The words of Abraham aren’t limited to the Bible. Join Egyptologist John Gee as he discusses Joseph Smith and the Book of Abraham, including his new introduction guide to Abraham’s book in the Pearl of Great Price.
Dr. Gabriele Boccaccini discusses the Enoch Seminar, a group devoted to studying the common roots of early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
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Joseph Smith’s Seer Stones
Seer stones have long been a part of religious history but are largely absent from religious discussions today. Nonetheless, seer stones are currently undergoing something of a renaissance, especially as they relate to Joseph Smith and the translation of the Book of Mormon.
After receiving interview responses from R. Eric Smith and Matthew J. Grow for an interview, it occurred to me I may have forgotten an important question.
Experts are often asked the same questions over and over. Yet are there questions they wish someone would ask?
As it relates to the Council of Fifty minutes, I asked R. Eric Smith this very question in an addendum to the “10 questions” interview.
What would the American Revolution look like if you weaved together the stories of six people into a narrative? Author Russell Shorto explains.
“The Council of Fifty: What the Records Reveal About Mormon History,” is a timely book published by BYU’s Religious Studies Center. While the minutes of the council were published in their totality via the Joseph Smith Papers in 2016, they still remain somewhat inaccessible to general readers. “The Council of Fifty” contains 15 essays by leading scholars about relevant topics of interest.
There’s the Old Testament and the New Testament, but what happened between them? Join scholar S. Kent Brown as he discusses his book, The Lost 500 Years: What Happened Between the Old and New Testaments.
The Council of Fifty minutes include a fascinating quote on “perfect revelation,” or whether a revelation requires perfect wording to be the word of God.
“AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM,” by John Gee, BYU Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, $19.99, 195 pages (nf)
“An Introduction to the Book of Abraham,” the latest book by BYU professor John Gee, explores common questions and overarching themes of the Book of Abraham.
Truman Madsen (1926 – 2009) told the story of a Latter-day Saint religious service in a prison that I’ve occasionally seen pop up as a joke in Mormon culture. In the story, someone is offering a prayer and uses an absent-minded phrase that echoes an expression you can often hear in benedictions at Mormon congregations: ‘Please bless that those who are not here today will be here next time.’
Various forms of the joke use slightly different wording but the general substance is always the same. While you may pray that someone who is not at church today can be in attendance the next time, you probably do not want to pray that the location for their particular church services will be a prison.
I always thought this was just a joke, but I recently stumbled across a story that suggests it is based on an actual incident.