Salt Press and the Maxwell Institute have announced that Salt Press will be merged with the Maxwell Institute. http://www.maxwellinstituteblog.org/salt-press/ http://www.saltpress.org/ (Inexplicably, Dan Peterson–who was a member of the Salt Press editorial board–was not invited along with other Salt Press editors to serve on the Maxwell Institute’s new “Mormon studies editorial advisory board, which will assist with manuscript solicitation and book acquisitions.”) Everyone seems happy about the new arrangement.  I suspect, however, that the Salt Press crew will eventually discover their absorption into the... Read more

The Maxwell Institute has decided to shred all back copies of the old FARMS Review.   At one level, this makes some sense, since you can’t store unsold books indefinitely.  And copies of all old articles will–at least presumably–still be available on the Internet for download.  On the other hand, it seems like a much more sensible policy would be to have a “fire sale,” and simply give all remaining copies away for free to anyone who wanted to come by... Read more

Looks like an interesting book on celestial ascent. Algis Uzdavinys, Ascent to Heaven in Islamic and Jewish Mysticism, (Matheson Trust, 2011), ISBN 1908092025.  $13.46 on Amazon. I’ve ordered it, but haven’t seen it yet. Read more

Here’s an updated version of the LDS temple web pages with all suggestions integrated.  If you have one, or know of one that is not listed here, please drop me a note and I’ll add it to the list.  After a while I’ll place them in a permanent list.   Academy for Temple Studies, http://TempleStudies.org Bickmore, Barry. http://www.fairlds.org/authors/bickmore-barry/restoring-the-ancient-church-joseph-smith-and-early-christianity/the-temple Bradshaw, Jeff, blog http://blog.templethemes.net/ Bradshaw, Jeff, website, http://templethemes.net Dreaming of Jerusalem, http://dreamingofjerusalem.blogspot.com/ FAIR, http://en.fairmormon.org/Mormonism_and_temples General Mormon Temple Site: http://mormontemples.net/ General Mormon Temple Site: http://www.mormon-temple-ceremony.com/ General Mormon Temple Site: http://mormontempleceremony.net/ Haymond,... Read more

When considering the possible relationship between ancient Israelite temple system and the LDS Endowment, the first thing to note is the basic purpose of the ancient temple was to reconcile Israel with God and bring all Israel (represented by the twelve stones inscribed with the tribal names) back into the presence of God (that is recapitulating the Sinai theophany), symbolically represented by the Holy Place and Holy of Holies within the veil. The second thing to note is that Israel... Read more

Critics of the Church often posit a close relationship of some sort between Freemasonry and the LDS Endowment.  When considering such matters, its useful to remember a couple of important points. 1- Freemasonry is an initiation ritual by which one becomes a Freemason.  The Endowment is a ritual which reveals higher mysteries to those who have already been initiated into the Church of Jesus Christ by baptism. 2- Some claim that the Endowment parallels the higher degrees of Freemasonry (in which Joseph Smith... Read more

Just received word from an SLC insider that at conference next week Jerry Bradford will be called as mission President in the newly opened Sana’a, Yemen mission.  He will be replaced as Director of the Neil A. Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship by William Hamblin, professor of history at BYU. Read more