Scholarship

Temple Video Series: Part 1 – Sacred Space

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David Tayman from the blog Visions of the Kingdom, and David Larsen from Heavenly Ascents, have teamed up to produce a series of short YouTube videos on the ancient temple.  The focus of the presentations will be to explore the nature, function, doctrine and ritual of the ancient temple.  This is done with the purpose of providing a richer experience and understanding to our modern temple worship.  They are very well done, with great sound, video, and narration.  I will feature them here as they are produced.

Thanks to the Davids for providing these fantastic videos! Did you gain any new insights from the video above? Feel free to share with us your thoughts in the comments below.

Updates about Hugh Nibley’s Centennial Commemoration

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Dr. Hugh Nibley lecturing

As I posted a few months ago, the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), in conjunction with Religious Education and the Harold B. Lee library, presented a weekly lecture series during the Winter Semester 2010 in honor of the 100th anniversary of Hugh Nibley’s birth, who was born on March 27, 1910.

The lecture series concluded on April 8th.  I was able to attend some of the presentations, and they were very well done.  I’m grateful to be able to get to know better the man, scholar, and saint, Hugh Nibley, and what he taught.

The Neal A. Maxwell Institute has reported that video of the lecture series presentations will be made available soon, likely on the Neal A. Maxwell website.

Transcripts of two of the lectures have already been made available:

The Institute also reports that an updated bibliography of Hugh Nibley’s works has been made available.

An article by Hugh Nibley has also been made available that has not been published in The Collected Works called “Beyond Politics.”  The talk was given on October 26, 1973 to the Pi Sigma Alpha honor society in the Political Science Department at BYU. It first appeared in BYU Studies 15/1 (1974): 3–28; and was reprinted in Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless.

I’m still curious if these articles available here are still unpublished elsewhere in The Collected Works.  If anyone knows, I’d be interested to find out if they have been published or will be published.

Buy the Complete Set of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley

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The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley

The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley

A reader asks, “Do you know if it is possible to buy the complete writings, books, etc., of Bro. Nibley in one volume or perhaps on a CD Disc? (surely there must be a demand for this).”

It’s not possible to include all of Nibley’s writings in one volume, as the binding would be several feet thick – now that would be one big book! I also don’t know of a single CD that includes all his writings. Most of Hugh Nibley’s writings are now contained in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, which has become a 19 volume series of books compiled and published by the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), and the Neal A. Maxwell Institute at BYU.  [Read more…]

Nibley’s ‘One Eternal Round’ Magnum Opus Published

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Book Cover

Book Cover

I know a lot of people who have been waiting for this book for many years.  One Eternal Round is the 19th volume in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, and is his magnum opus, the volume of materials he worked on for a very long time until the end of his life.  The book is described thus:

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.

The final groundbreaking chapter delves into geometry and mathematical relationships depicted on Facsimile 2. All these are woven together into a magnificent tapestry of evidence demonstrating that the book of Abraham and its facsimiles represent actual ancient materials and traditions. This book would not have come to fruition without the efforts of co-author Michael D. Rhodes. Includes illustrations by Michael P. Lyon.

I hope to soon get a copy and write my reflections about it.  The book is available from the BYU Bookstore and Deseret Book.

Hugh Nibley Weekly Lecture Series Beginning Tonight at BYU

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Dr. Richard Bushman

The Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), in conjunction with Religious Education and the Harold B. Lee library, are hosting a weekly lecture series that begins tonight, January 14th, 2010, at 7:00pm, and extends through Winter Semester 2010 on Thursday evenings in the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium at BYU.

This lecture series is in honor of the 100th anniversary of Hugh Nibley’s birth this year.  Hugh Nibley was born on March 27, 1910.

The presenters at these lectures will include Richard Bushman, Robert Millet, Terry Ball, Daniel Peterson, Zina Petersen, Ann Madsen, Alex Nibley, Bert Wilson, John Welch, Marilyn Arnold, Eric Huntsman, and Gaballa Ali Gaballa.

Tonight’s lecture is by Richard Bushman, biographer of Joseph Smith (Rough Stone Rolling), and an editor of the Joseph Smith Papers Project.  His topic is “Nibley and Joseph Smith.”  Next week’s lecture, January 21st, will be by Robert Millet who will present on “Nibley and the Church.”

I’m looking forward to these lectures.  Hugh Nibley catapulted LDS scholarship and apologetics into a new dimension, and his work will affect many generations of Latter-day Saints to come.  His work on the temple has particularly influenced me, and many others I know.

Update 1/15/10: The lecture was wonderful last night.  And there’s good news!  There were three cameras there filming it, which I think they will continue for the series, which means that they are planning on putting it all on TV or making it available somehow for later viewing (perhaps online).  They also gave the rest of the series schedule of lectures:

  • 14 Jan – “Nibley and Joseph Smith” – Richard Bushman
  • 21 Jan – “Nibley and the Church” – Robert Millet
  • 28 Jan – “Nibley’s Early Education” – Zina Petersen
  • 4 Feb – “Nibley as Apologist” – Daniel Peterson
  • 11 Feb – “Nibley and the environment” – Terry Ball
  • 18 Feb – “Graduate School through BYU” – Alex Nibley
  • 25 Feb – “Nibley on the Bible” – Ann Madsen
  • 4 Mar – “Folklore on Nibley” – Bert Wilson
  • 11 Mar – “The Lasting Legacies of Hugh W. Nibley” – John W. Welch
  • 18 Mar – “Nibley and Classical Scholarship” – Eric Huntsman
  • 25 Mar – “Nibley on the Book of Mormon” – Marilyn Arnold
  • 1 Apr – “Nibley the Mentor” – Wilfred Griggs
  • 8 Apr – “Nibley, Egyptology & the Book of Abraham” – TBA

These lectures will all be held in the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium (Level 1) at 7:00pm.  This is a great lineup!  If you plan on coming to these lectures, make sure you come early to get a seat, as the room was filled to overflowing last night.