Allen Wyatt has made some important observations on how Dan Peterson has been vindicated against spurious attacks by recent events. http://www.allenwyatt.com/blog/dehlin-peterson-and-unsubstantiated-myths/ I agree with Wyatt’s conclusions. For years Dan has been falsely vilified by Dehlin and his supporters, and unjustifiably fired by the Maxwell Institute. Read more
Does anyone else find it odd that John Dehlin has been excommunicated in part for his “statements that the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham are fraudulent and works of fiction,” while a major institute at BYU is, at the very least, giving cover to legitimizing precisely this idea? It seems to me so patently obvious that if the Book of Mormon is fiction, it is fraud. And if it is fraud, then the founding claims of the church are bogus. I’m not sure... Read more
John Dehlin has apparently been excommunicated. The letter from his Stake President is here: http://www.deseretnews.com/media/pdf/1484938.pdf A couple of observations. First, one of the three reasons for his excommunication in the letter from his Stake President are his “statements that the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham are fraudulent and works of fiction.” Second, I don’t want anyone to be excommunicated from the Church; it’s traumatic for everyone. But in my opinion, John Dehlin is clearly a public apostate (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/enigmaticmirror/2014/06/11/dehlin-church-court/).... Read more
John Gee presented an interesting analysis of the question of whether a person can get a PhD in biblical studies without taking required classes in history or archaeology. The answer is obviously yes. (This does not mean that many, or even most graduate students in biblical studies don’t elect to take courses in history and archaeology.) http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2015/02/notes-on-modern-scribal-training.html This lead to a great deal of unuseful and confused ranting here and here. Gee’s obvious point is that biblical studies as practiced in the modern... Read more
Hamblin and Peterson Desert News Column on Historicity. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865621380/Historicity-and-the-problem-of-getting-at-the-past.html More to come! Read more
There’s a strange argument being made in the nether regions of the Internet that John Gee should not comment on biblical studies since he doesn’t have a degree in biblical studies. This argument assumes that John is not able to read books. But on the whole, I find the claim absurd: “Do you teach the orthodox biblical studies?” Oddly, his critic, TT, seems to have no discernible degree at all. Personally, I feel that discussions should be evaluated on the basis of evidence... Read more
John Gee continues to provide insights on issues related to the historicity of scripture, partially in response to David Bokovoy. http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2015/01/estimating-size-of-israelite-library.html http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2015/01/assessing-historical-authenticity-of.html http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-biblical-scholar-examines-scholarly.html Read more
I’ve been out of the loop for a couple of weeks due to my mother’s passing. In the meantime, on his blog “Forn spoll fira” John Gee has made a number of important blogs on the question of historicity, scribal culture, and writing in ancient Israel (in part in response to David Bokovoy). http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2015/01/notes-on-israelite-scribal-training-i.html http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2015/01/hebrew-inscriptions.html http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2015/01/hebrew-inscriptions.html Read more
Over at his Patheos blog “The Soul and the City,” Ralph Hancock has been making some insightful observations on the question of the nature and impact of secularism on both Latter-day Saints, the academy, and society in general (partly in response to David Bokovoy). http://www.patheos.com/blogs/soulandcity/2015/01/whos-afraid-of-secularism/ http://www.patheos.com/blogs/soulandcity/2015/01/whos-afraid-of-secularism-2-my-bracketing/ http://www.patheos.com/blogs/soulandcity/2015/01/whos-afraid-of-secularism-2-my-bracketing/ http://www.patheos.com/blogs/soulandcity/2015/01/whos-afraid-of-secularism-4-humility-patience-and-progressive-moral-convictions/ Read more
My mom passed away on 12 Jan. For those friends who are interested, her is the eulogy I gave at her funeral. ====== How do you measure the life of a woman? Many today measure it by wealth: she who dies with the most toys wins. By that standard, Sally actually did pretty well. Some count the amount of success achieved in a career. Others seek fame—getting your picture in the right popular culture magazine. Still others would say that... Read more
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