Historian of Religion, Science, and Biblical Interpretation
I got this note from a friend, and am posting it with permission. I’ve edited slightly for identity and readability. I don’t really do sports analogies. While I am very active in several things, I don’t follow any teams or watch any sports. Everything below is from my friend, until the very end.
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As my wife and I were studying tonight, we hit upon a useful analogy for understanding scripture. It could be adapted for a class, depending on the students and the teacher.
We recently finished a year studying the D&C, and had a lot of tools for understanding it. Some of these were built in to our scriptures, like chapter headings. Then there were free Church-provided electronic and paper resources, like Gospel Topics essays, Revelations in Context, maps, etc.1To say nothing of the cottage industry of books written to support the Gospel Doctrine year of study. But I want you to imagine that you are a new convert in, say, Taiwan or Russia, reading D&C 49 for the first time, with none of that stuff. Continue reading
I want to break this post into a few distinct parts, and other parts I will offload to links instead of reprinting massive amounts of text. There’s a lot to explore here, and a lot to talk about. Continue reading
On January 1, we hit Genesis like a brick wall, and stay in it through the week of March 20.1Then we’re in Exodus until May 8! What makes Genesis so hard? Well, Genesis chapter 1 dumps us immediately into a maelstrom of issues and questions, and Church materials aren’t the most complete or up-to-date at helping us navigate those, or even be aware of the options and the history behind them.
What’s the relationship between Genesis, Moses, Abraham and the Temple? Why are there significant differences between them? Does the translation matter? What’s the relationship between Genesis and science? What about dinosaurs and evolution? How old is the earth? What about the Flood? Is Genesis meant to be read as simple history? Is it literal or figurative? or is there some other way to approach Genesis, other than that binary? Continue reading
Soon we start the Old Testament. It’s a challenging book to read, study, and teach, but it’s also my favorite. I have a few suggestions this year, which I’ve simplified.
Today’s take-away is simple: Don’t use the Old Testament Institute manual for Genesis. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk…
There’s no reason why God, who spoke to ancient Israelites “in their weakness, after the manner of their language” could not adapt familiar myths so “that they might come to understanding” (D&C 1:24.)
C.S. Lewis thought the same thing. Continue reading
We begin interpreting scripture before we even crack open the cover, through the assumptions and premises that we bring to scripture.
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