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Sustaining and Defending the LDS Temple

Matthew B. Brown

On Mysticism, Transcendence, Meditation, Seers & Stones

June 29, 2013 by Bryce Haymond 16 Comments

What is mysticism?  That is the million dollar question.

It is incredibly difficult to define. Wikipedia defines it as the “pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight.”  What?  By combining all possible definitions into one, they have created an incomprehensible one.

Let’s turn to some closer associates.  Hugh Nibley once defined it, quoting Eduard Lehmann, as “an intuitive and ecstatic union with the deity obtained by means of contemplation and other mental exercises.” Professor William Hamblin turns to oft-repeated definitions such as “a domain of religion that deals with the search for and the attainment of a profound experiential knowledge of God or of ultimate reality,” or, “mysticism is … a type of religious experience which involves a sense of union or merging with either God or an all-pervading spiritual force in the universe,” but finds even these lacking.  In Kevin Christensen’s recent Interpreter review of Margarget Barker’s book Temple Mysticism: An Introduction he indicated that his “favorite LDS approach” to the topic has become Mark E. Koltko’s essay “Mysticism and Mormonism: An LDS Perspective on Transcendence and Higher Consciousness,” found in the April 1989 issue of Sunstone. We’ll come back to this shortly. Christensen notes that while Nibley’s view tends to be the more conventional definition, Margaret Barker’s own use of the term in her book is very different still, focusing on the experience of “seeing the Lord,” i.e. a temple theophany. While different, there is clearly overlap between the ideas of “a union with deity,” and “seeing God,” as Matthew Bowen also elucidates in his recent article in Interpreter. Koltko’s essay also perhaps helps bridge the gap. [Read more…]

Posted in: Practices Tagged: brigham young, don bradley, experience, fasting, focus, holy ghost, hugh nibley, initiate, interpreters, joseph smith, margaret barker, Matthew B. Brown, presence, revelation, revelations, seer, seer stone, theophany, traditions, truth, universe, urim & thummim, veil, william hamblin

“The Temple on Mount Zion” Conference Livestream and Videos

September 22, 2012 by Bryce Haymond 1 Comment

Today we are fortunate to be participating in “The Temple on Mount Zion” Conference in Provo, Utah, in memory of Matthew B. Brown, and sponsored by Interpreter Foundation.  Of course, the theme of the entire conference is the temple.  There have been some excellent presentations on numerous topics including noah, the ark, divine handclasps, egyptology, creation, Job, the Psalms, Dead Sea Scrolls, the “terrible questions,” Jacob’s sermon, axes mundi, Nephites and Mesoamerica, the Torah, the design of temples, and others.

The conference is being live streamed online, and can be watched here: http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/live-video-stream-of-the-temple-on-mount-zion-conference/

YouTube videos of the presentations are available on Interpreter’s YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MormonInterpreter

A printed book of proceedings will be published in the coming months by Interpreter Foundation.

Posted in: Scholarship Tagged: conference, creation, dead sea, design, egypt, handclasp, jacob, job, Matthew B. Brown, noah, online, provo, psalms, temples, terrible questions, video, videos, youtube

“The Temple on Mount Zion” Conference

August 17, 2012 by Bryce Haymond Leave a Comment

In honor of Matthew B. Brown who passed away unexpectedly last year there will be a conference next month on September 22, 2012, from 9:15am – 5:30pm entitled “The Temple on Mount Zion.”  It will be held at the Provo Public Library.  Br. Brown was originally organizing this conference, and I chatted with him briefly about it in the months before his passing.  Matt was very excited about the potential in temple studies, and he always had very interesting new insights to share about the temple.  I’m glad to see this conference coming to fruition.  Thank you David Seely and William Hamblin for organizing this.

William Hamblin shares news of this event on his blog, including the program and abstracts.

With this conference and the other temple studies conference in Logan in October, we should have plenty to discuss over the coming months!

Posted in: Announcements Tagged: blog, conference, honor, Matthew B. Brown, news, provo, study, temple studies, william hamblin

Matthew B. Brown passed away

October 5, 2011 by Bryce Haymond 26 Comments
Matthew B. Brown

Matthew B. Brown (1964-2011)

It is with sadness that I learned shortly ago that Matthew B. Brown has passed away.  He was dealing with complications after a heart failure incident which occurred on September 23rd while he was in the BYU library.  He was about 47 years old.  He will be sorely missed.

Matt Brown was a well-known scholar, historian, lecturer, and author of LDS temple and gospel studies, and a great influence and inspiration to me, and I’m sure many others.  One of his first books, The Gate of Heaven, was one of my first readings that inspired me to learn and study more about the temple, and helped me gain a strong love and testimony of the temple and the restored gospel.

His works include ten major books, many papers and articles in scholarly publications, lectures in a variety of venues, producer of a DVD documentary, and founded an annual gospel-centered symposium, EXPOUND.  He wrote two guests posts for this blog, for which I was very grateful – The Lord Speaks Again: Ancient Temple Patterns In D&C 124, and Sanctuary Vesture: A Brief Overview And Comparison.  He will be a great asset to the Lord’s work on the other side of the veil.

Memorial services will be held in roughly two weeks to allow his mother, who is in poor health, to attend.  His burial is this Saturday.  He is survived by his wife Jaimie.

Matt and his wife, Jaimie, didn’t have insurance, and she is now left with large medical bills and burial costs to pay.  An account has been set up for donations (100%) to Jaimie on the FAIR website at this link:  http://bookstore.fairlds.org/product.php?id_product=1261

Please share your thoughts and memories about Matt Brown in the comments.

Posted in: Scholarship Tagged: Matthew B. Brown, scholar

Sanctuary Vesture: A Brief Overview and Comparison

February 24, 2011 by Guest Blogger 2 Comments
Ancient Israelite temple ceremonial clothing

Ancient Israelite temple ceremonial clothing worn in the Mosaic Tabernacle, and succeeding Israelite temples of Solomon, Herod, et al.

I’m very pleased to welcome another guest post by Matthew B. Brown.  Some of his writings, particularly his book The Gate of Heaven, are what inspired me to study the temple more in depth.  He offers a wealth of insight and learning for the Latter-day Saints. ~Bryce

Matthew B. Brown holds a degree in history from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He is the author of ten books and has published articles with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU (aka FARMS). Matthew has served as a volunteer researcher, editor, and respondent for The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) and has spoken at several of their annual conferences. He is one of the directors of the upcoming EXPOUND symposium on May 14, 2011, and will also be a presenter (expoundlds.com).

~~

It is publicly acknowledged that Latter-day Saints who participate in the central temple rites of their faith dress in several layers of ceremonial clothing, consisting of a “white undergarment” (which is worn as part of everyday life) and “other priestly robes” (which are only worn during times of temple service).1 [Read more…]

Posted in: Practices, Scholarship Tagged: anointing, bible, cap, clothing, endowment, garments, history, initiation, israelites, joseph smith, markings, marks, Matthew B. Brown, oil, ordinances, priest, prophet, research, rite, rites, ritual, rituals, robe, robes, royal, sanctuary, scholar, scholars, solomon, symbols, symposium, tabernacle, vestments, washing
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