Article Title

More Perspectives on Benjamin's Speech

Authors

Keywords

King Benjamin, Journal of Biblical Literature, William Kurz, classical farewell addresses, Greek, Roman, Biblical studies

Abstract

Two more interesting insights into the complex nature of King Benjamin's speech have been noticed. First, in the June 1985 issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature, an article by William Kurz analyzes the twenty elements found in typical classical Greek, Roman and Biblical " farewell addresses." In such speeches, the person who is about to die summons successors, points to his own mission as an example, proclaims his innocence, discusses his impending death, gives exhortations, appoints a successor, etc. While many of these elements taken alone are unremarkable, the full pattern Kurz displays is interesting. It is apparent that King Benjamin's speech fits the pattern as well as or better than most of the examples Kurz analyzes.

Recommended Citation

(1986) "More Perspectives on Benjamin's Speech," Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship: Vol. 6: No. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/insights/vol6/iss1/6