6 Comments

  1. Bryce:

    Good detective work. I have read Temple and Cosmos a number of times and was aware of the seal of Melchizedek, and have visited the SD Temple a few times, but I never put it together.

    Thanks,

    -David

  2. Dan Knudsen

    Somewhere (the open house?) we picked up something about the architect for the San Diego Temple being a Catholic, which explained why the temple is so uniquely designed, since he wasn’t restricted to previous temple designs. Is there anything to this story, or is it another Mormon myth?

  3. Dan, good question. There were three main architects on the San Diego temple:

    * William S. Lewis, Jr. – design architect
    * Dennis Hyndman – project architect
    * Shelly Hyndman – interior design architect
    * Kenneth Moeller may have also been an architect on the project

    The Hyndman’s were Roman Catholic and “had not toured the interior of a Latter-day Saint temple until the Las Vegas Nevada Temple open house commenced in 1989” (LDSChurchTemples.com).

    William S. Lewis Jr. was primarily responsible for the design of the temple, and of this symbol, being the design architect on the project, but I’m sure he worked closely with the Hyndman’s as well. Br. Lewis is a member of the Church and is currently a sealer in the San Diego Temple. I had a phone conversation with him a few days ago, and will relate the story he told me in the next part of this series.

  4. Not sure if you noticed this but the mosaic from St. Vitale with the Seal of Melchesidec is also on the cover of Margaret Barker’s book Temple Theology.

  5. Jack Mito

    On about Scenes from Abraham’s life: Abel and Melchizedek bringing their offerings to the altar: Who created the picture?

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