals” who are not, however, what they say they are, namely seekers after truth, but rather ambitious men eager to gain influence and followers. The Book of Mormon presents a searching study of these people and their ways. There is the devout Sherem, loudly proclaiming his loyalty to the Church and his desire to save it from those who believe without intellectual proof. There is Alma, who represents the rebellion of youth against the teachings of the fathers. There is Nehor, the Great Liberal, proclaiming that the Church should be popular and democratic, but insisting that he as an intellectual be given special respect and remuneration. There is Amlici, whose motive was power and whose tool was intellectual appeal. There is Korihor, the typical Sophist. There is Gadianton whose criminal ambitions where masked by intellectual respectability. For the Old World an exceedingly enlightening tract on the ways of the intellectuals is Justin Martyr’s debate with Trypho, and also an interesting commentary on the Book of Mormon intellectuals whose origin is traced directly back to the “Jews at Jerusalem.”
A commentary on the “intellectuals” of the official Judaism and suggests that they were not seekers after truth but were rather ambitious men eager to gain influence and followers.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
Crime has a conspicuous place in the Book of Mormon. It is organized crime and for the most part singularly respectable. Here we trace the general course of criminal doings in the Book of Mormon, showing that the separate events and periods are not disconnected but represent a single great tradition. Petty crime is no concern of the Book of Mormon, but rather wickedness in high places. The Book of Mormon tells us how such comes into existence and how it operates, and how it manages to surround itself with an aura of intense respectability and in time to legalize its evil practices. Finally, the whole history of crime in the Book of Mormon is directed to our own age, which is described at the end of the book in unmistakable terms.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
The long summary at the end of this chapter tells what it is about. It is a general picture of Nephite culture, which turns out to be a very different sort of thing from what is commonly imagined. The Nephites were a small party of migrants laden with a very heavy and complete cultural baggage. Theirs was a mixed culture. In America, they continued their nomadic ways and lived always close to the wilderness, while at the same time building cities and cultivating the soil. Along with much local migration attending their colonization of the new lands, these people were involved in a major population drift towards the north. Their society was organized along hierarchical lines, expressed in every phase of their social activity.
Beginning with a mobile defense, the Nephites soon adopted the classic system of fortified cities and strong places, their earth-and-wood defenses resembling those found all over the Old World. Settled areas with farms, towns, and a capital city were separated from each other by considerable stretches of uninhabited country. The greatest military operation described in the Book of Mormon is the long retreat in which the Nephites moved from one place to another in the attempt to make a stand against the overwhelmingly superior hereditary enemy. This great retreat is not a freak in history but has many parallels among the wars and migrations of nations. There is nothing improbable or even unusual in a movement that began in Central America and after many years ended at Cumorah.
Discusses the Nephite strategy for defense and compares it with wars and migrations of nations throughout time.
In this work the Book of Mormon is seen in a new perspective; we see it in a world setting, not in a mere local one. It takes its place naturally alongside the Bible and other great works of antiquity and becomes one of them.
Book of Mormon archaeologists have often been disappointed in the past because they have consistently looked for the wrong things. We should not be surprised at the lack of ruins in America in general. Actually the scarcity of identifiable remains in the Old World is even more impressive. In view of the nature of their civilization, one should not be puzzled if the Nephites had left us no ruins at all. People underestimate the capacity of things to disappear and do not realize that the ancients almost never built of stone. Many a great civilization has left behind not a single recognizable trace of itself. We must stop looking for the wrong things.
A critique of Jakeman’s claim to have found and interpreted a stone depicting Lehi’s dream of the Tree of Life. This can be compared with Jakeman’s response to Nibley’s treatment of amateur archaeology, which was circulated in the form of a review of Nibley’s “An Approach to the Book of Mormon,” in UAS Newsletter 40 (30 March 1957): 1–11. [This was the newsletter of the University Archaeology Society at BYU.] Jakeman’s criticisms of Nibley’s remarks about archaeology seem to have led to Nibley’s review of Jakeman’s claims made about a stone presumably depicting Lehi’s dream of the Tree of Life, which are called into question in this review.
This essay was first written in 1958 for the dedication of the London Temple. It was later printed as What Is a Temple? The Idea of the Temple in History (1963 and 1968), “What Is a Temple?“ in The Temple in Antiquity: Ancient Records and Modern Perspectives (1984), and “What Is a Temple?“ in Mormonism and Early Christianity, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 4.
Those Christian Church Fathers, especially of the fourth century, who proclaim the victory of Christianity over its rivals constantly speak of the Church as the competitor and supplanter of the Synagogue, and modern authorities agree that in ritual and liturgy the Christian Church grew up “in the shadow of the Synagogue.” This is a most significant fact. While the Temple stood, the Jews had both its ancient ordinances and the practices of the Synagogue, but they were not the same. The Temple was unique, and when it was destroyed, the Synagogue of the Jews did not take over its peculiarly sacred functions—they were in no wise authorized to do so.
What Is a Temple? The Idea of the Temple in History (1963)
What Is a Temple? The Idea of the Temple in History (1968)
“The Temple in Antiquity: Ancient Records and Modern Perspectives” in The Temple in Antiquity: Ancient Records and Modern Perspectives (1984)
Mormonism and Early Christianity (1987)
Reprinted in An Approach to the Book of Mormon.
Compares the ships of the Jaredites with boats from Mesopotamia and the Gilgamesh Epic, and the sixteen stones of the brother of Jared with shining stones reported in the pseudepigrapha, Jerusalem Talmud, and by Greek historians.
Reprinted as six chapters in The Prophetic Book of Mormon.
A series about the Book of Mormon and its nineteenth-century American critics. David Marks, who heard the story of the book from the Whitmer family, dismissed it as deception that he could not support by purchasing the book. Alexander Campbell, Origen Bacheler, E. D. Hose, and Professor Rafinesque joined him. The critics could not believe in angelic visits, visions, and further revelation from God. They criticized the grammar and content, rebuked the translator as a fraud, a liar, and a money-digging, peep-stone looking cheat. One critic relied upon the words of another without checking to see if there was any truth.
First of the series “Mixed Voices“: A Study in Book of Mormon Criticism in the Improvement Era.
A witty exposé of anti-Mormon methods of Book of Mormon criticism.
Second of the series “Mixed Voices“: A Study in Book of Mormon Criticism in the Improvement Era.
A witty exposé of anti-Mormon methods of Book of Mormon criticism.
Third of the series “Mixed Voices“: A Study in Book of Mormon Criticism in the Improvement Era.
Shows ways in which the Book of Mormon was out-of-sorts with the nineteenth century and, thus, not just another book of that time.
Fourth of the series “Mixed Voices“: A Study in Book of Mormon Criticism in the Improvement Era.
Shows ways in which the Book of Mormon was out-of-sorts with the nineteenth century and, thus, not just another book of that time.
Fifth of the series “Mixed Voices“: A Study in Book of Mormon Criticism in the Improvement Era.
Shows ways in which the Book of Mormon was out-of-sorts with the nineteenth century and, thus, not just another book of that time.
Reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 8.
A look into how and where anti-Mormon sources get their ideas and information, and how to protect against them.
Sixth of the series “Mixed Voices” on Book of Mormon criticism
This article responds to the assertion that the Book of Mormon is a product of the religious and political milieu of the American frontier.
Reprinted combined with part two in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 8.
The good and bad sides of comparing the Book of Mormon to other works.
Reprinted combined with part one in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 8.
The good and bad sides of comparing the Book of Mormon to other works.
Reprinted in When the Lights Went Out, 1970.
“Christian Envy of the Temple Part 2” (1960)
“Christian Envy of the Temple” (1987)
1960 — 1969
Reprinted in When the Lights Went Out, 1970.
“Christian Envy of the Temple” (1959)
“Christian Envy of the Temple” (1987)
This talk is available on the BYU Speeches website.
Hugh Nibley shares some of the words of Brigham Young that demonstrate his unique character and his devotion to the goal of eternal life for the Saints.
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 17. 125–41.
Addressed to “Dear Brother Burgon,” dated 29 July 1960, with a cover letter, addressed to “Dear Brother . . .,” 1 pp., dated 3 August 1960.
“Nobody to Blame” (1960)
“Nobody to Blame” (2008)
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.
A highly satirical examination of the early criticisms of Joseph Smith.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Analysis of the Liahona, especially in light of Arabic divination arrows. Proposes an etymology for this name.
See also the series entitled “Censoring the Joseph Smith Story,” published in 1961 in the Improvement Era. Compare with “Censoring the Joseph Smith Story” in Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 11.
Nibley sets forth various reasons for believing that there had been suppression of the story of the initial vision of Joseph Smith by his enemies between 1820 and 1838.
Reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 8.
Historical fiction about the possible thoughts on a day in the life of the twelve-year-old Nephi in Jerusalem.
A response to a letter by C. Sumter Logan of the Trinity Presbyterian Church in Ogden.
Nibley sets out forty arguments for the apostasy as he examines the expectation of early Christian writers of the fading of the Church. Hans J. Hillerbrand wrote a letter protesting Nibley’s thesis because, among other reasons, of the possibility that, if widely accepted, Nibley’s view would preclude one such as Hillerbrand from continuing to teach what is traditionally known as “Church history.” See Hillerbrand, “The Passing of the Church: Two Comments on a Strange Theme,” Church History 30, no. 3 (December 1961): 481–82; and a response to Hillerbrand by Robert M. Grant, “The Passing of the Church: Comments on Two Comments on a Strange Theme,” Church History 30, no. 3 (December 1961): 482–83.
Reprinted in Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass: The Art of Telling Tales about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 11.
Explains how Joseph Smith’s critics in the 1840s and Fawn Brodie rewrote Joseph’s story to suit their perceptions of the Book of Mormon and the First Vision.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A study of claims that Joseph Smith’s first vision was a fabrication due to the time lapse between when it was written and when it was published.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Looks at various summaries of Joseph Smith’s vision and how the deleted portions of these summaries make them lose all authenticity and truth.
This talked about how the dead received baptism.
A conclusion to the Joseph Smith Story series.
Circulated under the title“Literary Style of the Book of Mormon Insured Accurate Translation.“
The Church News received a letter from an interested non-member of the Church making the inquiry about why the Prophet Joseph Smith, in translating the Book of mormon, did not use contemporary English instead of using the “King James English” as found in the Bible. The Church News forwarded the letter on to Dr. Hugh Nibley, and this is his reply.
“The Doctors’ Dilemma” and “The Return of the Prophets?” were added in this edition, though they were not part of the original series of radio addresses and have a somewhat different style.
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.
“Time Vindicates the Prophets” (1954)
The World and the Prophets (1954)
The World and the Prophets (1987)
A penetrating satire on the foibles of typical anti-Mormon publications. Learn how authors of anti-Mormon materials use specific strategies to convince readers of their trustworthiness, knowledge, and lack of bias. Essentially a preview of Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass: The Art of Telling Tales about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 11 (1963).
Reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 8.
Nibley argues that if Joseph Smith was not telling the truth when he provided the world with the Book of Mormon, then he recklessly exposed his forgery and fraud to public discovery. In the course of his argument, Nibley complains about what is currently being called “parallelomania.” Everywhere in Book of Mormon criticism, as well as in the scholarly world generally, various parallels are noted, and simplistic explanations are made to flow from those supposed parallels. With the Book of Mormon, the end result is that, with those who study nineteenth-century materials and who read English literature, the tendency is to leap to the conclusion that they have discovered the sources upon which Joseph Smith presumably drew in fabricating the Book of Mormon; they are then quick to condemn the book as a forgery, or, when sentimental attachments to the Mormon community remain, they see the fabrication of fiction as a kind of inspiration, or at least as potentially inspiring, thus providing a novel and competing theory of what constitutes divine revelation.
“Hugh Nibley’s Sounding Brass is a meticulous critique of two anti-Mormon writings. Nibley’s book is most useful for the poorly informed who do not have the background to critique sensationalistic or popular works of questionable validity, like those of Ann Eliza Young and Irving Wallace. But it is a pointed and often sarcastic essay that emphasizes in great detail flaws already evident to the knowledgeable reader. The generally uninformed but orthodox Latter-day Saint will find this type of work supportive of his beliefs, but the Mormon who is familiar with critical methodology and with history will prefer a synthesis of the events critiqued. Many scholars find this style of writing to be a sort of intellectual overkill, and it has not been particularly influential among historians.” Thomas G. Alexander, “Toward the New Mormon History: An Examination of the Literature on the Latter-day Saints in the Far West,” an essay in Historians and the American West, ed. Michael P. Malone (Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1983).
This book carries the subtitle “Informal Studies in the Lucrative Art of Telling Stories about Brigham Young and the Mormons” and is a response to Irving Wallace’s The Twenty-Seventh Wife (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961). A few historians have been annoyed because Nibley pointed out some of the flaws in anti-Mormon literature.
A series of quotations by various writers on six general topics: “The Old Testament Today,” “The New Testament Today,” “The Rediscovery of the Church,” “The New Concept of Scripture,” “Revelation: No Longer a Naughty Word,” and “New Orthodoxy and the Trend to Literalism.” Introduces themes taken up more systematically in other essays.
This essay was first written in 1958 for the dedication of the London Temple. Those Church Fathers, especially of the fourth century, who proclaim the victory of Christianity over its rivals constantly speak of the Church as the competitor and supplanter of the Synagogue, and modern authorities are agreed that in ritual and liturgy the Christian Church grew up “in the shadow of the Synagogue.” This is a most significant fact. While the Temple stood, the Jews had both its ancient ordinances and the practices of the Synagogue, but they were not the same. The Temple was unique, and when it was destroyed, the Synagogue of the Jews did not take over its peculiarly sacred functions—they were in no wise authorized to do so.
This article makes clear that the sacred purposes of the Temple were understood and its ordinances practiced in dispensations before the great falling away which brought about the disappearance of these important truths.
“The Idea of the Temple in History” in Millennial Star (1958)
What Is a Temple? The Idea of the Temple in History (1968)
“The Temple in Antiquity: Ancient Records and Modern Perspectives” in The Temple in Antiquity: Ancient Records and Modern Perspectives (1984)
Mormonism and Early Christianity (1987)
One important key to understanding modern civilization is a familiarity with its ancient background. Many modern principles and practices—social, political, and even economic—have clear parallels in antiquity. A careful study of these forerunners of our traditions, particularly as they contributed to the downfall of earlier civilizations, may help us avoid some of the mistakes of our predecessors. The Ancient State, by Hugh Nibley, is a thought-provoking examination of assorted aspects of ancient culture, from the use of marked arrows to the surprisingly universal conception of kinship, from arguments of various schools of philosophy to the rise of rhetoric. Author Hugh Nibley brings his usual meticulous research and scholarship to bear in this enlightening collection of essays and lectures. It has been said that only by learning the lessons of history can we hope to avoid repeating them. For scholar and novice alike, The Ancient State is a valuable source of such learning.
75 pp. plus an additional 7 lettered pages and a 14-page bibliography of sources cited, ca. 1963.
Reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 8.
Lists over twenty Book of Mormon points that may have seemed ridiculous in 1830 but that “appear very different” in light of modern scholarship, including transoceanic voyaging, gold plates, steel, elephants, coins, names, literary and ritual patterns, execution, and modes of prophecy and revelation.
An address originally given on 5 July 1962 to the Seminary and Institute faculty assembled at BYU.
Hugh Nibley answers some questions about the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Hugh Nibley speaks about the history and theology surrounding the highly coveted city of Jerusalem and the hope for peace there one day.
An address delivered to the BYU Tri-Stake Fireside
A discussion of what then newly discovered papyri mean for the history of Christianity.
Originally published in 1957.
This edition contains a “Preface to Second Edition” by Hugh Nibley and one new chapter, entitled “Strange Ships and Shining Stones,” which is reproduced from a 1959 publication. The questions appended to each chapter in the 1957 edition have been deleted and the pagination of the two editions is different.
An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1957)
An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1988)
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.
As we seek to understand the belief and practices of the earliest Christians, we find ordinances and doctrines quite familiar to the restored gospel.
Edited and reformatted by Gary P. Gillum, 6 May 2004.
Addresses the idea of work and when it should be done versus when time should be spent developing talents instead.
These materials were reprinted in Since Cumorah (1967/1970), with two large additions and a deletion; and reprinted again, with corrections and a collation of materials with those published in the book, as Since Cumorah, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 7. The changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon.
Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The purpose of the somewhat labored pages that follow is to lead up to better things by giving the reader some idea of what we are dealing with, of the scope and nature of the writings that are now being read with wonder and amazement by students of religion, and of the strange doctrine and baffling problems they present.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Studies the Dead Sea Scrolls related to wording found in the New Testament previously thought to be peculiar to that book alone.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
A discussion of the Christian Apocrypha as compared with the Jewish Apocrypha.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Studies the Logia and compares it with other early religious writings.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Discusses the history of keeping secrets within religions and within scriptures.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Continues the discussion from the previous installment.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
A discussion of original Christian writings versus ones that replaced those when they were lost and what students of such literature might learn from looking at both.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The conclusion to the three part article about the secrecy in the primitive church and how that influenced it during its time and after it was lost.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Looks at how quickly people changed Christianity after the apostles’ deaths, especially in regards to the secret teaching God had given to the apostles while they were alive.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
A comparison of the imagery of the “Plan“ of Salvation as found in the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
A comparison of the imagery of the “Plan“ of Salvation as found in the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
A comparison of the histor of Zenos in the Book of Mormon and an unnamed prophet of the Thanksgiving Hymns.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
A comparison of the allegory of the olive tree with Hymn 10 of the Thanksgiving Hymns from Qumran.
Part 1 of a series on the similarities and issues between religious texts.
An article highlighting the issues that arise when comparing documents.
Part 2 of a series on the similarities and issues between religious texts.
Beginning as a continuation of part 1 of the series, this article dives more into rituals and ceremonies done in ancient times, specifically by kings and rulers, that line up with Book of Mormon rituals and ceremonies.
Part 3 of a series on the similarities and issues between religious texts.
Dr. Nibley continues with the windows that the Book of Mormon opens on strange and forgotten customs and traditions that are just now being brought to light.
Part 4 of a series on the similarities and issues between religious texts.
As new documents are discovered, the comparative study of the Book of Mormon goes forward. We continue a brief glance at some of the more important scrolls that have not yet appeared in book form nor been translated into English
Part 5 of a series on the similarities and issues between religious texts.
The scholarly study of the Book of Mormon goes forward with the discovery of ancient documents. We continue a brief glance at some of these which have not yet appeared in book form nor been translated into English.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Discusses recent discoveries that cast new light on the identity of the unknown prophet Zenos and are producing information “that no man dreamed of” concerning the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Suggests that any investigation of the Book of Mormon will bring up more problems, not solutions, meaning our prejudices may show answers as solutions, but we don’t always understand things correctly.
“Since Cumorah: New Voices from the Dust” looks at the changing attitudes of biblical scholars toward basic questions about scripture allow room for claims made by the Book of Mormon. Discusses external evidences, the primitive church, Lehi, Zenos, the olive tree, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Continues the discussion from “Problem, Not Solutions.”
The final article in the Improvement Era series Since CUmorah: New Voices from the Dust.
A summary of the Since Cumorah series, and some final thoughts.
A continuation of “Since Cumorah: New Voices From the Dust.”
A discussion on whether Lehi and his family brought traces of Persian culture to the Americas because of Zoroaster’s influence on Jewish thought.
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
Reprinted in Mormonism and Early Christianity, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 4.
An assessment of the various infancy materials about the childhood of Jesus.
Reprinted as “The Haunted Wilderness,” in Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless (1978).
This is the manuscript of an essay submitted to the Instructor, rejected, and circulated with two letters, both dated 16 September 1965, one addressed to “Dear Brother” (1 page) and the other addressed to “Mr. W.” (5 pages).
Reprinted in Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 12, and Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless, 2nd ed.
When dealing with apocryphal texts, scholars can discount doctrines and themes that appear once or twice. However, themes that run consistently through many or most of the texts should be seriously considered. One such theme is that of a council in heaven in which a plan was presented and the opposition toward that plan. This article details the presence of these themes in ancient texts among various cultures.
“The Expanding Gospel” (1992)
“The Expanding Gospel” (2004)
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.
A discussion of the religious and cultural impact of Egypt, Babylon, and other neighbors on events in Israel.
Israel’s language, religion, and culture were heavily influenced by Israel’s neighbors. Many early Christian practices were performed even before Christ.
Hugh Nibley presents interesting new scholarship about the relationship between Israelis and other Middle Eastern people in Biblical times.
Israel’s language, religion, and culture were heavily influenced by Israel’s neighbors. Many early Christian practices were performed even before Christ.
A continuation of Hugh Nibley’s presentation of interesting new scholarship about the relationship between Israelis and other Middle Eastern people in Biblical times.
Cf. “Unrolling the Scrolls: Some Forgotten Witnesses,” in Old Testament and Related Studies, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 1. 115–70.
Hugh Nibley draws parallels between language and traditions found in the Apocrypha to the culture of the people in the Book of Mormon. In the second half of his lecture, Hugh Nibley compares the linguistics and culture of the Book of Mormon to that found in the Apocrypha. The imagery and practices found in the Book of Mormon are compared with certain phrases and material concerns found in Jewish and Christian apocryphal writings.
Later published in Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present.
In the second half of his lecture, Hugh Nibley compares the linguistics and culture of the Book of Mormon to that found in the Apocrypha.
“On the Pearl of Great Price,” 34 pp.
See “Leaders to Managers: Fatal Shift.”
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
“Fact and Fancy in the Interpretation of Ancient Records.” 55 pp.
It took place during a History Honors Banquet in the Wilkenson Center, Brigham Young University.
Questions and answers about the importance of writing and publishing.
Reprinted under the title “The Forty-day Mission of Christ: The Forgotten Heritage,” in When the Lights Went Out, 1970.
How apocryphal texts shed some light on the Forty Days mentioned in Acts 1:3.
Reprinted in The Ancient State, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley.
It is the purpose of this paper to show how the state spent the most impressionable years of its childhood living as an orphan of the storm in tents of vagabonds where it acquired many of the habits and attitudes that still condition its activities.
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.
“Apocryphal Writings” (1967)
“Unrolling the Scrolls—Some Forgotten Witnesses” (1986)
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.
Hugh Nibley discusses the military strategy and tactics of the wars in the Book of Mormon compared to other modern and ancient warfare.
Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.
A 41-page typescript of an address delivered on 7 June 1967.
Hugh Nibley discusses what made Brigham Young a leader and a statesman.
Like Brigham Young, the educator, we should seek to educate ourselves in a wide variety of spiritual and secular fields in order for us to progress.
4-page typescript of an address delivered on 9 June 1967.
An exploration into how Brigham Young fits the role of a theologian.
Hugh Nibley discusses the military strategy and tactics of the wars in the Book of Mormon compared to other modern and ancient warfare.
s.s., 3 pages. Reprinted in Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life (2002), 427–30. Reprinted in Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 17, 142–47.
Sterling M. McMurrin was at the time working on a book of essays on Mormon philosophy and had apparently invited Nibley to contribute an essay. The book that McMurrin had in mind was never published. In his letter, Nibley proclaims to his scholarly antagonist that his “present religious mood is an all-out literalism.”
Also circulated as “Teachings from the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
A survey of teachings in a large number of apocryphal, pseudepigraphal, and patristic writings.
“Unrolling the Scrolls—Some Forgotten Witnesses” (1967)
“Unrolling the Scrolls—Some Forgotten Witnesses” (1986)
Also printed in the United States under the same title in Concilium: Theology in the Age of Renewal 30 (1968): 170–73.
A summary statement of the content and purpose of the Book of Mormon prepared for Concilium, a journal devoted to an examination of the Christian scriptures. Explains it as an ancient record, a companion to the Bible with revealed Christianity before Christ and 40-day literature from the appearance of Christ among the Nephites.
This essay was first written in 1958 for the dedication of the London Temple. Those Church Fathers, especially of the fourth century, who proclaim the victory of Christianity over its rivals constantly speak of the Church as the competitor and supplanter of the Synagogue, and modern authorities are agreed that in ritual and liturgy the Christian Church grew up “in the shadow of the Synagogue.” This is a most significant fact. While the Temple stood, the Jews had both its ancient ordinances and the practices of the Synagogue, but they were not the same. The Temple was unique, and when it was destroyed, the Synagogue of the Jews did not take over its peculiarly sacred functions—they were in no wise authorized to do so.
This article makes clear that the sacred purposes of the Temple were understood and its ordinances practiced in dispensations before the great falling away which brought about the disappearance of these important truths.
“The Idea of the Temple in History” in Millennial Star (1958)
What Is a Temple? The Idea of the Temple in History (1963)
“The Temple in Antiquity: Ancient Records and Modern Perspectives” in The Temple in Antiquity: Ancient Records and Modern Perspectives (1984)
Mormonism and Early Christianity (1987)
This essay concerns the debate over the Joseph Smith Papyri; the bulk of the issue contains materials on this debate.
Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham, articles from BYU Studies. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
Some thoughts on a fragment of parchment kept in the Church Historian’s Office.
A contribution to the continuing debate over the Joseph Smith Papyri and the historical authenticity of the Book of Abraham.
Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham: Articles from BYU Studies. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
A review of a piece by Wallace Turner arguing against the authenticity of the Joesph Smith Papyri and the Book of Abraham, and a defense of the papyri and book themselves.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
This booklet is a compilation of essays on the book of Abraham published in the Improvement Era. It contains three broad sections. First, Hugh Nibley reviews the controversy that broke out in 1912 when a Protestant minister in Salt Lake City solicited the opinions of the leading Egyptologists of the day concerning the viability of Joseph Smith’s translation of the book of Abraham. The second seciton refers to the Egyptian milieu of Abraham’s time and shows how the text of the book of Abraham and the first facsimile have plausible ties. Third, Nibley discusses legends about Abraham from early Jewish and Christian apocrypha that can be compared to the book of Abraham.
Includes pictures of the Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri and letter of sale given to the Church by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art on 27 November 1967.
Written on 27 November 1967. Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
Some 10 pages of this item consist of questions and answers.
Nibley’s own translation of an Egyptian funerary text.
This is Nibley’s translation of the most famous parallel version of the Egyptian text once in the possession of Joseph Smith. Cf. Richard A. Parker, “The Book of Breathings (Fragment 1, The ‘Sensen’ Text, with Restorations from Louvre Papyrus 3284),” Dialogue 3/2 (1968): 98–99; and Klaus Baer, “The Breathing Permit of Hôr: A Translation of the Apparent Source of the Book of Abraham,” Dialogue 3/3 (1968): 109–34. The hieratic text of P. Louvre 3284 is reproduced in BYU Studies 11/2 (1971): 154–56. **Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri
The flood of newly discovered Jewish and Christian documents that are changing the complexion of religious studies in our time has been matched by equally significant, if less spectacular, developments in an area of no less interest to Latter-day Saints— that of the religious practices and beliefs of the Egyptians. Recent challenges that question the authenticity of many statements in one of the standard works of the Church, the Pearl of Great Price, have reopened an old discussion at a time when fresh discoveries and interpretations are putting an entirely new face on the whole problem. Brother Hugh Nibley, who for many years has been gathering data relevant to the study of the Facsimiles in the Book of Abraham, presents in this fascinating series some of the materials that must be considered in the reappraisal of certain Egyptological aspects of the Pearl of Great Price for which the time is now ripe. The reader is warned to be prepared for surprises. Although Dr. Nibley pulls no punches, he is still animated by a healthy respect for all qualified Egyptologists, including his own revered instructors, in the rudiments of the mysteries of hieroglyphics, and promises to proceed with such caution and discretion that even they will approve of his methods, however much they may disagree with his conclusions
A warning that by bringing up “the ghosts of the dead,” serious scholars will need to be prepared to learn that previous thinking was fallible.
The flood of newly discovered Jewish and Christian documents that are changing the complexion of religious studies in our time has been matched by equally significant, if less spectacular, developments in an area of no less interest to Latter-day Saints— that of the religious practices and beliefs of the Egyptians. Recent challenges that question the authenticity of many statements in one of the standard works of the Church, the Pearl of Great Price, have reopened an old discussion at a time when fresh discoveries and interpretations are putting an entirely new face on the whole problem. Brother Hugh Nibley, who for many years has been gathering data relevant to the study of the Facsimiles in the Book of Abraham, presents in this fascinating series some of the materials that must be considered in the reappraisal of certain Egyptological aspects of the Pearl of Great Price for which the time is now ripe. The reader is warned to be prepared for surprises. Although Dr. Nibley pulls no punches, he is still animated by a healthy respect for all qualified Egyptologists, including his own revered instructors, in the rudiments of the mysteries of hieroglyphics, and promises to proceed with such caution and discretion that even they will approve of his methods, however much they may disagree with his conclusions
Suggests that in the modern day, the ever enlarging problems require scholars to bring to the discussion whatever might help solve it, no matter what that may be or how much time it may take.
The flood of newly discovered Jewish and Christian documents that are changing the complexion of religious studies in our time has been matched by equally significant, if less spectacular, developments in an area of no less interest to Latter-day Saints— that of the religious practices and beliefs of the Egyptians. Recent challenges that question the authenticity of many statements in one of the standard works of the Church, the Pearl of Great Price, have reopened an old discussion at a time when fresh discoveries and interpretations are putting an entirely new face on the whole problem. Brother Hugh Nibley, who for many years has been gathering data relevant to the study of the Facsimiles in the Book of Abraham, presents in this fascinating series some of the materials that must be considered in the reappraisal of certain Egyptological aspects of the Pearl of Great Price for which the time is now ripe. The reader is warned to be prepared for surprises. Although Dr. Nibley pulls no punches, he is still animated by a healthy respect for all qualified Egyptologists, including his own revered instructors, in the rudiments of the mysteries of hieroglyphics, and promises to proceed with such caution and discretion that even they will approve of his methods, however much they may disagree with his conclusions
Brings up a claim from experts that Joseph Smith incorrectly translated the Book of Abraham and shows how their claims are inaccurate.
The flood of newly discovered Jewish and Christian documents that are changing the complexion of religious studies in our time has been matched by equally significant, if less spectacular, developments in an area of no less interest to Latter-day Saints— that of the religious practices and beliefs of the Egyptians. Recent challenges that question the authenticity of many statements in one of the standard works of the Church, the Pearl of Great Price, have reopened an old discussion at a time when fresh discoveries and interpretations are putting an entirely new face on the whole problem. Brother Hugh Nibley, who for many years has been gathering data relevant to the study of the Facsimiles in the Book of Abraham, presents in this fascinating series some of the materials that must be considered in the reappraisal of certain Egyptological aspects of the Pearl of Great Price for which the time is now ripe. The reader is warned to be prepared for surprises. Although Dr. Nibley pulls no punches, he is still animated by a healthy respect for all qualified Egyptologists, including his own revered instructors, in the rudiments of the mysteries of hieroglyphics, and promises to proceed with such caution and discretion that even they will approve of his methods, however much they may disagree with his conclusions
Looks at a proposition that the original document of the Pearl of Great Price is available for us to investigate and shows the inaccuracies of this claim.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Discusses just how well-equipped Dr. Spalding’s illustrious jury really were, individually and collectively, to make a pronouncement on the Book of Abraham.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Continues the discussion from the previous installment.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
An explanation that experts are usually specialists in only one field and that as such, their studies may sometimes miss some of the more obvious points from looking too closely. It then looks at how this relates to Egyptologists’ opinions of Joseph Smith as a translator.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A look at Theodore Deveria’s introduction to Egyptology and Hebrew and his studies on the Book of the Dead.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A discussion on the reopening of the Joseph Smith vs. the Scholars due to the finding of the original papyrus from which Fascimile No. 1 in the Book of Abraham was taken.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A discussion on whether parts of Fascimile No. 1 should have a hand or part of a wing from a bird to provide commentary on previous scholars’ opinions on the piece.
Continued in “Part 6. Facsimile No. 1: A Unique Document (continued).”
Presents considerable evidence to suggest that “Egyptian hieroglyphic is not a naive picture-writing, but a special code governed by strict rules, without a knowledge of which it cannot be read.”
“In the previous installment, Dr. Nibley presented considerable evidence to suggest that “Egyptian hieroglyphic is not a naive picture-writing, but a special code governed by strict rules, without a knowledge of which it cannot be read.” Turning to a discussion of the three facsimiles of the Book of Abraham, Dr. Nibley says that these facsimiles are “strictly ritual,” and that they are directly related to the theme of the Book of Abraham—“the transmission of priesthood and authority. . . .”
“
A study of Egyptian art and how it relates to the art found in Facsimile No. 1.
Because of widespread interest in the relationship of the Book of Abraham and the recently discovered Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri (see Era, January and February 1968), and in an effort to keep readers up-to-date with Dr. Nibley’s penetrating and incisive analysis of this relationship, this series’ monthly space will be enlarged and the series will be treated as a special supplement for Era readers. Through enlarged sections of Dr. Nibley’s research, readers will also be better able to see the flow of discussion and understand the author’s findings. Beginning with this issue, “A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price” will be found at the end of the magazine, until the series’ anticipated completion sometime in 1970.
A study of the authenticity of the Book of Abraham and a discussion of where one might find more information on Abraham.
Because of widespread interest in the relationship of the Book of Abraham and the recently discovered Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri (see Era, January and February 1968), and in an effort to keep readers up-to-date with Dr. Nibley’s penetrating and incisive analysis of this relationship, this series’ monthly space will be enlarged and the series will be treated as a special supplement for Era readers. Through enlarged sections of Dr. Nibley’s research, readers will also be better able to see the flow of discussion and understand the author’s findings. Beginning with this issue, “A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price” will be found at the end of the magazine, until the series’ anticipated completion sometime in 1970.
A study of a tradition that came about during Abraham’s time where they would sacrifice their children to the Devils and worship images and how that relates to Abraham’s story and Fascimile No. 1.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A discussion of Abraham’s spiritual experiences and how the locations of the experiences provide more insight into them.
Because of widespread interest in the relationship of the Book of Abraham and the recently discovered Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri (see Era, January and February 1968), and in an effort to keep readers up-to-date with Dr. Nibley’s penetrating and incisive analysis of this relationship, this series’ monthly space will be enlarged and the series will be treated as a special supplement for Era readers. Through enlarged sections of Dr. Nibley’s research, readers will also be better able to see the flow of discussion and understand the author’s findings. Beginning with this issue, “A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price” will be found at the end of the magazine, until the series’ anticipated completion sometime in 1970.
Deals with Ur of the Chaldees and where that takes place.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A discussion of Abraham’s spiritual experiences and how the locations of the experiences provide more insight into them.
Because of widespread interest in the relationship of the Book of Abraham and the recently discovered Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri (see Era, January and February 1968), and in an effort to keep readers up-to-date with Dr. Nibley’s penetrating and incisive analysis of this relationship, this series’ monthly space will be enlarged and the series will be treated as a special supplement for Era readers. Through enlarged sections of Dr. Nibley’s research, readers will also be better able to see the flow of discussion and understand the author’s findings. Beginning with this issue, “A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price” will be found at the end of the magazine, until the series’ anticipated completion sometime in 1970.
Continuing his imaginary discussion between two students and a museum curator, in order to help readers better understand the complex issues of the case, the author has just established “that this lion-couch business” takes place on “great ritual occasions” as described in the Book of Abraham; such an occasion was “the supreme moment of the Sed-festival”
Because of widespread interest in the relationship of the Book of Abraham and the recently discovered Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri (see Era, January and February 1968), and in an effort to keep readers up-to-date with Dr. Nibley’s penetrating and incisive analysis of this relationship, this series’ monthly space will be enlarged and the series will be treated as a special supplement for Era readers. Through enlarged sections of Dr. Nibley’s research, readers will also be better able to see the flow of discussion and understand the author’s findings. Beginning with this issue, “A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price” will be found at the end of the magazine, until the series’ anticipated completion sometime in 1970.
A look at Egyptian culture and gods for better understanding of Fascimile No. 1.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
This intends to show that the book of the Dead fragments, the Breathing Papyrus, and the three facsimiles contain the elements of a single story, which happens to be the story of Abraham as told in the Book of Abraham and the early Jewish legends.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Questions and answers about Facsimile No. 1.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
Questions and answers about Facsimile No. 1.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A comparison of the stories of Heracles and Abraham to show them both as legends in the category of Victims of Procrustes.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A continuation of the comparison of the stories of Heracles and Abraham as legends in the category of Victims of Procrustes.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A continuation of the comparison of the stories of Heracles and Abraham as legends in the category of Victims of Procrustes.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A comparison between the sacrifice of Isaac and of Sarah to show the ritual and importance of the act.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A study of the story of how Sarah ended up at the royal palace
Reprinted in An Approach to the Book of Abraham, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 18.
A conclusion to the series A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price.
Reprinted in The Ancient State: The Rulers and the Ruled, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 10.
Nibley traces some interesting parallels in educational matters and especially in campus unrest in the decade after 1960 with the medieval world. — Midgley
The original title was Hugh Nibley—Secrets of the Scriptures—The Creation.
A pre-eminent scholar of ancient languages, Hugh Nibley presents radically different teachings about the nature of God and the universe found in ancient Christian and Jewish documents.
The original talk, later republished in other documents.
Ties science fiction and gospel ideas.
“Science Fiction and the Gospel” (1985)
“Science Fiction and the Gospel” (1992)
1970 — 1979
“The Passing of the Primitive Church (Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme)” [reprinted from Church History 30, no. 2 (June 1961): 131–54]. “The Forty-day Mission of Christ: The Forgotten Heritage” [reprinted from Vigiliae Christianae 20 no. 1 (1966): 1–24]. “Christian Envy of the Temple” [reprinted from Jewish Quarterly Review 50, nos. 2–3 (October 1959; January 1960): 97–123; 229–40].
Three of Nibley’s important essays on the fate of the primitive Christian church and its institutions and beliefs previously available only in academic journals in 1959-60, 1961, and 1966 are reprinted and indexed for the Mormon audience.
Reprinted as a chapter in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 11.
A dive into Brigham Young’s ongoing battle with the devil.
Reprinted as “Educating the Saints” in Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless, 1978, and in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.
The compelling mystique of those franchise businesses that in our day have built up enormous institutional clout by selling nothing but the right to a name was anticipated in our great schools of Education, which monopolized the magic name of Education and sold the right to use it at a time when the idea of a “School of Education” made about as much sense as a class in Erudition or a year’s course in Total Perfection. The whole business of education can become an operation in managerial manipulation. In “Higher Education,” the traffic in titles and forms is already long established: The Office, with its hoarded files of score sheets, punched cards, and tapes, can declare exactly how educated any individual is, even to the third decimal. That is the highly structured busywork which we call education today. But it was not Brigham Young’s idea of education. He had thoughts which we have repeated from time to time with very mixed reception on the BYU campus. Still, we do not feel in the least inclined to apologize for propagating them on the premises of a university whose main distinction is that it bears his name.
Two slightly different versions of this have been preserved and circulated.
Originally printed as a 1948 Improvement Era article.
Book of Mormon proper names are related to Egyptian etymologies.
Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.
Why it’s a good thing that the leaders of the Church are amateur clergy, not paid professionals.
Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham: Articles from BYU Studies. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
A history of “The Book of Breathings” as well as a description of what it is.
Later published in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints.
An exhortation to turn the hearts of the men toward peace rather than toward war.
Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham: Articles from BYU Studies, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
Looks at several of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers and rumors surrounding them that may or may not be true based on the lack of evidence surrounding them.
6-page typescript of a talk. Reprinted as an article in To the Glory of God and as a chapter in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.
An exploration into how Brigham Young felt about the environment.
“Brigham Young on the Environment” (1972)
“Brigham Young on the Environment” (1994)
Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.
What are the answers to war and peace for Latter-day Saints? Does the Lord suggest a position to be taken by members of the Church? Hugh Nibley answers.
Suggests that early mythology writers not only were aware of the parallels between religious stories and myths but often used wove parallels together to create their faith-promoting myths.
Originally presented as a talk given on April 21, 1971.
An exploration into how Brigham Young felt about the environment.
“Brigham Young on the Environment” (1971)
“Brigham Young on the Environment” (1994)
A talk given in 1971 in the Last Lecture series. Social commentary touching on themes that became increasingly common in Nibley’s various addresses and writings.
This second of two volumes of essays honoring Hugh Nibley includes scholarly papers based on what the authors have learned from Nibley. Nearly every major subject that Dr. Nibley has encompassed in his vast learning and scholarly production is represented here by at least one article. Topics include the sacrament covenant in Third Nephi, the Lamanite view of Book of Mormon history, external evidences of the Book of Mormon, proper names in the Book of Mormon, the brass plates version of Genesis, the composition of Lehi’s family, ancient burials of metal documents in stone boxes, repentance as rethinking, Mormon history’s encounter with secular modernity, and Judaism in the 20th century.
Not all the footnotes containing the citations for the supporting texts and explanations were published with this essay.
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.
“Ancient Temples: What Do They Signify?” (1994)
“Chapter 14: Ancient Temples: What Do They Signify?” (1989)
Pointed social commentary concerning the state of the natural environment.
This was the Commissioner’s Lecture delivered in 1972.
An examination of writing as a gift from God and as a vehicle for the preservation and communication of knowledge of divine things.
“The Genesis of the Written Word” (1973)
“Genesis of the Written Word” (1992)
“Genesis of the Written Word” (2004)
This talk, originally given in 1973, was circulated prior to publication as “Waiting for Zion,” 34 pp., d.s., typed transcript. A passionate treatment of one of Nibley’s favorite themes. — Midgley
A discussion of what Zion is and how it applies to modern day.
Reprinted in Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 12.
An essay expounding on one Brother Bush’s study about the explanations behind people of color receiving the priesthood.
Reprinted as “Bar-Kochba and Book of Mormon Backgrounds,” in The Prophetic Book of Mormon.
Points out that Yadin’s discoveries seem to show, among other things, that the presumably feminine name Alma was also used by Jews as a masculine name, just as it was in the Book of Mormon. Draws a number of parallels between the Bar Kochba artifacts and the Lehi colony. Compares materials in the Book of Mormon about Lehi, Captain Moroni, and the name Alma with Palestinian warfare and practices from the first century A.D.
Reprinted from the Commissioner’s Lecture Series, 1972.
An examination of writing as a gift from God and as a vehicle for the preservation and communication of knowledge of divine things.
Genesis of the Written Word (1973)
“Genesis of the Written Word” (1992)
“Genesis of the Written Word” (2004)
Uses science to find more of the meaning of the temple.
A verse-by-verse commentary.
Hugh Nibley defends Joseph Smith as a prophet by refuting so-called “evidence“ set forth about the origin of the Book of Abraham.
A home evening lesson.
This essay was reprinted in The World and the Prophets, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 3
“Easter and the Prophets” (1954)
“Easter and the Prophets” (1987)
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.
“Two Ways to Remember the Dead” (1954)
“Two Ways to Remember the Dead” (1979)
“Two Ways to Remember the Dead” (1987)
Reprinted as “Treasures in the Heavens” in Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless (1978), 49–84; (2004), 53–93; and in Old Testament and Related Studies, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 1:171–214.
A complex and rich study of the cosmology of the Christian world, which is compared to other similar sources. — Midgley
“Treasures in the Heavens” (1986)
“Treasures in the Heavens” (2004)
A talk originally given on 26 October 1973 to the Pi Sigma Alpha society in the Political Science Department at BYU.
An argument that political action is desirable, even in an imperfect world, under the condition that it be the pursuit of the common good by reasonable discussion. But such conditions are not often found in the politics of man, which turn out to be instances of force and fraud fueled by money and the desire for power and gain.
“Beyond Politics” (2004)“Beyond Politics” (2011)
“Beyond Politics” (2011)
“Nibley’s remarks might be compared to the more extensive, though still limited, review of reviews of Brodie’s book on Jefferson by Louis Midgley, “The Brodie Connection: Thomas Jefferson and Joseph Smith,” BYU Studies 20, no. 1 (1979): 59–67, and also by Jerry Knudson, “Jefferson the Father of Slave Children? One View of the Book Reviewers,” Journalism History 3, no. 2 (1976): 56–58, who examined a somewhat larger sample of the reviews of Brodie’s book than did Midgley, though with similar results. Knudson concluded that professional historians had been highly critical of her scholarship.
Brodie responded (Journalism History 3, no. 2 [Summer 1977]: 59–60) to Knudson by citing, as examples of historians who had written favorable comments on her book, the advertising blurbs that were provided by her historian friends for W. W. Norton, her publisher. The conclusions found in the Midgley and Knudson essays can be checked against and updated from the more than seventy separate reviews of her Jefferson book, most of which have been assembled in the Brodie Papers in Special Collections at the Marriott Library, University of Utah.“
Brief comments by Nibley on two reviews of Fawn Brodie’s Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History (New York: Norton, 1974). He calls attention to similarities between features of his 1946 review of Brodie’s No Man Knows My History and criticisms of her Jefferson by David H. Donald in Commentary 58, no. 1 (July 1974): 96–98, and Gary Wills in the New York Review of Books 21 (18 April 1974): 26–27.
Later retitled “Hugh Nibley: The Faithful Scholar.” Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 17. 23–45.
Questions and answers with Hugh Nibley about his role in scholarship and his studies.
Republished in 2005 in a richly illustrated volume with new format and additional material as Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 16. For reviews, see C. Wilfred Griggs, “A Great Fuss about a Scrap of Papyrus,” Ensign, October 1975. 84, and Eric Jay Olson, “A Hint of an Explanation,” Dialogue 9, no. 4 (1974): 74–75.
A translation and commentary on the so-called “Book of Breathings” that turned up among the Joseph Smith Papyri, containing parallels with early Christian materials.
Reprinted from Church History 30, no. 2 (1961): 131–54; and included in Mormonism and Early Christianity, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 4. 168–208. William A. Clebsch, in his “History and Salvation: An Essay in Distinctions,” published in a collection of essays entitled The Study of Religion in Colleges and Universities, edited by Paul Ramsey and John F. Wilson (Princeton University Press, 1970): 40–72, commented on Nibley’s arguments for the apostasy in “The Passing of the Church” as follows: “During the early 1960’s there arose in the pages of Church History a brief but in retrospect fascinating argument, which I will trace briefly. The argument not only revolved around the question of the continuity of the Christian church but also involved a more fundamental question about the very survival of the church through its early history. On the basis of his study of patristic writings, Hugh Nibley scored all church historians since Eusebius for describing rather than questioning the survival of the church through the early centuries. That Nibley took a Mormon’s viewpoint on the nascent Christian movement does not make any easier the defense of its identity and continuity against his attack.”
Nibley presents forty arguments for the apostasy in an examination of the expectation of early Christian writers of the fading of the Church. Professor Hans J. Hillerbrand wrote a letter protesting Nibley’s thesis because, among other reasons, of the possibility that, if widely accepted, it would logically preclude his continuing to teach what he understood to be “Church history.” See Hillerbrand, “The Passing of the Church: Two Comments on a Strange Theme,” Church History 30, no. 3 (December 1961):481–2; and a response to Hillerbrand by Robert M. Grant, “The Passing of the Church: Comments on Two Comments on a Strange Theme,” Church History 30, no. 3 (December 1961):482–3.
Baer was an eminent Egyptologist and former teacher of Hugh Nibley, then teaching at the University of Chicago. From 1962 to 1975 letters were exchanged between the two friends. This copyrighted correspondence is part of the University of Chicago’s Klaus Baer Archives.
Nibley provides a listing of various reasons why one should give careful consideration to the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He deals with Joseph Smith’s version of the book of Enoch, with the Book of Abraham, various compelling elements of the Book of Mormon, and the role of prophetic warnings to the Saints.
May be similar to “Translation.” 12 pages of notes from a presentation given 11 February 1975 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Some thoughts on what makes translation authoritative, and what that means.
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.
Original manuscript available in mimeographed form, 22 pp., frequently reproduced. Reprinted in Dialogue 11, no. 2 (1978): 101–12, as well as in Nibley on the Timely and Timeless (1978), 261–77; (2004), 281–99; and in Approaching Zion, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 9. 63–84. This lecture is one of Nibley’s most famous.
Under temporary license from the Academics Committee, we have presumed to touch upon the sensitive theme, “If ‘The Glory of God Is Intelligence’ might there not be some possible connection between intelligence and spirituality?”
“Zeal without Knowledge” (1978)
“3: Zeal Without Knowledge” (1989)
“Zeal without Knowledge” (2004)
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.
A discussion of the Book of Enoch as extracts of “The Writings of Moses.”
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.
This section of the examination of Enoch compared Joseph Smith’s book of Enoch step-by-step with four main classes of documents, commonly designated as the following: I Enoch (the Ethiopic texts, beginning with the three brought to England by Bruce in 1773), II Enoch (also called the Secrets of Enoch in Old Slavonic), III Enoch (Enoch texts in Greek), and scattered Hebrew and Aramaic Enoch fragments. Since these are to serve as checks on the reliability of the Prophet Joseph, the qualifications of each should be briefly considered.
Discusses how Christian Enoch’s writings are.
Suggests that what is written on earth is written in heaven and discusses how that comes into play with writing spiritual matters that the Lord has commanded be written.
The Improvement Era was an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1897 and 1970.
A study of the book of Enoch as a recording of sacred matters.
Suggests parallels to Moses 1, which lie far beyond the reach of coincidence or daydreaming. The number of details and the order in which they occur make it perfectly clear that we are dealing with specific works of great antiquity which come from a common source. To show what they mean, they compare Moses’s, Abraham’s, and Adam’s confrontations with Satan.
The purpose of these articles is to (1) call attention to some of the long-ignored aspects of the Joseph Smith account of Enoch in the book of Moses and in the Inspired Version of Genesis and (2) provide at the same time some of the evidence that establishes the authenticity of that remarkable text. Contemporary learning offered few checks to the imagination of Joseph Smith; the enthusiasm of his followers presented none.
Addresses the dangers of oversimplifying the scriptures and attempts to look at the Book of Mormon without such oversimplification.
This exciting and penetrating comparison of the Joseph Smith book of Enoch, with four known variant manuscripts of that ancient work, provides yet another evidence of the Prophet’s inspiration and the scope of his vision in the great work of the Restoration.
This follows the idea that Enoch had great cosmological visions.
The deliberate wickedness of the people at Enoch’s time created a moral turbulence that was reflected in chaotic nature, such as earthquakes.
In this installment, Brother Nibley first concludes his discussion of the veil, then uses scriptural sources from the book of Moses and nonscriptural accounts by apochryphal writers of texts not available to Joseph Smith to give us an intriguing image of Enoch’s holy city.
A discussion of the translation of the Dead Sea Scroll book of Enoch.
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 Enoch the Prophet, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 2.
Discusses the book of Enoch and its relationship with the Pearl of Great Price.
“Enoch the Prophet” (1976)
“Enoch the Prophet” (1986)
Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 13. 346–79.
Statements on Brigham Young’s view of education.
“More Brigham Young on Education” (1976)
“More Brigham Young on Education” (1994)
Reprinted in Enoch the Prophet, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 2.
Discusses the book of Enoch and its relationship with the Pearl of Great Price.
“Enoch the Prophet” (1975)
“Enoch the Prophet” (1986)
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 17. 46–50. This section of the journal, “Spotlight,” is designed to give attention to BYU faculty members and students who have a noteworthy record of publicaiton. We hope their work will inspire us to aim for higher standards of excellence than are necessary to get a degree or a good class grade. And we want their work to be more widley read, so that it may leaven the University.
Spotlights Hugh Nibley as a scholar and published writer.
This essay was published as part of the section in Ensign called “I Have a Question.”
Questions about the facsimiles in the Book of Abraham, answered for guidance, not as official statements of Church policy.
Statements on Brigham Young’s view of education.
“More Brigham Young on Education” (1976)
“More Brigham Young on Education” (1994)
In the “I Have a Question” series in the Ensign.
Questions about the facsimiles in the Book of Abraham, answered for guidance, not as official statements of Church policy.
Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13 (1994).
An examination of how the Saints should understand involvement in politics, among other things, drawing upon the examples of Paul and Daniel.
Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 13. 247–66. This essay was originally submitted in 1977 for a special issue of the Ensign as part of the bicentennial celebration of the Declaration of Independence. It was rejected by the editors.
What is the proper form in which to manifest out commitment to the “just and holy principles” the Lord suffered to be established? Hugh Nibley, the most distinguished scholar of the restored Church, has written an interesting essay dealing with that question.
This satirical talk was read by Nibley perhaps as early as 1965.
“Bird Island” was a satirical lecture on some of the excesses and weaknesses of archaeology and theories of Book of Mormon geography. A version was submitted to a collection meant to be a bicentennial celebration of the Declaration of Independence. It was rejected by the editors.
Examines three approaches to the Book of Abraham: ask the experts; examine Joseph Smith’s work in some broad and general aspects; and take a closer look at some particulars. Part 1 constitutes the first 8 pages and Part 2 the remainder of the manuscript. These materials were circulated in response to inquiries concerning the debate over the authenticity of the Book of Abraham, with a cover letter addressed to “Dear Brother, Sister, Friend,” which discussed the charges brought against the Book of Abraham by Dee J. Nelson, who advertised himself as a trained Egyptologist and a Latter-day Saint. Nibley raises questions about Mr. Nelson’s credentials, which were later shown to be bogus. For an exhaustive debunking of Mr. Nelson and his attack on the Book of Abraham, see Robert L. and Rosemary Brown, They Lie in Wait to Deceive, vol. 1, ed. Barbara Ellsworth, rev. ed. (Mesa, AZ: Brownsworth, 1982). For an example of uncritical use of Mr. Nelson’s “work” on the Book of Abraham, see Fawn M. Brodie’s “Supplement” to No Man Knows My History, 2nd ed. (New York: Knopf, 1971), where, preliminary to an attack upon Nibley’s views on the Book of Abraham (424), the reader is urged (on 423) to consult “Mormon scholar Dee Jay Nelson’s translation, The Joseph Smith Papyri, Parts I and II, and Joseph Smith’s Eye of Ra (Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilm, 1969).” Brodie and others anxious to find “authorities” who would assert that the Book of Abraham was fraudulent and hence that Joseph Smith had been involved in crafting false historical documents made somewhat uncritical use of both of Nelson’s essays.
Made available through FARMS, Brigham Young University.
Talks about the miracle a planet exists in space and discusses the even bigger miracle of the “drama” that occurs on it.
Original version of this book.
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 as “Some Notes on Cultural Diversity in the Universal Church” in Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 12, 541–49.
A response to a paper read by Noel B. Reynolds entitled “Cultural Diversity in the Universal Church” as part of the symposium on the “Expanding Church” held as part of the centennial celebration of BYU.
Also published in ASBYU Academics Presents: Outstanding Lectures, 1978–79, Provo, UT: BYU Press, 1979. 71–88, and reprinted in Old Testament and Related Studies, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 1, 215–37.
Hugh Nibley dives into the book of Isaiah and how wonderful its teachings are, though they are occasionally difficult to comprehend.
“Great Are the Words of Isaiah” (1979)
“Great Are the Words of Isaiah” (1986)
“Great Are the Words of Isaiah” (2005)
Reprinted in Approaching Zion, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 9. 63–84. This lecture is one of Nibley’s most famous.
Touches upon the sensitive theme, “If ‘The Glory of God Is Intelligence’ might there not be some possible connection between intelligence and spirituality?”
“Zeal without Knowledge” (1975)
“3: Zeal Without Knowledge” (1989)
“Zeal without Knowledge” (2004)
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 Early Christian Prayer Circle” (1987)
“The Early Christian Prayer Circle” (2010)
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
Reprinted from Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless (1978), xix–xxvii. When sent a copy of this item, Fawn M. Brodie indicated that she “found the mini-autobiography fascinating in every way. This man surely had a touch of genius, and a great linguistic talent. What a pity that he was emotionally trapped by his allegiance to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The final paragraph of the ‘Self-Portrait’ suggests to me that there must be grave deterioration in Nibley at the moment. But it may be that he is not really much changed from what he has been all through the years. What a pity that we never sat down and talked to each other.” Letter from Fawn M. Brodie to Everett Cooley, dated 23 August 1978, Brodie Papers, Box 4, Folder 6B, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah.
A response to each of the essays in Tinkling Cymbals (privately printed, 1978), which was a collection of essays honoring Nibley.
During 1978, 1979, and 1980, Hugh Nibley taught a Doctrine and Covenants Sunday School class. Cassette recordings were made of these classes and some have survived and were recently digitized by Steve Whitlock. Most of the tapes were in pretty bad condition. The original recordings usually don't stop or start at the beginning of the class and there is some background noise. Volumes vary, probably depending upon where the recorder was placed in the room. Many are very low volume but in most cases it's possible to understand the words. In a couple of cases the ends of one class were put on some space left over from a different class. There's some mixup around D&C90-100 that couldn't be figured out so those recordings are as they were on the tapes.