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  Joseph Smith and Our Preparation for the Lord's Final Judgment

  George L. Mitton

  It is with pleasure that I share a few thoughts in connection with this compilation of my father’s published essays. I join others in our family in congratulating him on a lifetime of achievements and acknowledge the significant contribution of our mother Ewan Harbrecht Mitton in supporting this research and scholarship. During my formative years, Dad and

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  The Temple Plates, Patterns & Patriarchs

  Stephen D. Ricks and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

  Sacred/Temple in Ancient Christianity The Latin term sacer (and related forms, e.g., sacred) means something consecrated to God (or to a god or goddess), and templum (Greek temenos) refers to land “cut off” or set aside from common use and dedicated to a deity. Putting it another way, a sacred area or a temple designates restricted space, and the activities performed in that ground dedicated to a god or goddess are likewise limited to those authorized to be there.

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  Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saints Temple Ordinances

  Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

  My first exposure to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came in 1988 when I first met my future wife, a dedicated member of the Church. She was pleased to answer any questions I had and to share insights into her beliefs, but I was uninterested in pursuing any serious inquiry into their teachings.

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  The Bright and Morning Star

  Breck M. England

  The temple is a place of revelation. For me, that has always been a striking reality. It struck me again one day as I sat in the temple instruction room for the presentation I had seen before so many times—and I saw something new. I was reflecting on the many visions of the prophets, experiences we call “apocalypses,” when the Lord opens the veil to show them the entire panorama of His plan of happiness. I thought of Abraham, Enoch, Moses, Lehi, and Joseph Smith, and how they described the grand spectacle of creation, tribulation, atonement, and exaltation that I was about to view in the temple that day.

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  Steadfast in Defense of Faith

  Shirley S. Ricks, Stephen D. Ricks, and Louis C. Midgley

  The title of this volume of essays in honor of Daniel C. Peterson, Steadfast in Defense of Faith, was not idly chosen. It reflects his most widely known public role as an apologist. Over the years, Dan has had not only to defend the faith but also frequently has been required to define and justify the legitimacy of apologetics as a scholarly endeavor. On one such occasion he wrote: The Greek word from which our English term apologetics derives means “defense.” The notion of saying that one is “sorry” is a much later linguistic development. (In Plato’s Apology, his hero Socrates offers a vigorous and even rather cheeky defense of the philosophical activity for which he was soon to be put to death. He doesn’t come within light years of expressing any regret for it.)

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  The Temple Symbols, Sermons & Settings

  Stephen D. Ricks and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

  Inside Jerusalem and Its Temple When they reached the fork in the road, Joseph and Mary trudged ahead up the ever steeper incline toward the top of the Mount of Olives.1 Their breathing grew more labored, as did that of their twelve-year-old son. But he was taking the climb easier than they were. Young, nimble legs. Their destination lay to the west, the city of Jerusalem with its spectacular temple. At the fork, the other road led southward toward the town of Bethany, where Jesus would raise from the dead a family friend named Lazarus more than twenty years later. On this occasion, Jesus was coming to the temple for the first time since being carried there as an infant (see Luke 2:22).2

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  Temples of the Imagination

  Jeffrey Thayne and Nathan Richardson

  To the left, you see a temple that resembles those built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. However, this temple is not one that has ever been built by the Church—it is an imaginary temple. But what is so interesting about that? We can all close our eyes and imagine in our mind’s eye temples that do not currently exist. Talented artists could then put that to canvas and create a depiction. What is special is that this image

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  Dictionary of Proper Names & Foreign Words in the Book of Mormon

  Stephen D. Ricks, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Robert F. Smith, and John Gee

  This Dictionary of Proper Names and Foreign Words in the Book of Mormon represents the culmination of more than a decade of study and discussion of the origins and meanings of Book of Mormon names. Those discussions took place regularly at Brigham Young University’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship under the leadership of Professor Paul Y. Hoskisson, director of the Laura F. Willis Center for Book of Mormon Studies. They resulted in the electronic “Book of Mormon Onomasticon.”1 All of the collaborators on this volume—John Gee, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Stephen D. Ricks, and Robert F. Smith—have been trained in various ancient languages: Classical Greek, Latin, Biblical Hebrew and the Semitic languages, Egyptian, and ancient Mesopotamian languages and dialects and have, in previously published and unpublished materials, contributed to an understanding of the ancient Near Eastern origins of Book of Mormon names.2 With great appreciation we follow in the steps of our predecessors in the study of Book of Mormon names— Janne M. Sjodahl, Hugh W. Nibley, and John A. Tvedtnes.

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  Hugh Nibley Observed

  Jeffren M. Bradshaw, Shirly S. Ricks, and Stephen T. Whitlock

  Our purpose in creating this volume is twofold. For readers who are already familiar with the life and work of Hugh Nibley, we hope this book will provide a more full account of the story behind the writings—their biographical, historical, literary, and scholarly contexts. For the many more who have never read anything by him, we hope that the fascinating, mostly secondhand accounts in this book will provide encouragement for them to read Nibley’s own works. To read these works is to understand the man — and to better understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and the cause of his restored Church, a cause to which Nibley ultimately dedicated his life. For a more comprehensive biography, readers will want to

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  Enoch and the Gathering of Zion

  Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

  Latter-day Saints have long been fascinated and inspired by the Book of Moses story of Enoch. It provides the closest thing to a full biography we have in the Book of Moses. And what a biography! Moses 6–7 detail his call, his teaching mission, his glorious vision of all things, his surprising victories in battle, and the ultimate ascent of the city of Zion to the bosom of God. What some readers may not know is that Latter-day Saint scholars, beginning with Hugh Nibley, have begun to find pieces of new and plausibly authentic elements of Enoch’s story in fragments of ancient documents that have turned up in scattered places over the last several decades.

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  The First Days and The Last Days

  Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

  Like a perfectly formed pair of bookends, the Book of Moses and Joseph Smith’s inspired translation of Matthew 24 (JS—Matthew) bracket within their pages the essential survival guide for our times. In the “first days,” Adam and Eve looked forward to Christ’s coming; in the “last days,” we look backward to Christ’s mortal life and forward to His return in glory. In the beginning, Enoch learned the ordinances and covenants that would allow his people to dwell in the presence of God; to the end, we will treasure the same ordinances and covenants. Through faith in Jesus Christ and faithfulness to these covenants we hope to stand someday in the holy place with perfect assurance.

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  Tracing Ancient Threads in the Book of Moses

  Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, David Rolph Seely, John W. Welch, and Scott A. Gordon

  After nearly two years of research and preparation by the conference organizers, presenters, staff, and their supporting organizations, we are pleased to bring you the proceedings of the two “Tracing Ancient Threads in the Book of Moses” conferences, held on September 18–19, 2020 and April 23–24, 2021. The conferences were sponsored by the Interpreter Foundation, Brigham Young University Religious Education, Book of Mormon Central, and FAIR. For more information on the conference, including links to videos of the presentations, see https://interpreterfoundation.org/ conferences/. There you will also find a bibliography of books and articles on the Book of Moses, as well as other resources.

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  The Temple Past, Present & Future

  Stephen D. Ricks and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

  Taken as a whole, 3 Nephi 19 presents us with a ritual sequence unlike anything else we encounter in ancient or modern scripture. Mormon’s account of the second day of Jesus’s threeday ministry among the Lamanites and Nephites at the temple in Bountiful (3 Nephi 26:13)1 begins with additive scenes of kneeling (3 Nephi 19:6, 18, 16–17), proskynesis (3 Nephi 19:19, 27), baptism (3 Nephi 19:11–13), temple prayer (3 Nephi 19:6–10, 17–18, 20–24, 20–35), Aaronic priestly blessing (3 Nephi 19:25), and high priestly intercessory prayer (3 Nephi 19:19–24, 27–29, 31–35).

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  Seek Ye Words of Wisdom

  Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon D. Hopkin

  Stephen David Ricks is a professor of Hebrew and cognate learning in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he has taught for almost four decades (1981–). It was at BYU, in a freshman Book of Mormon class, that he first met Shirley Smith. Four years later, after they had both served German- speaking missions (Stephen in Switzerland and Shirley in Southern Germany), they were married in the Provo Utah Temple in 1974. They are now the proud parents of six children—three girls and three boys, all of whom are married—and have twenty grandchildren (as of May 2020).

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  Remembrance and Return

  Ted Vaggalis and Daniel C. Peterson

  The essays collected here honor and celebrate our friend, colleague, and teacher, Louis Midgley. Many of us know him from his time at BYU, where he taught political philosophy in the Political Science Department. But he was a great friend and mentor, and his influence extended well beyond the campus. In my own case, after I left BYU to pursue graduate studies in philosophy, Lou made sure to keep in touch with me, helping me to negotiate the obstacles one encounters in graduate school, asking about my family, as well as sharing lessons and spiritual experiences in order to keep me grounded. I know I was not the only one that Lou did this for. In this introduction I want to develop a few themes that helped me to understand him and why he was such an important influence in my life and the lives of so many others. I hope that his friends and colleagues will forgive the personal nature of what I share here and recognize these same things in their experiences with him. He is simply a large presence in our lives, and justifiably so.

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  Name as Key-Word

  Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and Allen Wyatt

  During his famous conversation with Kuki Shūzō, German philosopher Martin Heidegger playfully2 connected the name of Hermes, the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology, to the etymology of “hermeneutics,” the formal study of interpretation. In contrast to ancient oracles who acted as simple mouthpieces, announcing divine words verbatim, Hermes took upon himself the additional role of interpreter, commenting on the meaning of the messages in ways that would allow perceptive hearers to act productively.3 Continuing Heidegger’s wordplay,4 Hans-Georg Gadamer elaborated the thinking of his mentor about the role of Hermes:5

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  Cosmos, Earth, and Man

  David H. Bailey, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, John S. Lewis, Gregory L. Smith, and Michael R. Stark

  I’ve long resisted the claim, typically (as in C. S. Lewis’s allegorical exchange between the pilgrim John and Mr. Enlightenment) assumed rather than explicitly argued, that no well-educated person, and certainly nobody with a solid grounding in modern science, can rationally choose to be a religious believer.2 So I was delighted with the proposal that The Interpreter Foundation organize and sponsor a conference on the relationship between science and Mormonism. When Dr. David Bailey called me regarding the possibility of such a conference, I jumped at the opportunity.

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  The Temple: Ancient and Restored

  Stephen D. Ricks and Donald W. Parry

  Joseph Smith taught that the origins of modern temple ordinances go back beyond the foundation of the world. For example in 1835, as the Saints prepared to receive the ordinances that would be available to them in the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet stated:1

  The order of the house of God has been, and ever will be, the same, even after Christ comes; and after the termination of the thousand years it will be the same; and we shall finally enter into the celestial kingdom of God, and enjoy it forever.

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  In God's Image and Likeness 2 Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel

  Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and David J. Larsen

  As I neared completion of the first volume of In God’s Image and Likeness in 2009, I had a chance to discuss the project with my former mission president, Virgil J. Parker. Grateful for the lasting influence President and Sister Parker have had on my life and still being in awe of the great store of practical and spiritual knowledge they have accumulated over decades of learning and service, I was thrilled when Virgil told me that the Moses was his favorite book of scripture. When I asked him what part he liked best, he spoke without hesitation, “The story of Enoch!” After an awkward pause, I told him that Enoch wasn’t in the book — that it only went as far as the story of Adam and Eve.

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  Ancient Temple Worship

  Matthew B. Brown, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Stephen D. Ricks, and John S. Thompson

  The purpose of this paper1 is to draw attention to several sets of matching themes which are found in descriptions of the ancient Israelite temple and portions of the apocalypse written by the apostle John. The information associated with these sets can be applied to the task of interpreting the respective texts where they are found and they can also be used to demonstrate a surprising way whereby the covenant people of the Old and New Testaments were interconnected.

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  Temple Insights

  William J. Hamblin and David Rolph Seely

  This conference was originally conceived and organized by Matthew B. Brown. Matt, who passed away in October 2011, hoped that events such as these would help to promote faithful Latter-day Saint scholarship and increase understanding about the temple. On behalf of Matt’s wife Jamie, thank you to all those who have helped to bring this event to fruition.

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  Textual and Comparative Explorations in 1 & 2 Enoch

  Samuel Zinner

  My beloved late father introduced me as a child to the mysterious Ethiopic Book of Enoch. My father was of mixed ancestry, his mother being of Native American and English-Scottish descent, while his father was a Protestant Volga German who observed Saturday Sabbath rather than Sunday, and perhaps not surprisingly his ancestors were Ashkenazi Jews who in the high Middle Ages had been forced to convert to the Christian faith under pain of death. My father had a fundamentally indigenous soul, so much so that even his Christianity, like that of his mother, was of a fundamentally indigenous character. Although I myself was raised in a Christian household, nevertheless I experienced the world in a profoundly indigenous mode, immersing myself in Blackfoot thought and practice under the influence of my father’s frequent observations about the family’s Blackfoot ancestry. The family still has his grandmother’s enrolment card listing her as being of Mohawk blood in the Six Nations Confederacy. The additional Blackfoot component made sense in light of the Crow name Awateé Dakákus, Bird Faraway, which my own grandmother gave to me when I was a child living in the Mojave Desert, since the Crow and Blackfoot tribes have shared a mutual history of not only conflict but of intermarriage as well.