maxwell institute – Temple Study

The New FARMS – Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture

August 3, 2012 by Bryce Haymond 47 Comments

Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture. (Click on graphic to go to MormonInterpreter.com)

I have been through quite a range of emotions the last few weeks. I’ve felt utter despair, grief, and sorrow, as well as bitterness, confusion, and great disappointment. Through it all I’ve been blessed with comfort from our Heavenly Father beyond measure, and by experiences too sacred to share. It’s been a roller coaster of a time with everything that has happened at the Maxwell Institute. I make no bones about it—FARMS had an immense impact on my life, most particularly as it relates to my testimony and faith in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Recently one of our dear readers asked me what so inspired me about Hugh Nibley, what so captivated me emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually about his scholarship and writings? Here was my response:

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FAIR Conference Coming Soon, Temple Topics and FARMS to be Addressed

July 10, 2012 by Bryce Haymond 16 Comments

Dr. Peterson gives his address at 2010 FAIR Conference (Photo by R. Scott Lloyd)

I thought I’d take a moment and give a shout out for The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) and their 14th annual conference coming up in less than a month, on August 2-3, 2012, in Sandy, Utah. I have attended this conference in years past (which I liveblogged in 2008), and I will be attending again this year.

For those interested in the temple, topics will include “Book of Abraham, I Presume” by John Gee, and “Piercing the Veil: Temple Worship in the Lost 116 Pages” by Don Bradley, as well as many other very interesting subjects. Those that are interested in the ongoing FARMS/Maxwell Institute situation, the original founder of FARMS, John W. Welch, will be speaking about his further research on chiasmus, as will former Mormon Studies Review/FARMS Review editor Daniel C. Peterson, on the topic “Of ‘Mormon Studies’ and Apologetics,” which should be interesting given recent events.

It is significant to note that this year that you don’t have to travel to Sandy, Utah, to take part. The conference will also be available online via live video/audio streaming! You can sit in the comfort of your living room, or even on-the-go via your mobile smartphone or tablet, from anywhere in the world, and take part in this excellent conference. This news comes direct from FAIR:

This year we are providing Conference streaming for your Windows, Android, Apple, and even Roku devices. Here is a way for you to have your own FAIR Conference in your home. Hook it up to your big-screen TV and invite over your friends for a FAIR Conference event. We have updated our technology on this, so the price for streaming the conference into your home, or two your phones, computers or tablets is $15 for each day or $25 for both days. When you sign up, in the comments section please mention which device or devices you are planning on using (Roku, iphone, ipad, Android tablet, etc.)

Sign up for the two days of streaming here: http://bookstore.fairlds.org/product.php?id_product=1314

Thursday-only streaming here: http://bookstore.fairlds.org/product.php?id_product=1085

Friday-only streaming here: http://bookstore.fairlds.org/product.php?id_product=1313

Read more about the upcoming FAIR Conference here.

Update: I’ve changed some information here, as Trevor has given more details.

Parables & Poems, Literature Springs Forth in Maxwell Institute Discord

July 1, 2012 by Bryce Haymond 3 Comments

Pasadena Fire Department and local gardeners respond to a house fire

Pasadena Fire Department and local gardeners team up to rescue an elderly woman from her burning home on June 11, 2012. (Click photo to learn more)

It’s amazing how people wax literary in climates such as these. Sometimes common language just doesn’t do the subject matter justice, and understanding is not well communicated. Thus the use of parables and poems. One of the reasons Christ taught in parables was so that people could learn about different gospel topics by using their everyday vernacular, which could increase understanding (for some it actually hid the truth).

Here are a couple parables and poems that have been written in recent days about the current Maxwell Institute events, or because of them:

The first is actually a poem, “The Charge of the FARMS Brigade,” by William Hamblin. Well done!
The second is a parable from Hamblin, “The Parable of the Football Team.” Very well said, and which I alluded to in my analogy.
Thirdly, I entered the fore with “The Analogy of the Basketball Team.” (It’s not really a parable, but an extended analogy. Perhaps I should have put it in parable form.)
Fourth, I was quite inspired on Friday by David Bohn’s article at Times & Seasons, whereafter I wrote “On the Creative Gift.”
Fifth, today Pahoran at the Mormon Dialogue & Discussion Board (MDDB) wrote “The Parable of the Fire Brigade & Gardener.” I thought this was very well done, so I asked Pahoran permission to repost it here:
“Once there was a city that had no fire department.  A group of public-spirited citizens banded together, bought a good second-hand fire appliance, began training together, and pretty soon had a rather good working volunteer fire brigade.

“There was in that same city a loosely affiliated group of semi-professional arsonists.  Naturally, they were angered by the appearance of the volunteer brigade.  They began opposing its activities, muttering loudly that the fire brigade demolished more buildings than it saved, and that bystanders at fires sometimes got wet.

“Nevertheless, most of the citizens appreciated the work of the brigade, and eventually the mayor of the town approached the volunteers and invited them to come under the umbrella of the city administration.  The volunteers at first resisted these overtures, but eventually they agreed, and the new fire department was constituted, under the oversight of the deparment of Parks and Gardens.

“Time passed, as it always does.  The arsonists stepped up their campaign of disinformation.  A new mayor was elected.  The fire department increasingly came under the control of Parks and Gardens people who wanted more resources to beautify the city by planting flowering shrubs.  Some of these listened to the murmurings of the arsonists, not realising their true source.  Eventually they succeeded in getting rid of the original fire chief and began to divert the resources of the former fire brigade to their pet garden projects.”

I should note, sometimes firefighters and gardeners can team up, in very rare circumstances, but it’s pretty unusual when it happens (like a transit of Venus?). And of course, firefighting and gardening are both honest, requisite, and noble fields of work in our world.

Any other good literary works emerge from the past week? Please let me know, and I’ll add them to this list.

P.S. On the other hand, if you want to see a remarkable piece of truly refined ad-hominem literature, certainly an epitome in the genre, take a look at this by Edwin Firmage.

“Restore FARMS” Support Organization

June 29, 2012 by Bryce Haymond 5 Comments

If you liked reading the original FARMS, join our new support organization, Restore FARMS, to help see it restored to its original mission. You can also like our Facebook Page to stay updated.

There are many people who are disappointed with the events of the past week at the Maxwell Institute at BYU. Indeed, it appears as if the original mission and purpose of the FARMS organization has now been completely lost, with the dismissal of Daniel C. Peterson as Editor of the Mormon Studies Review (formerly the FARMS Review), and his team of associate editors. In a comment today on David Bohn’s blog post at Times & Seasons, Dr. Peterson noted:

I have solid and direct reason to believe that the new direction being charted by the Institute omits anything that most Latter-day Saints would recognize as apologetics… And, at a very minimum, there is the incontrovertible fact that the Review, which has long represented the Institute’s apologetic aspect at its most explicit, has been put on indefinite hiatus. Given that the Institute’s publication of books has dwindled to virtually nothing, it’s difficult to see exactly where the “new course’s” apologetics efforts are going to appear, now that the Review is gone.

This concerns us deeply. FARMS has represented a highly respected and influential group of scholars whose ultimate goal was the defense of the Church from its critics, and sustaining the faith of Church members through education. The fact that this now appears to be “gone” swings the door wide open to an onslaught of unanswered criticism of the Church, and members with little recourse. The organization Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR), and Scholarly & Historical Information Exchange for Latter-day Saints (SHIELDS), are still excellent resources (indeed, they are the only ones left), but the loss of FARMS will leave a gaping hole in our efforts to defend the Church’s doctrines, history, and scriptures through a scholarly approach to research and publications.

A quote often associated with Edmund Burke says, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” This mirrors a revelation given by the Lord through Joseph Smith the Prophet, now found in Doctrine and Covenants 58:27, which states, “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.” Instead of sit around and do nothing, some of us have decided to do something, to engage ourselves of our own free will, and do what we can do, now, to gather the supporters of FARMS under the same roof, and establish a cause, to help support the future of this great organization.

Tevya Washburn, founder of MormonLifeHacker.com, and I have decided to join together to organize Restore FARMS, a support organization with the goal of restoring FARMS to its original mission and purpose. We don’t know exactly what that means for FARMS and its scholars. Will it once again regroup as an independent organization? Will it be given its own place again at BYU, with a board of directors consisting of FARMS scholars who share in its vision? Will it join with FAIR in a joint apologetics mission? We don’t know. What we do know is that we do not want to see FARMS just disappear. And we want your input! The Church needs, as it always has, defenders who are willing to address the many criticisms leveled at it by its detractors, and to help members who are struggling in their faith because of such material.

We have organized a website at RestoreFARMS.com, as well as a Facebook Page. If you want to join with us in rallying supporters for traditional FARMS, please visit Restore FARMS, and also click the “like” button below for our Facebook Page. You can also click “Send” to send this message to your friends, family, or groups on Facebook or by email address:

Note: This is a grassroots effort, without any direct affiliation with BYU, the Maxwell Institute, FARMS, FARMS scholars, or the Church. We, the readers, supporters, and donors of FARMS want to organize together, and help continue what was started 33 years ago. There is strength in numbers. Help us restore FARMS to its former stature as a scholarly apologetics organization which sustains and defends The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through ongoing informative publications.

Daniel C. Peterson – “Humble Apologetics”

June 28, 2012 by Bryce Haymond 10 Comments

This blog will not always have posts about temple studies, I admit, as there are other things that are at work today, about which I feel I must write a little. They keep in the same genre of sustaining and defending the Church and its members.

Over the past few days I’ve never heard so much negative criticism of the Maxwell Institute and FARMS, in the various venues online. You’d think BYU had been harboring a criminal all these years. Even Mormon apologetics in general is now taboo, unfit for the Church, a view which even some members are advocating. The fad of the week is to say that “FARMS-style” apologetics is hurting the Church, is damaging to members, destroying their faith, is a losing affair, and does nobody any good, and that’s why its remaining vestiges were finally eradicated, wholly and completely from BYU. Even the Brethren must be against apologetics and the apologists to allow, nay, to cause, nay, to be the force behind, nay, to have directly requested what happened at the Maxwell Institute last week. Ousting Dan Peterson and stopping the work of “FARMS” must have been the goal of BYU and the Church all along. It’s so clear now in hindsight. The very first moderated comment on my last post? “FARMS was an embarrassment.”

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. They even go so far as to determinedly conclude that it is Mormon apologetics, in fact, that is having a negative influence on the Church, which you’ll notice is completely backwards from its true meaning and purpose. Indeed, they are saying that the defenders are now essentially those doing the damage, which is almost comical in its twistedness. [Read more…]