I taught this Gospel Doctrine lesson after the scheduled teacher was informed that his son was speaking in Primary. During that spontaneous teaching experience, I realized some things about the interconnectedness of the ten chapters leading up to Genesis 22. In particular, I want to clarify why Genesis 22 unrolls the way it does. Isaac isn’t the sacrifice there just because “it’s the most horrific thing we can think of.” Abraham’s test goes far beyond that, but in order to... Read more
First, here’s a Spotify playlist of mine to put you in mind to read the Old Testament. It’s Middle Eastern, foreign, archaic, a little mystical and mysterious. It’s probably not anything like actual Israelite music, but it fits my preconceptions. Second, let’s establish some basic facts. (more…) Read more
Reading: Moses 8:19-30; Genesis 6:5-22; 7:1-10 Lesson manual (link) Since I first wrote this four years ago, it has been one of the most-popular, most-read posts, and one I refer people to often, because it was where I laid out my longest argument introducing people to the idea of genre in scripture. Since then, I’ve also talked about it in two podcasts with LDS perspectives (here on the Bible in general and here more specifically on Genesis 1); I also spoke about... Read more
Since we’re going to be talking about this topic a lot, I thought I’d throw up a post with some resources and thoughts. First, let’s get our vocabulary clear. The weekly shabbat or sabbath of Judaism meant a “ceasing” of certain activities and encouragement of others. This weekly sabbath was Saturdays. In the New Testament, Sunday became celebrated as “The Lord’s Day” because that was the day whereon Jesus was resurrected. Earliest Christian practice was probably mixed, but it appears that these Christians... Read more
Text: Moses 5:16-41; 6:26-63; 7:13, 17-47, 68-69 As always, time compels us to be selective in what we focus on. Today, it’s all about Cain. First off, we need to understand that Cain has nothing to do with Canaan. That association is an accident of English transliteration and pronunciation. They sound similar in English, but in Hebrew Cain/qayin (accent on first syllable) has no relation at all with Canaan/kena’an (kuh-nah-ahn, accent on middle syllable.) If there’s any descent of Cain in the Bible, it’s…... Read more
Let’s talk about origins. We seem to think origins are important; “where we came from” forms a part of our our identity, helps us understand ourselves. This is pretty deeply embedded and reinforced in our culture in a number of ways. Superhero movies tend to begin with an origin story. Even Batman movies, as often as we’ve seen it and as much as we know it, typically begin by retelling the trauma of young Bruce seeing his parents shot. Jennifer... Read more
This is the first of my Old Testament Gospel Doctrine posts. (Yes, it’s Lesson 3. Mea Culpa.) I’ll be updating my old posts and changing the date on them so they reapper. Inigo Montoya sums this lesson almost perfectly. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Actually, I don’t feel we can even sum up here. (more…) Read more
Several years ago, I was involved in the Mormon Theology Seminar on Genesis 2-3. The conference from that seminar was recently published to good reviews, and contains a paper of mine about translation and the meaning of names in Genesis 2-3. (The short version is, “Adam” and “Eve” here should have been translated not as proper names, but as Human and Life. I also explain why, then, they got translated as Adam and Eve.) To kick off the seminar, I provided an... Read more
UVU’s annual Mormon Studies Conference will be held (and streamed!) February 22-23. The topic is Heaven & Earth: Mormonism and the Challenges of Science, Revelation, and Faith Presentation titles are not available yet, but topics over the two days include Day 1 Mormonism and Evolution (Steven Peck offering the Eugene England Memorial Lecture, Jamie Jensen, and me) Science & the Critical Study of Scripture (David Bokovoy, Philip Barlow) Day 2 Keynote Address by Molly Worthen, author of Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority... Read more
So, here’s the background of my click-bait post. I address several of these in my podcast on Genesis 1, or previous posts. Genesis 1 really likes the number 7. Can you spot all the multiples of 7 in there? You probably can’t, because even if you read Hebrew, these are not all exactly obvious. “After the introductory verse (1:1), the section is divided into seven paragraphs, each of which appertains to one of the seven days….Each of the three... Read more
Benjamin the Scribe
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