An Approach to the Book of Mormon (Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol 6)

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 541 pages
• Published by: Shadow Mountain; 3 Sub edition March 1988
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0875791387
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0875791388
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Weighs: 1.8 pounds

Reader Reviews
This book, with it's first edition in, is definitely a classic in Book of Mormon studies and highly recommended for students of the Book of Mormon. Dr. Nibley is, in my opinion, a pioneer and trailblazer in Book of Mormon studies, and this old masterpiece proves it. Dr. Nibley's insight and amazing intellect has led to this wonderful tome which I enjoyed from cover to cover. There are many sections of this book, including: Part 1: Changing Scene - wherein Dr. Nibley gives and introduction to this book and the Book of Mormon. Part 2: Lehi's World - wherein Dr. Nibley examines the political, social, militarily and economic situation at the time of the fall of Jerusalem and demonstrates how the Book of Mormon was right on in describing these situations, which were otherwise unknown until the discovery of the Lachish letters in 1935. Part 3: Lehi's Affairs - wherein Dr. Nibley examines Lehi's possible involvement in these situations at the time of the fall of Jerusalem from what we get in Nephi's narrative. Part 4: The Doomed City - A further examination of the situation of Jerusalem at it's fall Part 5: The Meaning of the Wilderness - wherein Dr. Nibley demonstrates how migrations and exploration similar to Lehi's adventure was not strange or anything new to the peoples of the Near East. Part 6: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Mormon - wherein Dr. Nibley examines the Dead Sea Scrolls, which had been discovered about a decade before the first edition, and how the correlate and support the historical and theological claims of the Book of Mormon. One of my favorite chapters in this section was Nibley's examination of how the format and contents of the Book of Mormon is right at home with other Apocryphal texts that were discovered with the Dead Sea Scrolls Part 7: Life in the Desert - My favorite section, wherein Dr. Nibley examines Lehi's behavior as a man who would have been familiar with traveling through the desert and examines the many behaviors and traits that Lehi and his party express that one would only have done by being familiar with desert living and the Bedouin lifestyle - something which Joseph Smith was not. Really, this was a great section! Part 8: Ties Between the Old World and the New World - wherein Dr. Nibley examines some cultural, religious and historical parallels between the Old and New World which he contends could only have come with the Lehites and the Jaredites. This section included a wonderful examination of the prophecy in Ezekiel 37 - showing how the Book of Mormon is the only possible candidate for the stick of Joseph - and also a good examination of the Jaredite Barges and the shining stones therein. Part 9: A Lost and Fallen People - wherein Dr. Nibley takes to task many of the critics of the Book of Mormon and examines the behavior of the Lehites in the Americas, including how they, the Lehites, dealt with their own critics and enemies of their day and how we can deal with the critics of the Book of Mormon today. There also is an appendix that included an examination at the limitations and problems with trying to find archeological "proof" for the Book of Mormon and how the critics who demand such "proof" are "looking beyond the mark" and are falling dangerously close to the "sign seekers" that Jesus warned about. (However, fifty years after the first edition, there have been *many* archeological vindications and justifications for the Book of Mormon - the findings in Arabia come to mind - that Dr. Nibley could have only dreamed of. Check out the research at FAIR and FARMS to see more!) Now, I have some issues with the arguments that Mr. Carrier has brought up in his review, so I will quickly post my critique of his arguments. You can also see my review of "Echos and Evidences" wherein I critique more of Mr. Carrier's argument. Let me state for the record that I have no axe to grind with Mr. Carrier and I do not intend this critique to become an ad hominem attack. With that said, Mr. Carrier wrote, "I always ask myself if Mormons really think about what Hugh Nibley is saying. On page 18, he says that having the actual gold plates for scientists to study would be "very disruptive and it would prove nothing." Prove nothing? It would prove they really existed. What is more strange is that Nibley then fills his book with citations about actual ancient biblical writings that are in museums today, such as the copper scroll containing the Book of Isaiah. Why then not a single Book of Mormon plate?" To be sure, Mr. Carrier has not finished Dr. Nibley's entire quote on page 22. Dr. Nibley wrote, "Critics of the Book of Mormon often remark sarcastically that it is a great pity that the golden plates have disappeared, since they would very conveniently prove Joseph Smith's story. They would do nothing of the sort. The presence of the plates would only prove that there were plates, nor more: it would not prove that the Nephites wrote them, or that an angel brought them, or that they had been translated by the gift and power of God; and we can be sure that scholars would quarrel about the writing on them for generations without coming to any agreement, exactly as they did about the writings of Homer and parts of the Bible. The possession of the plates would have a very disruptive effect, and it would prove virtually nothing." Is this not so? Just because we would have the plates does not mean that it would prove what the text of the Book of Mormon said. In fact, in 1839, John Whitmer, who was one of the eight witnesses who handled the plates but never received a confirmation that the translation was correct by Moroni, had a conversation with one Theodore Turley, where he expressed doubt that the translation was correct, despite the fact that he handled the plates. He expressed that he could not read the characters on the plates, and thus doubted that the translation that Joseph provided was genuine. However, he never denied that he ever handled the plates or that he saw the characters with his own eyes. So really, what Dr. Nibley said was true. The translation which Joseph provided was indeed even more remarkable then the plates themselves. As for Dr. Nibley siting other metal plates that have been written on - many more of which, including many on 24 carat gold plates, have been discovered since this book was published - he was showing how the idea of writing on metal plates was not farfetched, and how the peoples of the Near East and Mesoamerica indeed wrote on metal plates to preserve religious texts. Mr. Carrier also asserts, regarding Dr. Nibley's comments on Book of Mormon city structure, that, "Doesn't the Book of Mormon say that the Nephites built a temple "like unto Solomons?" They were also settled enough to have a money system." The passage in which Nephi comments that they built a temple "like unto Solomon" is found in 2 Nephi 5:16 and reads, "And I, Nephi build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple..." What Mr. Carrier is forgetting to mention is that it was after the pattern or make of Solomon's temple, save it was not as large or grand in design, just as Nephi said. And with the monetary system of the Book of Mormon, it appears to be a system of weights and measures that corresponds with an ancient Israeli system of weights and measures. Check out FAIR or FARMS to learn more. Mr. Carrier wrote that Dr. Nibley "Also... misquotes and misrepresents his sources...". This may be, however, it is nothing compared to the gross and deliberate misquotation that many critics of the Church and the Book of Mormon put into their publications. Maybe an occasional slip with a footnote or to is found in Dr. Nibley's work, but it is nothing compared to the flat out lies that are generated by the many inane critics of the Book of Mormon and the Church. In fact, Mr. Carrier misquotes Dr. Nibley himself when he asserts that on page 22 there are many "emotional hyperboles". I checked out page 22, and not a single one of those "emotional hyperboles" is to be found. Either Mr. Carrier is making it up, or he has misquoted the man who he wishes to critique for misquoting. Mr. Carrier - to no surprise - also fails to explain away Dr. Nibley's other points concerning the accurate description of the social, political and economic conditions in Jerusalem at the time of it's fall in the Book of Mormon - which was unknown in Joseph Smith's time - and how Joseph Smith was able to so accurately describe what life in the Arabian desert was like, how one would have conducted him/herself while traveling in the Arabian desert and how Joseph Smith knew so much about not only Arabian geography but Bedouin lifestyle, culture and society. And do not tell me that, "well, there some long lost book in the nearby Palmyra bookstore that Joseph had access to" because we have no evidence of any such book their and that Joseph even knew it was there. See my review in "Echos and Evidences" to learn more. Much more could be said about the failings of Mr. Carrier's other arguments, and I could discuss every single one of his own arguments, but I will stop for now for the sake of time and space. You can see more of my critiques of Mr. Carrier's arguments on my review of "Echos and Evidences". All in all, this was a fine book and a dusty gem that any student of the Book of Mormon should pick up.