Historian of Religion, Science, and Biblical Interpretation
At the opening of BYU’s 2019 Reconciling Evolution workshop—which focuses on biology pedagogy with religious students— Associate Academic Vice-President John Rosenberg represented the University in welcoming the dozens of participants to BYU. He spoke on the pursuit of knowledge, using medieval depictions of Mary, Gabriel, and the Annunciation. I have adapted my notes from his presentation for this post, by permission.
We’re moving into some dense historical, textual, and doctrinal territory today, as there is lots of background to cover. I lean pretty heavily on some of my tools. Continue reading
My picture, from the Kidron Valley.
As always, it’s important to start with setting and context. Remember back in Acts 19, where the silversmiths who make Athena shrines start a riot and get Paul thrown out of the city? “Great is Diana of the Ephesians”? Paul met some disciples there and stuck around for three months, and now he writes to that congregation. Paul himself is now apparently in prison (Eph 4:1) and writing letters. Whether in Rome, Ephesus, or Caesarea, we don’t know. Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon are known collectively as The Captivity or Prison Letters. These are Paul’s Folsom Prison Concert, if you will. Continue reading
Before talking about Paul’s Letter to Galatians , some notes on Paul’s Letters in General
The ease we have in reading, writing, and communicating makes it easy to misunderstand Paul’s letters. Continue reading
Since we’re about to start Paul’s letters, I thought I’d share this. It’s an expansion of a handout I’ve used sometimes about five common ways we misread Paul with modern, Western eyes. (Misreading with Western Eyes is one of the Top 5 I books recommend)
As we begin our year in the New Testament, we naturally start with the Gospels… which is a problem, funny enough. Continue reading
On October 3, 1946, President J. Reuben Clark delivered a speech to the general Relief Society session of General Conference. Titled ” Our Wives and Our Mothers in the Eternal Plan” —reproduced here— it generated some internal discussion with Elder Joseph Fielding Smith.
Today’s take-away is simple: Don’t use the Old Testament Institute manual for Genesis. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk…
This is video from a Stake class I was teaching… Continue reading
Logos is my preferred source of electronic books. I’ve used it for 20 years. Continue reading
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