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Book of Mormon

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January 2017

January 11, 2017

Mormon Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It?

Occasionally, one hears Mormons (usually laypeople) critiquing Protestants for slavish and uncritical interpretation of the...

November 2016

November 27, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 45-46: Ether

A few general notes about the Book of Ether. First, unlike the other two Book...

November 26, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 43-44: Mormon 1-9

I'm combining these lessons for two reasons. First, lesson 44 (chapters 7-8) is included within...

November 12, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 42: 4 Nephi

Since I've already covered 3Ne 27-28 in previous posts, I'll focus on 4 Nephi.Why is...

November 06, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 41: 3Ne 22-26

A couple of notes first. I'll be in San Antonio for the annual joint Society of...

October 2016

October 29, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 40: 3Ne 16, 20-30 (Rough post)

I'm on the road and having technical problems. So I'm posting this rough, now, and...

October 26, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 39: 3Ne 17-19

These chapters constitute the end of Day 1 of Jesus' visit (ends in 19:3) and...

October 08, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 38: 3Nephi 12-15

Today we enter into a very interesting section of the Book of Mormon. Like the Isaiah chapters,...

September 2016

September 25, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 37: 3Ne 8-10

Let's begin with this observation about the power of art, by a BYU professor with...

September 17, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 35: Helaman 13-16

Today we get to meet Samuel, who prophecies of, well, 3 Nephi, basically. What does it...

September 11, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 34: Helaman 6-12

Classes have begun, and it's heavy. I spent today reading Schleiermacher's On Religion and a book about...

September 03, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 33: Helaman 1-5 Notes and Questions

Today's text includes a good bit of carry-over from the war chapters, while adding political...

August 2016

August 20, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 32: Alma 53-63 “The War Chapters Part II”

Today we continue the war chapters, and get to read some military correspondence. I don't...

August 06, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 31: Alma 43-48 aka “The War Chapters I

As I've pointed out previously, the Book of Mormon moves at different paces in different places....

July 2016

July 31, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 30: Alma 40-42, Three Generations of Repentance

These chapters (and 39) are all focused on Corianton, who gets quite the paternal talk....

July 30, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 29: Alma 36-39 Notes and Suggestions

The Book of Mormon has a variable pace. Occasionally, we skip through decades or even hundreds...

July 24, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 28: Alma 32-34

First, the structure of the text. Alma 30-34 are really one unit, which we break...

July 17, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 27: Alma 30-31

These two chapters are loaded. First, we encounter the third member of the Unholy Trinity of...

July 10, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 26: Alma 23-29

I did an Olympic-distance triathlon this morning, and it's left me pretty exhausted... body and...

July 03, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 25: Alma 17-22 (Draft)

Alma 17 begins with a chance meeting between Alma and the sons of Mosiah, and...

July 02, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 24: Alma 13-16

These chapters are the violent dénoument of the Ammonihah story. Grant Hardy cogently points out how this story...

July 02, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 23: Alma 8-12

Once again, the lesson and chapter divisions cut across the 1830/original chapter divisions, breaking up logical...

June 2016

June 25, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 22: Alma 5-7

Alma has divested himself of the judgeship to go on a mission of sorts, to...

June 18, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 21- Mosiah 29, Alma 1-4

Today we move into the Book of Alma. The stories of Alma Sr. and Alma...

June 18, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 20: Mosiah 25-27, Alma 36

(Posted from the Middle of Nowhere, Michigan.) This lesson has us jump to Alma's retelling of...

May 2016

May 22, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 19: Mosiah 18-24

Mormons have a thing about Doctrine, with a capital D. We try to define it,...

May 15, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 18: Mosiah 12-17

It's been a busy week. I capped off the semester by editing an 11,000 word...

April 2016

April 24, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 14: Enos, Jarom, Omni, Words of Mormon

It's been a few weeks since my last post. First came General Conference; the next...

March 2016

March 27, 2016

An Easter Post: Refugees, Mormons, and the Law of Moses

I only saw bits and pieces of the Women's Session of General Conference tonight, but...

March 26, 2016

BoM Gospel Doctrine Lesson 13: Jacob 5-7

The previous lesson covered Jacob 1-4, and this one the lengthy allegory of the olive tree and its interpretation...