silentkid wrote:Good job, guy. I just wish that people with intelligence and research abilities would spend their time publishing in journals or doing research in fields that actually benefit how we live, rather than publishing theories in journals that are analyzing a mythical text. It comes down to the old "how many angels can fit on the head of a pin" argument--who cares? Use those talents to analyze and solve some real-world problems.
Finding happiness is a real-world problem. That is what most western religion is about.
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
I agree that it is a great achievement. Getting published while still in graduate school is no easy feat. I think my post may have come across negatively. That wasn't my intention. The point of my post was that I wish he would use his skills in a field other than Mormon apologetics or Bible theory, because unlike The Nehor, I don't believe that western religion is a good remedy for the real-world problem of unhappiness.
silentkid wrote:I agree that it is a great achievement. Getting published while still in graduate school is no easy feat. I think my post may have come across negatively. That wasn't my intention. The point of my post was that I wish he would use his skills in a field other than Mormon apologetics or Bible theory, because unlike The Nehor, I don't believe that western religion is a good remedy for the real-world problem of unhappiness.
I agree. When I read Nehor's comment, my first thought was, "Since when is Mormonism about trying to make people happy?" I know, that's not very charitable, but that's what I thought.
Runtu wrote:This is from a post from resident "laughingstock and mere apologetic hack" Bill Hamblin over on the other board.
David has just had his article on the Divine Council in Amos 3 accepted for publication in the Journal of Biblical Literature, "the flagship journal of the field," of biblical studies.
For those who might be unfamiliar with the field, JBL generally publishes articles by the leading biblical scholars in the world. It is quite rare, and quite an honor for them to publish an article by a graduate student. It demonstrates David's exceptional understanding of biblical studies.
Congratulations, David!
PS It should also perhaps give critics pause when proffering their untenable claim that believing Mormons are universal laughingstocks and mere apologetic hacks.
Kudos to David.
d
Congratulations to David! Now if he published something connected to the Book of Mormon in a similiarly regarded publication, that would be news indeed.
Some might be interested to know that there is now a thread by DCP praising Hamblin for his new book on temples. The question is coming up yet again as to how Hamblin could be so competent in the instance of writing on Israel, and then fail completely when taking up Mormonism. Of course, there's a little bit of bait and switch going on here as the sections on Mormonism in Hamblin's new book surely aren't the typical apologetic target of critics in the first place.
But to answer DCP's question more generally, let's just say that the rest of us are unqualified to make an assessment, and he should be asking why publishers and scholarly editors aren't beating down Hamblin's door to publish Hamblin's work demonstrating the Book of Mormon to be a historical document. Did not his publishers see Hamblin's post that was pinned at the top of FAIR for weeks, a year or so ago, arguing that the lack of historical finds for the Book of Mormon is exactly what we should expect and perhaps even evidence that it's true? Why wasn't Hamblin inundated with emails from publishers begging to translate that work into 17 different languages? DCP's questions shouldn't be directed at us lowly laymen. He should be asking these questions to his peers who thus far haven't seen anything noteworthy to publish in FARMS evidences for the Book of Mormon.
What I was interested in the way DCP shows it as here we have evidence of a genuine LDS scholar getting published in a reputable journal, so we must also take seriously their work on the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham. But I have never heard of some LDS scholar having anything published in periodical dealing with Biblical or Near Eastern literature.
aussieguy55 wrote:What I was interested in the way DCP shows it as here we have evidence of a genuine LDS scholar getting published in a reputable journal, so we must also take seriously their work on the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham. But I have never heard of some LDS scholar having anything published in periodical dealing with Biblical or Near Eastern literature.
Several LDS scholars are published in the professional journals of their professional expertise. I'm sure David is not unique in that. What is unique about David is that he is still a grad student, so publishing in the top-notch professional journal of the field of his expertise is very prestigious.
However, just because he is published in a prestigious professional journal dealing with his field of study does not make his Mormon apologetics any more acceptable. That's like saying just because Paul Newman is a top-notch actor means we have to accept his salad dressing as also top-notch.