Congrats to David Bokovoy!!!!

[_Racer]

I wonder how soon it will be before Hamblin starts spouting off his sour grapes or making dismissive statements about Bokovoy's new position like he did with Bushman's recently announced new position.

[_The Dude]

I'm still interested in a few tenure track positions in Hebrew Bible for next year, so I have not yet determined that I will take the offer, but I'm very excited to have this as a back-up plan.

There's a place for "Offers and Awards Declined" on your curriculum vitae. ;)

Congratulations and stay positive!

[_why me]

One of the classes he is teaching is a Book of Mormon as Literature class. This is groundbreaking since it is the first time in a university setting that the Book of Mormon has been taught as a literary work outside of a devotional setting.

It is amazing that not one critic on this board challenged the idea of the Book of Mormon as literature. I find the Book of Mormon a good piece of writing with a fine story line but the critics here often condemned the Book of Mormon to the literary scrape heap of history. But here we have a university having a course about the literary merits of the Book of Mormon.

[_Racer]

One of the classes he is teaching is a Book of Mormon as Literature class. This is groundbreaking since it is the first time in a university setting that the Book of Mormon has been taught as a literary work outside of a devotional setting.

It is amazing that not one critic on this board challenged the idea of the Book of Mormon as literature. I find the Book of Mormon a good piece of writing with a fine story line but the critics here often condemned the Book of Mormon to the literary scrape heap of history. But here we have a university having a course about the literary merits of the Book of Mormon.

I am speaking for myself, but my criticism of the Book of Mormon is not that its a terrible book. There are some interesting things in the book that could provoke some philosophical discussions similar to how one would discuss the merits or social application of any mythology. There are also some cool story lines in the Book of Mormon.

My main criticism of the Book of Mormon is that it is fiction. Joseph Smith made it up. There was no Moroni, gold plates, or divinity attached to it. Therefore I view a class on Book of Mormon literature just as I would view a class on the writings of Tolkien - interesting and useful to those that have an interest in those subjects on a secular level.

[_Blixa]

It is amazing that not one critic on this board challenged the idea of the Book of Mormon as literature. I find the Book of Mormon a good piece of writing with a fine story line but the critics here often condemned the Book of Mormon to the literary scrape heap of history. But here we have a university having a course about the literary merits of the Book of Mormon.

You are perhaps unfamiliar with the teaching of literature.

I don't teach literature in order to inculcate an appreciation of aesthetic "greatness." Literature courses are rarely about the "literary merits" of any particular text, either, though the idea of "literary merit" itself is often opened for investigation.

In literature courses, such as commonly found ones on "the Bible as literature," the text is examined historically, discussed in terms of its intertextual production (dependence on previous texts), its ideological functions and its dispersal through other narrative reworkings.

"A good piece of writing with a fine story line" is not a critical category of textual analysis, and never has been, though it may be one for individual appreciation. In a university course, however, the idea of such appreciation itself could come under critical scrutiny as well.

[_Doctor Scratch]

One of the classes he is teaching is a Book of Mormon as Literature class. This is groundbreaking since it is the first time in a university setting that the Book of Mormon has been taught as a literary work outside of a devotional setting.

It is amazing that not one critic on this board challenged the idea of the Book of Mormon as literature. I find the Book of Mormon a good piece of writing with a fine story line but the critics here often condemned the Book of Mormon to the literary scrape heap of history. But here we have a university having a course about the literary merits of the Book of Mormon.

Treating the Book of Mormon as "literature" undermines efforts to treat it as a legitimate historical record. For that reason, I think that most critics prefer what Bokovoy is doing.

[_Shiloh]

Treating the Book of Mormon as "literature" undermines efforts to treat it as a legitimate historical record. For that reason, I think that most critics prefer what Bokovoy is doing.

You rarely say something so wrong, Dr. Scratch. Many courses are taught on the Bible as literature -- even at conservative Christian colleges. Analyzing a book as literature is hardly a rejection of anything else the book may claim to be. It simply means you are viewing the book from a particular vantage point. They are not mutually exclusive, or do you somehow imagine that DB is really a non-believer in the Book of Mormon seeking to undermine its historicity?

[_Bob Loblaw]

BYU does not have a theology or Biblical Studies department. Its Department of Religion is geared towards (1) providing the 2-hour per semester course that each student needs and (2) educating Church educators. BYU's administration for years has said it does not want a theology or Bible Studies department, like you'd see at Cal Berkeley (although that has been spun off to the Theological Union), Harvard or Claremont. There's too much of a history of General Authorities criticizing these types of educational facilities.

So it isn't a matter of being "stupid." There is no place for somebody like Bokovoy to publish in New Testament studies from a department that doesn't offer degrees in that.

I beg to differ. The Religion Department had a choice to make: hire someone like David who is interested in scholarship and start discussing what Mormonism really is and where it comes from, albeit in a faith-promoting way; or continue to treat students like children and fill their heads with the sanitized nonsense of Correlated Mormonism. They've chosen the latter, and that is incredibly stupid.

And I echo the congratulations to David: BYU's loss is the U's gain.

[_harmony]

They've chosen the latter, and that is incredibly stupid.

But not unexpected. Sometimes we forget that they LOVE correlated Mormonism.

[_Always Changing]

But not unexpected. Sometimes we forget that they LOVE correlated Mormonism.

I thought it would be impossible to correlate a gnostic religion???