Mission Call!

Randy and I have been called to serve an 18 month mission as area welfare specialists in the Europe Area!

We will spend two weeks in the Provo MTC and leave for Frankfort, Germany in early April.

The Europe Area includes about 30 countries from Greenland in the northwest to Greece in the southeast.  The current area specialists tell us that much of the humanitarian work is being done in the Balkans, including giving help to orphanages and refugee centers.

Academy for Temple Studies Conference : ALL Videos now available

Videos of ALL the proceeds of the Logan conference are now available here.

For a real treat, first download John Welch's handout PDF and then watch the video.  There is enough material to direct your own scripture study for a couple of months at least!

“Enoch and the Temple” Conference with George W. E. Nickelsburg

From the website of  The Academy for Temple Studies 

The Academy for Temple Studies and the USU Religious Studies Program are very pleased to announce a distinguished co-sponsored program on “Enoch and the Temple,” with a keynote address by George W. E. Nickelsburg, emeritus professor of religion at the University of Iowa, member of the Enoch Seminar, and highly recognized expert on 1 Enoch. Among his many publications on the Enoch traditions is his landmark two-volume Hermeneia commentary on 1 Enoch. The second volume was published in 2012 by Fortress Press.

Please plan to attend. The public is invited. There will be no charge for this event, although voluntary contributions are welcomed.

This program will be presented at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, at 4:30-7:00 pm, on Tuesday, February 19, 2013, in the Geology Building, Room 105. The keynote presentation will be introduced by Jared Ludlow and will be followed by papers by David Larsen and Jeffrey Bradshaw. The program will conclude with a panel discussion on temple themes and religious messages in the Enoch literature, and there will be time for questions and discussion.

This program will be repeated and the discussion will continue at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, from 1:00-4:00 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013, in 303 JRCB, the Law School Moot Court Room, with a few additional participants on the panel. Watch for further details.

This is BIG.  You seldom get a chance in Utah to hear someone this well-known and respected in Biblical Studies.  Note that there are TWO sessions: one in Logan and one in Provo.  Both will REPEAT the same presentations, but, obviously, the questions and discussions will be unique at each.

"Mormonism and the Temple" Conference Videos now Online

Great news from the Temple Study blog : videos are now available FREE online from the "Mormonism and the Temple" conference.  It was held in Logan on Oct. 29, 2012, sponsored by the USU Dept. of History/Religious Studies. The speakers included Margaret Barker, Laurence Hemming and John Welch.   "Some of the videos (listed below) are now available for free in 1080p HD resolution on the Academy for Temple Studies YouTube channel, the Academy’s TempleStudies.org website, as well as on the TempleStudy site. The rest of the presenters’ videos are forthcoming." The conference was marvelous: if you did not get to attend, by all means block out some time to watch some of these videos! Introduction – Gary N. Anderson & Philip Barlow Panel Discussion – “Introduction to Temple Studies” John Welch, John Hall, Margaret Barker, Daniel Peterson, and Laurence Hemming Margaret Barker – “Restoring Solomon’s Temple” Questions & Answers – Margaret Barker & Laurence Hemming John W. Welch – “The Temple in the Sermon on the Mount and the Gospel of Matthew” Daniel C. Peterson – “A Divine Mother in the Book of Mormon?” Danel Bachman, “A Temple Studies Bibliography” Final Panel Discussion – Margaret Barker & Laurence Hemming