Comments on: Unexpected Insight into Book of Mormon Culture

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:17:29 +0000

Neither! Click the dang link already!

By: Diane Peel

Diane Peel — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:44:00 +0000

200 Keepa readers are going through their days entirely beswotted; some wondering if your pettifogging clone has gained the upper hand, others unsure just what is the matter – was this column boring, or simply writ too far above their understanding?

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:09:22 +0000

I just noticed on my statistics page: 340 people clicked on this post, but only 147 clicked through to the second page (the “Click here” at the bottom of the post).

That means that nearly 200 of you didn’t get the joke!

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:27:18 +0000

kevinf, you only prove that great minds (well, yours and mine, anyway) work alike …

Whatsoever.

By: kevinf

kevinf — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:02:11 +0000

Embarrassing confession. I wrote my comment in # 8 without realizing I could click through to your example. Now I feel like a total dweeb, which is only slightly worse than my normal mode of only feeling somewhat like a dweeb. “And it came to pass, that I did read more diligently, yea even the hyperlinks, so that I might be more fully edified and instructed. And I exhort you to do likewise.

By: David Y.

David Y. — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:50:26 +0000

Whatsoever, indeed! Nice.

By: kevinf

kevinf — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:44:28 +0000

Andrew H, that is covered in a lot of detail in Brant Gardner’s book on the translation. He examines the evidence and arguments both for exact translation versus a contextual translation, with some really interesting ideas. Gardner rejects an exact translation theory, although not completely, instead positing an intermediary translation into English before revealing it to Joseph Smith.

By: andrew h

andrew h — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:11:42 +0000

I have enjoyed and learned from Skousen’s series. Our family has actually turned reading his edition of the BOM into a bit of a game. When we do our family BOM study I read from Skousen’s ed. and my kids read from their standard versions. When it’s my turn to read they have to pay close attention and see who can be the first to catch me reading something “different”

My favorite “change” is in the Abinadi story where the wicked priests “scorched” him instead of “scourged” him with faggots. (Which never made sense to me how do you beat someone with a large bundle of sticks?)

But I’m not sure I can buy into Skousen’s “exact translation theory” to me it contradicts the “study it out in your mind” instructions from the Lord as found in the D and C

By: kevinf

kevinf — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:37:55 +0000

Whatsoever….(rolls his eyes)

I’m assuming that is what teens and young adults said to their parents in Book of Mormon times.

I’m intrigued by all of this textual analysis of the Book of Mormon. My first real taste of this came in reading Brant Gardner’s The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon, where he uses a limited number of textual variants as examples, and references Skousen’s work. There are some real insights to be gained through this, but it is hard work, and time consuming. I look forward to your examples.

By: Bruce Crow

Bruce Crow — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:02:55 +0000

Sweet!!