The family of Abraham and missionary work

A brief history of the lineage of Ephraim including Joseph Smith’s lineage

Review of Peter Enns, Inspiration and Incarnation- Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, Second ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015). 197 pp. $19.99.
Abstract: Peter Enns identifies three problematic assumptions Evangelicals make when reading the Old Testament. LDS readers tend to share these assumptions, and Enns’ solutions work equally well for them.

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.

Contents:

Rooted and Built Up in Christ / Carlos E. Asay
The Old Testament: An Indispensable Foundation / George A. Horton
Noah, the Ark, the Flood: A Pondered Perspective / James R. Christianson
The Seed of Abraham in the Latter Days / Bruce A. Van Orden
Genesis 22: The Paradigm for True Sacrifice in Latter-day Israel / Andrew C. Skinner
Trust in the Lord: Exodus and Faith / S. Kent Brown
Kibroth-Hattaavah: The Graves of Lust / Jeff O’Driscoll
The Latter-day Significance of Ancient Temples / Richard O. Cowan
Joseph and Joseph: “He Shall Be Like Unto Me” (2 Nephi 3:15) / Ann N. Madsen, Susan Easton Black
“Has Thou Considered My Servant Job?” / John S. Tanner
Prophets: How Shall We Know Them? / Joseph F. McConkie
Jesus’ Commandment to Search the Words of Isaiah / L. LaMar Adams
A Latter-day Saint Reading of Isaiah in the Twentieth Century: The Example of Isaiah 6 / Paul Y. Hoskisson
Micah, the Second Witness with Isaiah / Monte S. Nyman
The Restoration of the Tribes of Israel in the Writings of Jeremiah and Ezekiel / Stephen D. Ricks
The Last Shall Be First and the First Shall Be Last / LaMar E. Garrard
Daniel: Ancient Prophet for the Latter Days / H. Dean Garrett
Your Daughters Shall Prophesy: A Latter-day Prophecy of Joel, Peter, and Moroni Examined / Alan K. Parrish
Malachi and the Latter Days / Rex C. Reeve Jr
Justification, Ancient and Modern / Chauncey C. Riddle
Ancient Hebrew “Psychology”: A Radical Option for Educators in the Latter Days / Neil J. Flinders, Paul Wangemann
The Restoration as Covenant Renewal / David Rolph Seely
Joseph Smith’s Use of the Old Testament / Grant Underwood
The Brass Plates: An Inspired and Expanded Version of the Old Testament / Robert L. Millet
The Old Testament: Voice from the Past and Witness for the Lord Jesus Christ / Robert J. Matthews

Serious study of extra-canonical Jewish writings from the four centuries between 200 B.c. and A.D. 200 is sometimes hampered by difficulty in locating texts, since editions and translations of these works are scattered through a wide range of books and journals. It is the purpose of this selected bibliography to guide the student to these texts.

An extensive bibliography of writings related to the Old Testament

The need to study the Old Testament as more than literature

Review of Kenneth A. Kitchen. On the Reliability of the Old Testament.

This is a continuation of the comprehensive bibliography of LDS writings on the Old Testament published in BYU Studies 37, no. 2 (1997–98), available at byustudies.byu.edu. This bibliography includes publications from 1997 to the end of 2005 as well as a few older publications that were not included in the first bibliography. Since that bibliography, there has been a Sperry Symposium dedicated to the Old Testament; all of those printed proceedings (Covenants, Prophecies, and Hymns of the Old Testament) are included in this bibliography. Published in 2005 is the volume Sperry Symposium Classics, a collection of papers from previous symposia; since many of those articles were revised for the 2005 volume, they are included here. Also relevant to the Old Testament is a volume published by FARMS entitled Glimpses of Lehi’s Jerusalem. Of note but not included in this bibliography because of space considerations are the many Old Testament topics discussed in encyclopedic form in The Book of Mormon Reference Companion, edited by Dennis Largely (Deseret Book, 2003).

Charts of prophets, dispensations, the family of Abraham, and maps of major historical events. Compiled from the Instructor.

Early LDS interpretations of the Bible

Latter-day Saint philosopher James E. Faulconer’s Made Harder series raises many more questions than it answers. And that is precisely the point. Faulconer wrote The Old Testament Made Harder on the premise that our scripture study is only as good as the questions we bring to the endeavor. While many books about the Old Testament provide useful shortcuts, chapter synopses, timelines, and memorizable bullet-points, this book consists almost entirely of challenging questions (with occasional commentary for clarity’s sake) because, in Faulconer’s experience, questions themselves are the key to reflective and deep scripture study. This book is intended to make reading harder—and therefore fresher—by priming your pondering pump with insightful study questions. So much of modern life is geared to finding faster and easier ways to do the same old things. The Made Harder series is proof that making things easier does not always make them better.

Pre-Adamites, the location and return of the Ten Tribes, and the forbidden fruit

Short lessons discussing the interpretation of the writings of the Old Testament prophets with emphasis on Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, with material taken from Sperry’s book The Voice of Israel’s Prophets.

Short lessons on the characters and teachings of the Old Testament

Using the Book of Mormon as a bridge between the Old Testament and us

The reality of prophecy is disputed by scholars but is ultimately a matter of faith

The scriptures can help clarify other scriptures

Olive oil in anointing, washings and anointing, baptism, and the tree of life

This article illustrates that for Latter-day Saints, the Book of Mormon can function as an interpretive guide to Isaiah’s writings. The analysis explores some ways in which the Book of Mormon can aid in identifying textual meaning in the story of Isaiah’s prophetic commission, especially on the topic of Christ and covenants. Lehi’s call narrative in the Book of Mormon shares much in common with Isaiah 6. Based on analogy with Lehi’s comparable dream, LDS readers can connect the seraph that interacts personally with Isaiah to Jesus Christ—that is, the Being with great luster who descends out of heaven to meet with the Book of Mormon prophet.

Major themes from the book of Isaiah and a computer study of the authorship of Isaiah

Originally titled “Endowment History,” 1992.
A discussion on how the endowment answers many of life’s most important questions.

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

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?

Winner of the Harvey Black and Susan Easton Black Outstanding Publication Award (Gospel Scholarship in Ancient Scripture), Opening Isaiah provides what has never before been provided to Latter-day Saints. It brings all important versions of Isaiah—King James, Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith Translation, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the modern New Revised Standard Version—into comparison for readers to help them clearly see the similarities and differences in each one. Readers can thus study Isaiah’s writings with a focus on the inspired texts themselves. In addition to beautiful maps that guide the reader through the geography of Isaiah’s day, the editors have carefully provided guidance in footnotes to untangle difficult passages, point to important symbolism, and reveal historical context. This book may become the most important resource on Isaiah you will ever purchase. ISBN 978-1-9443-9430-1

The anthropomorphism of God and origin of man

Harrison argues that it is impossible that the Book of Mormon be even remotely related to the Manuscript Found by Solomon Spaulding. The Manuscript Found is a fictitious account of the lost ten tribes and the Book of Mormon is an account of one family of the tribe of Joseph.

The Apocalypse of Abraham, a pseudepigraphon only extant in a fourteenth century Old Church Slavonic manuscript, has not received much attention from scholars of Ancient Judaism, due in part to a lack of readily available information regarding the history and transmission of the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha. This dissertation examines the historical context of these works with the aim of assessing the probability that they contain ancient Jewish material. The rest of the dissertation is focused on the Apocalypse of Abraham specifically, discussing its date and provenance, original language, probability that it comes from Essene circles, textual unity, and Christian interpolations. This includes treatments of the issue of free will, determinism, and predestination in the Apocalypse of Abraham as well as the methodological complexities in trying to distinguish between early Jewish and Christian works. It also provides an in-depth comparison of the Apocalypse of Abraham with 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch and takes up the question of the social setting for these texts based on relevant precedents set by recent scholars of midrash who seek to probe the “socio-cultural and historical situatedness” of midrashic texts. This discussion includes a survey of parallels between the content of the Apocalypse of Abraham and rabbinic literature to support the argument that a sharp distinction between apocalyptic ideas and what later became rabbinic tradition did not exist in the time between 70 and 135 C.E. Overall, this dissertation argues that the Apocalypse of Abraham is an early Jewish document written during the decades following the destruction of the Second Temple. While seeking to warn its readers of the dangers of idolatry in light of the apocalyptic judgment still to come, it also provides sustained exegesis of Genesis 15, which gives cohesion to the entire document.

Abstract: A recent review of Joseph M. Spencer’s book The Vision of All: Twenty-Five Lectures on Isaiah in Nephi’s Record made the case that the book contains several challenges and problems, in particular that it advocates a theologically deficient interpretation of Isaiah that denies Isaiah’s witness of Jesus Christ. This response provides an alternative reading of Spencer’s work and suggests these assertions are often based on misunderstanding. At stake in this conversation is the question of whether or not there is more than one valid way to read Isaiah that draws upon a faithful, Restoration perspective. While Spencer may interpret and frame some things differently than some other Latter-day Saint scholars, the prophecies of Isaiah provide enough richness and possibility to accommodate a chorus of faithful approaches.

An outline of time from Abraham to the birth of the United States written by W. J. Cameron and pedigree charts written by James H. Anderson showing the relationship of Mormonism to the past and the future of the covenant

Review of Zion in the Courts: A Legal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (1988), by Edwin B. Firmage and Richard C. Mangrum

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms, on Sunday Afternoon, Dec. 2, 1877. Reported By: Geo. F. Gibbs.