One Eternal Round and the book of Abraham

[woot]

This article was included without comment today on a huge listserv that is sent to thousands of Near Eastern Studies grad students and faculty.

Has anyone here read the book? I guess it came out sometime last month.

I admire the determination of Hugh Nibley to explain the unexplainable, but yeesh.

[TripletDaddy]

This looks interesting, thanks. I want to check out the book. Have to put it in the queue.

One thing that popped out at me.....the John Gee quote that recently appeared in the LDS Church News (but is not necessarily endorsed by the LDS Church ) seems to be a retread from Gee's earlier association with Rhodes and Nibley. The "BOA isn't central to our beliefs" quote (paraphrased). It isn't a novel admission after all. It appears that Nibley may have already come to that conclusion 25+ years ago. Interesting.

Phase 3 -- 1979-81

This phase was marked by the book "Abraham in Egypt," a collection of evidence from many ancient sources about Abraham's life, from Egytian to Islamic. "To Nibley," Rhodes said, "the real value of the Book of Abraham is the eternal truths it teaches us."

PS as a side note, Mormon scholars trying to bolster the veracity of disputed religious texts should probably refrain from wearing these sorts of neckties:

[woot]

This looks interesting, thanks. I want to check out the book. Have to put it in the queue.

One thing that popped out at me.....the John Gee quote that recently appeared in the LDS Church News (but is not necessarily endorsed by the LDS Church ) seems to be a retread from Gee's earlier association with Rhodes and Nibley. The "BOA isn't central to our beliefs" quote (paraphrased). It isn't a novel admission after all. It appears that Nibley may have already come to that conclusion 25+ years ago. Interesting.



PS as a side note, Mormon scholars trying to bolster the veracity of disputed religious texts should probably refrain from wearing these sorts of neckties:

It might be reading a bit much into Nibley's quote to assume that he didn't also value it as a historical document, particularly considering how hard he tried to put it historical context. Then again, he was incredibly well-read and read a bunch of languages so it wouldn't surprise me if he recognized it as not being an actual translation.

I still can't believe he wrote so much about figure 2. I wonder how much had to be axed to fit into 640 pages.

I wouldn't mind skimming that book to see what it covers.

[pellegrino]

So I don't get it, did the Rhodes guy actually become a full fledged egyptologist, or is he just an ABD who's faking it? His bio lead me to believe the latter.

http://religion.byu.edu/sing_fac.php...%20D.&l=Rhodes

[woot]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Works-Hugh-Nibley-vol/dp/1606410547"]Amazon.com: The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, vol 18: An Approach to the Book of Abraham (9781606410547): Hugh Nibley: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41cY8NPW1HL.@@AMEPARAM@@41cY8NPW1HL[/ame]
That one looks interesting too. Do we have any readers of Nibley on here?

I used to be a member of FARMS and read some of his stuff, and other stuff by Jack Welch, BH Roberts, Skousen, etc. Any fans of that stuff on here?

[woot]

So I don't get it, did the Rhodes guy actually become a full fledged egyptologist, or is he just an ABD who's faking it? His bio lead me to believe the latter.

http://religion.byu.edu/sing_fac.php...%20D.&l=Rhodes

Interesting. So did this Abraham project take the place of his dissertation?

That dude has a really strange academic background.

Is it just me or is ABD kind of a silly designation? The dissertation is like 75% of the work.

[pellegrino]

Interesting. So did this Abraham project take the place of his dissertation?

That dude has a really strange academic background.

Is it just me or is ABD kind of a silly designation? The dissertation is like 75% of the work.

ABD is actually very specific and he might not even meet that criteria. ABD means you have finished your courses, all qualifying exams, and your dissertation topic has been formally approved by your committee. Depending on your field and program, that may be a significant amount of work behind you or not. I would imagine that during his two stints at grad school the coursework was significant. That does not, however, qualify him imo.

[woot]

ABD is actually very specific and he might not even meet that criteria. ABD means you have finished your courses, all qualifying exams, and your dissertation topic has been formally approved by your committee. Depending on your field and program, that may be a significant amount of work behind you or not. I would imagine that during his two stints at grad school the coursework was significant. That does not, however, qualify him imo.

Yeah true. Quals are nothing to sneeze at, and getting a prospectus approved can take a ton of work as well. It still seems a little bit silly. There's already a term - Phd candidate - for those who have gotten through coursework and exams, so is an approved prospectus really worth a separate designation?

Does BYU not require their profs to have doctorates?

[Moliere]

So I don't get it, did the Rhodes guy actually become a full fledged egyptologist, or is he just an ABD who's faking it? His bio lead me to believe the latter.

http://religion.byu.edu/sing_fac.php...%20D.&l=Rhodes

I took a PoGP class from Rhodes. I don't remember much from it other than his own logical interpretation of the creation, which I think was very interesting.

He seemed like a smart guy at the time, but then again all profressors seemed smart when I was 21. Now I know better.

[pellegrino]

Yeah true. Quals are nothing to sneeze at, and getting a prospectus approved can take a ton of work as well. It still seems a little bit silly. There's already a term - Phd candidate - for those who have gotten through coursework and exams, so is an approved prospectus really worth a separate designation?

Does BYU not require their profs to have doctorates?

Phd candidate is very broad and generally includes everyone accepted into the phd program, regardless of their status. I do think that ABD is deserving of a distinct status, as in most programs you actually fill out paperwork when your prospectus is approved.

BYU does require their profs to have doctorates. They won't hire you long term if you do not. The religion dept. is a different ball of wax. Many who teach in it have advanced degrees, just not in religion or religious studies. For a long time it was common practice to recruit from the CES staff. Tell someone that if they got their phd in something that could be their ticket to a tenured job at BYU. This is changing somewhat now, and I expect it to change even more so over the next 10-20 years. It looks like Rhodes was hired at a time when the dept. was in flux.

[woot]

Phd candidate is very broad and generally includes everyone accepted into the phd program, regardless of their status. I do think that ABD is deserving of a distinct status, as in most programs you actually fill out paperwork when your prospectus is approved.

BYU does require their profs to have doctorates. They won't hire you long term if you do not. The religion dept. is a different ball of wax. Many who teach in it have advanced degrees, just not in religion or religious studies. For a long time it was common practice to recruit from the CES staff. Tell someone that if they got their phd in something that could be their ticket to a tenured job at BYU. This is changing somewhat now, and I expect it to change even more so over the next 10-20 years. It looks like Rhodes was hired at a time when the dept. was in flux.

Interesting, and it makes sense. We've had various discussions about that CES pipeline and it's probably good that it's ending.

My department might be weird then, as "PhD candidate" is reserved for those who have passed prelims/quals. Before that, you're a "PhD pre-candidate" officially, and since that's an unfortunate term, most just call themselves "PhD student" or something more general like that.