egyptian

Videos of SANE Symposium Lectures on “Temples and Ritual in Antiquity”

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Last Friday I was able to attend the symposium entitled “Temples and Ritual in Antiquity,” sponsored by The Students of the Ancient Near East (SANE) and the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University.  It was an excellent symposium about the temple, with a wide range of topics related to the temple presented by students and scholars.  I was also fortunate to help organize videotaping the symposium so that it will be preserved and available online for many others to see and study.  In addition to the great things that were shared, I was also able to meet several of the people I have become acquainted with online, such as David Larsen, “Particle Man,” Kathy Larsen, Donna Nielsen, and several others.  It was a great experience.  I hope SANE will continue to sponsor such symposiums in the future.

I am grateful for the SANE organizers for allowing us to videotape the symposium and make it available online, particularly Dan McLellan for his support.  I’d also like to thank Steve Smoot and Tyler Livingston for their help with the video cameras, digitizing and uploading.

Below are all the videos that we were able to record at the symposium (that have been uploaded to date).  You can see short bios of each presenter here or here.  David Larsen also took some great notes in the Ancient Israel sessions.  Note:  I will update this post with links to more of the videos as soon as they become available.  Enjoy! [Read more…]

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!

Temple imagery in “Gabriel’s Revelation” Discovery

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Gabriel's Revelation or "Dead Sea Scroll in Stone"

Gabriel's Revelation or "Dead Sea Scroll in Stone"

The scholarly world is aflutter over the latest discovery of a 3-foot tall tablet being called “Gabriel’s Revelation,” “Hazon Gabriel,” or the “Vision of Gabriel.”  It contains 87 lines of Hebrew text written in ink on stone, and has been dated to the first century BCE.  The tablet was found near the Dead Sea in Jordan around 2000, and has been associated with the Qumran community who produced the Dead Sea Scrolls.  For this reason, it has been called a “Dead Sea scroll in stone.”  An exciting discovery, indeed.

The discussion has been primarily about a certain line of the text which tells of a messiah dying and resurrecting in three days (line 80).  Many scholars are pointing to this as evidence of a resurrection theology in existence in Judaism before the coming of Jesus Christ, therefore raising questions of the conception among some that a messianic 3-day resurrection was a uniquely novel Christian principle.  This is not news to Latter-day Saints, who already firmly believe that Christianity has been known and practiced since Adam (see Moses 5:6-8).

But I want to look at this text from a different angle than that which is making the headlines.  Since this text has been categorized as an apocalyptic text, the Greek apokálypsis meaning “lifting of the veil” or end of days, delivered from the angel Gabriel, it is likely that we should find temple imagery here too.  And we are not left wanting.  [Read more…]

The Egyptian Ankh, “Life! Health! Strength!” – Part 4

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Front Wall, Right Part, Tutankhamun's Burial Chamber - god Anubis, on left, leads Tutankhamun before goddess Hathor, on right, who gives the breath of life to King Tut through the nostrils with the ankh. The symbols of life, prosperity, time and eternity are directly over Tut's head.

(Continued from Part 3)

In the last parts of our series on the Egyptian hieroglyph of the ankh, and other related symbols, I’d like to look at where these symbols are found on the extant portions of the Joseph Smith Papyri, related documents, and the facsimiles of the Book of Abraham, to see if Joseph Smith was correct in any of his interpretations, or even on the right track.  I’ve written a brief into to these documents here.

As we’ve noted before, the themes that show up in the rituals of the Egyptians have unique parallels to our modern temple practices and ordinances.  This is not to be interpreted as an adoption of pagan rites, plagiarism of ancient rituals, or a belief in Egyptian polytheism, for the Egyptians had a corrupt imitation of the true order of God, and Joseph knew it.  Indeed, such attacks leveled at Joseph might actually be counterintuitive to our critics’ position, for such would mean that Joseph understood what he was looking at in the papyri, yet such inspired translation is precisely what our critics claim he could not do.  Note that the field of Egyptology had just recently been born in the 1820s, and the reading of hieroglyphics was only barely in its infancy in Europe at the time Joseph was translating the papyri in the 1830s, ruling out any scholarly approach to reading the papyri.  The critics have yet to explain, therefore, if Joseph did not receive the temple ordinances by revelation from God, and he could not read the papyri, then how did he teach temple rites that have remarkable parallels to the Egyptians which were written on the papyri?  Could he read the papyri or couldn’t he?  Either way our critics find themselves in a quandary.

Instead of being detrimental to Joseph, such a connection between the papyri and the temple actually serves as evidence of his divine calling, and that he was inspired to translate the papyri.  As in many instances of the early experiences of the prophet, Joseph had a question about something that he experienced in his life, and inquired of the Lord about it ((See the history behind the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood and baptism)).  What followed was a restoration, through revelation, of the true and perfect ordinance or teaching of that particular thing.  The papyri quite possibly were such a springboard for the restoration of the temple endowment, as H. Donl Peterson has noted:  [Read more…]

The Founding Fathers’ Temple Work

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The Prayer at Valley Forge - by Arnold Friberg (1976)

Since tomorrow is Independence Day, I thought I might say a word about our Founding Fathers.  We are deeply indebted to all the noble men and women who sacrificed their lives to establish this country of the United States of America some 232 years ago, and to make this country a free land.  Through their efforts this country was set on a sure foundation of certain personal irrevocable rights and freedoms which they believed were given by God himself.  The Declaration of Independence solemnly proclaimed:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_happiness))  [Read more…]