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Recovering The Original Text Of The Book Of Mormon

William Schryver

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William Schryver Mentor

William Schryver

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Royal Skousen and his wife are making their annual pilgrimage to Cedar City, Utah where they will be staying at the Hotel Schryver, attending a performance of Les Miserables at the nationally renown Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival, and also attending the great Cedar City Independence Day Parade down the historic Main Street of town.

In addition, Royal will be presenting a fireside entitled "Recovering the Original Text of the Book of Mormon." The announcement for this fireside follows:

- Recovering the Original Text of the Book of Mormon -

Presented by Brigham Young University Professor of Linguistics Royal Skousen

Residents of the Cedar City area will have a rare opportunity Sunday evening, July 1st, 2012, at 7:00 p.m., to attend a fireside presented by Brigham Young University Professor of Linguistics Royal Skousen who has, for the past nearly 25 years, led the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, which has consisted of a meticulous analysis of the original and printer's manuscripts of the Book of Mormon.

Professor Skousen is widely recognized for his expertise in textual analysis. During the course of his study of the Book of Mormon manuscripts, he has made many discoveries that not only expand our knowledge and understanding of the translation of the founding text of the restoration, but that also confirm many aspects of the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Three and Eight witnesses of the plates of Mormon, and the method by which they were translated. His presentation, entitled "Recovering the Original Text of the Book of Mormon," will take place Sunday evening, July 1st, 2012 at the Enoch West Stake Center, beginning at 7:00 p.m. All are invited to attend—LDS and non-LDS alike. The presentation itself is an hour long, after which Professor Skousen will take questions from the audience for approximately ½ hour.

Should any of you desire to attend this fireside and need directions to the Stake Center or have any other questions concerning the fireside or Cedar City, feel free to email me at schryver_william@yahoo.com.

(Mods, feel free to delete this thread after the night of the fireside, unless, perchance, an interesting discussion ensues on it.)

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William Schryver Mentor

William Schryver

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The Enoch West Stake Center is located at 3600 N. Minersville Highway in Enoch. Minersville Hwy. is what Main Street in Cedar City becomes after it crosses I-15 at exit #62 (the north Cedar City exit).

At exit #62, on the northwest side, there is a Maverik, a bowling alley, and a car wash. You continue north from the intersection (with a light) by the Maverik, and continue north for about a mile. The stake center is on the west side of the road. You can't miss it.

Kenngo1969 Grand Master

Kenngo1969

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An Angel From On High. It's great, and we never sing it in the Church! :huh:

cdowis Grand Master

cdowis

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???

Please elaborate on your meaning.

Sigh.

Book of Mormon stories that my teacher told to me.

All about the Lamanites in ancient history....

I guess you missed Primary.

Calm Grand Master

Calm

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Sigh.

Book of Mormon stories that my teacher told to me.

All about the Lamanites in ancient history....

I guess you missed Primary.

Or hasn't taught in it....
William Schryver Mentor

William Schryver

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An Angel From On High. It's great, and we never sing it in the Church! :huh:

Thanks for that great suggestion.

Yes, I like that hymn. Unfortunately, because it is sung so rarely, hardly anyone knows it. And I typically avoid hymns that no one knows, because I think it's important that they do sing.

I wish we still did hymn practice during Sunday School like back in the days of yore!

Anyway, I think I'll sit down and practice it a couple times. Maybe I'll talk myself into doing it, even though I know no one knows it very well.

I do think we'll do The Iron Rod for sure.

William Schryver Mentor

William Schryver

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Sigh.

Book of Mormon stories that my teacher told to me.

All about the Lamanites in ancient history....

I guess you missed Primary.

I'm sorry ... I didn't realize you were making a hymn suggestion. I thought you making a comment about the fireside. Duh! I'm kind of slow today. Only 2 hours of sleep last night.

Kenngo1969 Grand Master

Kenngo1969

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Thanks for that great suggestion.

Yes, I like that hymn. Unfortunately, because it is sung so rarely, hardly anyone knows it. And I typically avoid hymns that no one knows, because I think it's important that they do sing.

I wish we still did hymn practice during Sunday School like back in the days of yore!

Anyway, I think I'll sit down and practice it a couple times. Maybe I'll talk myself into doing it, even though I know no one knows it very well.

I do think we'll do The Iron Rod for sure.

There are ways to get around the "no-one-knows-it" problem other than not singing it, which only exacerbates it ;): tell your chorister to announce before it is sung that since it is so rarely sung in the Church, you will play the entire melody as an introduction, rather than simply the usual few beginning and/or ending bars. Voila! Problem solved! B:);) (I'd love to come help your congregation solve any tentativeness problems with regard to singing this hymn: While I lay no claim to having an operatic voice, I have no problem carrying a tune, and I take literally the Hymnbook's instructions with respect to how hymns are to be sung ... particularly when the instruction is "with spirit," as it is for the final two lines of each verse of this hymn. Alas, my other responsibilities in the Kingdom will preclude my attendance. :()

Edited by Kenngo1969
kolipoki09 Community Regular

kolipoki09

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Glad to see these kinds of firesides going on at the local level. Having read through Skousen's Earliest Text this week (marking Hebrew literary patterns), I've come to a much deeper appreciation for his work in textual criticism. In my view, the more we publish and talk about the use of primary sources, the better we'll foster an understanding of early Mormon history. Though much of my own personal library contains valuable secondary literature, there are few titles I treasure more than my documentary histories and early Mormon journals.

If you're into taking notes, Will, I for one would appreciate it if you posted a summary of Skousen's address when it's finished.

TAO Mentor

TAO

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The OBVIOUS choice ;) is 274, The Iron Rod.

This one.

And perhaps Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief or something (except that one is kind of long).

Kenngo1969 Grand Master

Kenngo1969

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The OBVIOUS choice ;) is 274, The Iron Rod.

Another good one. :)

William Schryver Mentor

William Schryver

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I might be in Cedar City for the parade as well!

Ain't nothin' better than watching a middle-school band march through several piles of horsepastries while belting out Smoke on the Water.

Kinda reminds me of some of the anti-Mormon message boards I've seen.

Kenngo1969 Grand Master

Kenngo1969

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Ain't nothin' better than watching a middle-school band march through several piles of horsepastries while belting out Smoke on the Water.

Kinda reminds me of some of the anti-Mormon message boards I've seen.

Where's yer horsie-poop picker-upper-er-er! :D

Robert F. Smith Grand Master

Robert F. Smith

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I went down to Cedar City to see what Royal had to say, and it was well worth the 3 hours down and 3 hours back -- and gasoline. His presentation, aided by large screen Power Point, was very clear and he even told a few jokes. There was a good crowd at the Stake Center and they seemed quite happy with Royal's efforts. I took notes and attach them here in Adobe format in case someone wants get the skinny in short compass.

SKOUSEN FIRESIDE.pdf

P.S. Will Schryver was smokin hot on the organ.

Edited by Robert F. Smith
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Calm Grand Master

Calm

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If you remember could you clarify please:

Only one text inspired by the Lord; Joseph saw it, but humans have erred in its transmission
Did he include Joseph in those who erred transmitting the text?

several BYU (Roman Catholic) conservators

Roman Catholics who worked for BYU?

Some frags not from O MS, but some are

What are the nonO MS frags from? Edited by calmoriah
Calm Grand Master

Calm

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–presents the text in “sense lines” as equivalent to Joseph’s dictation
Very nice.

“Caractors” –not actually the Anthon Transcript (the one taken by Martin Harris to Professor Anthon) –rather a momento –no one has been able to translate it

Very interesting.

Book of Mormon is in early modern English

Any conclusions what this implies?
Skousen thinks this a sign from God.
How so?
One reading even from the Coverdale Bible of 1530s.
Did he identify any other reading 'sources'? Edited by calmoriah
William Schryver Mentor

William Schryver

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I went down to Cedar City to see what Royal had to say, and it was well worth the 3 hours down and 3 hours back -- and gasoline. His presentation, aided by large screen Power Point, was very clear and he even told a few jokes. There was a good crowd at the Stake Center and they seemed quite happy with Royal's efforts. I took notes and attach them here in Adobe format in case someone wants get the skinny in short compass.

SKOUSEN FIRESIDE.pdf

P.S. Will Schryver was smokin hot on the organ.

I can't believe you didn't come up and introduce yourself afterwards! I'm so disappointed. The Skousens and Schryvers are going to Les Miserables today if you're still in town.

ETA: "... 3 hours back ..." I didn't do very good textual analysis the first time around. ;)

Edited by William Schryver
David T Veteran

David T

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Highly recommend Brant Gardner's The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon as a friendly but critical response to some of Skousen's interpetive conclusions. The book properly praises Skousen greatly for his exhaustive and incomparable critical text project - yet has some substantial problems with some of the interpretive conclusions Skousen makes with that data, IE, the "One True Pre-Translated English Text" theory.

Will, any idea if Skousen is planning on publishing a response to Gardner's criticisms of his theories, and what an ETA would be? It's a dialogue I would love to see play out - I bet both sides (both wonderful, faithful scholars) would benefit greatly from it, as would all of us bystanders.

Edited by David T
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