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
Page 12 of 40
Reading Genesis to Teach Genesis: a Short Guide for Latter-day Saints
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
Reading and Teaching the Old Testament: Suggestions and Resources for Seminary Teachers and Parents (and Everybody else)
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.
The 1980 Old Testament Institute Manual: Why You Should Ignore it for Teaching Genesis
Today’s take-away is simple: Don’t use the Old Testament Institute manual for Genesis. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk…
C.S Lewis on Genre, Genesis, and the Old Testament
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
Tales from the Archives: Premises, Genesis, and the Priesthood Ban
“Are not these conclusions reasonable?”: Premises, Faith, and Argument
We begin interpreting scripture before we even crack open the cover, through the assumptions and premises that we bring to scripture.
Tales from the Archive: Joseph Fielding Smith, James Fletcher, and the Moon
It is somewhat well-known that Joseph Fielding Smith did not like the idea of astronauts; scripture, in his view, was clear that humans were limited to this planet, and attempts to get off it, at all, would fail. It even made the Ensign, in 2015.
Tales from the Archives: Cleon Skousen, George Hansen, and Geology
My last post talked about Cleon Skousen’s book, The First 2000 Years. Today I came across an interview with BYU professor Bertrand Harrison, a biology and botany professor. If you’ve ever been to the garden or duck pond on the south end of BYU campus, on 800 North, that’s the Bertrand F. Harrison Arboretum, pictured above
Harrison had written one of the most pro-evolution articles ever published in a Church magazine, and it was specifically read and approved by President McKay to appear in the magazine. That article was part of a controversial pro-science series in Church magazines in 1965, which I detailed here.
I came across this interview with Harrison, wherein he relates an anecdote about George Hansen and Cleon Skousen. Continue reading
Two notes on Cleon Skousen’s Thousand Years series
Cleon Skousen, via Wikipedia
Cleon Skousen‘s opening book in his Old Testament series came off the Bookcraft press in 1953, The First 2000 Years. Skousen had worked on the series for 15 years, to “try and bring together in one volume everything the Church has received thus far concerning the first 2000 years of human history— from Adam to Abraham.”1Preface
Recent Comments