The Immortal Soul – Gordon B. Hinckley and King Follett

At a meeting in Nauvoo, to accept the loan from the state of Illinois of an original “sun stone” from the 19th century incarnation of the Nauvoo temple, President Gordon B. Hinckley remarked:

Alexander Neibaur – Nauvoo Journal

Hugh Nibley’s great grandfather, Alexander Neibaur, was a Mormon convert who emigrated to Nauvoo, Ill. in 1841. His short Nauvoo journal is available now at boap.org. It contains an interesting account of shipboard problems when Neibaur sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans. Neibaur tutored Joseph Smith in German, and Smith related several interesting incidents which Neibaur reports in his journal.

Joseph Smith’s Polyglot New Testament

When Joseph Smith lived in Nauvoo, Ill. he had acquired a polyglot NT. One can narrow down which one it was by the languages it contained. Hebrew, Greek, German, Latin. I’m not sure where he got it, but it might have been from Alex Neibaur. I’ve done a little searching for this NT, but have not found it. It’s not in the LDS archives, the CoC archives or the usual major libraries – unless of course it’s uncatalogued. So it may be in private hands, if it still exists at all. Joseph made reference to it in the King Follett sermon, which of course makes it relevant to this blog. So. Anyone out there know where this NT is? If you don’t want to reply by comment, you can email me at boap at boap dot org.

Old Testament Study Coming Up – BOAP Resources

With the OT the topic of study in 2010 in LDS Sunday Schools, I thought I’d mention that there are some resources at boap.org that may be useful to all you teachers and students.

Some additions to “Presidents”

We’ve added some Hinckley sermons to the Presidents file. We’ll gradually
be adding more.

Cotton Mather – and Scripture

A new edition of Cotton Mather’s Biblical Commentary (Biblia Americana) is beginning publication. At 10 volumes, it’s being compiled by a list of good scholars of the period. Jonathan Edwards often gets the title for America’s theologian, but Mather had profound influence. His commentary was in question-answer form and it reminds me of Joseph Smith’s revelatory approach, many of his revelations are in that format. Was there a cultural reason in addition to the obvious candid recitals of how they happened?

Anyway, look for Mather’s Genesis at a library or bookstore near you. Worth a peak if for nothing else than restoration movement context.

Relief Society Organization Minutes

We got around to putting up the Nauvoo Relief Society organization minutes in the Parallel Joseph. It had an abbreviated version previously. The one up now has the text from Eliza R. Snow’s minute book. It’s missing some of the text, but has all the Joseph Smith material I think [Edit: the online text is now the complete Snow minutes for that meeting]. Go to the March 17, 1842 entry if you want to read. The naming debate is interesting. The Relief Society was parallel to a movement in Protestantism to expand the role of women in religion.

Lorenzo Snow and Oberlin College, part II

The second part of Lorenzo Snow’s letter (March 1836) to his sister Eliza Roxy Snow shows a thoughtful disposition and some interesting assumptions about human behavior. It also suggests his respect for Eliza’s thinking.

Lorenzo Barnes – One of the Many – One of a Kind

Among the Charles Finney’s, Lyman Beecher’s, Alex Campbell’s and Joseph Smith’s of early American religion stood the nearly anonymous men and women who were followers or advocates. For the most part in this age of improvement, Americans seemed to be moving on from one idea to a better one, just as they moved from one place to another. But for the Mormons, a core of dedicated people made up a missionary cohort that converted the thousands who formed the Latter-day Saints into a history-making wedge of Americana.

What did Joseph Smith’s Sermons Mean to Latter-day Saints?

What did Joseph Smith’s sermons mean to the Mormons? This is a large question, and one I will not answer in any comprehensive way in this post. Moreover the conclusions given here are just generalities. (The reality here is a spectrum, not a strict set of categories.) But a part of the answer lies in the idea of temporal distance.