Abraham’s Departure (1849) by József Molnár. James L. Kugel has some interesting comments on the account of Abraham’s call and journey as recorded in the Book of Genesis. In his volume How to Read the Bible, Kugel explores how ancient and modern interpreters of the Abraham narrative(s) in Genesis portray the patriarch’s relationship with God. … Read more
Here is a clip from the new movie Noah portraying the creation. Is it just me, or does this seem to have an eerily Mormon flavor to it? Take out the reference to creation ex nihilo and I’d swear this is right out of the Pearl of Great Price, with perhaps some allusion to B. … Read more
“O Marduk, you are the most important among the great gods!” In my recent paper on the cosmology of the Book of Abraham I draw attention to the similarities between the Book of Abraham and the Mesopotamian myth Enuma Elish. Also significant for Latter-day Saints is the Enuma Elish’s depiction of the primeval theomachy in the … Read more
Facsimile 2 from the Book of Abraham. I am pleased to announce that my article “Council, Chaos, and Creation in the Book of Abraham,” published in the Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture, is now available online at the website of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. I presented … Read more
You can see where this is going . . . David Bokovoy will soon be releasing the first volume of his three-volume series Authoring the Old Testament. In this series, Bokovoy will, among other things, present and argue for the Documentary Hypothesis (DH) to an LDS audience. He will not only discuss what the DH … Read more
While I was stomping around in Vienna last spring, I paid a visit to the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek located in the Hofburg palace. Inside the library (which, after getting lost in more than once, my friends and I agreed is the most Kafkaesque library in existence) is a fabulous papyrus museum that houses Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew, … Read more
Facsimile 1 from the Book of Abraham. Passions can run high when discussing certain controversies within Mormonism. The debate over the Book of Abraham and the Joseph Smith Papyri, for example, can become especially vicious. (I’ve seen first hand just how low some people can sink.) Michael Frassetto, a professor of history at the University … Read more