Deceit in the BYU Religion Dept. and Deseret Book?

[_khameini]

BYU Religion Professor, Alonzo Gaskill, holds a degree from the on-line paper mill Trinity Theological Seminary:

http://farms.BYU.edu/viewauthor.php?authorID=348

Mr. Gaskill’s “Doctorate” is a Doctorate in Religious Studies paid for through the online program listed here:

http://www.trinitysem.edu/DegreeProgram ... #emphasis2

On their website, BYU, however, lists Gaskill as holding a legitimate PhD in Biblical Studies not a DRS.

http://religion.BYU.edu/sing_fac.php?f=Alonzo&l=Gaskill

Gaskill appears to encourage the deception by allowing the Church owned and operated Deseret Book to add a sense of legitimacy (and no-doubt increase their sales) through false advertisement, informing consumers that Gaskill holds a PhD in Biblical Studies:

http://deseretbook.com/authors/author-i ... r_id=16298

[_Notoriuswun]

Well I always assumed that they didn't attend the more common leftist state colleges, but this is pretty shocking (if true). Good find.

[_Alter Idem]

I've never been impressed with degrees. I have his book on Symbolism and it is very informative and interesting. I also gave his book as a Christmas Present because I liked it so much.

As for me, I've never looked on the dust jacket of any book to make sure the writer had a Phd before deciding whether or not I'd read it or buy it.

[_harmony]

I've never been impressed with degrees. I have his book on Symbolism and it is very informative and interesting. I also gave his book as a Christmas Present because I liked it so much.

As for me, I've never looked on the dust jacket of any book to make sure the writer had a Phd before deciding whether or not I'd read it or buy it.

What classes does he teach at BYU?

[_Alter Idem]

I've never been impressed with degrees. I have his book on Symbolism and it is very informative and interesting. I also gave his book as a Christmas Present because I liked it so much.

As for me, I've never looked on the dust jacket of any book to make sure the writer had a Phd before deciding whether or not I'd read it or buy it.

What classes does he teach at BYU?

I don't know.

The book I have by him, "The Lost Language of Symbolism", does not mention him teaching at BYU...It was published in 2003 and states that he taught classes at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz in California. I guess his degrees were acceptable to the California Universities.

[_khameini]

The book I have by him, "The Lost Language of Symbolism", does not mention him teaching at BYU...It was published in 2003 and states that he taught classes at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz in California. I guess his degrees were acceptable to the California Universities.

This may be another attempt to mislead, since he taught LDS "Institute” classes at those locations.

Whether or not you feel that degrees don’t matter, obviously BYU and Deseret Book disagree, otherwise there would be no need for them to misrepresent Mr. Gaskill.

If I remember correctly, it seems that Mormons have on more than one occasion belittled Ed Decker for calling himself Dr. even though Mr. Decker does not hold a legitimate degree. What are we to make of Mr. Gaskill, BYU, and Deseret Book?

How can Mr. Gaskill allow this misrepresentation to continue when he has supposedly devoted himself and his career to teaching religious truth?

The whole thing makes me rather sick to my stomach.

[_harmony]

The book I have by him, "The Lost Language of Symbolism", does not mention him teaching at BYU...It was published in 2003 and states that he taught classes at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz in California. I guess his degrees were acceptable to the California Universities.

This may be another attempt to mislead, since he taught LDS "Institute” classes at those locations.

Whether or not you feel that degrees don’t matter, obviously BYU and Deseret Book disagree, otherwise there would be no need for them to misrepresent Mr. Gaskill.

If I remember correctly, it seems that Mormons have on more than one occasion belittled Ed Decker for calling himself Dr. even though Mr. Decker does not hold a legitimate degree. What are we to make of Mr. Gaskill, BYU, and Deseret Book?

How can Mr. Gaskill allow this misrepresentation to continue when he has supposedly devoted himself and his career to teaching religious truth?

The whole thing makes me rather sick to my stomach.

Isn't it the norm to publish where the undergrad degrees are obtained? From BYU's website:

Bio: Alonzo L. Gaskill is an Assistant Professor of Church History and Doctrine. He holds a Bachelors degree in Philosophy, a Masters in Theology, and a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies. Brother Gaskill has taught at Brigham Young University since 2003. Prior to coming to BYU he served in a variety of assignments within the church Educational System - most recently as the director of the LDS Institute of Religion at Stanford University (1995-2003).

Courses Taught: Since coming to BYU, Brother Gaskill has taught the following courses: The Gospel and World Religions; Book of Mormon; New Testament; Pearl of Great Price; Doctrine and Covenants.

Areas of Expertise: Scriptural and Temple Symbolism; Post Vatican II Catholicism

Areas of Research: The Fall of Adam and Eve; Scriptural and Temple Symbolism; Early Christian History and Doctrines; Catholicism; Various World Religions
Languages: Formal training in New Testament Greek, Middle Egyptian, and Biblical Hebrew.

So he was never a professor before he went to BYU? He was an Institute director, seminary teacher, what else? Why would they say he has a PhD, if he doesn't have a PhD? What's so bad about a D.R.S.?

I thought BYU had high standards for their professors. Is this an indication that those standards are being compromised? Is the level of education available at BYU once again lower than expected?

Your tithing dollar at work.

[_maklelan]

Is the level of education available at BYU once again lower than expected?

Your tithing dollar at work.

"Once again"? I've been amazed at the quality of a BYU education. When my wife graduated she immediately had interviews set up for her all over the United States only because she graduated from the Marriott School of Business. Business recruiters rank us first among business schools in the nation. I have studied under two men who own the copyrights on several of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and are considered among the best DSS scholars on the planet. BYU created the technology that allowed them the world to analyze the origin of the DSS manuscripts. It has been applied to all of them and is the only kind of technology that has done so. We are also doing the same with some of the most important early Christian papyri on the planet. Brill is publishing its electronic DSS Library through us. Last semester I had a class from a professor who was valedictorian studying Greek Philosophy at Oxford. You don't have the first clue what you're talking about.

[_Mercury]

Is the level of education available at BYU once again lower than expected?

Your tithing dollar at work.

"Once again"? I've been amazed at the quality of a BYU education. When my wife graduated she immediately had interviews set up for her all over the United States only because she graduated from the Marriott School of Business. Business recruiters rank us first among business schools in the nation. I have studied under two men who own the copyrights on several of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and are considered among the best DSS scholars on the planet. BYU created the technology that allowed them the world to analyze the origin of the DSS manuscripts. It has been applied to all of them and is the only kind of technology that has done so. We are also doing the same with some of the most important early Christian papyri on the planet. Brill is publishing its electronic DSS Library through us. Last semester I had a class from a professor who was valedictorian studying Greek Philosophy at Oxford. You don't have the first clue what you're talking about.

No they don't:

1 Northwestern
2 Chicago
3 Pennsylvania
4 Stanford
5 Harvard
6 Michigan
7 Cornell
8 Columbia
9 MIT
10 Dartmouth

11 Duke
12 Virginia
13 NYU
14 UCLA
15 Carnegie Mellon
16 UNC Chapel-Hill
17 UC Berkeley
18 Indiana
19 Texas - Austin
20 Emory

21 Purdue
22 Yale
23 Washington U.
24 Notre Dame
25 Georgetown
26 Babson
27 Southern California
28 Maryland
29 Rochester
30 Vanderbilt

BYU is not in the top 30. As for the software program a child could have written. the yawn is pretty noticeable from the European document preservationists and translators that I am acquainted with. The limited work BYU has participated in is so passe that they have been milking it for the past several years. Yes yes, they worked on the dead sea scrolls as did MANY other academics.

BYU is lackluster, unnoticeable in academia and generally a cesspool of 50's style baby boom culture in a bottle, an academic freedom wasteland and generally a babysitting service for those in the transition between their parents ward and the ward that will pick up the tithing baton, guaranteeing yet another dupe is dedicated to MormonCorp.

As a rule those who believe BYU to be something special generally point out achievements that are outshined by a vast majority of other schols in the same way LDS believe they can prove the church true via statement of its hyped up charitable donations.

[_khameini]

These are good questions, Harmony that apparently don’t matter to a poster like Alter Idem. If Gaskill writes/teaches in support of LDS theology, who cares what he does. Unfortunately, however, there could be even more serious issues at stake than the quality of education offered at BYU:

“It is precisely because of their inherent value that academic credentials are subject to falsification, forgery, alteration and other fraudulent use. In a technical sense, academic credentials are ‘objective indices of merit;’ as a practical matter, they also serve as "passports." In this "society of credentials, ‘academic credentials’ are often the measure of one's status. In other words ‘. . . [e]ducational credentials are used to label people according to educational accomplishment, thus dramatically affecting how far the door of opportunity opens, if it opens at all. Not only do educational credentials affect the image other people hold of a person, but they also affect that person's self-image.’" Joan E. Van Tol, “Detecting, Deterring and PUNISHING THE USE OF Fradulent Academic Credentials: A Play in Two Acts,” Santa Clara Law Review, Summer, 1990, 791.

BYU and Deseret Book need to state the truth and stop falsifiying Mr. Gaskill's academic credentials. There are legal issues at stake.