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About Hugh Nibley
By Hugh Nibley
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Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Ancient Texts
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)
Old Testament Topics > Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha [including intertestamental books and the Dead Sea Scrolls]
An edited version of an incomplete typescript.
Old Testament Topics > Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha [including intertestamental books and the Dead Sea Scrolls]
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Early Christianity, Church Fathers, Patrologia
One Eternal Round is the culmination of Hugh Nibley’s thought on the book of Abraham and represents over fifteen years of research and writing. The volume includes penetrating insights into Egyptian pharaohs and medieval Jewish and Islamic traditions about Abraham; Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian myths; the Aztec calendar stone; Hopi Indian ceremonies; and early Jewish and Christian apocrypha, as well as the relationship of myth, ritual, and history.
A review of ancient apocryphal texts describing the ascension and cosmic tour of a religious figure and his subsequent return to earth to reveal his findings (consider, for example, the Book of Abraham).
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples
In Temple and Cosmos, Brother Nibley explains the relationship of the House of the Lord to the cosmos. In Temple, the first part of the volume, he focuses on the nature, meaning, and history of the temple, discussing such topics as sacred vestments, the circle and the square, and the symbolism of the temple and its ordinances. In the second part, Cosmos, he discusses the cosmic context of the temple-the expanding gospel, apocryphal writings, religion and history, the genesis of the written word, cultural diversity in the universal church, and the terrible questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going?
Old Testament Topics > Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha [including intertestamental books and the Dead Sea Scrolls]
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples > Ordinances
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.
Are there indirect evidences of distinctive contents of the brass plates? Can we learn anything about the plates and their contents through an examination of indirect textual evidence in the Book of Mormon?
Old Testament Scriptures > Genesis
Old Testament Topics > Book of Mormon and the Old Testament
Book of Moses Topics > Chapters of the Book of Moses > Moses 4–6:12 — Grand Council in Heaven, Adam and Eve
Book of Moses Topics > Source Criticism and the Documentary Hypothesis
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible > Old Testament > Books > Genesis
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses
Adam traditions
Book of the Dead
Cyril of Jerusalem’s Lectures on the Ordinances
Enuma Elish
Gilgamesh
Gospel of Philip
Gospel of Thomas, The Pearl
Kabbalah
Myths
Lachish Letters
Nag Hammadi
Pistis Sophia
Shabako Stone
Archaeology
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).
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Archaeology
An edited version of 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).
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Archaeology
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 is so often taken to task by those calling themselves archaeologists that it is well to know just what an archaeologist is and does. 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 which has left a notable mark in history and literature has left behind not a single recognizable trace of itself. We must stop looking for the wrong things.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Criticisms and Apologetics > Archaeology, External Evidences, Geography
Arts
Miscellaneous comments in a panel discussion on the arts. With Eliot Butler, Robert Rees, Dennis Smith, and Eugene England (arbitrator), “BYU Faculty Panel.”
Art
Science Fiction
Theatre, Shakespeare
Autobiographical
Remastered with English subtitles. Excerpted version.
Who was Hugh Nibley? For starters, he was arguably the most brilliant Latter-day Saint scholar of the 20th century. Though he was sometimes one of the harshest critics of Brigham Young University, he was also one of the Church’s most faithful and loyal advocates. People liked Hugh Nibley because he was not afraid to say things that we wish we could say, to espouse unpopular causes, to thumb his nose at fashion, or to buck the crowd. According to Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Nibley’s well-known eccentricity was itself “a reflection of his deepened discipleship.”
Remastered with English subtitles. Complete version.
Who was Hugh Nibley? For starters, he was arguably the most brilliant Latter-day Saint scholar of the 20th century. Though he was sometimes one of the harshest critics of Brigham Young University, he was also one of the Church’s most faithful and loyal advocates. People liked Hugh Nibley because he was not afraid to say things that we wish we could say, to espouse unpopular causes, to thumb his nose at fashion, or to buck the crowd. According to Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Nibley’s well-known eccentricity was itself “a reflection of his deepened discipleship.”
“The Faith of an Observer: Conversations with Hugh Nibley” (1985)
“Who Was Hugh Nibley?: Announcing a New, Landmark Book, Hugh Nibley Observed” (2021)
“Few people knew more about the history of human conflict than Professor Hugh Nibley. But on June 6, 1944, at Utah Beach, he learned more about war than he had gleaned from all the books he’d read combined. General Maxwell Taylor assigned Sergeant Nibley to educate the officers of the 101st Airborne about warfare. But it was the professor himself that received an education while fighting as a member of the most legendary unit of the United States Army.
Most war memoirs come either from the bird’s-eye view of the general or from the visceral but limited scope of the common soldier. Because of Nibley’s unique situation, this book blends both perspectives. From the narrow view of a sergeant in a foxhole to the broader perspective of an intelligence specialist, his experience offers an intimate, realistic and articulate view of World War II.“
An important book about Alex Nibley’s father’s wartime memoirs as well as the larger context of war and its meaning.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley > Biographies, Reviews of Biographies, Biographical Essays, Biographical Remarks
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness:Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 17.
A conversation between Hugh Nibley, some of his family members, Truman G. Madsen, and Neal A. Maxwell (among others).
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley > Bibliographies
Originally presented as a 63-minute video and accompanying transcript.
A conversation between Hugh Nibley, some of his family members, Truman G. Madsen, and Neal A. Maxwell (among others).
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, Boyd J. Peterson, Sandy, UT: Greg Kofford Books Inc, 2002, 56.
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.
Originally in Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless: Classic Essays of Hugh Nibley.
Hugh Nibley’s search for things of import by the decades, and what he discovered.
“An Intellectual Autobiography: Some High and Low Points” (2004)
“An Intellectual Autobiography” (2008)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley > Biographies, Reviews of Biographies, Biographical Essays, Biographical Remarks
Reprinted as “An Intellectual Autobiography: Some High and Low Points“ in Hugh Nibley Observed. Originally published in Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless.
Hugh Nibley’s search for things of import by the decades, and what he discovered.
“An Intellectual Autobiography: Some High and Low Points” (2004)
“An Intellectual Autobiography: Some High and Low Points” (2021)
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 17, and in
Hugh Nibley’s search for things of import by the decades, and what he discovered.
“An Intellectual Autobiography” (2008)
“An Intellectual Autobiography: Some High and Low Points” (2021)
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 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.
One of the stunning aspects of Dr. Hugh Nibley’s genius was his persistent sense of wonder. That trait induced him to range widely through very disparate subjects of study—all covered in volume 17 of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple. In this compilation of materials, most of which have been published previously outside the Collected Works volumes, Nibley explores the ancient Egyptians, the temple, the life sciences, world literature, ancient Judaism, and Joseph Smith and the Restoration. The contents of this volume illustrate the breadth of his interest through autobiographical sketches, interviews, book reviews, forewords to books, letters, memorial tributes, Sunday School lessons, and various writings about the temple.
This short autobiography seems to be an introduction to a series in the Improvement Era or elsewhere.
Bible
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.
“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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Studies the Dead Sea Scrolls related to wording found in the New Testament previously thought to be peculiar to that book alone.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
A discussion of the Christian Apocrypha as compared with the Jewish Apocrypha.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Studies the Logia and compares it with other early religious writings.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Discusses the history of keeping secrets within religions and within scriptures.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Continues the discussion from the previous installment.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
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.
Originally presented as an address given on 19 June 1956 to the seminary and institute faculty at Brigham Young University.
Solving the problem of historicity of the Bible: how it came around, and what to do about it.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Joseph Smith Translation
New Testament
Old Testament
Book of Mormon
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
Contains a new comprehensive index by Gary P. Gillum.
“Lehi in the Desert” (1950)
“The World of the Jaredites” (1951)
Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites (1952)
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
“Lehi in the Desert” (1950)
“The World of the Jaredites” (1951)
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; The World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites (1988)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
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)
Reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 8. 435–69.
A talk given at the BYU Alumni House on 23 September 1981, originally a manuscript of 17 pp., d.s.
Reprinted in Seventh East Press.
This material is not the same as that included in Since Cumorah under the same title. This appeared in the Seventh East Press, 27 March 1982. 6–8, 16–17, and was published in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 8. 435–69.
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
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.
Hugh Nibley is probably still best known for his groundbreaking investigations into the ancient Near Eastern backgrounds of Lehi and of the Jaredites. Those classic studies are contained in this volume—the first of several books to appear in the volumes of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley that deal with the Book of Mormon.
“Lehi in the Desert” (1950)
“The World of the Jaredites” (1951)
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
Old Testament Topics > Symposia and Collections of Essays
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
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.
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Originally published in 1957 as a Melchizedek Priesthood manual. A revised edition of the book was published under the same title by the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the lesson manual for the Melchizedek Priesthood quorums in 1957; a second edition was printed by Deseret Book in 1964; and it was reprinted in 1976 in the Classics of Mormon Literature series.
An Approach to the Book of Mormon is Dr. Hugh Nibley’s classic work on the Book of Mormon. A gifted scholar with expertise in ancient languages, literature, and history, Nibley shows numerous details in the Book of Mormon narrative to be in accord with cultural traits of the Middle East.
An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1957)
An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1964)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
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.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Criticisms and Apologetics > Archaeology, External Evidences, Geography
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 Book of Mormon is a prophetic book. It was written by prophets and about prophets. It was foreseen by prophets and foresees our day. It was brought forth by prophetic gifts for prophetic purposes. It speaks in a clarion voice of warning to those who would survive the last days. The articles in this volume, brought together under one cover for the first time, approach the Book of Mormon through a variety of prophetic themes. They speak out incisively on such topics as the prophecy of Ezekiel 37, internal and external evidences of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon, literary style in the Book of Mormon, ancient temples and the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Mormon’s teachings for the last days.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
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.
Hugh Nibley is one of the best-known and most highly revered of Latter-day Saint scholars. For over forty years this near-legendary teacher has enthralled his readers and listeners with his encyclopedic knowledge, his wit, and his untiring research in defense of Latter-day Saint beliefs. Now you can join Dr. Nibley in the first of four Honors Book of Mormon classes that he taught at BYU during 1988-90. Part one contains twenty-nine lectures focusing on 1 Nephi through Mosiah 5. It is vintage Nibley, with his insights, humor, and passionate convictions, discussing a book that he loves and knows so well.
Book of Mormon Scriptures > Mosiah
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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 discussion about the history of using metal plates for more important records.
473 pp. Transcripts of 27 lectures.
Hugh Nibley is one of the best-known and most highly revered of Latter-day Saint scholars. For over forty years this near-legendary teacher has enthralled his readers and listeners with his encyclopedic knowledge, his wit, and his untiring research in defense of Latter-day Saint beliefs. Now you can join Dr. Nibley in the second of four Honors Book of Mormon classes that he taught at BYU during 1988–90. Part two contains twenty-seven lectures focusing on Mosiah 6 through Alma 41. It is vintage Nibley, with his insights, humor, and passionate convictions, discussing a book that he loves and knows so well.
Book of Mormon Scriptures > Alma
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Draws the conclusion that Lehi took the shortest and safest route through the desert during his journeys in the Book of Mormon.
360 pp. Transcripts of 29 lectures.
Hugh Nibley is one of the best-known and most highly revered of Latter-day Saint scholars. For over forty years, this near-legendary teacher has enthralled his readers and listeners with his encyclopedic knowledge, his wit, and his untiring research in defense of Latter-day Saint beliefs. Now you can join Dr. Nibley in the third of four Honors Book of Mormon classes that he taught at BYU during 1988–90. Part three contains twenty-nine lectures focusing on Alma 45 through 3 Nephi 20. It is vintage Nibley, with his insights, humor, and passionate convictions, discussing a book that he loves and knows so well.
Book of Mormon Scriptures > 3 Nephi
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Peoples > Jaredites
287 pp. Transcripts of 27 lectures with 5 lectures by John W. Welch.
Hugh Nibley is one of the best-known and most highly revered of Latter-day Saint scholars. For over forty years this near-legendary teacher has enthralled his readers and listeners with his encyclopedic knowledge, his wit, and his untiring research in defense of Latter-day Saint beliefs. Now you can join Dr. Nibley in the last of four Honors Book of Mormon classes that he taught at BYU during 1988–90. Part four covers 3 Nephi 6 through Moroni 10. It is vintage Nibley, with his insights, humor, and passionate convictions, discussing a book that he loves and knows so well.
Book of Mormon Scriptures > Moroni
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
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.
Old Testament Scriptures > Ezekiel
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible > Old Testament > Characters > Ezekiel
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Criticisms and Apologetics
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.
“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. “
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Criticisms and Apologetics
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Criticisms and Apologetics
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Studies the Dead Sea Scrolls related to wording found in the New Testament previously thought to be peculiar to that book alone.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
A discussion of the Christian Apocrypha as compared with the Jewish Apocrypha.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Studies the Logia and compares it with other early religious writings.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Discusses the history of keeping secrets within religions and within scriptures.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Continues the discussion from the previous installment.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
A comparison of the imagery of the “Plan“ of Salvation as found in the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
A comparison of the imagery of the “Plan“ of Salvation as found in the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
A comparison of the histor of Zenos in the Book of Mormon and an unnamed prophet of the Thanksgiving Hymns.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
A comparison of the allegory of the olive tree with Hymn 10 of the Thanksgiving Hymns from Qumran.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Books > Jacob
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Science
“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.”
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Science
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Jesus Christ > Childhood
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.
“Chapter 13: The Mormon View of the Book of Mormon” (1989)
“The Book of Mormon: A Minimal Statement” (2004)
Journal of the Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture Volume 19 Issue 1 (2010)
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 8, 498–532.
The Book of Mormon’s message of Christ specifically is to “show”—and “convince”—by a bulwark of historical evidence through which the doctrine must be considered. The ascension motif—“righteous man rising above the wicked world by supplicating God”—is repeated over and over. It is symbolic and warns mankind to spiritually break away from his real enemy, himself, in the world of sin.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Eschatology, Last Days
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Dead Sea Scrolls
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
Originally published in Sunstone (1988).
The Book of Mormon’s message of Christ specifically is to “show”—and “convince”—by a bulwark of historical evidence through which the doctrine must be considered. The ascension motif—“righteous man rising above the wicked world by supplicating God”—is repeated over and over. It is symbolic and warns mankind to spiritually break away from his real enemy, himself, in the world of sin.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Eschatology, Last Days
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
Part of a weekly lecture series featured on KSL radio.
A discussion about liberty and ancient beliefs involving such.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Prophets
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
The Book of Mormon is a prophetic book. It was written by prophets and about prophets. It was foreseen by prophets and foresees our day. It was brought forth by prophetic gifts for prophetic purposes. It speaks in a clarion voice of warning to those who would survive the last days. The articles in this volume, brought together under one cover for the first time, approach the Book of Mormon through a variety of prophetic themes. They speak out incisively on such topics as the prophecy of Ezekiel 37, internal and external evidences of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon, literary style in the Book of Mormon, ancient temples and the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Mormon’s teachings for the last days.
“The Mormon View of the Book of Mormon” (1967)
“The Book of Mormon: A Minimal Statement” (2004)
Journal of the Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture Volume 19 Issue 1 (2010)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Included as part of the foreword to The Prophetic Book of Mormon, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 8.
An edited version of a part of a weekly lecture series featured on KSL radio.
A discussion about liberty and ancient beliefs involving such.
482 pp. Transcripts of 29 lectures.
Hugh Nibley is one of the best-known and most highly revered of Latter-day Saint scholars. For over forty years this near-legendary teacher has enthralled his readers and listeners with his encyclopedic knowledge
Originally given as a radio address.
A chapter on the Book of Mormon as a witness of continuing revelation and God’s dealings with mankind.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy
473 pp. Transcripts of 27 lectures.
Hugh Nibley is one of the best-known and most highly revered of Latter-day Saint scholars. For over forty years this near-legendary teacher has enthralled his readers and listeners with his encyclopedic knowledge, his wit, and his untiring research in defense of Latter-day Saint beliefs. Now you can join Dr. Nibley in the second of four Honors Book of Mormon classes that he taught at BYU during 1988–90. Part two contains twenty-seven lectures focusing on Mosiah 6 through Alma 41. It is vintage Nibley, with his insights, humor, and passionate convictions, discussing a book that he loves and knows so well.
Book of Mormon Scriptures > Alma
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
360 pp. Transcripts of 29 lectures.
Hugh Nibley is one of the best-known and most highly revered of Latter-day Saint scholars. For over forty years, this near-legendary teacher has enthralled his readers and listeners with his encyclopedic knowledge, his wit, and his untiring research in defense of Latter-day Saint beliefs. Now you can join Dr. Nibley in the third of four Honors Book of Mormon classes that he taught at BYU during 1988–90. Part three contains twenty-nine lectures focusing on Alma 45 through 3 Nephi 20. It is vintage Nibley, with his insights, humor, and passionate convictions, discussing a book that he loves and knows so well.
Book of Mormon Scriptures > 3 Nephi
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
287 pp. Transcripts of 27 lectures with 5 lectures by John W. Welch.
Hugh Nibley is one of the best-known and most highly revered of Latter-day Saint scholars. For over forty years this near-legendary teacher has enthralled his readers and listeners with his encyclopedic knowledge, his wit, and his untiring research in defense of Latter-day Saint beliefs. Now you can join Dr. Nibley in the last of four Honors Book of Mormon classes that he taught at BYU during 1988–90. Part four covers 3 Nephi 6 through Moroni 10. It is vintage Nibley, with his insights, humor, and passionate convictions, discussing a book that he loves and knows so well.
Book of Mormon Scriptures > Moroni
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Also called “A Review of Book of Mormon Themes.“
I thought that since we are going to begin with Alma 46 and since I have not been looking especially at the Book of Mormon all summer, and neither have you, a review might be in order.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Dispensations, Axial Times
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 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 hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
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 introduction to the 1964 edition naming the impacts of the manual up to that point.
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
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 hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Early Christianity, Church Fathers, Patrologia
Originally published as “Lesson 3—An Auspicious Beginning“ in 1957.
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 hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
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 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.
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
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.
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
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 investigation into the peculiar social organization of Jerusalem and the social and political struggles that racked the city just before its fall.
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
Originally published in An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1957).
“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.
“
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Books > 1 Nephi
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Places > Old World > Jerusalem
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
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 study of Laban as an authentic man and what happened to the Jews at Jerusalem.
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
Originally published as a lesson in An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1957).
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Books > 1 Nephi
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
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 comparison between the Israelites many exoduses and the pioneers of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
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.
The Book of Mormon is a prophetic book. It was written by prophets and about prophets. It was foreseen by prophets and foresees our day. It was brought forth by prophetic gifts for prophetic purposes. It speaks in a clarion voice of warning to those who would survive the last days. The articles in this volume, brought together under one cover for the first time, approach the Book of Mormon through a variety of prophetic themes. They speak out incisively on such topics as the prophecy of Ezekiel 37, internal and external evidences of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon, literary style in the Book of Mormon, ancient temples and the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Mormon’s teachings for the last days.
Old Testament Scriptures > Ezekiel
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible > Old Testament > Characters > Ezekiel
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a prophetic book. It was written by prophets and about prophets. It was foreseen by prophets and foresees our day. It was brought forth by prophetic gifts for prophetic purposes. It speaks in a clarion voice of warning to those who would survive the last days. The articles in this volume, brought together under one cover for the first time, approach the Book of Mormon through a variety of prophetic themes. They speak out incisively on such topics as the prophecy of Ezekiel 37, internal and external evidences of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon, literary style in the Book of Mormon, ancient temples and the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Mormon’s teachings for the last days.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Discusses Nephi’s description of his father’s eight years of wandering in the desert versus what we know of the desert today and suggests that this gives us an all but foolproof test for the authenticity 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.
A discussion of Lehi’s avoidance with contact of other humans and suggests that, from what we know today, this is consistent with the behavior of modern Arabs and with known conditions in the desert in Lehi’s day.
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 devoted to pointing out the peculiar materials of which Lehi’s dreams are made, the images, situations, and dreamscenery which though typical 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.
Discusses Lehi’s eloquence an dsuggests that while it may appear at first glance to be most damning to the Book of Mormon, on closer inspection, it provides 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 the writer’s opinion, this lesson presents the most convincing evidence yet brought forth forthe 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 is based on extensive comparative studies which 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.“
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 which in the present century has been traced back to the oldest versions of the Babylonian Flood Story.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
A discussion of people throughout the Book of Mormon who appeal to “intellectuals” and how that is traced back to the “Jews of Jerusalem.”
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 exploration of crime in 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 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.
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.
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.
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 introduction to the first edition of An Approach to the Book of Mormon by Hugh Nibley.
Available for free at BYU ScholarsArchive.
A review of Since Cumorah, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 7.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley > Scholarship, Footnotes, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, CWHN, Editing > Book of Mormon
Ancient Near East
Books
Characters
Dead Sea Scrolls
History of Translation and Publication
Peoples
Places
Warfare
Brigham Young
Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints presents Hugh Nibley’s reflections on the thoughts of Brigham Young on politics, education, leadership, and the environment. The timeliness of Brigham’s counsel on these topics will quickly become apparent to readers, as will the unique insights that Nibley adds. This volume will amuse, provoke, challenge, and, above all, educate.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Zion, Babylon > Leaders and Managers
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning
4-page typescript of an address delivered on 9 June 1967.
An exploration into how Brigham Young fits the role of a theologian.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Doctrines, Principles > Theology
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning
Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints presents Hugh Nibley’s reflections on the thoughts of Brigham Young on politics, education, leadership, and the environment. The timeliness of Brigham’s counsel on these topics will quickly become apparent to readers, as will the unique insights that Nibley adds. This volume will amuse, provoke, and challenge and, above all, educate.
Statements on Brigham Young’s view of education.
“More Brigham Young on Education” (1976)
“More Brigham Young on Education” (1976)
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Doctrines, Principles > Plan of Salvation, Terrible Questions > Exaltation and Eternal Life
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Government, Politics
Originally presented as a talk published in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13 (1976).
An examination of how the Saints should understand involvement in politics, among other things, drawing upon the examples of Paul and Daniel.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Government, Politics
This could be Gillum’s “Mormons and the Environment” (a 23-page transcript of a talk given 19 September 1987); cf. “Man’s Dominion,” “Brigham Young on the Environment,” and “Stewardship of the Air.”
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.
Originally presented as a keynote address given on 11 April 1991 at the Associated Students Awards Assembly at Brigham Young University.
A discussion of Hugh Nibley’s experience visiting the Hopi and the truths he noticed they maintained as he watched their way of life.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Stewardship, Creation, Earth, Environment
Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints presents Hugh Nibley’s reflections on the thoughts of Brigham Young on politics, education, leadership, and the environment. The timeliness of Brigham’s counsel on these topics will quickly become apparent to readers, as will the unique insights that Nibley adds. This volume will amuse, provoke, and challenge and, above all, educate.
A discussion of Hugh Nibley’s experience visiting the Hopi and the truths he noticed they maintained as he watched their way of life.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Stewardship, Creation, Earth, Environment
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” (1972)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
Originally presented as an address delivered on June 7, 1967.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Government, Politics
Originally printed as an article in The Young Democrat.
A dive into Brigham Young’s ongoing battle with the devil.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Government, Politics
Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints presents Hugh Nibley’s reflections on the thoughts of Brigham Young on politics, education, leadership, and the environment. The timeliness of Brigham’s counsel on these topics will quickly become apparent to readers, as will the unique insights that Nibley adds. This volume will amuse, provoke, and challenge and, above all, educate.
An exhortation to turn the hearts of the men toward peace rather than toward war.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
Originally published as an Ensign article (July 1971).
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
Descriptions of Book of Mormon warfare match von Clausewitz’s principles very well. Again the internal evidence of the Book of Mormon establishes its accuracy in describing technical subjects unknown to Joseph Smith.
Compares the descriptions of warfare in the Book of Mormon with the writings and axioms of Karl von Clausewitz’s military treatise, Vom Kriege, that served the military as a bible for 150 years and was published in 1833.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Brigham Young
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
Originally presented as a talk delivered on June 6, 1967.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Zion, Babylon > Leaders and Managers
Statements on Brigham Young’s view of education.
“More Brigham Young on Education” (1976)
“More Brigham Young on Education” (1994)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning
Originally printed as “Educating the Saints: A Brigham Young Mosaic“ in BYU Studies in 1970.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning
Originally printed as “Educating the Saints: A Brigham Young Mosaic“ in BYU Studies in 1970.
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.
Criticsms and Apologetics
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
A discussion of how prophets are essential to a True Church.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Prophets
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.
A discussion of how prophets are essential to a True Church.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy
Leadership, Prophets, Apostles, Seventy, Bishops
Pioneers
Priesthood, Authority
Worldwide Growth
Classical Studies, Egyptian Studies
Hugh Nibley read a paper with the title “Acclamatio” at the annual meeting of the Southwest Archaeological Foundation in San Diego, California, in 1941.
In this essay, Nibley draws on materials he collected at the beginning of his career on the politics of ancient mobs and draws parallels with contemporary events, including anti-Mormon sentiments.
This article first appeared in the Ensign (September 1972), 46–49. It was reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 8, 265–73.
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?” (1972)
“Chapter 14: Ancient Temples: What Do They Signify?” (1989)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Classical Studies, Egyptian Studies
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples > Ritual Patterns, Great Year-Rites, Universal Gospel Culture
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.
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.
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.
Originally printed as an article in Western Political Quarterly.
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.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples > Ritual Patterns, Great Year-Rites, Universal Gospel Culture
“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.
This was originally printed in Western Political Quarterly 6, no. 4 (1953): 631–57.
Considers three significant aspects of the Roman loyalty program in the period designated.
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.
Originally published in BYU Studies (1969).
Nibley traces some interesting parallels in educational matters and especially in campus unrest in the decade after 1960 with the medieval world. — Midgley
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning > Brigham Young University (BYU)
The Egyptian delegates were visiting Utah on occasion of the Ramses II exhibit at BYU during 1985 and 1986. The dignitaries were His Excellency Ismail Abd El-Moeti; Consul General of the Arab Republic of Egypt; Dr. Gamal El-Din Mohktar, 1st Undersecretary of State, Former Chairman and Member of Executive Board of Directors of Egyptian Antiquities Organization; Dr. Ibrahim E.-Nawawy, Director General of Egyptian Museums, Egyptian Antiquities Organization; Dr. G. A. Gaballa, Vice Dean, Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, Member of the Executive Board of Directors of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization; General Fouad Alaam, Director of Tourism Police; and Mrs. Diane Smith Kadry, wife of Dr. Ahmed Kadry, the First Undersecretary of State and Chairman of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization.
This address was delivered during the Ramses II exhibit at BYU to a number of dignitaries from Egypt. cf. with “Perennial Egypt.” 19 pp., s.s., n.d., possibly given in connection with the Ramses II exhibit at BYU in 1985 and 1986.
The positive response generated by publication of Nibley’s “Bird Island“ (Dialogue X, No. 4) encouraged us to offer additional popular Nibley samizdat. Nibliophiles will be delighted to learn that events have overtaken us in this plan, and a volume of classic Nibley essays now has been published by BYU’s Religious Studies Center.* This collection, which begins with a new “intellectual autobiography” and ends with a comprehensive bibliography, includes such popular essays as “Educating theSaints,” “Beyond Politics” and “Subduing the Earth,”—as well as “Zeal Without Knowledge,” the Nibley classic reprinted here with the permission of the Religious Studies Center.
A study of utopias and attempted utopias throughout time and where they failed or succeeded to give an idea of how the ultimate utopia, Zion, will be.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Zion, Babylon > Wealth, Law of Consecration
Discusses the nature of satire.
“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.
Presentation to the American Historical Association.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Language > Rhetoric, Media, Advertising
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Language > Sophic , Mantic, Revelation, Reason
One Eternal Round is the culmination of Hugh Nibley’s thought on the book of Abraham and represents over fifteen years of research and writing. The volume includes penetrating insights into Egyptian pharaohs and medieval Jewish and Islamic traditions about Abraham; Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian myths; the Aztec calendar stone; Hopi Indian ceremonies; and early Jewish and Christian apocrypha, as well as the relationship of myth, ritual, and history.
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.
The Ancient State is a thought-provoking examination of aspects of ancient culture, from the use of marked arrows to the surprisingly universal conception of kinship, from arguments from various schools of philosophy to the rise of rhetoric. Hugh Nibley brings his usual meticulous research and scholarship to bear in this enlightening collection of essays and lectures.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
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.
Adds some notes to Mr. Warren Blake’s study of the life and works of Joseph Justs Scaliger to correct some common misconceptions.
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.
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.
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
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning > Brigham Young University (BYU)
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.
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.
The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
In December 1832, the Lord instructed the Prophet Joseph Smith, “Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” Few members of the Church have followed that admonition as faithfully as has Hugh Nibley, emeritus professor of ancient history at Brigham Young University. As a young man he memorized vast portions of Shakespeare and studied Old English, Latin, Greek and other languages. As a student at Berkeley, in he began reading the southwest corner of the ninth level of the library and worked his way down to the northeast corner of the first level, studying every significant book that caught his eye. And throughout his life, he has related everything he has learned to the greatest knowledge of all-the word of the Lord, as revealed in the scriptures and in the temple. Not content with that, however, Dr. Nibley has dedicated himself to being a teacher, to sharing with others the knowledge he has gleaned through his vast studies. He has lectured and published widely, producing more than three hundred papers and books on a wide variety of subjects.
Old Testament Topics > Old Testament: Overviews and Manuals
Old Testament Topics > Symposia and Collections of Essays
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
From the outset of his career, Dr. Hugh Nibley has been centrally concerned with primitive Christianity, especially the shadowy era between the New Testament proper and the emergence and the triumph of the Catholic Church and Holy Roman Empire. That is the era treated in the nine essays collected in this volume. 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. Each essay examines the close connection between the practices and the doctrines of the early Church and the Church of the latter days. Each essay has been reedited, and all the original sources have been rechecked.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Early Christianity, Church Fathers, Patrologia
In the Book of Moses, part of the Latter-day Saint scriptural canon known as the Pearl of Great Price, are what the Prophet Joseph Smith entitled “extracts from the prophecy of Enoch.” These scriptures, says the eminent Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley, “supply us with the most valuable control yet on the bona fides of the Prophet. . . . We are to test. . . . ‘How does it compare with records known to be authentic?’ The excerpts offer the nearest thing to a perfectly foolproof test—neat, clear-cut, and decisive—of Joseph Smith’s claim to inspiration.”
In Enoch the Prophet, Dr. Nibley examines and defends that claim by examining Joseph Smith’s translations in the context of recently discovered apocryphal sources.
This book contains a collection of various comparisons of the Enoch materials in the Book of Moses with the Slavonic and Ethiopic Enoch texts and other related materials and lore from antiquity, showing the possibility that Joseph Smith’s book of Enoch could be authentic ancient text.
Book of Moses Topics > Chapters of the Book of Moses > Moses 6:13–7 — Enoch
Old Testament Topics > Enoch
Old Testament Topics > Symposia and Collections of Essays
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Characters > Enoch
A collection of miscellaneous essays on Zion and related topics.
Approaching Zion is LDS scholar and social critic Hugh Nibley’s most popular book. More accessible than many of his scholarly works, it is replete with Nibley’s trademark humor and startling insights into history, religion and life.
Most of the essays in this book were originally delivered as speeches. In Approaching Zion, Hugh Nibley gives thinkers reason to believe and believers something to think about.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Zion, Babylon
This is a republication of a corrected version of what were originally a series of talks given over KSL under the title “Time Vindicates the Prophets” and then published under that title in pamphlet form as well as in book form, as The World and the Prophets, both in 1954. A second expanded edition of the book was published in 1962. This edition includes a new foreword by R. Douglas Phillips.
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 (1987)
The World and the Prophets (1962)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Doctrines, Principles > Plan of Salvation, Terrible Questions > Stage Without a Play
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Prophets
Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints presents Hugh Nibley’s reflections on the thoughts of Brigham Young on politics, education, leadership, and the environment. The timeliness of Brigham’s counsel on these topics will quickly become apparent to readers, as will the unique insights that Nibley adds. This volume will amuse, provoke, challenge, and, above all, educate.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
Hugh Nibley is probably still best known for his groundbreaking investigations into the ancient Near Eastern backgrounds of Lehi and of the Jaredites. Those classic studies are contained in this volume—the first of several books to appear in the volumes of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley that deal with the Book of Mormon.
“Lehi in the Desert” (1950)
“The World of the Jaredites” (1951)
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
Old Testament Topics > Symposia and Collections of Essays
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
In the tradition of Approaching Zion, this book represents Nibley at his best. It is loaded with stunning insights on the temple, trenchant social commentary, and fascinating autobiographical details.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley
Originally published in 1957 as a Melchizedek Priesthood manual. A revised edition of the book was published under the same title by the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the lesson manual for the Melchizedek Priesthood quorums in 1957; a second edition was printed by Deseret Book in 1964; and it was reprinted in 1976 in the Classics of Mormon Literature series.
An Approach to the Book of Mormon is Dr. Hugh Nibley’s classic work on the Book of Mormon. A gifted scholar with expertise in ancient languages, literature, and history, Nibley shows numerous details in the Book of Mormon narrative to be in accord with cultural traits of the Middle East.
An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1957)
An Approach to the Book of Mormon (1964)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
A hundred years ago, the Book of Mormon was regarded by the scholarly world as an odd text that simply did not fit their understanding of the ancient world. Since that time, however, numerous ancient records have come to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts. These discoveries have forced scholars to change their views of history, and they place the Book of Mormon in a new light as well. That is why respected Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley wrote Since Cumorah, a brilliant literary, theological, and historical evaluation of the Book of Mormon as an ancient book.
This is a revised and corrected edition of the book published under the same title by Deseret Book in 1967, with many changes, taken from a series in Improvement Era that appeared in 1964–66.
The Book of Mormon is a prophetic book. It was written by prophets and about prophets. It was foreseen by prophets and foresees our day. It was brought forth by prophetic gifts for prophetic purposes. It speaks in a clarion voice of warning to those who would survive the last days. The articles in this volume, brought together under one cover for the first time, approach the Book of Mormon through a variety of prophetic themes. They speak out incisively on such topics as the prophecy of Ezekiel 37, internal and external evidences of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon, literary style in the Book of Mormon, ancient temples and the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Mormon’s teachings for the last days.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
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.
The Ancient State is a thought-provoking examination of aspects of ancient culture, from the use of marked arrows to the surprisingly universal conception of kinship, from arguments from various schools of philosophy to the rise of rhetoric. Hugh Nibley brings his usual meticulous research and scholarship to bear in this enlightening collection of essays and lectures.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). Since then, the terms tinkling cymbals and sounding brass have often been used to signify words of emptiness and confusion—describing perfectly most writings critical of the Latter-day Saints.
Trained in history and interested in classical rhetoric, Hugh Nibley brings a broad perspective to his study of anti-Mormon writings. Included in this volume are:“No Ma’am, that’s Not History,” “Censoring the Joseph Smith Story,” “The Myth Makers,” and “Sounding Brass”
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Brigham Young > Criticsms and Apologetics > Ann Eliza Young
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Joseph Smith > Criticisms, Apologetics
In Temple and Cosmos, Brother Nibley explains the relationship of the House of the Lord to the cosmos. In “Temple,” the first part of the volume, he focuses on the nature, meaning, and history of the temple, discussing such topics as sacred vestments, the circle and the square, and the symbolism of the temple and its ordinances. In the second part, “Cosmos,” he discusses the cosmic context of the temple-the expanding gospel, apocryphal writings, religion and history, the genesis of the written word, cultural diversity in the universal church, and the terrible questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going?
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Science > Cosmology, Creation, Treasures in the Heavens
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
Considered by many to be a classic in LDS literature, this new edition of Abraham in Egypt [published in association with the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS)] contains all the material from the first edition as well as additions from Nibley’s 1968–70 Improvement Era series “A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price.”
In 1968–70, Hugh Nibley wrote a series of articles for the Improvement Era titled “A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price.” Brother Nibley asked that some of these articles be made into chapters to be added to Abraham in Egypt. These new chapters are what constitutes the new edition; no changes were made to the original chapters. For the articles, Nibley drew from many Jewish and rabbinical sources, while his work in the first edition was based on Egyptian material.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible > Old Testament > Characters > Abraham, Sarah, Abram, Sarai
Old Testament Topics > Symposia and Collections of Essays
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Characters > Abraham, Sarah, Abram, Sarai
Much can be learned from the New Testament and other early Christian sources about the powers, duties, and desired attributes of those who originally held the offices of apostle and bishop. Catholics claim that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, and Eastern Orthodox Christians assert that he was the first bishop of Antioch. But does either position reflect the apostolic or episcopal offices completely or correctly? What was the role of bishops, and what was their relationship with apostles in the early Christian church? Hugh Nibley sheds light on this challenging and intriguing topic.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Early Christianity, Church Fathers, Patrologia
This is the first and still the only book-length commentary on the Joseph Smith Papyri. In this long-awaited new edition, with expanded text and numerous illustrations, Professor Nibley shows that the papyri are not the source of the Book of Abraham. Rather than focusing on what the papyri are not, as most commentators have done, Nibley masterfully explores what the papyri are and what they meant in ancient times. He demonstrates how these ancient Egyptian papyri contain a message that is of particular interest to Latter-day Saints.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Joseph Smith Papyri, Book of Breathings, Book of the Dead, Facsimiles, Egyptology, Hypocephalus
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples > Endowment
This volume contains diverse essays, including Nibley’s “A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price,” a three-year series of lengthy articles from the Improvement Era. According to Nibley, “Until now, no one has done much more than play around with the bedizening treasury of the Pearl of Great Price. They would not, we could not, make of the Book of Abraham an object of serious study. The time has come to change all that.”
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham
One Eternal Round is the culmination of Hugh Nibley’s thought on the book of Abraham and represents over fifteen years of research and writing. The volume includes penetrating insights into Egyptian pharaohs and medieval Jewish and Islamic traditions about Abraham; Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian myths; the Aztec calendar stone; Hopi Indian ceremonies; and early Jewish and Christian apocrypha, as well as the relationship of myth, ritual, and history.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Joseph Smith Papyri, Book of Breathings, Book of the Dead, Facsimiles, Egyptology, Hypocephalus
Comparative Analysis
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.
A combination of two articles originally published in the Improvement Era’s series titled “Mixed Voices“ on Book of Mormon Criticism, which ran October–November 1959.
The good and bad sides of comparing the Book of Mormon to other works.
Criticisms, Apologetics
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
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Criticisms, Apologetics
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.
Originally published in the Improvement Era in July 1959.
A look into how and where anti-Mormon sources get their ideas and information, and how to protect against them.
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.
A response to each of the essays in Tinkling Cymbals (privately printed, 1978), which was a collection of essays honoring Nibley.
New to this edition is Gary Gillum’s “Hugh Nibley: Scholar of the Spirit, Missionary of the Mind”; the bibliography has been dropped.
The essays in this volume, including four on today’s world, were selected by a panel of Hugh Nibley’s colleagues. They are singular in their penetration, their originality, and their vitality. Reaching from the apocalyptic visions of original “treasures in heaven” down to the climax of history, they are more than mind-stretching. The delight of Nibley’s brilliant and sometimes biting prose style imparts a sense of the agelessness of what he calls the “three-act play” of human existence. Written specially for this book, the author’s own “intellectual autobiography,” together with his introductory paragraphs for the various chapters, complete the work of making the book a fitting and permanent record of one of the past outstanding historians
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Criticisms, Apologetics
Sterling M. McMurrin
Dead Sea Scrolls
Some brief references to the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
Some brief references to the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
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 W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > 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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
Reprinted as “The Haunted Wilderness,” in Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless (1978).
Reprinted from Qumran and the Companions of the Cave.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Dead Sea Scrolls
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
As evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah was subject to the same abridging as the Book of Mormon prophets
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
In Temple and Cosmos, Brother Nibley explains the relationship of the House of the Lord to the cosmos. In Temple, the first part of the volume, he focuses on the nature, meaning, and history of the temple, discussing such topics as sacred vestments, the circle and the square, and the symbolism of the temple and its ordinances. In the second part, Cosmos, he discusses the cosmic context of the temple-the expanding gospel, apocryphal writings, religion and history, the genesis of the written word, cultural diversity in the universal church, and the terrible questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going?
Old Testament Topics > Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha [including intertestamental books and the Dead Sea Scrolls]
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Dead Sea Scrolls
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples > Ordinances
Can also be accessed at https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sba/vol2/iss1/5.
Hugh Nibley, late professor of ancient history and religion at Brigham Young University and one of the foremost scholars of the ancient world in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, discussed the Rule of the Community in an appendix to his 1975 book The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri. The Joseph Smith Papyri is an initiatory text; the Rule of the Community is both an initiatory text, enumerating details for entrance into the Essene community at Qumran, and a covenant document, listing elements in the covenant made between God and individuals entering the Essene community at Qumran. This piece is an excerpt from the appendix of his text mentioned above and outlines the various aspects of this Rule of the Community as found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QS).
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples
Characters
Death and Funerals
Talk given at the services for Donald M. Decker on 11 August 1982.
A series of haunting reflections on the stages of life and the meaning of the experiences that each affords an individual as they pass from one stage to another, including death.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Doctrines, Principles > First Principles > Repentance
Originally presented as a talk given at the services for Donald M. Decker on 11 August 1982.
A series of haunting reflections on the stages of life and the meaning of the experiences that each affords an individual as they pass from one stage to another, including death.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Doctrines, Principles > First Principles > Repentance
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness:Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 17.
Joel Erik Myres was married to Nibley’s granddaughter, Natalie Mincek.
Originally presented as a talk at Joel Erik Myres’ funeral.
Joel Erik Myres was married to Nibley’s granddaughter, Natalie Mincek.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Doctrines, Principles > Plan of Salvation, Terrible Questions > Death
One of the stunning aspects of Dr. Hugh Nibley’s genius was his persistent sense of wonder. That trait induced him to range widely through very disparate subjects of study—all covered in volume 17 of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple. In this compilation of materials, most of which have been published previously outside the Collected Works volumes, Nibley explores the ancient Egyptians, the temple, the life sciences, world literature, ancient Judaism, and Joseph Smith and the Restoration. The contents of this volume illustrate the breadth of his interest through autobiographical sketches, interviews, book reviews, forewords to books, letters, memorial tributes, Sunday School lessons, and various writings about the temple.
Doctrine and Covenants
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.
The “A” file is very good but only covers about 30 minutes while the “B” file covers 45 minutes but has pretty poor quality.
The “A” file is very good but only covers about 30 minutes while the “B” file covers 45 minutes but has pretty poor quality.
Sections
Doctrines, Principles
Education, Learning
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning
Statements on Brigham Young’s view of education.
“More Brigham Young on Education” (1976)
“More Brigham Young on Education” (1994)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning
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 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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning
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)
Originally printed as “Educating the Saints: A Brigham Young Mosaic“ in BYU Studies in 1970.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Education, Learning
Reprinted in Approaching Zion, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, vol. 9. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 63–84.
“This talk was given on request as part of the celebration of Academic Emphasis Week. Once a year, for a whole week, our students are free
to turn their minds to things of an intellectual nature without shame or embarrassment. After this cerebral saturnalia, the young people mostly return to their normal patterns: concealing the neglect of hard scholarship by the claim to spirituality and strict standards of dress and grooming. Yet from time to time a student will confess to wayward twinges of
thought and find himself wondering, “If ‘The Glory of God Is Intelligence’ (our school motto) might there not be some possible connection between intelligence and spirituality?” Under temporary license from
the Academics Committee, we have presumed to touch upon this sensitive theme.
“
“Zeal without Knowledge” (1975)
“Zeal without Knowledge” (1978)
“3: Zeal Without Knowledge” (1989)
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)
Chapter 3. The positive response generated by publication of Nibley’s “Bird Island“ (DialogueX, No. 4) encouraged us to offer additional popular Nibley samizdat. Nibliophiles will be delighted to learn that events have overtaken us in this plan, and a volume of classic Nibley essays now has been published by BYU’s Religious Studies Center.* This collection, which begins with a new “intellectual autobiography” and ends with a comprehensive bibliography, includes such popular essays as “Educating theSaints,” “Beyond Politics” and “Subduing the Earth,”—as well as “Zeal Without Knowledge,” the Nibley classic reprinted here with the permission of the Religious Studies Center.
Talks about the limitations of the human mind and how those limitations prove our true values in this life.
“Zeal without Knowledge” (1975)
“Zeal without Knowledge” (1978)
“Zeal without Knowledge” (2004)
One of the stunning aspects of Dr. Hugh Nibley’s genius was his persistent sense of wonder. That trait induced him to range widely through very disparate subjects of study—all covered in volume 17 of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple. In this compilation of materials, most of which have been published previously outside the Collected Works volumes, Nibley explores the ancient Egyptians, the temple, the life sciences, world literature, ancient Judaism, and Joseph Smith and the Restoration. The contents of this volume illustrate the breadth of his interest through autobiographical sketches, interviews, book reviews, forewords to books, letters, memorial tributes, Sunday School lessons, and various writings about the temple.
Addressed to “Dear Brother Burgon,” dated 29 July 1960, with a cover letter, addressed to “Dear Brother . . .,” 1 pp., dated 3 August 1960.
Brigham Young University (BYU)
Scholarship
Government, Politics
This talk was given on 26 October 1973 to the Pi Sigma Alpha honor society in the Political Science Department at Brigham Young University. It first appeared in BYU Studies 15/1 (1974) and was reprinted in Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1978) and in the second edition of that volume in 2004. It is reprinted here with minor technical editing.
In most languages, the Church is designated as that of the last days, so this speech—which is only a pastiche of quotations from its founders—is unblushingly apocalyptic. Did our grandparents overreact to signs of the times? For many years, a stock cartoon in sophisticated magazines has poked fun at the barefoot, bearded character in the long nightshirt carrying a placard calling all to “Repent, for the End is at Hand.” But where is the joke? Ask the smart people who thought up the funny pictures and captions: Where are they now?
“Beyond Politics” (1974)
“Beyond Politics” (2004)
“Beyond Politics” (2011)
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)
A talk originally given on 26 October 1973 to the Pi Sigma Alpha society in the Political Science Department at BYU.
Politics defined as the self-interested activity of the city of man is opposed to the ways of the city of God, resulting in conflicting obligations. God’s hand is evident in virtuous governments and laws, but human institutions inexorably deteriorate. Fateful developments are reviewed, including man’s refusal to repent. Final relief of woes lies beyond politics in the next world.
“Beyond Politics” (1974)
“Beyond Politics” (2004)
“Beyond Politics” (2011)
A talk originally given on 26 October 1973 to the Pi Sigma Alpha society in the Political Science Department at BYU.
In most languages, the Church is designated as that of the last days, so this speech—which is only a pastiche of quotations from its founders—is unblushingly apocalyptic. Did our grandparents overreact to signs of the times? For many years, a stock cartoon in sophisticated magazines has poked fun at the barefoot, bearded character in the long nightshirt carrying a placard calling all to “Repent, for the End is at Hand.” But where is the joke? Ask the smart people who thought up the funny pictures and captions: Where are they now?
“Beyond Politics” (1974)
“Beyond Politics” (2011)
“Beyond Politics” (2011)
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Government, Politics
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley.
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 17, 196–227.
Hugh Nibley discusses the last days based on his own thoughts and actively avoiding quotes from others (unless they pop up from memory).
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Eschatology, Last Days
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Government, Politics
Originally presented as a talk published in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13 (1976).
An examination of how the Saints should understand involvement in politics, among other things, drawing upon the examples of Paul and Daniel.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Government, Politics
Originally presented as an address delivered on June 7, 1967.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Government, Politics
History
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.
Originally published in a pamphlet from the Great Issues Forum in 1955.
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.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy
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.
Ancient Near East History
Christian History, Apostasy
Jewish History
History of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
Review of “Hugh Nibley’s Footnotes” (2008), by Ronald V. Huggins.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley > Scholarship, Footnotes, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, CWHN, Editing
Originally presented as “Editing Hugh Nibley: From Manuscript to Book,“ a talk at a conference held by the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) in Salt Lake City.
A reflection on the author’s time as an editor working on Hugh Nibley’s books.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley > Scholarship, Footnotes, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, CWHN, Editing
Originally a talk given at an event held in honor of what would have been Hugh Nibley’s 100th birthday.
A look into the many works of Hugh Nibley.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley > Scholarship, Footnotes, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, CWHN, Editing
Hugh Nibley
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley
This review enthusiastically endorses Boyd Petersen’s biography of his father-in-law, Hugh Nibley. Petersen intersperses narrative chapters with thematic ones in Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life.
The first of eight weekly blog posts published in honor of the life and work of Hugh Nibley (1910–2005). Each week our post will be accompanied by interviews and insights in pdf, audio, and video form.
An introduction to the new book Hugh Nibley Observed and quotes about who Hugh Nibley was in life.
Access this video on YouTube.
This video asks the question, “Have Latter-day Saints Forgotten Hugh Nibley?” and gives several reasons why his amazing work will continue to inspire others for many generations to come.
“Why Is Hugh Nibley More Important Now Than Ever?” (2021)
“A Conversation about Hugh Nibley with Daniel C. Peterson” (2021)
The Daily Universe is an educational lab tied to the curriculum of the journalism sequence in the BYU School of Communications and is committed to the mission of BYU and its sponsoring institution, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
An overview of Hugh Nibley’s accomplishments as tribute for his ninetieth birthday.
A summary of Hugh Nibley’s vindication of Joseph Smith’s character, as told to the article’s writer by Richard Bushman.
An essay written about a painted portrait of Hugh Nibley.
A look into Hugh Nibley’s life.
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 17. 80–82.
Johnston, a staff reporter for the Deseret News, conducted a series of interviews concerning the reading habits of prominent Utahns. This was the eighth in the series. Nibley listed, as his favorite books, the following: (1) Shakespeare, Complete Works; (2) Book of Mormon; (3) Homer, Odyssey; (4) Goethe, Faust; (5) Gaius Petronius, Satyricon; (6) Jean Froissart, Chronicles. Nibley also said that by age thirteen, he knew Macbeth by heart and tried to learn Hamlet but found it too long.
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 17.
Review of Hugh Nibley. Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 17.
Reprinted in 2021.
Originally published in By Study and Also By Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, 27 March 1990 vol. 1.
The most recent and most complete Nibley bibliography, updated from the 2010 version.
Found in the “Faith” section of the journal.
An explanation of what questions Hugh Nibley would ask and what types of things he would look for in his studies.
In the tradition of Approaching Zion, this book represents Nibley at his best. It is loaded with stunning insights on the temple, trenchant social commentary, and fascinating autobiographical details.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley
This is the first and still the only book-length commentary on the Joseph Smith Papyri. In this long-awaited new edition, with expanded text and numerous illustrations, Professor Nibley shows that the papyri are not the source of the Book of Abraham. Rather than focusing on what the papyri are not, as most commentators have done, Nibley masterfully explores what the papyri are and what they meant in ancient times. He demonstrates how these ancient Egyptian papyri contain a message that is of particular interest to Latter-day Saints.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples > Ancient Temples
Interview by Lin Ostler Strack.
A tribute to Hugh Nibley around his 90th birthday.
This essay, originally prepared for Nibley’s seventy-fifth birthday, was previously published in By Study and Also by Faith vol. 1 and is reprinted with permission.
Remarks prepared for Hugh Nibley’s seventy-fifth birthday.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley > Biographies, Reviews of Biographies, Biographical Essays, Biographical Remarks
This essay was originally prepared for Nibley’s seventy-fifth birthday and was previously published in By Study and Also by Faith vol. 1.
Praise and thoughts regarding Hugh Nibley around his seventy-fifth birthday.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley > Biographies, Reviews of Biographies, Biographical Essays, Biographical Remarks
Bibliographies
Biographies, Reviews of Biographies, Biographical Essays, Biographical Remarks
Death and Funeral Services
Discipleship
Commemorative Events, Awards, Honors
Folklore
Interviews
Personal Appreciations
Quotations
Scholarship, Footnotes, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, CWHN, Editing
Humanism
Humor, Satire
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Humor, Satire
Two slightly different versions of this have been preserved and circulated.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Language > Satire
Islam
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.
Follows Eduard Meyer’s Ursprung und Geschichte der Mormonen to compare Mohammad with Joseph Smith.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Joseph Smith > Criticisms, Apologetics > Eduard Meyer
Israel, 20th century
Hugh Nibley speaks about the history and theology surrounding the highly coveted city of Jerusalem and the hope for peace there one day.
Jesus Christ
Joseph Smith
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 17. 177–95.
Lays out answers to criticisms about Joseph Smith.
“Not to Worry” (1994)
“Not to Worry” (2008)
Reprinted in Expressions of Faith: Testimonies of Latter-day Saint Scholars.
Lays out answers to criticisms about Joseph Smith.
“Not to Worry” (1996)
“Not to Worry” (2008)
One of the stunning aspects of Dr. Hugh Nibley’s genius was his persistent sense of wonder. That trait induced him to range widely through very disparate subjects of study—all covered in volume 17 of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple. In this compilation of materials, most of which have been published previously outside the Collected Works volumes, Nibley explores the ancient Egyptians, the temple, the life sciences, world literature, ancient Judaism, and Joseph Smith and the Restoration. The contents of this volume illustrate the breadth of his interest through autobiographical sketches, interviews, book reviews, forewords to books, letters, memorial tributes, Sunday School lessons, and various writings about the temple.
Lays out answers to criticisms about Joseph Smith.
“Not to Worry” (1994)
“Not to Worry” (1996)
Hugh Nibley defends Joseph Smith as a prophet by refuting so-called “evidence“ set forth about the origin of the Book of Abraham.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Criticisms, Apologetics
Language
Arabic
Records, Writing
Rhetoric, Media, Advertising
Satire
Sophic , Mantic, Revelation, Reason
Translation
Pearl of Great Price
“On the Pearl of Great Price,” 34 pp.
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Hugh Nibley discusses the military strategy and tactics of the wars in the Book of Mormon compared to other modern and ancient warfare.
Published as Ancient Documents and the Pearl of Great Price.
Dr. Hugh W. Nibley, professor emeritus of ancient scriptures at Brigham Young University, gave the following twenty-six lectures in an honors class on The Pearl of Great Price. This class was videotaped in the Maesar Building during winter semester 1986 and the text was then transcribed and is included here in this book.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Characters > Adam, Eve
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 3
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 3
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Science > Cosmology, Creation, Treasures in the Heavens
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 2
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 3
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Doctrines, Principles > Plan of Salvation, Terrible Questions > Preexistence, Premortal Life
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 3
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Doctrines, Principles > Plan of Salvation, Terrible Questions > Preexistence, Premortal Life
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 3
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 2
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 1
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Science > Cosmology, Creation, Treasures in the Heavens
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 1
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Science > Cosmology, Creation, Treasures in the Heavens
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 1
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Science > Cosmology, Creation, Treasures in the Heavens
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 3
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 1
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Characters > Moses
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Characters > Adam, Eve
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 5
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Characters > Cain
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Zion, Babylon > Mahan Principle
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Characters > Adam, Eve
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Characters > Enoch
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Characters > Enoch
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 1
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Chapters > Abraham 2
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Abraham > Characters > Abraham, Sarah, Abram, Sarai
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 8
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Characters > Noah, Ham, Shem, Japheth
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Bible > New Testament > Books > Matthew
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > History > Christian History, Apostasy > Eschatology, Last Days
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price
The volume “An Approach to the Book of Abraham” contains diverse essays, including his three-year series of lengthy articles from Improvement Era, “A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price.” According to Nibley, “Until now, no one has done much more than play around with the bedizening treasury of the Pearl of Great Price. They would not, we could not make of the Book of Abraham an object of serious study. The time has come to change all that.”
Suggests that scholars are only knowledgeable in a small field and, as such, should not be held to be the expert to everything.
Book of Abraham
Reviews and Forewords of Others’ Works
Avraham Gileadi
C. Wilfred Griggs
C. Wilfred Griggs, Randall Stewart
Edward A. Shils
Eugene England
James W. Lucas, Warner P. Woodworth
John Gee
Joseph Ward Swain
M. Wells Jakeman
Philip K. Hitti
Sidney B. Sperry
T. Cuyler Young
Wulf Barsch
Science
“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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Science
“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.”
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Science
Cosmology, Creation, Treasures in the Heavens
Evolution, Origin of Humankind
Mathematics, Geometry
Technology, Automation
Stewardship, Creation, Earth, Environment
Hugh Nibley cared deeply about creation and was passionate about our stewardship over the earth. His arguments in defense of the environment were informed by the disciplines he knew best: history, philosophy, and theology. From his study, research, and reasoning, Nibley drew several principles that seem to have directed his thoughts and crafted his sense of environmental stewardship. Four of these principles are discussed in this paper: (1) humankind has a divine mandate to properly care for creation; (2) humankind’s spiritual health and environmental heath are linked; (3) creation obeys, reverences, and provides for humankind, as humankind righteously cares for creation; and (4) humankind should not sacrifice environmental health for temporal wealth.
A review of Hugh Nibley’s thoughts and writings on the environment.
Hugh W. Nibley (1910–2005) was arguably the most brilliant Latter-day Saint scholar of the 20th century, with wide-ranging interests in scripture, history, and social issues. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley comprise nineteen weighty volumes. But he was also one of the most enigmatic observers of the Church. In this volume readers will discover that the personal stories and perspectives behind the scholarship are sometimes even more captivating than his brilliant and witty intellectual breakthroughs. This comprehensive three-part collection of essays sheds fascinating new light on Hugh Nibley as a scholar and a man. Part 1, entitled “Portraits,” contains the first collection of observations—a “spiritual” portrait of Hugh Nibley by his close friend and colleague John W. “Jack” Welch, a description of the physical portrait by Rebecca Everett hanging in the Hugh Nibley Ancient Studies room at Brigham Young University, and a biographical portrait by Hugh himself. Part 2, “Nibley, the Scholar,” contains expanded and updated versions of the almost forgotten audio and video recordings of the BYU Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship lecture series celebrating the centennial of Nibley’s birth in 2010. An additional set of chapters on Nibley’s scholarship rounds out this collection. Part 3, “Nibley, the Man,” includes tributes given by family members and others at Nibley’s funeral service. A series of entertaining personal stories, reminiscences, and folklore accounts concludes the volume.
A review of Hugh Nibley’s thoughts and writings on the environment.
Pointed social commentary concerning the state of the natural environment.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Stewardship, Creation, Earth, Environment
Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints presents Hugh Nibley’s reflections on the thoughts of Brigham Young on politics, education, leadership, and the environment. The timeliness of Brigham’s counsel on these topics will quickly become apparent to readers, as will the unique insights that Nibley adds. This volume will amuse, provoke, and challenge and, above all, educate.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Stewardship, Creation, Earth, Environment
A letter of protest about the South Campus Area Master Plan signed by Hugh and Phyllis Nibley and other individuals.
Reprinted in New Genesis: A Mormon Reader on Land and Community, ed. Terry Tempest Williams (Salt Lake City: Gibbs-Smith, 1998), 114–29.
A brief discussion on Brigham Young’s warnings that mining would destroy the air in Deseret.
Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints presents Hugh Nibley’s reflections on the thoughts of Brigham Young on politics, education, leadership, and the environment. The timeliness of Brigham’s counsel on these topics will quickly become apparent to readers, as will the unique insights that Nibley adds. This volume will amuse, provoke, and challenge and, above all, educate.
A brief discussion on Brigham Young’s warnings that mining would destroy the air in Deseret.
A discussion of Hugh Nibley’s experience visiting the Hopi and the truths he noticed they maintained as he watched their way of life.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Stewardship, Creation, Earth, Environment
Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints presents Hugh Nibley’s reflections on the thoughts of Brigham Young on politics, education, leadership, and the environment. The timeliness of Brigham’s counsel on these topics will quickly become apparent to readers, as will the unique insights that Nibley adds. This volume will amuse, provoke, and challenge and, above all, educate.
A discussion of Hugh Nibley’s experience visiting the Hopi and the truths he noticed they maintained as he watched their way of life.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Stewardship, Creation, Earth, Environment
The essays in this volume, including four on today’s world, were selected by a panel of Hugh Nibley’s colleagues. They are singular in their penetration, their originality, and their vitality. Reaching from the apocalyptic visions of original “treasures in heaven” down to the climax of history, they are more than mind-stretching. The delight of Nibley’s brilliant and sometimes biting prose style imparts a sense of the agelessness of what he calls the “three-act play” of human existence. Written specially for this book, the author’s own “intellectual autobiography,” together with his introductory paragraphs for the various chapters, complete the work of making the book a fitting and permanent record of one of the past outstanding historians
Ever since the days of the Prophet Joseph, presidents of the Church have appealed to the Saints to be magnanimous and forbearing toward all of God’s creatures. But in the great West, where everything was up for grabs, it was more than human nature could endure to be left out of the great grabbing game, especially when one happened to get there first, as the Mormons often did. One morning, just a week after we had moved into our house on Seventh North, as I was leaving for work, I found a group of shouting, arm-waving boys gathered around the big fir tree in the front yard. They had sticks and stones, and in a state of high excitement were fiercely attacking the lowest branches of the tree, which hung to the ground. Why? I asked. There was a quail in the tree, they said in breathless zeal, a quail! Of course, said I, what is wrong with that? But don’t you see, it is a live quail? A wild one! So they just had to kill it. They were on their way to the old B. Y. High School and were Boy Scouts. Does this story surprise you? What surprised me was when I later went to Chicago and saw squirrels running around the city parks in broad daylight; they would not last a day in Provo. Like Varro’s patrician friends, we have taught our children by precept and example that every living thing exists to be converted into cash, and that whatever would not yield a return should be quickly exterminated to make way for creatures that do. (We have referred to this elsewhere as the Mahan Principle; Moses 5:31.) I have heard influential Latter-day Saints express this philosophy. The earth is our enemy, I was taught does it not bring forth noxious weeds to afflict and torment man? And who cared if his allergies were the result of the Fall, man’s own doing? But one thing worried me: if God were to despise all things beneath Him, as we do, where would that leave us? Inquiring about today, one discovers that many Latter-day Saints feel that the time has come to put an end to the killing.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Chapters > Moses 4
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Pearl of Great Price > Book of Moses > Characters > Adam, Eve
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Stewardship, Creation, Earth, Environment
Temples
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)
Reprinted from “What Is a Temple?” (1963 and 1968). Also reprinted in Mormonism and Early Christianity, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 4. 355–70. 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)
What Is a Temple? The Idea of the Temple in History (1968)
Mormonism and Early Christianity (1987)
RSC Topics > T — Z > Temples
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
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)
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.
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
In Temple and Cosmos, Brother Nibley explains the relationship of the House of the Lord to the cosmos. In “Temple,” the first part of the volume, he focuses on the nature, meaning, and history of the temple, discussing such topics as sacred vestments, the circle and the square, and the symbolism of the temple and its ordinances. In the second part, “Cosmos,” he discusses the cosmic context of the temple-the expanding gospel, apocryphal writings, religion and history, the genesis of the written word, cultural diversity in the universal church, and the terrible questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going?
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (CWHN)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Science > Cosmology, Creation, Treasures in the Heavens
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
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)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
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” (1972)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 17.
A discussion of temples, especially the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple.
Originally published in Temples of the Ancient World, 1994.
A discussion of temples, especially the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple.
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
30 pamphlets, weekly radio addresses from 7 March to 17 October.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
In Temple and Cosmos, Brother Nibley explains the relationship of the House of the Lord to the cosmos. In Temple, the first part of the volume, he focuses on the nature, meaning, and history of the temple, discussing such topics as sacred vestments, the circle and the square, and the symbolism of the temple and its ordinances. In the second part, Cosmos, he discusses the cosmic context of the temple-the expanding gospel, apocryphal writings, religion and history, the genesis of the written word, cultural diversity in the universal church, and the terrible questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going?
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Book of Mormon > Ancient Near East
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
Uses science to find more of the meaning of the temple.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
In Temple and Cosmos, Brother Nibley explains the relationship of the House of the Lord to the cosmos. In Temple, the first part of the volume, he focuses on the nature, meaning, and history of the temple, discussing such topics as sacred vestments, the circle and the square, and the symbolism of the temple and its ordinances. In the second part, Cosmos, he discusses the cosmic context of the temple-the expanding gospel, apocryphal writings, religion and history, the genesis of the written word, cultural diversity in the universal church, and the terrible questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going?
Uses science to find more of the meaning of the temple.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
This could be Gillum’s “Mormons and the Environment” (a 23-page transcript of a talk given 19 September 1987); cf. “Man’s Dominion,” “Brigham Young on the Environment,” and “Stewardship of the Air.”
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
In Temple and Cosmos, Brother Nibley explains the relationship of the House of the Lord to the cosmos. In Temple, the first part of the volume, he focuses on the nature, meaning, and history of the temple, discussing such topics as sacred vestments, the circle and the square, and the symbolism of the temple and its ordinances. In the second part, Cosmos, he discusses the cosmic context of the temple-the expanding gospel, apocryphal writings, religion and history, the genesis of the written word, cultural diversity in the universal church, and the terrible questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going?
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Temples
One of the stunning aspects of Dr. Hugh Nibley’s genius was his persistent sense of wonder. That trait induced him to range widely through very disparate subjects of study—all covered in volume 17 of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple. In this compilation of materials, most of which have been published previously outside the Collected Works volumes, Nibley explores the ancient Egyptians, the temple, the life sciences, world literature, ancient Judaism, and Joseph Smith and the Restoration. The contents of this volume illustrate the breadth of his interest through autobiographical sketches, interviews, book reviews, forewords to books, letters, memorial tributes, Sunday School lessons, and various writings about the temple.
Ancient Temples
War, Peace
“Few people knew more about the history of human conflict than Professor Hugh Nibley. But on June 6, 1944, at Utah Beach, he learned more about war than he had gleaned from all the books he’d read combined. General Maxwell Taylor assigned Sergeant Nibley to educate the officers of the 101st Airborne about warfare. But it was the professor himself that received an education while fighting as a member of the most legendary unit of the United States Army.
Most war memoirs come either from the bird’s-eye view of the general or from the visceral but limited scope of the common soldier. Because of Nibley’s unique situation, this book blends both perspectives. From the narrow view of a sergeant in a foxhole to the broader perspective of an intelligence specialist, his experience offers an intimate, realistic and articulate view of World War II.“
An important book about Alex Nibley’s father’s wartime memoirs as well as the larger context of war and its meaning.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Hugh Nibley > Biographies, Reviews of Biographies, Biographical Essays, Biographical Remarks
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
Originally printed as an article in The Young Democrat.
A dive into Brigham Young’s ongoing battle with the devil.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
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.
Later published in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints.
An exhortation to turn the hearts of the men toward peace rather than toward war.
Originally presented at the FARMS Symposium on Warfare, 24 March 1989.
Compares the descriptions of warfare in the Book of Mormon with the writings and axioms of Karl von Clausewitz’s military treatise, Vom Kriege, that served the military as a bible for 150 years and was published in 1833. Descriptions of Book of Mormon warfare match von Clausewitz’s principles very well. Again the internal evidence of the Book of Mormon establishes its accuracy in describing technical subjects unknown to Joseph Smith.
Hugh Nibley discusses the military strategy and tactics of the wars in the Book of Mormon compared to other modern and ancient warfare.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 13. 278–97.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Zion, Babylon > Devil’s Dilemma
Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints presents Hugh Nibley’s reflections on the thoughts of Brigham Young on politics, education, leadership, and the environment. The timeliness of Brigham’s counsel on these topics will quickly become apparent to readers, as will the unique insights that Nibley adds. This volume will amuse, provoke, and challenge and, above all, educate.
An exhortation to turn the hearts of the men toward peace rather than toward war.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
Originally published as an Ensign article (July 1971).
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.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
Descriptions of Book of Mormon warfare match von Clausewitz’s principles very well. Again the internal evidence of the Book of Mormon establishes its accuracy in describing technical subjects unknown to Joseph Smith.
Compares the descriptions of warfare in the Book of Mormon with the writings and axioms of Karl von Clausewitz’s military treatise, Vom Kriege, that served the military as a bible for 150 years and was published in 1833.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Brigham Young
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > War, Peace
Word of Wisdom
Reprinted in Eloquent Witness, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 17. 228–37.
Commentary on different aspects of the Word of Wisdom and how people should go about keeping it.
“The Word of Wisdom: A Commentary on D&C 89”
“The Word of Wisdom: A Commentary on Doctrine and Covenants 89” (2008)
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Word of Wisdom
Zion, Babylon
A collection of miscellaneous essays on Zion and related topics.
Approaching Zion is LDS scholar and social critic Hugh Nibley’s most popular book. More accessible than many of his scholarly works, it is replete with Nibley’s trademark humor and startling insights into history, religion and life.
Most of the essays in this book were originally delivered as speeches. In Approaching Zion, Hugh Nibley gives thinkers reason to believe and believers something to think about.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Zion, Babylon
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.
Originally published as an article in Dialogue (1979).
In this lecture, the foundations of the kingdom are discussed, ending with a passionate plea for building Zion.
The positive response generated by publication of Nibley’s “Bird Island“ (Dialogue X, No. 4) encouraged us to offer additional popular Nibley samizdat. Nibliophiles will be delighted to learn that events have overtaken us in this plan, and a volume of classic Nibley essays now has been published by BYU’s Religious Studies Center.* This collection, which begins with a new “intellectual autobiography” and ends with a comprehensive bibliography, includes such popular essays as “Educating theSaints,” “Beyond Politics” and “Subduing the Earth,”—as well as “Zeal Without Knowledge,” the Nibley classic reprinted here with the permission of the Religious Studies Center.
Social commentary touching on themes that became increasingly common in Nibley’s various addresses and writings.
Reprinted in Approaching Zion, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 9. 407–21.
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.
Originally presented as a lecture given on 7 November 1985 at BYU as part of the Spheres of Influence lecture series.
Chapter 2. The positive response generated by publication of Nibley’s “Bird Island“ (Dialogue X, No. 4) encouraged us to offer additional popular Nibley samizdat. Nibliophiles will be delighted to learn that events have overtaken us in this plan, and a volume of classic Nibley essays now has been published by BYU’s Religious Studies Center.* This collection, which begins with a new “intellectual autobiography” and ends with a comprehensive bibliography, includes such popular essays as “Educating theSaints,” “Beyond Politics” and “Subduing the Earth,”—as well as “Zeal Without Knowledge,” the Nibley classic reprinted here with the permission of the Religious Studies Center.
A discussion of what Zion is and how it applies to modern day.
A discussion about what Zion is and how it is related to everyone caring for one another.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Zion, Babylon > Wealth, Law of Consecration
Also published by the Harold B. Lee Library Forum Committee and the Friends of the BYU Library in 1980 as a 15-page leaflet. Reprinted in Approaching Zion, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 9, 149–77. The lecture was originally part of the Sesquicentennial Lectures on Mormon Arts.
In this lecture, the foundations of the kingdom are discussed, ending with a passionate plea for building Zion.
Hugh W. Nibley Topics > Zion, Babylon > Mahan Principle
An expansion on the talk of the same title.
A discussion about what Zion is and how it is related to everyone caring for one another.
This paper includes many quotations from Brigham Young and the scriptures.