Enigmatic Mirror
http://imaginalworlds.org/2014/04/11/popcorn-trees/ Read more
http://imaginalworlds.org/2014/04/11/popcorn-trees/ Read more
Rarely do we have the original manuscripts of ancient books. Surviving copies generally date centuries—and often millennia—after the date of the original composition. Unfortunately, it is often the case that we don’t know—and frequently cannot know—the original date of a composition, especially anonymous compositions with vague historical allusions. There are four main ways scholars use to date ancient texts. 1- Examining explicit references to dates given in the text. Some biblical books, such as Kings and Chronicles, provide numerous explicit... Read more
Israel Third Temple movements are increasing their agitation for Jewish control of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, an issue which continues to undermine the possibility of Arab-Israel peace (however slight they may be). Read more
The Olmec Museum at La Venta contains a number of interesting artifacts, including these obsidian blades, and arrowheads from the first half of the first millennium BC. Read more
The most obvious example of later editing of a biblical text is found in the story of the death of Moses in Deuteronomy 34. Deuteronomy explicitly claims to have been written by Moses (31:24–26), but chapter 34 describes Moses’ death and burial as if it had occurred long ago. “So Moses the servant of YHWH [Jehovah, “the LORD”] died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the YHWH, and he [YHWH] buried him in the valley... Read more
Colossal head of an Olmec god-king from La Venta, Mexico (early first millennium BC). Read more
The biblical text itself explicitly claims that much of it is composed of copies, abridgments, or expansions of earlier documents. This is clear in Jeremiah 36, where Jeremiah asks Baruch, his scribe, to “write on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of YHWH that he had spoken to him” (Jer. 36:4). This scroll is burnt by king Zedekiah (Jer. 36:23), after which Jeremiah dictates the same prophecies to Baruch again, with “many similar words were added... Read more
This letter is just in on the new direction of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies under the editorship of Brian Hauglid from the Maxwell Institute. jbms_letter Read more
A black Jesus in the Church of Guadaloupe, San Cristobal del las Casas, Mexico. Read more
We need to clearly understand that the ancient idea of a “book” is quite different from how moderns conceive it. The Hebrew term sefer, and its Greek equivalent biblion, are generally translated into English as “book,” but this is inaccurate. Sefer/biblion literally means “scroll,” and refers to a long narrow rolled piece of parchment (animal skin) or papyrus. Our English word “Bible” derives from the Greek plural ta biblia (“the books”), and would be better translated as “the scrolls.” (When... Read more
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