{"id":106830,"date":"2024-09-06T17:24:49","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T23:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=106830"},"modified":"2024-09-06T21:43:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-07T03:43:39","slug":"the-latest-in-mahonri-moriancumr-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/09\/the-latest-in-mahonri-moriancumr-studies.html","title":{"rendered":"The Latest in Mahonri Moriancumr Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Friberg's<\/a>
\u201cThe Brother of Jared Sees the Finger of the Lord,\u201d by Arnold Friberg (Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two new articles have gone up on the website of the never-changing and completely dead website of the Interpreter Foundation:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Man with No Name: The Story of the Brother of Jared as an Anti-Babel Polemic,\u201d<\/a> written by Walker Wright<\/a><\/p>\n

Abstract:<\/strong> Within the text of the Book of Mormon, the name of Jared\u2019s brother is never revealed. Various reasons have been offered for the lack of a name, but nothing conclusive has been offered. Taking a cue from the polemical nature of Old Testament theology, this paper argues that the opening of the book of Ether is a polemic against Babel, with the brother of Jared being contrasted against the people and ruler of Babel. Led by the mighty hunter Nimrod, the people of Babel refused God\u2019s command to multiply and fill the earth. Instead, they gathered together, built a tower to reach the heavens, and explicitly sought to make a name for themselves. In response, the Lord confounded their language and scattered them abroad. In contrast, the brother of Jared was a mighty, unnamed man who communed with the heavens on top of a high mountain. The language of his people was spared, and they spread across the face of the promised land. Moroni\u2019s abridgement of Ether thus may present the anti-Babel origins of the Jaredites.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cInterpreting Interpreter<\/em>: An Anti-Babel,\u201d<\/a> written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

This post is a summary of the article \u201cThe Man with No Name: The Story of the Brother of Jared as an Anti-Babel Polemic<\/a>\u201d by Walker Wright in Volume 62 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>. All of the Interpreting Interpreter<\/em> articles may be seen at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/category\/summaries\/<\/a>. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter<\/em>series is available at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Takeaway:<\/strong> Wright argues that the story of the Brother of Jared is meant to serve as a contrast against the people and ruler of Babel, pitting an unnamed righteous man who communed with the heavens against the mighty Nimrod and the people of Babel, who tried to make a name for themselves and build their way to the heavens.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"NASA<\/a>
NASA does the Arabian Peninsula
(A photograph in the public domain from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I think that you\u2019ll enjoy this nine-minute video, filmed onsite in the Arabian Peninsula: \u00a0\u201cOne of the Best Book of Mormon Evidences: The Valley of Lemuel Location!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

As an Arabist, I have obvious reasons for finding the Arabian portion of the Book of Mormon in 1 Nephi of special interest. \u00a0So it\u2019s gratifying to me that that particular set of chapters holds up quite well to scholarly scrutiny. \u00a0And I need hardly tell you that the youthful Joseph Smith almost certainly had no great expertise in the micro-geography of the Arabian Peninsula, nor many resources available to him on the subject in Harmony, Pennsylvania\u2019s Graduate Research Library.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a>
James B. Allen (1927-2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My wife and I were saddened to learn, just three or four days ago, of the death of our friend Jim Allen<\/a>. \u00a0He and his late wife, Ren\u00e9e, were already members of a regular reading group, the Gadianton Polysophical Marching and Chowder Society, before we were invited to join it. \u00a0That monthly meeting has been a very pleasant regular fixture of our lives for decades now. \u00a0Unfortunately, as actuarial realities predicted, the GPMCS has been losing members rapidly over the past couple of years and more. \u00a0(At the time of our joining, my wife and I were, by at least ten or fifteen years [I think], the group\u2019s youngest members.)<\/p>\n

Jim served for several years alongside the late Davis Bitton<\/a> \u2014 another member of the GPMCS and another good friend of ours \u2014 as one of the two assistant historians of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>, under the late Leonard J. Arrington. \u00a0I\u2019m very happy to report that I was able to interview Jim on camera several months ago for the eventual docudrama that we intend as a sequel to follow the dramatic film Six Days in August<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0Although he was already in his ninety-seventh year and a little bit worried about how he would do, he was sharp and well-informed.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u201cJames B. Allen ranks highly among BYU Studies<\/em> authors. Over many years he published articles, reviews and documents of great quality in great quantity. He was a founding father of scholarly studies of Joseph Smith\u2019s First Vision, a kind and generous mentor, and a true disciple of Jesus Christ. BYU Studies<\/em> expresses heartfelt condolences to Professor Allen\u2019s family and loved ones. We honor him.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\u201cWe love him. We are grateful for all he has given us and taught us over the course of his brilliant career.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u2014Steven C. Harper, Editor in Chief of BYU Studies<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
https:\/\/www.legacy.com\/\u2026\/name\/james-allen-obituary\u2026<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
https:\/\/byustudies.byu.edu\/author\/james-b-allen<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\"The<\/a>
\u201cUrim ve Thummim,\u201d says the Hebrew inscription on Yale University\u2019s shield: \u201cLights and Perfections.\u201d \u201cLight and Truth,\u201d says the Latin inscription. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, as is the frequent custom here has been and continues to be, I close with yet another horror from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122. \u00a0Actually, I close with a pair of related<\/em> horrors.<\/p>\n

Viewer discretion is advised. \u00a0If you are pregnant or suffer from a heart condition, you should seriously consider not clinking on the following links:<\/p>\n

The first was published in the Deseret News by the invaluable Jacob Hess: \u00a0\u201cCollege students active in their faith have better mental health, including sexual minorities:\u00a0This is the definitive conclusion from the first study to directly compare religious and nonreligious campuses, analyzing over 135K students across 140 universities.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

And to make it all worse, \u201creligious campuses\u201d seem to be doing pretty well at the moment. \u00a0In fact, the virus of theistic-influenced education may actually be spreading<\/em>. \u00a0Here\u2019s an article from the Deseret News<\/em> that was recently co-authored by Elder Clark G. Gilbert of the Seventy, Commissioner of Education for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Shirley Hoogstra, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Together, they currently co-chair the Commission on Faith-based Universities at the American Council on Education: \u00a0\u201cFaith-based universities are growing for a reason:\u00a0It\u2019s the law of the harvest\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Two new articles have gone up on the website of the never-changing and completely dead website of the Interpreter Foundation: \u201cThe Man with No Name: The Story of the Brother of Jared as an Anti-Babel Polemic,\u201d written by Walker Wright Abstract: Within the text of the Book of Mormon, the name of Jared\u2019s brother […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":38492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,37962,27705,27708,37965,37968],"class_list":["post-106830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-brother-of-jared","tag-james-b-allen","tag-jim-allen","tag-mahonri-moriancumr","tag-valley-of-lemuel"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Latest in Mahonri Moriancumr Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  Two new articles have gone up on the website of 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