Where did Nephi build his ship?

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It’s Friday, so, naturally, a new article has just appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:

“Khor Rori: A Maritime Resources-Based Candidate for Nephi’s Harbor,” by George D. Potter

Abstract: Khor Rori, which forms the mouth of Wadi (Valley) Darbat, is the largest inlet along the Dhofar coast of southern Arabia. The khor was excavated into a harbor by the erosive action of the river that flows through Wadi Darbat. In ancient times, Khor Rori was the only harbor in the Dhofar Region that could accommodate large sailing ships. The first colonizers of Khor Rori, who arrived around the ninth century bc, must have realized that this particular khor, because of its morphology, was an ideal natural port for trading their frankincense with other seafaring nations. Because Khor Rori has long been considered an important candidate for Bountiful and offers the advantage of not only the rich vegetation in Wadi Darbat and good sources of flowing water, it is also a safe harbor where a ship could have been built — indeed, the harbor would later become a busy port noted for building ships and much trade. This article provides updates since the original publications about Khor Rori, better documenting its advantages and exploring the possibility that essential raw materials for shipbuilding and shipwright expertise might have already existed at Khor Rori in Nephi’s day.

“Interpreting Interpreter: Reframing Nephi’s Shipbuilding,” by Kyler Rasmussen

The Takeaway:  Potter advances a comprehensive argument for an alternative view of Nephi’s ship, his shipbuilding skills, and of the location of Bountiful. In proposing a more conventional design for an ancient sailing ship, Potter concludes that Nephi would have needed to draw from the imported raw materials, shipbuilding expertise, and natural harbor accessible within an existing port city. For Potter, Khor Rori fits those requirements better than the commonly proposed Khor Kharfot.

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I’m pleased to mention that I’ll be speaking at the Joseph and Polly Knight 2022 Family Reunion.  The gathering will take place on Friday, 24 June, and Saturday, 25 June, at the East Millcreek Stake Center (3103 E. Craig Drive [that is to say, 3600 South), in Millcreek, Utah.  I will be the concluding speaker, in the chapel (with a hammer?), at 1;30 PM on Saturday.  (I think it very realistic on the part of the organizers to understand that, in the wake of my remarks, nobody will have any enthusiasm left for continuing with the Reunion.)  This will be just a bit of an undertaking for me, as I return from Europe fairly late on the evening of Thursday, 23 June.  Presuming, of course, that my flight isn’t delayed.  I wrote up a draft of my remarks today — it’s an at-sea day — and I’ll look at them again in a little while to see whether I should abandon them and start over again.  I hope not!

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I’ve received the following note via Facebook from my friend Kevin Barney:

Dan, I’m reading the June 2022 Sports Illustrated. The article on Man Mountain Dean includes this quote: “Dan Peterson, a longtime BYU professor whose father passed through Camp Ritchie, recalls another tale that his dad used to tell of soldiers sleeping in the barracks, awoken to high decibel snoring.” Is that you?

It is, indeed.  (That is, I’m that Dan Peterson; however, I’m not the guy doing the high decibel snoring.)  I’m grateful to Kevin for bringing this to my attention.  I’ll need to see if I can get a copy of the relevant issue of Sports Illustrated.  How the SI writer happened to come across the blog entry from which he obviously drew his anecdote escapes me.  My Dad would have gotten a kick out of this.

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Elder David A. Bednar been busy over the past few days:

“Elder Bednar dedicates first temple in Guam, asking members to ‘connect Jesus Christ with the temple’”

The next two links concern his remarks to the National Press Club in Washington DC, which I enjoyed.  One of them contains his response to a question about the FX/Hulu miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven:

“Elder Bednar addresses National Press Club, details Church efforts, answers questions”

“At National Press Club, Elder Bednar responds to questions about church finances, portrayal of church in media: The apostle also said Latter-day Saint leaders are ‘proud to stand with our LGBTQ brothers and sisters’ for federal legislation to protect both religious and LGBTQ rights”

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It seems that Roe v. Wade is about to be overturned.  I’m happy at the thought.  I’m happy at the prospect of returning the matter for debate among the people of the fifty states and their elected representatives.  Not everybody is happy, though.  And disagreement, of course, is something that happens occasionally on a whole lot of topics . . .  and something with which representative government is designed to deal.  Here are a couple of items that are worth a look in connection with the looming Supreme Court decision.

“No, Overturning Roe Would Not Establish Theocracy”

“Why an abortion rights group is taking credit for vandalizing a Latter-day Saint chapel, other Washington churches”

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In case you’re not already sufficiently worried by rampaging mobs of anti-religious bigots or aspiring theocratic tyrants seeking to Make the Handmaid’s Tale Great Again, here’s something for you to think about, even if this particular study seems to be disappointingly reassuring:

“There Are 4 ‘Malicious Extraterrestrial Civilizations’ in Milky Way, Researcher Estimates: Back-of-the-napkin math assuming aliens are like humans suggests there are only a few evil alien societies in our galaxy, which is good news for everyone.”

But, happily for pessimists, not all prospects are good:

“Physicists predict Earth will become a chaotic world, with dire consequences: ‘If the Earth System gets into the region of chaotic behavior, we will lose all hope of somehow fixing the problem.'”