Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Where did Nephi build his ship?

Where did Nephi build his ship?

Last updated on: May 29, 2022 at 3:58 pm by Dan Peterson

Where did Nephi build his ship? 2022-05-29T15:58:42-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A political map of the modern Arabian Peninsula (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

***

It’s Friday, so, naturally, a new article has just appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:

“Khor Rori: A Maritime Resources-Based Candidate for Nephi’s Harbor,” by George D. Potter

Abstract: Khor Rori, which forms the mouth of Wadi (Valley) Darbat, is the largest inlet along the Dhofar coast of southern Arabia. The khor was excavated into a harbor by the erosive action of the river that flows through Wadi Darbat. In ancient times, Khor Rori was the only harbor in the Dhofar Region that could accommodate large sailing ships. The first colonizers of Khor Rori, who arrived around the ninth century bc, must have realized that this particular khor, because of its morphology, was an ideal natural port for trading their frankincense with other seafaring nations. Because Khor Rori has long been considered an important candidate for Bountiful and offers the advantage of not only the rich vegetation in Wadi Darbat and good sources of flowing water, it is also a safe harbor where a ship could have been built — indeed, the harbor would later become a busy port noted for building ships and much trade. This article provides updates since the original publications about Khor Rori, better documenting its advantages and exploring the possibility that essential raw materials for shipbuilding and shipwright expertise might have already existed at Khor Rori in Nephi’s day.

“Interpreting Interpreter: Reframing Nephi’s Shipbuilding,” by Kyler Rasmussen

This post is a summary of the article “Khor Rori: A Maritime Resources-Based Candidate for Nephi’s Harbor” by George D. Potter in Volume 51 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.

An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.

The Takeaway: Potter advances a comprehensive argument for an alternative view of Nephi’s ship, his shipbuilding skills, and of the location of Bountiful. In proposing a more conventional design for an ancient sailing ship, Potter concludes that Nephi would have needed to draw from the imported raw materials, shipbuilding expertise, and natural harbor accessible within an existing port city. For Potter, Khor Rori fits those requirements better than the commonly proposed Khor Kharfot.

***

I’m pleased to mention that I’ll be speaking at the Joseph and Polly Knight 2022 Family Reunion. The gathering will take place on Friday, 24 June, and Saturday, 25 June, at the East Millcreek Stake Center (3103 E. Craig Drive [that is to say, 3600 South), in Millcreek, Utah. I will be the concluding speaker, in the chapel (with a hammer?), at 1;30 PM on Saturday. (I think it very realistic on the part of the organizers to understand that, in the wake of my remarks, nobody will have any enthusiasm left for continuing with the Reunion.) This will be just a bit of an undertaking for me, as I return from Europe fairly late on the evening of Thursday, 23 June. Presuming, of course, that my flight isn’t delayed. I wrote up a draft of my remarks today — it’s an at-sea day — and I’ll look at them again in a little while to see whether I should abandon them and start over again. I hope not!

***

I’ve received the following note via Facebook from my friend Kevin Barney:

Dan, I’m reading the June 2022 Sports Illustrated. The article on Man Mountain Dean includes this quote: “Dan Peterson, a longtime BYU professor whose father passed through Camp Ritchie, recalls another tale that his dad used to tell of soldiers sleeping in the barracks, awoken to high decibel snoring.” Is that you?

It is, indeed. (That is, I’m that Dan Peterson; however, I’m not the guy doing the high decibel snoring.) I’m grateful to Kevin for bringing this to my attention. I’ll need to see if I can get a copy of the relevant issue of Sports Illustrated. How the SI writer happened to come across the blog entry from which he obviously drew his anecdote escapes me. My Dad would have gotten a kick out of this.

***

Elder David A. Bednar been busy over the past few days:

“Elder Bednar dedicates first temple in Guam, asking members to ‘connect Jesus Christ with the temple’”

The next two links concern his remarks to the National Press Club in Washington DC, which I enjoyed. One of them contains his response to a question about the FX/Hulu miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven:

“Elder Bednar addresses National Press Club, details Church efforts, answers questions”

“At National Press Club, Elder Bednar responds to questions about church finances, portrayal of church in media: The apostle also said Latter-day Saint leaders are ‘proud to stand with our LGBTQ brothers and sisters’ for federal legislation to protect both religious and LGBTQ rights”

***

It seems that Roe v. Wade is about to be overturned. I’m happy at the thought. I’m happy at the prospect of returning the matter for debate among the people of the fifty states and their elected representatives. Not everybody is happy, though. And disagreement, of course, is something that happens occasionally on a whole lot of topics . . . and something with which representative government is designed to deal. Here are a couple of items that are worth a look in connection with the looming Supreme Court decision.

“No, Overturning Roe Would Not Establish Theocracy”

“Why an abortion rights group is taking credit for vandalizing a Latter-day Saint chapel, other Washington churches”

***

In case you’re not already sufficiently worried by rampaging mobs of anti-religious bigots or aspiring theocratic tyrants seeking to Make the Handmaid’s Tale Great Again, here’s something for you to think about, even if this particular study seems to be disappointingly reassuring:

“There Are 4 ‘Malicious Extraterrestrial Civilizations’ in Milky Way, Researcher Estimates: Back-of-the-napkin math assuming aliens are like humans suggests there are only a few evil alien societies in our galaxy, which is good news for everyone.”

But, happily for pessimists, not all prospects are good:

“Physicists predict Earth will become a chaotic world, with dire consequences: ‘If the Earth System gets into the region of chaotic behavior, we will lose all hope of somehow fixing the problem.'”

Posted from the Mar de Alboran, just past Málaga, between Spain and Morocco

Previous Post

May 26, 2022

"Why this article is so important"

Next Post

May 28, 2022 A brief stop in Andalusia

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Mark is the only Gospel that records Jesus asking 'Who touched my clothes?' after power went out from him.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE