LifeOnaPlate wrote:
I'm certainly not DCP and do not see why such an assertion would be made.
That being said, enjoy your discount.
(emphasis added)DCP wrote:Some here will want to be aware of the newly-published book A Great Mystery: The Secret of the Jerusalem Temple: The Embracing Cherubim and At-One-Ment with the Divine (Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2008).
Written by the late Dr. Eugene Seaich of Salt Lake City, whom some of us knew, the book argues that, in the view of those who built the ancient Jerusalem temple, humans become divine through spiritual union with God -- a union that was represented by what he contends was the marital embrace of the cherubim in Solomon's sanctuary, which itself represented a sacred marriage. The book has been kicking about in manuscript form for quite some time, but, thanks to the efforts of my friend Bryan Thomas, of Denver, has finally seen the light of day in print.
Already, this post is interesting. Here we have someone, apparently a friend of The Good Professor's, who was "kicking about" an apparently unpopular manuscript, and whose book embraced a theory which (coincidentally?) manages to support certain Mopologetic claims. Furthermore, one of DCP's friends helped to get the book published.
Was this a 50% discount given over to all symposium participants, or did The Good Professor receive a special, Mopologetic discount, as it were, due to his special "connections"? At the very least, I think that one cannot help but marvel at the incredible series of social networks, price gouging, coincidences, gossip, and behind-the-scenes deal-making that brought this book into being. Just think: this book would never have been published had it not been for DCP's "friend," and furthermore, notice how the premise of the book neatly supports a key Mopologetic argument. And, DCP managed to score a whopping 50% discount on it to boot!
It turns out that even the endorsements on the back cover of the book have deep Mopologetic connections:DCP wrote:The book is endorsed on the back cover by Margaret Barker and the late Raphael Patai, and it features a foreword by Steve Wiggins, whom I especially appreciate because of his important work on the goddess Asherah: A Reassessment of 'Asherah': A Study according to the Textual Sources of the First Two Millennia B.C.E (Neukirchen-Fluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1993).
We all know who Margaret Barker is, if only from K. Shirts's endless name dropping in his now-infamous YouTube films: "Bill Hamblin's in Oxford! He's meeting with Margaret Barker! Say hello to Bill Hamblin! He's in Oxford!"
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I have to say, there are an awful lot of astonishing coincidences here. One wonders if Mopologetics is possible *without* a network of "back-slapping bros."
Gadianton wrote:I have to admit 125$ is a lot of money, especially in these difficult times. I feel some sympathy for those mid-tier or junior apologists who, on top of tithing, feel the pressure to keep up with all the book buying in order to have a chance of stepping up to the plate and defending the church. Apologetics is just one of those endeavors that can really suck the life out of a person in so many ways. It would be inhumane for me not to have a little sympathy for their difficult position.
Gadianton wrote:I have to admit 125$ is a lot of money, especially in these difficult times. I feel some sympathy for those mid-tier or junior apologists who, on top of tithing, feel the pressure to keep up with all the book buying in order to have a chance of stepping up to the plate and defending the church. Apologetics is just one of those endeavors that can really suck the life out of a person in so many ways. It would be inhumane for me not to have a little sympathy for their difficult position.
Mister Scratch wrote:I agree. I think we need to bear in mind the fact that well-compensated apologists like Bob Crockett and DCP frequently boast about how many books they've read, how well-stocked their personal libraries are, and so on. Heck, even LifeOnaPlate often brags that he reads "a book a week." And let's not forgot K. Shirts's weird, almost orgiastic fetishization of the BYU book collection.
Gadianton wrote:LoP,
Laugh it up all you want. But keep in mind, it was you yourself who recently admitted that your obsession with reading -- to keep up with the mopologetic status quo -- would make you an unfit parent.
This is what you told all of us freely, no one was trying to pry information out of you. It would seem then, that the mopologetic lifestyle has brought you into direct conflict with the Prophets' commands on raising a family.
I would also be interested if you served a 2 year mission for the Lord. I know of at least one young apologist who I won't name at this point, some here may know who he is, that freely admitted the lofty education he had obtained as an aspiring apologist kept him from going on a mission. He felt it would be too difficult to associate with all the other Elders who would know so much less about the church than he did. (on could read that as the difficulty Internet Mormons have associating with Chapel Mormons).
This is a serious, grave matter, with real financial as well as spiritual consequences.