• About
  • Contents
  • Tag Cloud

Temple Study

Sustaining and Defending the LDS Temple

videos

The Oxford Commencement as the Oldest Degree Ceremonies Extant: A Reprise

July 13, 2012 by Bryce Haymond 5 Comments

A degree ceremony at the University of Oxford, England

A couple days ago my mind returned to some posts I made back in the infancy of TempleStudy.com in 2008.  These posts were about the commencement exercises at Oxford University.  Now that seems quite odd, doesn’t it?  What would commencement exercises have anything to do with the temple?  Well let me tell you.  The Oxford commencement exercises as practiced today may be the oldest, longest-running, and relatively unaltered degree ceremonies still in existence, and their forms are still quite archaic, yet very familiar.  Yes, even older than Freemasonry.

Oxford University, in Oxford England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world.  Indeed, its beginnings date back to the 11th century!  That’s old.  Furthermore, they claim that their commencement exercises, also called “degree ceremonies,” have remained unchanged for over 800 years.  That’s a long time.  Therefore, much of what is seen today in the forms of the Oxford commencement are totally unrecognizable to the modern world.  Undoubtedly even the graduates are likely baffled at the performances during the meeting.  No other university does it quite like they do.  On the other hand, much of what happens in the ceremony will be strikingly familiar to the endowed Latter-day Saint.

In 1906 a fellow by the name of Joseph Wells published a study about these ceremonies at Oxford, which I dug into quite a bit, and found quite a treasure trove of interesting parallels to modern LDS temple worship.  Of course, I only point out the Oxford side of the coin.  Why do these ceremonies have such interesting elements?  Perhaps it was when Joseph Smith took his spring vacation to Oxford in early 1842 and witnessed the ceremonies first-hand, and thought there were some good things in there, ripe for borrowing.  Joking aside, the origination of the forms of the Oxford ceremonies is up for investigation.  I only took a passing look into what they are like today.

Here are the links to my original posts in 2008:

Part 1, Introduction – http://templestudy.com/2008/06/27/the-degree-ceremonies-of-oxford-university-part-1/
Part 2, Wells study – http://templestudy.com/2008/06/29/the-degree-ceremonies-of-oxford-university-part-2/
Part 3, YouTube videos – http://templestudy.com/2008/06/30/the-degree-ceremonies-of-oxford-university-part-3/
Part 4, Wells continued – http://templestudy.com/2008/07/01/the-degree-ceremonies-of-oxford-university-part-4/

I’m interested in hearing thoughts about where these exercises may have come from.  Please let us know your comments.

P.S.  The matriculation ceremonies at some universities also offer some peculiarities, as seen in this clip with Julia Roberts in the movie Mona Lisa Smile.

Posted in: Practices Tagged: cap, ceremony, college, commencement, degrees, graduation, joseph smith, matriculation, origin, oxford, reprise, temple worship, university, videos, youtube

Temple Video Series: Part 2a – Three Degrees of Glory (Bronze Laver)

June 30, 2010 by Bryce Haymond 1 Comment

Another great video from David Tayman and David Larsen from their series of videos on the ancient temple. This one begins a discussion of the three degrees of glory, focusing first on the bronze laver.

Feel free to share with us your thoughts in the comments below.

Posted in: Artifacts, Scholarship Tagged: baptismal font, blog, david larsen, education, experience, heavenly ascents, laver, multimedia, ritual, sacred space, temple worship, three degrees, video, videos, worship, youtube

Temple Video Series: Part 1 – Sacred Space

April 22, 2010 by Bryce Haymond 3 Comments

David Tayman from the blog Visions of the Kingdom, and David Larsen from Heavenly Ascents, have teamed up to produce a series of short YouTube videos on the ancient temple.  The focus of the presentations will be to explore the nature, function, doctrine and ritual of the ancient temple.  This is done with the purpose of providing a richer experience and understanding to our modern temple worship.  They are very well done, with great sound, video, and narration.  I will feature them here as they are produced.

Thanks to the Davids for providing these fantastic videos! Did you gain any new insights from the video above? Feel free to share with us your thoughts in the comments below.

Posted in: Practices, Scholarship Tagged: blog, david larsen, education, experience, heavenly ascents, multimedia, ritual, sacred space, temple worship, video, videos, worship, youtube

New Ways to Read or Listen to TempleStudy.com

March 25, 2009 by Bryce Haymond Leave a Comment
RSS icon

RSS icon

I’ve updated the ways that you can read posts and subscribe to TempleStudy.com.  So you now have multiple methods of reading posts here:

  • TempleStudy.com – this website, of course
  • Full Post RSS Feed – full articles in your RSS reader
  • Summary RSS Feed – introductory snippets of articles in your RSS reader (with a link to the full post)
  • Comments RSS Feed – allows you to read the comments on all posts sitewide
  • Subscribe by email – receive TempleStudy in your inbox

I’ve also added support for Odiogo, which converts TempleStudy.com posts into audio podcasts.  It’s a computerized voice, and isn’t always pretty (because it reads every footnote and related post text), but could be useful for those who don’t have time to read, but could listen to the articles while exercising or commuting to and from work.  It could also be a way for those who are visually impaired, or have other disabilities, to access TempleStudy.com:

  • Odiogo Podcast of TempleStudy.com (viewable in most RSS readers)
  • Other ways to subscribe to the podcast include iTunes, Juice, Zune, MP3 playlist, etc.

TempleStudy.com is also now multi-lingual!  If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will see a widget in the sidebar titled “Translate This Website.”  You can now choose from any of 40 different languages from the dropdown box, and this entire website will instantly be translated into that language.  Translation is provided by Google Translate, so it won’t be perfect, but it works.

I’ve also made a change to the homepage.  As I noted a few days ago, I changed the homepage to be a full-page embedded video of “Between Heaven and Earth.”  It is a great introduction to LDS temples and what our temple worship means to us.  I’ve changed that slightly now.  Now the video will only be displayed to new visitors to the website.  Returning visitors will not see the video.  (Thanks Naomi!)

Thanks again for everyone’s support of TempleStudy.com.  You’ve greatly blessed my life, and the lives of many others.  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Note: If you don’t know what an RSS feed is, please see this great intro YouTube video called “RSS Feeds in Plain English.”

Posted in: Tidbits Tagged: audio, listen, posts, read, RSS, video, videos, website, youtube

What Temples Mean to Mormons – Video

March 24, 2009 by Bryce Haymond Leave a Comment

A new short video by the LDS Church about what temples mean to Mormons.

Posted in: Temples Today Tagged: interview, temples, video, videos
« Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »

About TempleStudy.com

This blog is dedicated to the exemplary LDS (Mormon) scholar Dr. Hugh Nibley, whose landmark temple studies have strengthened the faith of many. Read more on About page. Email me. Click on the widget in the lower-right corner of the window to chat with me.

Support TempleStudy.com

Recent Comments

  • Miguel David Gedo on The Black Robes of a False Priesthood
  • ellen north on Pondering the Temple Experience Through Scripture
  • Corey on Who were the Shepherds in the Christmas Story?
  • Lori allred on Creed Haymond Story of the Word of Wisdom, in His Own Words
  • Aleta G on Homeward Bound: Interpretations of Marta Keen Thompson’s Music

Recent Posts

  • ThyMindOMan.com – Exploring the Mind’s Relationship to God
  • Videos of 2014 Temple on Mount Zion Conference Now Available for Free Viewing
  • Gratitude Precedes Zion
  • Official Church Video on Temple Garments and Robes
  • The Temple on Mount Zion 2014 Conference

Categories

  • Announcements
  • Artifacts
  • Church History
  • Favorites
  • General Authorities
  • Practices
  • Scholarship
  • Temples Today
  • Texts
  • Tidbits
  • Uncategorized

Archives

  • April 2017
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • December 2011
  • October 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008

Blogroll

  • Adventures in Mormonism
  • Believe All Things
  • Free Temple Photos Blog
  • Heavenly Ascents
  • Latter-Day Commentary
  • LDS Temples Photo Blog
  • Leen Ritmeyer – Archeological Design
  • Lehi’s Library
  • Millennial Star
  • Mormanity
  • Mormon Insights
  • Mormon Mysticism
  • Pronaos
  • Sacred Symbolic
  • Strong Reasons
  • Temple Photos Blog
  • The Seer Stone
  • Things Unutterable
  • Visions of the Kingdom

Links

  • Barry Bickmore: Temple in Early Christianity
  • Bruce Porter’s Temple Articles
  • BYU Students of the Ancient Near East (SANE)
  • FAIR Wiki
  • FAIRLDS: Mormon Research
  • FARMS: Mormon Scholarship
  • Jeff Lindsay: Temples and Masonry
  • Jesus Christ
  • LDS Church News
  • LDS Church Temples
  • LDS Temple Fine Art – Robert Boyd
  • LDS Temple Photography – Aaron Barker
  • LDS Toolbar.com
  • LDS Toolbar.net
  • LDS.org
  • LDS.org Temples
  • Mormon Church Temples
  • Mormon Conferences
  • Mormon Monastery
  • Mormon Temple Ceremony
  • Mormon Temple Ceremony
  • Mormon.org
  • Temple Prints Fine Art Photography
  • Temple Studies Group
  • The Temple Institute

Copyright © 2025 Temple Study.

Omega WordPress Theme by ThemeHall