Tidbits

Two New Temple Books by Nibley & Madsen

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As someone recently quipped, “I’m so glad Nibley’s not letting a little thing like being dead slow down his publishing schedule!” ((http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showtopic=36841&view=findpost&p=1208466338))

Another volume in the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley series is being officially released on August 6, 2008 (it’s already available in Deseret Book stores).  This volume will be the third volume published since Hugh Nibley’s passing at age 94 in February 2005, and with rumors of at least two more volumes to come.  The title of this 544-page book is Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, and will be volume 17 in the series.  This will be an exciting book to read!  Here’s the jacket’s description:

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 [including a transcript of the documentary Faith of an Observer], book reviews, forewords to books, letters, memorial tributes, Sunday School lessons, and various writings about the temple.

Thanks to Reed for pointing this out to me!

Truman G. Madsen is also publishing a new 224-page book to be released in just a few days on July 30, 2008 entitled The Temple: Where Heaven Meets Earth.  It is probably already available in Deseret Book stores.  The description reads:

In his youth,Truman Madsen watched his grandparents take their large family to the temple almost every week. Decades later, a friend said, ” Your spiritual life began with the temple and everything since has flowed from that.” The messages in this book attest to his love of temples. The author of many bestselling books and CDs, Truman teaches how we can gain access to the light and truth offered in the temple. He discusses the relationship of the temple to the Atonement, Joseph Smith’s contribution to our understanding of temples, and how the scriptures and the temple illuminate each other. This is a powerful book on a crucial topic by one of the greatest teachers and scholars of our time.

Oh how I love books!

New TempleStudy.com Store!

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I’ve built an online store for TempleStudy.com using Amazon.com, and today is its grand opening!  I did this primarily for three reasons:

  1. Readily available Temple-related Products:  All the products that I’ve been able to find that have to do with LDS temples or ancient temples from Amazon.com I have individually selected and gathered together, sorted, and categorized.  They include temple products from many categories including books (44 items), home & garden (191 items), office (18 items), toys & games (29 items), music (22 items), apparel (8 items), jewelry (32 items), DVD (6 items), and miscellaneous (26 items).  If you are looking for a temple-themed book, tie tack, stationery, photograph, music, game, or other such item, the TempleStudy.com store is a great place to start looking because I’ve already narrowed down the search for you.  The store itself currently includes a total of 376 temple-related products, but there are also many more products available from the “Listmania!” or “Similar Items” links on the right-hand side of the store which change and rotate automatically as you browse the store.
  2. No Anti-Mormon Material: You can browse the entire TempleStudy.com store without a worry of running across any critical propaganda, which can often become a distraction from the positive, faith-promoting material that you’re looking for, and many times it is hard to detect from the cover or description alone.  I have hand-picked every item here, and have filtered out all of that diversion.  Have peace of mind when you are looking for just the right temple product.  Note, however, that I can’t choose what appears in the Listmania! or Similar Items lists.
  3. Supporting TempleStudy.com:  A portion of each sale from this store will go to help support TempleStudy.com.  [Read more…]

What Do You Want To See on TempleStudy.com?

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Some of you may remember the survey I posted here on TempleStudy.com back in May.  It was a huge success.  Many of you responded to my request for feedback, even those of you who don’t normally comment.  Some of you gave me great compliments, for which I am very thankful, and many also gave suggestions of improvements to the blog and topics that you’d would like to see addressed here, including many “other” requests.  I have taken those suggestions to heart and have already written on several of the topics that you submitted.  Thank you for your participation!

The feedback went so well that I would like to make it a more permanent feature of the site.  I have integrated a service called skribit that will allow just that.  This new service will facilitate interaction with all of you in multiple ways, including the following:

  • Submit Suggestions – You may submit any topic that you’d like to see addressed on TempleStudy.com – i.e., themes you’d like me to write about, ideas that you have, questions you may have, suggestions for improvement to the site, etc.  I have already added 15 suggestions that were given in the prior feedback (some of which I’ve already blogged about somewhat).
  • Vote – Once suggestions are added, you can all vote on them.  If you see a suggestion that you’d also like to see written about or changed on the site, then just click the little green arrow next to that item to add your vote.  Those items that receive the most votes will be higher on my list to write about or do on TempleStudy.com.

All of the above can be done anonymously.  You don’t need an account or a login to submit suggestions or vote on them – anyone can add suggestions or vote.  If you sign up for an account with skribit, you can also do the following:

  • Discuss – Each suggestion allows a discussion for that item.  If you’d like to add your comments to a suggestion, click on the suggestion or on the “discuss” link next to it, and then add your comments in the box provided.
  • Notification – If you submit a suggestion or question while you are logged in, then you will be notified by email when I write a post about it, or do whatever thing the suggestion is about.  This will help you easily stay on top of whatever you submit, and be made aware if I ever address it.

To access the suggestions feature, go to this link, or just click on “Suggestions” on the top navigation bar.  I only ask that you skim the already listed suggestions first before adding a suggestion, in case yours has already been added by someone else.

Let me know if you like this new feature or not in the comments below.

Added ShareThis to TempleStudy.com

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I have added a new feature to TempleStudy.com.  It is called ShareThis.  This is a really great tool for sharing things about the temple that you read here with your friends, family, coworkers, associates, ward members, and anyone else you might like to pass along these articles to.  Each article now has a little green icon with the words “ShareThis” at the bottom of every post.  Clicking on this icon will allow you to share TempleStudy.com articles via:

  • Social Web – share or bookmark the article on Facebook, Digg, del.icio.us, Technorati, StumbleUpon, Google Bookmarks, and a host of other social bookmarking sites.
  • Post – post the article directly to your profile or blog on Facebook, Blogger, WordPress, Twitter, LiveJournal or others.
  • Send/Email – share the post with others directly by email, SMS (cell phone text message), instant message MySpace friends, or instant message AIM friends.

I hope you find this new tool useful, and that you will help spread the word about TempleStudy.com and help others learn more about the LDS temple.