For the series announcement and the question to which I am replying, see here.I believe that the dichotomy between the "intellectual" and the "spiritual" in religious education is a false one. Instead, I would prefer to appropriate for my approach to this important issue the German adjective geistlich (or Hebrew ruchi): a word that sees the spiritual and the intellectual as part of a synthetic whole that also includes an appreciation for the aesthetic. I believe that by adopting this … [Read more...]
Faith, Scholarship, and Teaching at BYU Series
Filed Under: BYU, Doctrine, History, LDS Church History, Mormon Culture, Mormon Studies, Personal Issues, Speculation, Studying Religion, Theology, Uncategorized Tagged With: BYU, Church History, doctrine, LDS, mormon, mormonism 3 Comments
On Biblical Scripture
The ProblemWhat makes Biblical Scripture, Scripture for LDS Christians?*Historically one prominent model for the authority of Biblical Scripture in Christian history (including for some Latter-day Saint thinkers) is the Prophetic-Inspiration Model: the person who writes the text is divinely inspired by God to write the very words that are recorded. This model entails that the human being is a puppet of sorts for the divine will, a tool that can be used for the divine purpose, namely … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Bible, Doctrine, Extra-Biblical Literature, Feminism, History, LDS Church History, Mormon Culture, Mormon Studies, Personal Issues, Scripture, Speculation, Studying Religion, Theology, Uncategorized Tagged With: Authority, Bible, Hebrew Bible, Inspiration, LDS, mormon, mormonism, New Testament, Scripture 7 Comments
The Value of Mormon Liturgical Theology
Liturgy is prescribed or ritualized forms of public worship. For instance, the LDS Sacrament (= the Eucharist) is a Mormon liturgical practice. The question I pose is as follows: to what extent is Mormon liturgical practice appreciated in the development of Mormon theology? That is, how does the Sacrament ritual, hymn singing, the standardized Sacrament Meeting routine, traditional baptismal services, normative forms of public prayer, etc., reflect and inform the creative efforts of (modern) M … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Doctrine, Mormon Culture, Mormon Studies, Personal Issues, Studying Religion, Theology Tagged With: Eucharist, LDS, Liturgy, mormon, mormonism, Sacrament 10 Comments
Ten Tidbits About Prophets and Prophecy in the Old Testament
1. The biblical, or so-called "canonical," prophets--those whom we tend to consider the prophets--in many instances (e.g., Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and Hosea) are not called prophets (Hebrew nabi') in the superscriptions to their books, or elsewhere, and indeed probably would have rejected this label for themselves. For instance, in a third person biographical narrative about Amos, he rejects the Bethel priest Amaziah's suggestion that he is a nabi' (See Amos 7:10-17; cf. Hosea 9:7; Micah 3). This i … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Bible, Doctrine, Feminism, History, Leadership, Mormon Studies, Politics, Scripture, Studying Religion, Ten Tidbits, Theology, Uncategorized Tagged With: Hebrew Bible, LDS, mormon, mormonism, Old Testament, Politics, prophecy, Prophets, religion, Scripture, Theology 36 Comments
1 Enoch in Jude’s “Bible”: Issues of Canonicity and Scriptural Inspiration
Jude 1:5-7 (NRSV): Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgement of the great day. Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Bible, Doctrine, Extra-Biblical Literature, History, Scripture, Speculation, Studying Religion, Theology, Uncategorized Tagged With: Bible, biblical studies, Canon, Enoch, Jude, LDS, mormonism, New Testament, New Testament Studies, Scripture 8 Comments
Isaiah 7:14 and Scriptural Hermeneutics
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isa 7:14, KJV) Isaiah 7.14 is one of three prophetic sign-acts in Isaiah chapters 7-8 in which Isaiah of Jerusalem associates or gives an ambiguous or multivalent ominous name to a child as a means of sharing the divine message to his contemporaries. The historical context of these chapters is the Syrio-Ephraimite War. At this time Israel (the northern kingdom), A … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Bible, Doctrine, Feminism, History, Mormon Studies, Scripture, Sexuality, Speculation, Studying Religion, Theology Tagged With: Bible, god, Holy Spirit, Isaiah, Isaiah 7:14, Jesus, LDS, Mary, mormonism, Theology, Virgin 9 Comments
Scriptural Authority, Normativity, and Hermeneutics: Women and the Priesthood
Introduction [1] The Bible often privileges men as normative for what it means to be human, frequently considers women as inferior to men, and presents God in overwhelmingly male terms. For the contemporary believer who is committed to the full equality of men and women the problem is not simply one of reconciling isolated patriarchal, sexist, or misogynistic biblical passages with an egalitarian or feminist perspective, but the revelatory nature of the biblical text itself. “How can a text th … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Bible, Doctrine, Family, Feminism, History, LDS Church History, Leadership, Mormon Culture, Mormon Studies, Personal Issues, Politics, Scripture, Sexuality, Speculation, Studying Religion, Theology, Uncategorized Tagged With: Bible, Feminism, Jesus, LDS, mormon, mormonism, New Testament, Old Testament, Priesthood, Scripture, Theology 6 Comments
(Re)writing the Bible in Antiquity and Today
CANON The New Testament writers and early Church Fathers used the Septuagint (LXX) for proof texts and for personal and communal worship. The LXX is based on the Old Greek translations of the Hebrew and Aramaic Scriptures … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Bible, Doctrine, History, Mormon Studies, Scripture, Theology, Uncategorized Tagged With: Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, Hebrew Bible, Inerrancy, LDS, mormon, mormonism, Scripture, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Theology 12 Comments
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