Search Results for: bradshaw

The Bright and Morning Star: Finding and Following Jesus in the Book of Revelation

I rely on the temple for insights into the true meaning of the scriptures. In The Bright and Morning Star, my good friend and fellow scripture student Breck England has done that for Revelation, clearing the path through John’s intricate visions, helping us to find and follow Christ. This book is a revelation!
–Taylor Halverson, director, Scripture Central

This book sets aside the fixation on when “I come quickly’ and redirects our focus on Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and our Father’s eternal plan. I loved this book; I found it both engaging and revelatory and a new look at scripture of great importance today.
–Heidi Swinton, author of American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith

The Bright and Morning Star opens our eyes to the blessings of peace we can enjoy because of the temple despite the prophesied troubles of the world around us.
–Ardeth Kapp, former general president of the Young Women

Whether or not one agrees with every detail of Breck England’s interpretation, he has pointed us in the right direction by encouraging us to take the temple ordinances as a lamp to guide us as we explore Revelation’s rich treasures of truth. God invites us to come to the temple repeatedly not only because it is a place of peace and supernal service, but also because He wants us to make it a house of learning. The more we understand about the temple, the more we will understand Revelation, and vice versa. When opened to our minds and hearts with this key to understanding—to which England correctly points us—the book of Revelation, like Elijah’s miraculous cruse of oil, will prove an inexhaustible source of nourishment, providing hope and light during the dark days of mortality as we prepare for the advent of perfect light ahead.
–Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, independent scholar

Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances – PDF

Reviews of Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances

The topic of this book has been of interest to me for decades. Over the years, many researchers have asked me about similarities between the endowment introduced by the Prophet Joseph Smith and Freemasonry, often pointing out similarities to me. I explain that Joseph adopted and adapted, the then-popular pedagogical system of Freemasonry to teach eternal principles and that therefore they should look for the differences between the endowment and Masonic rituals if they want to find the essence of what the Lord revealed to Joseph.

What I have enjoyed about Jeff’s work over the years is that, unlike many students of this topic, he has not confused form and substance. His work has tracked the substance of the endowment ceremony to ancient sources and shown that the Lord revealed much of it to Joseph before he reached Nauvoo and joined a Masonic lodge established there. I trust that reading this book will heighten your intellectual comprehension and deepen your spiritual understanding.

— Richard E. Turley, Jr., former Assistant Church Historian

From the all-seeing eye on the Salt Lake temple to the turbaned angel and compass and square on the Nauvoo temple’s weathervane, and from ritualized hosanna shouts to traversing the veil, Latter-day Saint temples share elements in common with Freemasonry. Why? And how does this square with modern temple worship as a restoration of ancient temple practices? Jeffrey M. Bradshaw’s closely argued and beautifully illustrated Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances illuminates these mysteries, beginning with a concise history and appreciative explanation of Freemasonry.

With intellectual rigor and spiritual insight, the author compares Latter-day Saint temple worship both to the modern Masonry amidst which it emerged and to the ancient Near-Eastern and early Christian rituals it restores. He presents Joseph Smith’s revelation of ancient temple ritual and his encounters with Freemasonry not as competing accounts of the origin of Latter-day Saint temple worship but as aspects of one and the same divinely guided process. I can’t imagine anyone coming away from this book without deeper insight into the origin and meaning of temple worship.

— Don Bradley, historian, author The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon’s Missing Stories

While Freemasonry certainly isn’t a necessary prerequisite to understanding the doctrines learned within the Holy Temple, my membership as a Mason has given me a quicker comprehension of the magnificence of eternal principles. I am grateful for the blessings of the Temple and for the knowledge that those fundamentals I learned years ago have an even more significant impact when viewed with an eternal perspective.

— From the Foreword by William S. Kranz, longtime Freemason

Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances

Reviews of Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances

The topic of this book has been of interest to me for decades. Over the years, many researchers have asked me about similarities between the endowment introduced by the Prophet Joseph Smith and Freemasonry, often pointing out similarities to me. I explain that Joseph adopted and adapted, the then-popular pedagogical system of Freemasonry to teach eternal principles and that therefore they should look for the differences between the endowment and Masonic rituals if they want to find the essence of what the Lord revealed to Joseph.

What I have enjoyed about Jeff’s work over the years is that, unlike many students of this topic, he has not confused form and substance. His work has tracked the substance of the endowment ceremony to ancient sources and shown that the Lord revealed much of it to Joseph before he reached Nauvoo and joined a Masonic lodge established there. I trust that reading this book will heighten your intellectual comprehension and deepen your spiritual understanding.

— Richard E. Turley, Jr., former Assistant Church Historian

From the all-seeing eye on the Salt Lake temple to the turbaned angel and compass and square on the Nauvoo temple’s weathervane, and from ritualized hosanna shouts to traversing the veil, Latter-day Saint temples share elements in common with Freemasonry. Why? And how does this square with modern temple worship as a restoration of ancient temple practices? Jeffrey M. Bradshaw’s closely argued and beautifully illustrated Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances illuminates these mysteries, beginning with a concise history and appreciative explanation of Freemasonry.

With intellectual rigor and spiritual insight, the author compares Latter-day Saint temple worship both to the modern Masonry amidst which it emerged and to the ancient Near-Eastern and early Christian rituals it restores. He presents Joseph Smith’s revelation of ancient temple ritual and his encounters with Freemasonry not as competing accounts of the origin of Latter-day Saint temple worship but as aspects of one and the same divinely guided process. I can’t imagine anyone coming away from this book without deeper insight into the origin and meaning of temple worship.

— Don Bradley, historian, author The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon’s Missing Stories

While Freemasonry certainly isn’t a necessary prerequisite to understanding the doctrines learned within the Holy Temple, my membership as a Mason has given me a quicker comprehension of the magnificence of eternal principles. I am grateful for the blessings of the Temple and for the knowledge that those fundamentals I learned years ago have an even more significant impact when viewed with an eternal perspective.

— From the Foreword by William S. Kranz, longtime Freemason

 

New SKU:  9798844641930

Hugh Nibley Observed – Leather Bound Collector’s Edition

Eborn Books and the Interpreter Foundation, in Collaboration with Book of Mormon Central and FAIR, present HUGH NIBLEY OBSERVED, black leather-bound collector’s edition.

Editors: Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Shirley S. Ricks, Stephen T. Whitlock. Foreword: John W. Welch

Contributors:  Marylin Arnold, Terry B. Ball, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Jane D. Brady, Richard L. Bushman, Rebecca Fechser Everett, John Gee, Gary P. Gillum, C. Wilford Griggs, William J. Hamblin, Eric D. Huntsman, David Johnson, Ann N. Madsen, Truman G. Madsen, Louis C. Midgley, Robert L. Millet, Christina Nibley Mincek, Charles Alexander Nibley, Hugh W. Nibley, Michael Draper Nibley, Paul Sloan Nibley, Rebecca Nibley, Thomas Hugh Nibley, Don Norton, Dallin H. Oaks, Zina Nibley Petersen, Daniel C. Peterson, Michael D. Rhodes, Shirley S. Ricks, Stephen D. Ricks, Robert K. Thomas, Gordon C. Thomasson, John W. Welch, Stephen T. Whitlock, William A. Wilson.

The Temple: Past, Present, and Future

The temple is central to Latter-day Saint worship. Through modern revelation Joseph Smith restored the ancient tradition of temples and the ordinances performed therein. Studies of ancient temples can shed much light on latter-day temples and temple worship.

Several years ago Latter-day Saint scholar Matthew Brown planned a conference entitled The Temple on Mount Zion and began to invite the participants. Matthew Brown loved the temple and temple worship and studied and published on ancient and modern temples. His interests and knowledge were vast. When Matthew passed away very unexpectedly in 2011, his friends decided to organize a series of conferences in his memory. This volume, the sixth in the series, contains proceedings from the fifth conference held in his memory 7 November 2020 and reflects many of the topics that Matthew loved, centered on the theme of the temple: past, present, and future.

Chapters relating to the ancient past of the Bible and the Book of Mormon provide new insights into temple themes in Ruth, sacred names of Moses and Jesus Christ, prayer with uplifted hands, temple iconography of cherubim and seraphim, ritual purity in 3 Nephi 19, the rites of the Raqchi Temple in Peru, and sacred space in the early Christian Church. Of great significance to the present era is a chapter on women and the priesthood in the contemporary Church. And looking toward the future is a chapter on the Millennial Temple in Jackson County, Missouri in the context of its historic past.

The purpose of the book series is to increase understanding and appreciation of temple rituals and doctrines, and to encourage participation in the redeeming work of family history and temple worship.

 

Table of Contents

  • “That They May Be Purified in Me”: Ritual Purification in 3 Nephi 19 and the Implications of Holiness as “Purity” for Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances and Worship 1 – Matthew L. Bowen
  • The Past and Future of the Temple Lot in Jackson County, Missouri – R. Jean Addams
  • Cherubim and Seraphim: Iconography in the First Jerusalem Temple – John Gee
  • Ruth: An Allegorical Reading – Mack Stirling
  • Wiraqocha and the Rites of the Raqchi Temple in Peru – Van C. Evans
  • The Messianic Sacred, Not Secret: The Son as a Hidden Name in the Gospel of Mark – Jasmin Gimenez Rappleye
  • Prayer with Uplifted Hands – Stephen D. Ricks
  • From Temple to Church: Defining Sacred Space in the Near East – David Calabro
  • “Made Stronger Than Many Waters”: The Purported Sacred Names of Moses as a Series of Keywords – Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and Matthew L. Bowen
  • Women and the Priesthood in the Contemporary Church – Barbara Morgan Gardner

 

About the Editors

Stephen D. Ricks is Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Learning at Brigham Young University, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1981. He has served as president and chairman of the board of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies and has published extensively on the ancient temple.

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw is a Senior Research Scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). His religious writings have focused on the Book of Moses, Genesis, and temples in the ancient Near East. He is a vice president of the Interpreter Foundation.

Hugh Nibley Observed – Paperback

Eborn Books and the Interpreter Foundation, in Collaboration with Book of Mormon Central and Fair, present HUGH NIBLEY OBSERVED. 2021. 800 Pages! Hardbound with Dust Jacket. Hardbound.
Editors: Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Shirley S. Ricks, Stephen T. Whitlock. Foreword: John W. Welch
Contributors: Marylin Arnold, Terry B. Ball, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Jane D. Brady, Richard L. Bushman, Rebecca Fechser Everett, John Gee, Gary P. Gillum, C. Wilford Griggs, William J. Hamblin, Eric D. Huntsman, David Johnson, Ann N. Madsen, Truman G. Madsen, Louis C. Midgley, Robert L. Millet, Christina Nibley Mincek, Charles Alexander Nibley, Hugh W. Nibley, Michael Draper Nibley, Paul Sloan Nibley, Rebecca Nibley, Thomas Hugh Nibley, Don Norton, Dallin H. Oaks, Zina Nibley Petersen, Daniel C. Peterson, Michael D. Rhodes, Shirley S. Ricks, Stephen D. Ricks, Robert K. Thomas, Gordon C. Thomasson, John W. Welch, Stephen T. Whitlock, William A. Wilson.