In the preceding pages, I have tried to show how a historical-critical view of the Book of Mormon illuminates some of its more interesting problems. Many questions remain, and many problems have yet to be discovered and analyzed. I myself have questions about the Book of Mormon's origins that I cannot yet answer. However, that fact does not diminish the certainty of my conclusion that the Book of Mormon is a modern text.
North American study of the Christian Apocrypha is known principally for its interest in using noncanonical texts to reconstruct the life and teachings of Jesus, and for its support of Walter Bauer's theory on the development of early Christianity. The papers in this volume, presented in September 2013 at York University in Toronto, challenge that simplistic assessment by demonstrating that U.S. and Canadian scholarship on the Christian Apocrypha is rich and diverse. The topics covered in the papers include new developments in the study of canon formation, the interplay of Christian Apocrypha and texts from the Nag Hammadi library, digital humanities resources for reconstructing apocryphal texts, and the value of studying late-antique apocrypha. Among the highlights of the collection are papers from a panel by three celebrated New Testament scholars reassessing the significance of the Christian Apocrypha for the study of the historical Jesus. Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier demonstrates the depth and breadth of Christian Apocrypha studies in North America and offers a glimpse at the achievements that lie ahead in the field.
Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) had enormous impact on the generation of American poets who came of age during the cold war, from Robert Duncan and Allen Ginsberg to Robert Creeley and Jerome Rothenberg. In large numbers, these poets have not only translated his works, but written imitations, parodies, and pastiches—along with essays and critical reviews. Jonathan Mayhew’s Apocryphal Lorca is an exploration of the afterlife of this legendary Spanish writer in the poetic culture of the United States. The book examines how Lorca in English translation has become a specifically American poet, adapted to American cultural and ideological desiderata—one that bears little resemblance to the original corpus, or even to Lorca’s Spanish legacy. As Mayhew assesses Lorca’s considerable influence on the American literary scene of the latter half of the twentieth century, he uncovers fundamental truths about contemporary poetry, the uses and abuses of translation, and Lorca himself.
The lead essay in this book is the first effort to approach the historical figure of Muhammad in a manner comparable to the investigations that biblical scholars have made in the effort to recover the historical figure of Jesus. Using comparable methods and approaches, this study demonstrates that despite a widely held belief that Islam was born "in the full light of history," we in fact know considerably less about both Muhammad and the beginnings of Islam than we do about the historical Jesus and the beginnings of Christianity. Also included are republications of four previously published essays dealing with such topics as the Qur'an's status as a late ancient biblical apocryphon, the relation between the Jerusalem Temple and the Holy House revered by the Qur'an, and the imminent eschatology of the Qur'an and the early Islamic tradition.
Volume five of the Mercer Commentary on the Bible comprises commentaries on the deuterocanonical/apocryphal books which Martin Luther called "useful and good for reading" yet did not consider of the same authority as Scripture. Volume five of the Mercer Commentary on the Bible includes commentaries from the critically acclaimed Mercer Commentary on the Bible and appropriate articles from the equally well-received Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. This convenient yet thorough edition is for the classroom and for anyone who wishes to focus study on these particular texts.
Alternative Christianities is a series of books, articles, and lectures. This is only Volume I which introduces the many ancient Christian sects that were ostracized and had their Sacred Scriptures (what they were taught by one Jesus direct Disciples) not only left out of the New Testament but also suppressed, banned, and destroyed in the early centuries of Christianity by the emerging universal (catholic) Christian Church. Vince Nicolas is a historian not a theologian. Vince is a teacher not a preacher. Vince extensively researched this subject from the works of the best university religious studies professors in the United States. Additionally in compiling his treatise, Vince learned how the New Testament, besides more Sacred Scriptures were consciously being left out than included, many of the texts that were included had been repeatedly changed either accidentally or intentionally to suit the emerging Christian church and their "preferred Christian teachings;" then to accommodate the numerous and compounded Protestant Reformations. Consequently today there is not ONE Christian Bible or ONE Christian religion but dozens of versions of the Christian Bible and thousands of iterations of Christian religions, denominations, sects, and cults. Christianity is a hodgepodge disaster as viewed by outsiders! A 20th century discovery of these discarded ancient texts brought them back to light. More amazing are the differences from the traditional Christianity being taught and followed today. This made many of todays Biblical scholars, theologians, and university professors question whether we all have been led down the wrong Christian path for the past 2,000 years. In fact, these ancient discarded Alternative Christianities even make more sense in todays world and brings Christianity back to being a religion of "Good News"! Maybe these recent discoveries were a Divine intervention to adjust Christianity back onto its right path; the real path that was intended by Jesus Christ? Maybe people now can have a fresh and refreshing new look at Christianity? Volume I is guaranteed to pique your interest, get you hooked, and make you want to go more in depth in Volumes II and III. This treatise is not only very enlightening and educational for Christians but also for our intertwined Abrahamic-descendant Judaism and Islam relatives. This is an ecumenical book; it is not meant to convert anyone, promote any religion, or disseminate anyones beliefs. This series is a MUST READ for any serious theology or religious studies student to have a complete comprehension of the Bible and Christianity, especially if they are going to teach or preach it intelligently and correctly; or just for your own education. WARNING: This series will ruffle many feathers among the ultra-conservative and closed-minded communities and promises to be very controversial! GET YOUR CORRECT FACTS HERE.
The Book of Mormon is an influential and controversial book. It launched a religious movement, has been believed by millions to be scripture, and has been derided by others as fraudulent. Despite this (or perhaps as a result), the book's contents have been subject to both academic neglect and popular myth. This book challenges some of that neglect by examining the Book of Mormon through the lens of its relationship with the Bible: a work which the Book of Mormon openly quotes and expects to be read alongside, and the only text which everyone agrees is connected to the Book of Mormon. Through close examination of the Book of Mormon text and biblical parallels, including three substantial case studies, this book examines the ways in which the Book of Mormon draws upon and interprets the biblical text. This book demonstrates the complexity with which the Book of Mormon handles biblical material, and the close correlation between its reading of the Bible and the Book of Mormon's own core themes.
As the sacred text of a modern religious movement of global reach, The Book of Mormon has undeniable historical significance. That significance, this volume shows, is inextricable from the intricacy of its literary form and the audacity of its historical vision. This landmark collection brings together a diverse range of scholars in American literary studies and related fields to definitively establish The Book of Mormon as an indispensable object of Americanist inquiry not least because it is, among other things, a form of Americanist inquiry in its own right--a creative, critical reading of "America." Drawing on formalist criticism, literary and cultural theory, book history, religious studies, and even anthropological field work, Americanist Approaches to The Book of Mormon captures as never before the full dimensions and resonances of this "American Bible."
On December 12, 1937, Japanese aircraft sank the American gunboat Panay, which was anchored in the Yangtze River outside Nanjing, China. Although the Japanese apologized, the attack turned American public opinion against Japan, and President Roosevelt dispatched Captain Royal Ingersoll to London to begin conversations with the British admiralty about Japanese aggression in the Far East. While few Americans remember the Panay Incident, it established the first links in the chain of Anglo-American military collaboration that eventually triumphed in World War II. In The Origins of the Grand Alliance, William T. Johnsen provides the first comprehensive analysis of military collaboration between the United States and Great Britain before the Second World War. He sets the stage by examining Anglo-French and Anglo-American coalition military planning from 1900 through World War I and the interwar years. Johnsen also considers the formulation of policy and grand strategy, operational planning, and the creation of the command structure and channels of communication. He addresses vitally important logistical and materiel issues, particularly the difficulties of war production. Military conflicts in the early twenty-first century continue to underscore the increasing importance of coalition warfare for historian and soldier alike. Drawn from extensive sources and private papers held in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, Johnsen's exhaustively researched study refutes the idea that America was the naive junior partner in the coalition and casts new light on the US-UK "special relationship."
