Summer 1968
This issues cover a range of topics related to Mormon culture, history, and scholarship. Lowell M. Durham explores the significance of music within the Mormon tradition, while Louis C. Zucker examines Joseph Smith's engagement with Hebrew and its implications for his translations. Leonard J. Arrington discusses the quest for truth and meaning in Mormon history. The section on the Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri includes various contributions: John A. Wilson summarizes translations and interpretations, Richard A. Parker provides a preliminary report, and Richard P. Howard proposes an approach to understanding the Book of Abraham. Grant S. Heward identifies the source of the Book of Abraham, and Jerald Tanner presents translations of specific fragments. And more!
In the interest of broadening (and corroborating) my thinking about Mormon music, I recently contacted fifty Mormon musicians in an admittedly non-scientific survey. The survey sampled the obvious Church music hierarchy: the General Music Committee,…
Dialogue 3.2 (Summer 1968): 41–55
Zucker describes the efforts that Joseph Smith went through to study Hebrew. Joseph Smith’s personal behavior was apparently not changed, but in other aspects in later years there is evidence that Joseph Smith was using Hebrew language structure
The philosopher Plato, to whom dialogue was the highest expression of intellectuality, denned thought as “the dialogue of the soul with itself.” It is thus altogether fitting that the editors of Dialogue should encourage Mormon…
Dialogue 3.2 (Summer 1968):67 – 85
The Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri once consisted of at least six separate documents, possibly eight or more.
Dialogue 3.2 (Summer 1968):86 – 88
The papyri need to be carefully cleaned and straightened and then rephotographed with care to illuminate the under side somewhat to eliminate all shadows in cracks and breaks, which can frequently look just like writing.
Dialogue 3.2 (Summer 1968):89 – 92
It appears that in time the mystery of the Book of Abraham will be unveiled. Meanwhile, it is significant for the Reorganized Church that undue haste and overzealous faith did not move it in the nineteenth century to canonize this work of Joseph Smith, Jr., primarily on the basis that it was accomplished by Joseph Smith, Jr.
Dialogue 3.2 (Summer 1968): 92–97
A description of the alleged Egyptain papyri used by Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Abraham
Dialogue 3.2 (Summer 1968)98
THE BOOK OF BREATHINGS (FRAGMENT I, THE “SENSEN” TEXT, WITH RESTORATIONS FROM LOUVRE PAPYRUS 3284) translated by Richard A. Parker
Dialogue 3.2 (Summer 1968)101 – 105
Even a casual reading of the Book of Abraham shows that the story refers not so much to unique historic events as to ritual forms and traditions—all these must be checked. So far we have heard what is wrong or at least suspect about the Book of Abraham, but as yet nobody has cared to report on the other side of the picture. It is for that we are saving our footnotes.
The letters in this issue reflect accurately the relative quantity of letters received on the different subjects as well as the various points of view. Dear Sirs: I am much interested in the cover of…
Dialogue 9.1 (Spring 1976): 34–42
Historical studies embrace the most extensive, intensive, and well-matured of the scholarly endeavors which have the Restoration as their subject. The paucity of critical writings in the various fields of theology and philosophy is by comparison especially striking.
Headlines in the newspapers seem to tell us that among the most distressed and confused members of our troubled society are the college students. Re search of my own, reported at a meeting of the…
My position on this program includes an obligation to “represent” the young people here—the high school seniors, college students, and college age non-students—and I think that means I should do a couple of things in…
Erich Fromm has a large international reputation as a psychologist and social critic; his numerous writings treat various aspects of psychology (particularly psychotherapy), sociology, politics, philosophy, and religion. Some may feel that his wide ranging…
Mormon history is full of tales about formidable women, bearing the stamp of true matriarchs despite petticoats and plural marriage. The present biography of Mary Fielding Smith is written by one of her descendants and…
Dr. Alma P. Burton, currently Assistant Administrator of Seminaries and Institutes for the L.D.S. Department of Education, first published his guide in 1952 to satisfy a long-felt want of many people who desired to trace…
The Church Executive is a report (also summarized in the Winter 1967 issue of Dialogue) of a seminar (workshop training program) conducted by three weeks, they hoped to see the stake presidents achieve the following:…
The difficulty in life is the choice. George Moore, Bending of the Bough In this year’s survey of theses and dissertations on Mormon or Utah subjects the reader’s attention is called to the vastly expanded…
The attempt to repeal Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act was overshadowed nationally by other issues of the 1965 legislative session, but many Latter-day Saints were intensely interested. The reason was the unusual action of…
It seems strange to a student of the economic, political, and legal development of our society and its philosophical underpinnings that, in the middle of the twentieth century, so little is understood generally about the…
We are in an era of significant problems relative to Church-State relations. Federal aid to education, civil rights legislation, prayer in public schools, and a host of other contemporary issues are closely connected with both…
The 14(b) case of 1965 provided an opportunity to consider the question, “Is the Church perceived as a significant political reference group by its members when a clearly defined political position is assumed by the…
