"Missionary Discussions for the Jewish People" (1979) and the Number of Christian Denominations

In my lengthy work critiquing the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura, Not by Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura, I cautioned against arguing (falsely) that there are 20,000+ denominations within Protestantism, and that the fracturing within Protestantism is largely due to ecclesiology, not epistemology per se. Interestingly, in the (short-lived) missionary discussions the Church produced for the Jewish people in 1979, the author(s) of one particular section stated that, instead of there being thousands of churches (denominations) within the broad Christian spectrum, there were hundreds:

Missionary: After the days of the Apostles, revelation from heaven to the Church of Jesus Christ ceased, and divine authority was taken from the earth. This was the beginning of the false Christianity that has now multiplied into hundreds of rival churches . . . (Missionary Discussions for the Jewish People, page JC-15, as cited by Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? [5^th ed.; Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1987, 2008], 4-A, emphasis added).

As an aside, I would be very interested in acquiring a copy of “Missionary Discussions for the Jewish People” (1979), even if it is in a scanned PDF format. If anyone can help, let me know at IrishLDS87ATGmailDOTcom

A Work Critical of the Book of Mormon Being the Instrumental Means of George Laub's Conversion to the Gospel

Commenting on his conversion

Then came along the Book Called Priest's American Antiquities. I opend to the place and page where he speeks of an angel coming to visit or rather of Joseph Smith finding the golden plates or the Book of mormon being Showed to him by an angel. But however I was struck with Such a Sensation of fe[e]ling that it was the work of God the Spirit run through my veins as a Shock of Electric and I never rested till I Saw the Book and heard the first, Elder, Erast[u]s snow, Preach, then Elder Elisha H. Davis. The Seccond time I was fully convinced by the Spirit that it was the work of God. (Eugene England, "George Laub's Nauvoo Journal," BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 18 no. 2 [1978]:151-78, here, pp. 155-6)

What is rather interesting is that Josiah Priest’s book was critical of the veracity of the Book of Mormon, and yet, it was used as an instrument by which Laub was converted to the truthfulness thereof! As England wrote in a note (Ibid., 155 n. 5):

Josiah Priest's American Antiquities (Albany, N.Y.: Hoffman and White, 1830) was immensely popular in the 1830s, going through a number of editions of many thousands of copies. It catalogues various kinds of evidence that "America was, anciently, inhabited with partially civilized and agricultural nations, surpassing in numbers its present population" and that these inhabitants were in part immigrants that included "Asiatic nations, very soon after the flood," and also "Polynesians, . . . Phoenicians, . . . Israelites . . . ," etc. The passage that Laub is apparently referring to, on page 76 of the fifth edition (1835), mentions "the Mormonites, who pretend to have discovered a book with golden leaves, in which is the history of the American Jews, and their leader, Mormon, who came hither more than 2,000 years ago."

It is often said that God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. I think this is a powerful example of such.

TDNT on the "Superexaltation" (ὑπερυψόω) of Jesus in Philippians 2:9 and Elsewhere

Commenting on ὑπερυψόω, the verb meaning "to exalt beyond measure" (alt. "to superexalt") and its being used of the Father's "highly exalting" Jesus post-ascension in Phil 2:9 and elsewhere, Georg Bertram, in TDNT, wrote the following which should be of interest to those interested in Christology:

Within the framework of a pre-Pauline confession of Christ Phil. 2:9 presents a statement about Christ’s exaltation ὑπερύψωσεν. Obedience to the death of the cross is viewed in terms of the antithesis “humiliation” (→ 18, 10 ff.) as this is presented in the LXX (→ 6, 1 ff.). Raising up from death is also institution as the Lord before whom every knee shall bow in worship. The use of the compound here is independent of the liking of Hellenistic Greek for composites; it is a genuine strengthening. By the conferring of the title Jesus receives the highest position, that of cosmocrator. The fact that God Himself gives Him this position indicates the natural restriction of His dominion, 1 C. 15:27. The point of the humiliation and exaltation is not, as exegesis has commonly assumed, an ethical understanding of the conduct of Jesus along the lines of attainment and reward. It is rather an eschatological, soteriological explanation in the sense of the anthropos myth.

Faith in the exalted Lord is expressed by Paul in other ways as well. He preaches the Crucified as the Lord of glory (1 C. 2:2, 8) who has revealed Himself to him as the Exalted One in conversion and calling, in visions and auditions. The apostle himself stands, then, in the same tension between abasement and exaltation, between his human weakness and the power at work in him, i.e., the grace of the Lord, 2 C. 12:8–10.

3. As concerns the antithesis between exaltation and the earthly sufferings and temptations, the statements in Hb. about ὑψηλός (1:3; 7:26) correspond to the confession of Phil. 2:5–11. Christ has sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. This ἐν ὑψηλοῖς is the place of God’s throne, higher than heaven, and thus separated from sinners and from the sufferings and trials through which Christ had to pass, 7:26. Since there are no ref. to the burial, resurrection and resurrection appearances in Hb., the concept of the denouement here is that of the exaltation of Jesus from the cross to heaven, i.e., to God’s throne.

4. In Ac. (2:33; 5:31) exaltation stands immediately alongside the common formula of the resurrection or awakening of Jesus (→ II, 39, 5 ff.; V, 356, 5 ff.; 524, 17 ff.). In 2:33 it denotes institution at the right hand of God and the inauguration of rule. It is also the presupposition of the outpouring of the Spirit and the expressions of the Spirit in the Pentecost community seen and heard by those addressed. Along with the eye-witness, Scripture proof for the exaltation is adduced from Ps. 110:1, which sheds light on the rising up of Jesus (not David, 2:34a) into heaven. 5:31 lays stress on the soteriological aspect. Exaltation to be Prince and Deliverer as the Author of salvation takes place in order to grant repentance and the remission of sins to Israel. There is no antithesis between humiliation and exaltation as in Phil. 2:5–11. The resurrection and ascension, which the author could equate with the exaltation, are seen as a necessary consequence. (Georg Bertram, “Ὕψος, Ὑψόω, Ὑπερυψόω, Ὕψωμα, Ὕψιστος,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–], 8:608–610)

The Need for Historicity of the Book of Mormon with Stephen Smoot

My friend, Stephen Smoot, was recently interviewed by Laura Harris Hales addressing the need for belief in Book of Mormon historicity by Latter-day Saints as opposed to the nonsense theory of the Book of Mormon being "inspired fiction":

The Need for Historicity of the Book of Mormon with Stephen Smoot

A summary of this interview and the points raised therein is on the LDS Living Website:

5 Reasons It's Important to Recognize the Book of Mormon as History, Not Just a Story

What prompted this interview was Stephen's article, published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship titled “Et Incarnatus Est: The Imperative for Book of Mormon Historicity.”

Line 3 of The Autobiography of Kay and "a white and delightsome people"

In the autobiography of Kay, a text dating to the First Intermediate Period in Egypt (2181 BC – 2055 BC), Kay describes himself thusly in line 3:

ḥḏ ẖr nfr bỉt

"bright of face, good of character"

In the same line, he is said to be:

p3ḫ ḥt šw m snkt

“Open-hearted, free of darkness.”

Such should remind one of 2 Nephi 30:6, where “white” (in later editions, “pure”) are used to describe the then-future Jews and Gentiles and their spiritual state and that of the spiritual nature of the Lamanites. As we read in the 1830 Book of Mormon:

And now, I would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and the Gentiles. For after the book of which I have spoken shall come forth, and be written unto the Gentiles, and sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of our seed. And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are a descendant of the Jews. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them; wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers. And then shall they rejoice, for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and a delightsome people.

For more on the topic, see:

Ethan Sproat, Skins as Garments in the Book of Mormon: A Textual Exegesis

Book of Mormon Central, What Does it Mean to be a White and Delightsome People?

John A. Tvedtnes, The Charge of Racism in the Book of Mormon

On the autobiography of Kay, one can read the Egyptian text in Egyptian Reading Book, Volume 1: Exercises and Middle Egyptian Texts, ed. A. De Buck (Leyden: Nederlandsch Archaeologisch-Philologisch Instituut Voor Het Nabije Oosten, 1948), 73-74

(My thanks to my friend Stephen Smoot for making me aware of the autobiography of Kay and sharing materials with me. Be sure to check out his excellent blog)

John A. Wilson on Scholarly Agreements and Disagreements

Some critics of the Book of Mormon and other Latter-day Saint scriptures usually focus on the differences LDS scholars have with one another about minor issues while overlooking the broad agreements on many issues (e.g., the Arabian Peninsula geography of the Book of Mormon; various New World issues such as volcanism in Mesoamerica during the time of Christ; issues relating to the onomasticon of the text, etc). Non-LDS Egyptologist John A. Wilson offered the following note about agreements and disagreements among scholars in particular fields, and how one should not dismiss a topic or text as scholars in that field disagree when there is broad scholarly agreement on other fields within that area:

In every field, be it physics or medicine or economics, scholars emphasize their disagreements and take their agreements for granted. A slight discordance is exaggerated whereas the general concordance is ignored. (John A. Wilson, Thousands of Years: An Archaeologist’s Search for Ancient Egypt [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972], 177)

John A. Wilson on the 1912 Critics of the Book of Abraham

Commenting on Franklin S. Spalding's survey of comments from Egyptologists about the Book of Abraham from 1912, still a popular (if dated) resource by critics of the Book of Abraham, the non-LDS Egyptologist John A. Wilson offered the following comment about the unscholarly nature thereof:

The transcriptions of the stained papyri which Joseph Smith had published in different places were not legible. Scholars in the past had been unable to get any running translation from these copies. Now it would be possible to examine the texts more closely. However, the matter might be delicate. Back in 1912 an Episcopal bishop had mounted an attack on Joseph Smith as a translator. He had solicited and published several off-hand and hostile opinions from Egyptologists. The resulting controversy had left a lot of bitterness. Scholarship required a more responsible analysis than a lot of indignant snorts. (John A. Wilson, Thousands of Years: An Archaeologist’s Search for Ancient Egypt [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972], 175-6, emphasis added)