temples

TempleStudy.com Fireside Discussion – Introduction

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Welcome to our first fireside discussion at TempleStudy.com!  This discussion is taking place with a new innovative tool from Google called Hangouts, and specifically Hangouts on Air.  This allows up to ten panelists to take part in a discussion with full video/audio of each participant.  The “on air” portion means that it is streamed live to the world, and will be recorded also for later for viewing.  It will be streamed live on TempleStudy.com, and wherever else it is embedded.  See the original post about the idea.

The text we will be using as a springboard for our discussion in these firesides is Temple Worship: 20 Truths That Will Bless Your Life, by Andrew C. Skinner.  Deseret Book and BYU Religious Education note Dr. Skinner’s background:

Andrew C. Skinner is a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, was dean of Religious Education and the first executive director of BYU’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. He holds master’s degrees in Biblical Hebrew and Jewish Studies and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern and European History, specializing in Judaism.  He is the author or co-author of over 100 publications.

We will have several great panelists participating in our discussion tonight, including myself, Frederick M. Huchel, Gary N. Anderson, Steve Reed, and Tevya Washburn. I thank them sincerely for participating in tonight’s discussion.  Thank you for coming!

Praying Couple Curtain from 5th-6th Century Christianity

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The following is a photo of a linen and wool screen curtain (velum) that comes from a monastery at Antinoë (Antinopolis), Egypt, and dates from the 5th-6th century.  It is likely an artifact of the early Coptic Christians.  It depicts a praying couple beneath an apse in a church or temple, with a Coptic inscription written in Greek script underneath.  The apse of a church building is near the east end, where the altar is located.  There are columns on the left and right, perhaps symbolizing Boaz and Jachin, pillars that flanked the entrance in the porch of Solomon’s Temple, and have come to symbolize the temple ever since.  The figures are dressed in liturgical clothing, including what appears to be a mitre, a veil, and robes, and in the traditional early Christian attitude of prayer with uplifted hands.  Size: 1.05 x 0.86 m.  It is located at the Benaki Museum, Athens. (Thanks Chad!)

Praying Couple Curtain, 5th-6th century Antinoë, Egypt

Praying Couple Curtain, 5th-6th century Antinoë, Egypt

Radically different views of Death

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A couple months ago I received an email from someone who stumbled onto TempleStudy.com.  It read in part,

[The Bible] is purely a creation of man to placate the ego’s fear of death and nothing more. All religion was invented to buffer the ego against the fear of death.

That’s certainly one way to think of death.  Another way to think of it is that religion gives meaning to life and death.  Hugh Nibley often quoted a poem by A.E. Housman about man’s preoccupation with death:

. . . men at whiles are sober
And think by fits and starts,
And if they think, they fasten
Their hands upon their hearts. ((Qtd. in Nibley, “Prophets and Glad Tidings,” The World and the Prophets, 259-67,http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/bookschapter.php?bookid=54&chapid=515))

The prominent literary scholar Harold Bloom once said,

What is the essence of religion? … Religion rises inevitably from our apprehension of our own death. To give meaning to meaninglessness is the endless quest of all religion. ((http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/what-is-this-thing-that-men-call-death))

I recently came upon two vastly different modes of thinking about death.  The juxtaposition of these two starkly different views is very interesting.   [Read more…]

Ancient Israelite Temples Timeline (1300 BC—AD 100)

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Ancient Israelite Temples Timeline (1300 BC—AD 100). Click on image for hi-res version.

Ancient Israelite Temples Timeline (1300 BC—AD 100). Click on image for hi-res version.

Creative Commons License
Ancient Israelite Temples Timeline (1300 BC—AD 100) by Bryce Haymond is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. That means you can use this graphic however you please, as long as you attribute the original work to me and this website, and any derivatives must be licensed the same. See the Creative Commons link above for more details.

I am a visual learner in many ways, so sometimes I like to put things together visually so I can get a better grasp of them, and understand them more thoroughly.  The history of the ancient Israelite temples is one of those things that I wanted to learn better, so I created this timeline to help me visualize it.

The timeline shows the basic history of the ancient Israelite temples from the Tabernacle of Moses, through Solomon’s Temple (First Temple Period), the Babylonian Exile, and Zerubbabel’s and Herod’s Temples (Second Temple Period).  This spans about 1400 years.  Major temple structures are noted, as well as lesser known Israelite temples.  Major events which affected temple worship are marked and labeled, as well as other important dates.

The information on the timeline is sourced primarily from William Hamblin and David Seely’s excellent 2007 book, Solomon’s Temple: Myth and History (pages 9-49, 210).  Other information was found at various sources online.

I’m sure there are many details I’ve left out, and probably some errors.  If there are items that you think should be included (such as additional Israelite temples), please let me know.  If there are errors, please tell me those as well.  Just leave notes in the comments, and I will continually update the timeline here as I receive feedback.  Thanks!

Update (10/31/2009): I’ve updated the timeline. I’ve added some temples in the New World, including the temple in the city of Nephi, Zarahemla, and Bountiful. I’ve also added several more Old World temples including Arad, Meggido, Lachish, Beersheba, Gilgal, Ebal, Shechem, Shiloh, Kirjath-jearim, and Gibeon. Many of the dates are approximated. There are still more to add, as soon as I find more details.

Update (11/2/2009): I’ve decided to make this strictly an Old World temples timeline, so I’ve removed the few references to temples in the New World. I may make a separate timeline which compiles what we know of temples in the Book of Mormon. I’ve added some details about the ruling parties in Judea between 515 BC and AD 100. I’ve also added a visual reconstruction of what the Elephantine Temple may have looked like. Other small details have also been added.

360° Panoramas of Temple Square

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360° panoramas of Temple Square let you look around as if you were there.

360° panoramas of Temple Square let you look around as if you were there.

Dr. William Hamblin has put together some very cool high resolution 360° panoramas of different locations on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  And they really are 360°.  You can look in all different directions, including up and down.  It gives the impression of standing on the spot.  Well done!

The locations he has included are:

  • West of the Salt Lake Temple (next to Tabernacle)
  • In between Assembly Hall and Tabernacle
  • East of the Salt Lake Temple
  • South of the Salt Lake Temple
  • Near the South Visitor’s Center
  • Christus statue in the North Visitor’s Center
  • Conference Center auditorium
  • Tabernacle interior

You get the best effect if you zoom in just a little.  You can zoom in and out by using the shift and Ctrl keys on your keyboard.  You can move around by clicking and dragging with your mouse.

I’ve always been impressed by how new technologies can take us places for fun or practical purposes.  I’ve written about visiting Utah temples with Google Street View, modeling temples in 3D with Google’s Sketchup, using Microsoft’s Photosynth technology to virtually zoom around Temple Square, or how the Church uses computer rendering to envision future temples.  Dr. Hamblin’s panoramas are a welcome addition!

See the 360° Panoramas of Temple Square