Available from Eborn Books and The Interpreter Foundation bookstore.
Watch the video at https:
//interpreterfoundation.org/.../2022.../videos/stay/
//interpreterfoundation.org/.../2022.../videos/stay/
Sunday, November 3, 2024
My First Academic Paper Published
Margaret Barker’s Master Classes on the Hebrew Scriptures THIS WEEK November 9 & 16, 2024
Margaret Barker’s Master Classes on the Hebrew Scriptures
The Interpreter Foundation is pleased to offer two seminars from noted scholar Dr. Margaret Barker. Her presentations will be on two successive Saturdays, November 9 and November 16, both beginning at 11 AM Mountain Time. Each seminar will feature an illustrated lecture for approximately 50 minutes followed by 15 to 30 minutes for questions. The seminars are free but registration is required.
The Nov. 9 seminar will look at the changes and developments in the text of the Hebrew Scriptures and the work of the scribes who transmitted them.
This will provide the context for the second seminar on Nov. 16. Dr. Barker will examine five examples from Qumran texts of Deuteronomy and Isaiah to explore how and why differences arose, and which of the versions was the more likely to have been used by the first Christians.
This class is for everyone interested in the story of the Hebrew Scriptures. Knowledge of Hebrew is not required.
Kevin Christensen, who has done much to make Dr. Barker’s work known to Latter-day Saints, will introduce her in the seminars. Jeff Lindsay (jlindsay@interpreterfoundation.org) will serve as the host for the events and as the contact person for questions or comments.
Registration
To attend the seminars by Margaret Barker, please register in
advance for the individual events. After registering, you will receive a
confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. The link
you will receive by email should be valid for both events. Registration can be
completed on the Zoom website: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIscuitrDsjHtLGDPiichh9PMxKDPmvUjxn.
About Margaret Barker
Margaret Barker is a biblical scholar who developed the method of study known as Temple Theology. She is a former President of the Society for Old Testament Study, a retired Methodist preacher, and the author of 19 books. In July 2008, the Archbishop of Canterbury awarded her a Doctor of Divinity degree.
In January 2023, she gave a lecture in Westminster Abbey in London for people involved with the coronation of King Charles III, showing how biblical symbols and themes shaped the coronation ceremony.
She has stirred much interest among Latter-day Saints with her findings relevant to the ancient temple and even on issues relevant to the Book of Mormon.
To learn more about the significance of her work in the eyes of some Latter-day Saint scholars, see Kevin Christensen, "Twenty Years After 'Paradigms Regained,' Part 1: The Ongoing, Plain, and Precious Significance of Margaret Barker’s Scholarship for Latter-day Saint Studies," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, vol. 54 (2022), at https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/twenty-years-after-paradigms-regained-part-1-the-ongoing-plain-and-precious-significance-of-margaret-barkers-scholarship-for-latter-day-saint-studies/.
Margaret Barker’s website is at http://www.margaretbarker.com/.
Thursday, November 30, 2023
NT Week 9 : Revelation 6-16 : Seals. Beasts, Dragons, Marks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CTvS4UOp7E&list=PLD9o3pQYhVMF2TXItDBjF2-WOro3i93Af&index=21
Mosaic floor of Beth Alpha Synagogue in Israel
Revelations by Reed Durham; Ensign May 1973
Gustave Dore' Four Horsemen/Chariots
These are overhead projector images from LDS Seminaries and Institutes in @1980. Note the inaccuracies and anachronisms
NT Week 8 : Revelation 5 : Throne, Veil, Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erHSSzMnCRs&list=PLD9o3pQYhVMF2TXItDBjF2-WOro3i93Af&index=20
Three papers I recommend this week:
Margaret Barker: Beyond the Veil of the Temple: The High Priestly Origin of the Apocalypses
https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/veil.html
Margaret Barker : The Temple Roots of the Liturgy
https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/Roots.pdf
and Elliot Wolfson : Seven Mysteries of Knowledge: Qumran E/sotericism Reconsidered
https://www.academia.edu/3335498/Seven_Mysteries_of_Knowledge_Qumran_E_sotericism_Reconsidered
Neal A Maxwell Quotes on Time and Space
"The Lord Himself said that He `knoweth all things, for all things are present' before Him. (D&C 38:2.) We read, too, that `all things are present with me, for I know them all.' (Moses 1:6.) Therefore, God's omniscience is not solely a function of prolonged and discerning familiarity with us-but of the stunning reality that the past and present and future are part of an `eternal now' with God! (Joseph Smith, History of the Church 4:597.)" (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, pp. 7,8.)
"Since-unlike for us enclosed by the veil-things are, for God, one "eternal now," it is to be remembered that for God to foresee is not to cause or even to desire a particular occurrence-but it is to take that occurrence into account beforehand, so that divine reckoning folds it into the unfolding purposes of God." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 12.)
"Our agency is preserved, however, by the fact that as we approach a given moment we do not know what our response will be. Meanwhile, God has foreseen what we will do and has taken our decision into account (in composite with all others), so that His purposes are not frustrated. It is unfortunate that our concerns do not center more upon the correctness of what we do in a given moment-and less upon whether or not God's having foreseen what we would do then somehow compromises our agency. It is equally regrettable that our souls should be troubled at all because we cannot figure out `how' God does it, when it has been made so abundantly clear and on so many occasions that He does do it." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 12.)
"Quite understandably, the manner in which things unfold seems to us mortals to be so natural. Our not knowing what is to come (in the perfect way that God knows it) thus preserves our free agency completely." (Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, February 1979, p. 71.)
`And all things are present with me, for I know them all' (Moses 1:6). God does not live in the dimension of time as do we. Moreover, since `all things are present with' God, his is not simply a predicting based solely upon the past. In ways which are not clear to us, he actually sees, rather than foresees, the future-because all things are, at once, present, before him!" (Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, February 1979, p. 72.)
"When we understand that all things are present before His eyes and that He knows all things past, present, and future, then we can trust ourselves to Him as we clearly could not to a less than omniscient god who is off somewhere in the firmament doing further research." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, pp. 36-37.)
He sees the beginning from the end because all things are, in a way which we do not understand, present before Him simultaneously in an `eternal now.' Further, the arithmetic of anguish is something we mortals cannot comprehend. We cannot do the sums because we do not have all the numbers. We are locked in the dimension of time and are contained within the tight perspectives of this second estate." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, pp. 37.)
For example, the philosopher Boethius described in the fifth century how `God is outside of time and does not foresee the future; rather, he sees it in an "eternal now" that is equally present to all parts of time. . . .`In the presence of God . . . all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.' (D&C 130:7. See also 88:41.) These verses confirm what has been referred to as `the eternal now'-within which God exists, so that He sees rather than foresees." (Neal A. Maxwell, Plain and Precious Things, p. 57.)
"Of course, the Father knew beforehand of all human wickedness. He knew beforehand of mankind's need of a Savior. He knows the past, present, and future, since all their dimensions are continually before Him, said the Prophet Joseph Smith, constituting `one eternal "now"'." (Neal A. Maxwell, One More Strain of Praise, p.47.)
Actually, God has the past, present, and future ever before Him, constituting an 'eternal "now"' (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 220; see also D&C 130:7)." (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, November 1999, p. 7.)
Amid the mortal and fragmentary communiques and the breaking news of the day concerning various human conflicts, God lives in an eternal now where the past, present, and future are constantly before Him (see D&C 130:7)." (Neal A. Maxwell, "Care for the Life of the Soul", Ensign, May 2003, p. 70.)
NT Week 7: Revelation 4-5 Worship and Song
There are NO good pictures/Google images of worship in heaven. Good luck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1H_Oa4bnKg&list=PLD9o3pQYhVMF2TXItDBjF2-WOro3i93Af&index=19&t=1142s
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Reading Assignment for Salem Institute class Nov 8
We will be studying Rev 4-5 and it would be very helpful to read Ezekiel chapters 1, 9, and 10 before class.
I am assuming people will either be traveling or cooking or visiting relatives on Wednesday, Nov 22 so we will NOT have Institute that day.
Enjoy this beautiful fall weather!
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Fall Salem Institute Week Six : Letters to the Seven Cities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3De-76vXmM&list=PLD9o3pQYhVMF2TXItDBjF2-WOro3i93Af&index=18
The
discovery of the Book of Balaam inscriptions:
1. "In an unprecedented discovery, an ancient text found at Deir
Alla, Jordan, in 1967 tells about the activities of a prophet named Balaam.
Could this be the Balaam of the Old Testament? The text makes it clear that it
is. Three times in the first four lines he is referred to as “Balaam son
of Beor,” exactly as in the Bible. This represents the first Old
Testament prophet to be dug up in Bible lands — not his tomb or his skeleton,
but a text about him. The text also represents the first prophecy of any scope
from the ancient West Semitic world to be found outside the Old Testament, and
the first extra-Biblical example of a prophet proclaiming doom to his own
people. … The remarkable text found at Deir Alla consists of 119 fragments of
plaster inscribed with black and red ink. It was among the rubble of a building
destroyed in an earthquake. It seems to have been one long column with at least
50 lines, displayed on a plastered wall. According to the excavators’ dating,
the disaster was most likely the severe earthquake which occurred in the time
of King Uzziah (Azariah) and the prophet Amos in about 760 BC (Am 1:1; Zec
14:5). The lower part of the text shows signs of wear, indicating that it had
been on the wall for some time prior to the earthquake." (Balaam Son of
Beor, Bible and Spade, Bryant G. Wood, p114, 1995 AD)
2. "Deir
Alla in the eighth-century B.C. was a large city, perhaps even a center of
religious instruction. On the walls of a room in one building that may have
stood near a temple, a professional scribe copied the text of an important
religious manuscript. First he drew four red frames. Then he filled the frames
with text, adding a drawing here and there for adornment. See artist’s
reconstruction of how this inscribed wall may have looked. Sometime in the
eighth century B.C. Deir Alla was leveled by an earthquake, perhaps the very earthquake
mentioned in the Book of Amos, and also spoken of by Zechariah as “the
earthquake that stopped up the valley in the days of King Uzziah of Judah.” In
the Deir Alla disaster, the inscribed wall fell, crumbling into a myriad of
fragments that scattered over an area of more than 20 square feet. The author
observes that most of one section of the wall seems to have fallen in a pit,
while another section fell at the corner of the original wall (see plan)."
(Fragments from the Book of Balaam Found at Deir Alla, André Lemaire,
BAR-11:05, Sep/Oct 1985)
3. "Found at Tell Deir ʿAllā, near the River Zerqa (biblical
Jabbok) in the eastern Jordan Valley, these texts were apparently once
displayed in a room of a building that is commonly believed to have been a
sanctuary. Written in black and red ink on white plaster, fragments of the
texts were found on the floor of that room when the building was destroyed by a
violent earthquake—one of the many that plagued the region. As a result of that
disaster, part of the plaster was burnt and the entire inscription fell to the
ground, shattered in pieces, much of which was irretrievably lost. The
fragments that remain were found in several groupings." (Deir Alla Plaster
Texts, Prophets and prophecy in the ancient Near East, Vol 12, 138, 2003 AD)
4. "Combination
I clearly concerns the vision of Balaam son of Beor, “a seer of the gods,” who
is also known in the biblical tradition recorded in Num 22–24. Like the
prophets of ancient Israel, Balaam in this account is privy to the deliberations
of the divine council. The assembled deities—known in the account alternatively
as “gods” and “Shaddayin” (a term related to the biblical divine epithet
“Shaddai”)—have ordained a catastrophe, and they charge a certain celestial
being to execute the destruction on their behalf. Unfortunately, only the first
letter of her name has been preserved (line 6), so her identity can only be a
matter of conjecture. Like the deceiving spirit sent forth from the divine
council witnessed by the prophet Micaiah the son on Imlah (1 Kgs 22:5–18) and
like the adversary in the divine council who was permitted by God to set forth
to harm Job (Job 1:6–12; 2:1–8), she plays a destructive role. The impending
doom that she is to bring about is in many ways reminiscent of end-of-the-world
scenarios that are often found in the Bible, notably in the preaching of the
prophets. Creation will apparently be undone as the cosmic floods will be
released upon the earth (“the bolts of heaven” will be broken), the dark rain
clouds will cover the skies, and there will be pitch darkness and terror on
earth." (Deir Alla Plaster Texts, Prophets and prophecy in the ancient
Near East, Vol 12, 138, 2003 AD)
Pergamon Museum, Berlin Germany : Altar
White stone
But in ancient times, particularly in the middle east and Mediterranean, the white stone represented important details about one’s social status. In some cultures, the trial judges on a panel would each deposit a black stone or a white stone in a bowl or urn, or reveal one from the palm of their hands, to cast their votes on the verdict of the accused. A black stone indicated the judge favoured a guilty verdict and a white stone meant the accused was considered innocent of the charge. If the accused received more white stones than black from the panel, he was acquitted. So, the white stone became a symbol of being judged innocent.
(See Metamorphoses, by Ovid. (A.D. 8) Lib XV, verse 41. Translated by John Dryden, et al [1717]. “A custom was of old, and still remains, Which life or death by suffrages ordains: White stones and black within an urn are cast, The first absolve, but fate is in the last.”)
In Classical
Athens, when the decision at
hand was to banish or exile a certain member of society, citizen peers would
cast their vote by writing the name of the person on the shard of pottery; the
vote was counted and, if unfavorable, the person was exiled for a period of ten years from the city,
thus giving rise to the term ostracism.
Similarly, in ancient Rome, before a gladiator match, the gladiators pulled stones from a bag and the ones who drew black stones were to fight while those who pulled white were given a reprieve.
In other situations, a person who carried a white stone with a name of a patron on it, enjoyed the privileges of a modern day credit card, with expenses charged to the patron. Often it was a white tesserae (mosaic stone) that was used to permit charging expenses to another’s account. (See Pliny Natural History, 7.40.131).
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