Looking For Research On Ancient Temple Practices

[kryoung1983]

I saw that Kerry Mulhestein wrote a paper on the palm of the hand in ancient temple ceremonies. He wrote The Use of the Palm of the Hand in the Rituals of the Tabernacle and Temple of Solomon. Thesis, Brigham Young University, 1997, but so far I haven't been able to find it. Does anyone know any good books, papers, etc that deal with ritualistic elements in how the hand has been used in different cultures. Thanks. Does any one have any recomendations for scholarly books that will help in understanding the temple better.

[livy111us]

David Calabro has done some work in this area. You can read an essay of his here: http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=21&num=1&id=637

[teddyaware]

I saw that Kerry Mulhestein wrote a paper on the palm of the hand in ancient temple ceremonies. He wrote The Use of the Palm of the Hand in the Rituals of the Tabernacle and Temple of Solomon. Thesis, Brigham Young University, 1997, but so far I haven't been able to find it. Does anyone know any good books, papers, etc that deal with ritualistic elements in how the hand has been used in different cultures. Thanks. Does any one have any recomendations for scholarly books that will help in understanding the temple better.

Nibleys "The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri" is an excellent study of the temple motifs and symbology of the ancient Egyptian temple rites. The book also has an excellent addendum of extra-biblical writings, such as the Pistis Sophia and Gospel of Phillip, that focus on the temple rites as well. Much of the volume is esoteric and quite abstruse, but if one is willing to wade through the challenging literary waters it's well worth his while -- a real eye opener. I would often get giddy with excitement while reading it.

There are many meticulously drawn illustrations (by Nibley himself) in the book that give you a birds eye view of these ancient rites Nibley considered a corruption of the original temple ordinances of the PartrIarchal Era. I especially enjoyed learning about how the ancient Egyptian temples were considered divine ritualistic "slaughter houses" -- very interesting parallels there indeed!

Just happen to have a copy of it here in my library (a little dog eared). I believe it's out of print, hard to come by and expensive if you do happen to find one. Think I'll get it out and give it another lookover. A big bonus of the book is that while Nibley is intentionally very discreet and taciturn about any referrences to the LDS endowment, if you keep alert you can't help but learn neat stuff about the endowment anyway.

All the best, Ted

Edited April 12, 2013 by teddyaware

[maklelan]

Somewhat related, Stephen Ricks has an article on the "sacred handclasp" in Classical and early Christian tradition (here).