What's with multiple names in LDS teachings?

[cinepro]

Yes, oops. Of course. It could never be that Elijah and Elias are convenient ways in English to tell two Elijah's apart.

I'm willing to believe anything that allows D&C 110 to make sense, no matter how ad hoc.

That goes along nicely with a theory I recently came up with. I was reading a Spanish Bible I found in our chapel, and it said Mary's husband's name was "Jose". So that must mean Jesus had two different Earthly fathers: one named "Joseph", the other named "Jose".

[Joseph Antley]

I'm willing to believe anything that allows D&C 110 to make sense, no matter how ad hoc.

That goes along nicely with a theory I recently came up with. I was reading a Spanish Bible I found in our chapel, and it said Mary's husband's name was "Jose". So that must mean Jesus had two different Earthly fathers: one named "Joseph", the other named "Jose".

If you had said that we could use the name "Joseph" to refer to Joseph of Egypt, and the name "Jose" to refer to Joseph the husband of Mary, your analogy might be more accurate.

Edit: Also, FWIW, today I submitted a paper for the BYU Religious Education Symposium in February titled "Taking Upon You the Name of Christ: The Power of the Name in the Ancient World" where I echo a lot of things in this thread. I'll keep you guys updated on whether I get to present or not.

[volgadon]

I'm willing to believe anything that allows D&C 110 to make sense, no matter how ad hoc.

How nice for you.

That goes along nicely with a theory I recently came up with. I was reading a Spanish Bible I found in our chapel, and it said Mary's husband's name was "Jose". So that must mean Jesus had two different Earthly fathers: one named "Joseph", the other named "Jose".

I think Joseph summed up the fallacy in your argument quite well.

[volgadon]

Edit: Also, FWIW, today I submitted a paper for the BYU Religious Education Symposium in February titled "Taking Upon You the Name of Christ: The Power of the Name in the Ancient World" where I echo a lot of things in this thread. I'll keep you guys updated on whether I get to present or not.

I hope you do present. I'm actually about done with a blog post along similar lines, but probably a lot briefer than your paper.

[cinepro]

If you had said that we could use the name "Joseph" to refer to Joseph of Egypt, and the name "Jose" to refer to Joseph the husband of Mary, your analogy might be more accurate.

Edit: Also, FWIW, today I submitted a paper for the BYU Religious Education Symposium in February titled "Taking Upon You the Name of Christ: The Power of the Name in the Ancient World" where I echo a lot of things in this thread. I'll keep you guys updated on whether I get to present or not.

I haven't studied it much, but I had heard that "Elias" was the hellenized form of "Elijah", and that they are referring to the same person.

Elias is the Latin transliteration of the Greek name ?????, pronounced [e?li.as] or [?eli.as] in most European languages, and /??la?.?s/ in English. Elias is also a common name in Lebanon and the Levant. Elias is also

[Joseph Antley]

I haven't studied it much, but I had heard that "Elias" was the hellenized form of "Elijah", and that they are referring to the same person.

That's true. But it's unlikely there was only one person in antiquity named Elijah, just as it's unlikely there was only one person in antiquity named Joseph. And, apparently, Elijah was also used as a title -- for John the Baptist for example, even though that wasn't his given name.

So what appears to be happening is that, for convenience sake, we use the English "Elijah" and the English "Elias" in order to distinguish between two different ancient people who had the same name.