This book is based on a novel idea: that Mormons do theology. Doing theology is different from weighing history, deciding doctrine, or inspiring devotion. Theology speculates. It experiments with questions and advances hypotheses. It tests new angles and pulls loose threads. It reads old texts in careful and creative ways. Theology, in this sense, is not an institutional practice. It has no force beyond the charity it demonstrates and it decides no questions beyond what the Brethren have settled. It is the work of individuals who, for its own sake, want to see what ideas about Mormonism may, at least for a time, fly. The Mormon Theology Seminar aims to promote such work. The Seminar is both unofficial and independent. It is scholarly in orientation and cooperative in practice. It focuses on organizing short-term, seminar-style collaborations that, over the span of a few months of intense discussion, consider specific questions about Mormon theology through close readings of basic Mormon texts. This book makes public the papers that resulted from one such seminar. The result? A collective consideration on the relationship between faith and the word in Alma 32.

An Experiment on the Word: Reading Alma 32

Adam S. Miller

History

Salt Press LLC

This book makes public the results of a project sponsored by the Mormon Theology Seminar. The question driving the papers collected in this volume is the following: How does the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi read, rework, and repurpose the writings of the biblical prophet Isaiah? Each essay in this volume addresses an aspect of the complex relationship between Nephi and Isaiah, ranging from the question of what is at stake when one prophet retools the work of another to the question of how Nephi uses the words of Isaiah to outline the significance of the sealed gold plates to which he contributed. Opening the question concerning the relationship between the Bible and the Book of Mormon, this volume extends an invitation to each reader to continue the conversation.

Reading Nephi Reading Isaiah: Reading 2 Nephi 26-27

<p>Put simply, this book is about how the Book of Mormon teaches us to read the Book of Mormon. Such simplicity, however, belies the careful, complex reading initiated in An Other Testament. Spencer's work is disciplined by an unrivaled attention to the structural, thematic, and literary details of the Book of Mormon. His book is a primer on all we have afield to see and the richness of his reading implicitly chastens us for having failed even to look. Spencer argues for the importance of a typological reading of the Book of Mormon, and traces the tension between the two types of typological reading promoted by the Book of Mormon itself: one focused principally on connecting Christ to the world historical unfolding of the Israelite covenant, the other focused principally on connecting Christ to the everyday life of the individual believer. Any who are interested in a hermeneutics of Mormon scripture will find An Other Testament rich reading indeed.</p>

An Other Testament: On Typology

M. Spencer Joseph

<p>This is a book of questions. Just questions, no answers, though occasionally I will throw in some answer-like material to help make the question easier to understand. It is a book of questions because in my experience-in both personal scripture study and in teaching Sunday School and other lessons-questions are of more help for reflective, deep study. We learn new things when we respond to new questions, and the person who says "I no longer get anything out of my scripture study" no longer runs up against questions to think about as he or she reads. This book is intended to make reading harder-and therefore fresher-by giving such readers questions for study.</p>

The Doctrine & Covenants Made Harder: Scripture Study Questions

James E. Faulconer

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Books by Salt Press LLC

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An Experiment on the Word: Reading Alma 32

Reading Nephi Reading Isaiah: Reading 2 Nephi 26-27

An Other Testament: On Typology

The Doctrine & Covenants Made Harder: Scripture Study Questions