In their presentation “‘Time Vindicates the Prophet’ – An analysis of criticisms raised against the Book of Mormon during Joseph Smith’s lifetime and the status of those allegations in 1844, 1930, and 2019,” Matt Roper and Kirk Magleby laid out what they contend is the growing convergence between the Book of Mormon and cutting edge Mesoamerican research or, more precisely, the rapidly decreasing number of seeming “anachronisms” in the Book of Mormon text. Their big announcement, though, concerned the launch of an exciting new website, parallel to Book of Mormon Central itself:
Here is the official announcement, which also discusses another initiative that is soon to be made available:
In the next presentation, Jasmin Rappleye and Neal Rappleye — regular co-hosts of the Interpreter Radio Show, by the way — focused, with the help of Daniel Smith and Taylor Halverson, on what they called “ScripturePlus: The Future of Scripture Study.” (Along with the Rappleyes, Smith and Halverson and, for that matter, Matt Roper and Kirk Magleby are associated with Book of Mormon Central.)
ScripturePlus is intended to be an innovative app for scripture study. It will be well worth exploring, when it’s fully available.
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While listening to the multi-person presentation introducing ScripturePlus, I received an important anonymous communication from an avid reader of Dr. Shades’s Peterson Obsession Board:
disgusting dishonest creepy waddlin simp nigglin. betcha little granddaughter gonna be proud a her fatula
Plainly, the deliberations at the Obsession Board often inspire him to share his deepest thoughts with me. This was his twelfth note to me over the past ten days. Admittedly, not all of them have been so articulate or so family-friendly — though one of Monday’s communications came pretty close:
yer a pus filled boil spewin nutzo cultist propaganda fer lemming consumption ya nasty [obscenity deleted] livin the cult fantasy lie
He’s been faithfully providing me with such reflections for approximately 4.5 years now. The folks at the Obsession Board must be very proud to be so eloquently represented.
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The last presentation of the day, by Matthew Bowen, was called “Laman and Nephi as Key-Words: An Etymological, Narratological, and Rhetorical Approach to Understanding Lamanites and Nephites as Religious, Political, and Cultural Descriptors.”
Professor Bowen (who also regularly participates in the Interpreter Radio Show) has been publishing a series of articles in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship about proper names in the scriptures, and particularly in the Book of Mormon. Some of his work has been gathered in a book entitled Name as Key-Word: Collected Essays on Onomastic Wordplay and the Temple in Mormon Scripture. This afternoon’s presentation continued and extended his previous studies.
Posted from Provo, Utah
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