Noah and the Flood

Last updated on: April 4, 2014 at 4:43 pm By William Hamblin

Personally, I thought the Noah movie was okay, but not great. I really couldn’t buy the Watchers as Transformer-like angels embedded in rock. And the crazy-Noah-wants-to-kill-his-grandsons motif simply made no sense at all. But it was fun. It was certainly more “authentic” to the traditional biblical sources than the Thor movies’ relationship to Viking mythology. (Really, no Norse god would be caught dead wearing spandex and funky plastic armor!) I basically agree with Jeff Bradshaw’s excellent review. For those interested... Read more

DH 3: Reviews of Bokovoy

Last updated on: April 4, 2014 at 3:59 pm By William Hamblin

Two new reviews of David Bokovoy’s new book Authoring the Old Testament: Genesis–-Deuteronomy have appeared on Interpreter. http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/sorting-out-the-sources-in-scripture/ http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/the-case-for-the-documentary-hypothesis-historical-criticism-and-the-latter-day-saints/ Read more

DH 2: Mosaic Authorship?

Last updated on: April 4, 2014 at 3:52 pm By William Hamblin

To understand the Documentary Hypothesis, we need to begin by considering this question: why do people think Moses authored the Pentateuch? The main reason derives from Deuteronomy 31:24–26: “When Moses had finished writing the words of this Law (tôrāh) in a book to the very end [that is, the Book of Deuteronomy], Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of YHWH, ‘Take this Scroll of the Law (sefer ha-tôrāh) and put it by the side of... Read more

I’m shocked about the Noah Movie!

Last updated on: April 3, 2014 at 7:01 pm By William Hamblin

What shocks me most about the new Noah movie is that people actually expect Hollywood to get things right! Hollywood is congenitally incapable of dealing accurately with the nuances of history, religion, or myth–among many other things. Movies are for entertainment, period. Don’t go to Noah expecting any insights into the biblical story of Noah. I think the situation can best be explained if we understand that the movie is NOT about the biblical Noah, but a different man of the... Read more

Why “Enigmatic Mirror”?

Last updated on: April 3, 2014 at 6:45 pm By William Hamblin

Why did I name my new blog “Enigmatic Mirror”? It is drawn from Paul’s observation that humans “now see through a glass, darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12, KJV). In Greek, it reads “di’ epoptpou in ainigmati,” literally “through a mirror in an enigma,” or, more idiomatically, in an “unclear reflection.” Hence, an “Enigmatic Mirror” describes the human epistemological condition. Read more

DH 1: Documentary Hypothesis

Last updated on: April 4, 2014 at 3:53 pm By William Hamblin

Issues relating to the Documentary Hypothesis are again being discussed these days in some LDS circles, stimulated by the publication of David Bokovoy’s new book Authoring the Old Testament: Genesis–-Deuteronomy (also available at Amazon). In its most simple form, the Documentary Hypothesis maintains that the five books of Moses—also known as the Torah (Hebrew: “Law”) or Pentateuch (Greek: “Five [scroll] cases”)—were not written by Moses, but were composed later by unknown editors/redactors out of preexisting texts, textual fragments, and oral... Read more

Welcome to “Enigmatic Mirror”

Last updated on: April 3, 2014 at 5:46 pm By William Hamblin

I’ve relocated my blog “Mormon Scripture Explorations” to the Patheos community. The old site location is: http://mormonscriptureexplorations.org/ Thanks for visiting! Read more

An important article

Last updated on: February 15, 2014 at 4:14 pm By William Hamblin

An important evaluation of the secularizing impulse at work at BYU, providing the broad context for the secularization of the Maxwell Institute. http://www.firstthings.com/article/2014/03/keeping-faith-in-provo Read more

Want to Tour Mesoamerica?

Last updated on: October 16, 2013 at 3:28 pm By William Hamblin

Although I have ceased active posting on this blog, I do want to make this anouncement. For those of you who have always wanted a chance to mock me, throw peanuts, and rattle my cage, I’ll be participating as a junior companion guide on Mark Wright‘s tour of Book of Mormon Mesoamerica in Guatemala and southern Mexico. We will be visiting some absolutely world class archaeological sites such as Tikal and Palenque. For more information, see this web site.http://www.thepassiontravelcompany.com/mx10u1302ldsmaw/ It’s going... Read more

Gee’s Official Position on the BOA

Last updated on: August 30, 2013 at 3:38 pm By William Hamblin

Gee’s views on the BOA have been misrepresented in some of the comments on my blog. Although I’m phasing my blog out, I think Gee’s real position should be clarified. To find Gee’s “Official Position” on the Book of Abraham, please consult the following: http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-book-of-abraham-as-pseudepigrapha-i.html http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-book-of-abraham-as-pseudepigrapha-ii.html Read more