"I Hate This Board"

[_Daniel Peterson]

The web site that we created in conjunction with the traveling exhibit (which has not been updated since then, it must be noted) contains a great deal of information, and links to yet further information, on LDS thinking about the Scrolls:

http://mi.BYU.edu/dss/

Was it supposed to be a missionary program, or a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit?

Both.

[_Mister Scratch]

Huh. If I am understanding DCP, he is essentially saying that, at some point, the powers-that-be (people at the MI, maybe?) sat down and had a pow-wow in which they said (whether explicitly or implicitly) "We have a great opportunity here. We can use this traveling Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit as a missionary tool. We can include a replica of the Gold Plates at the end, and thus people will be led to believe that there is a connection between the Scrolls and Mormonism."

Is that about right?

[_gramps]

Huh. If I am understanding DCP, he is essentially saying that, at some point, the powers-that-be (people at the MI, maybe?) sat down and had a pow-wow in which they said (whether explicitly or implicitly) "We have a great opportunity here. We can use this traveling Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit as a missionary tool. We can include a replica of the Gold Plates at the end, and thus people will be led to believe that there is a connection between the Scrolls and Mormonism."

Is that about right?

Well, that is why Dan is here hopefully to fill us in with what he knows and to clear this up. Because when the two public relations missionaries from the church sat together with me in my flat, drinking herbal tea, and chatting about why I was no longer in the church, the exhibit came up and they asked my opinion of the exhibit. So, I told them.

Perhaps in a future post I will lay out what I experienced, together with my girlfriend at the time. But for now, when I told them that I was sure the missionaries would show up at some time as I entered into the chapel, (and there they were, right on cue, along with the membervfamily that had received their assignment to be at the exhibit in case other families came in), they acted shocked. They said they had been told that there was to be no missionary efforts at all, but rather just a sharing of the church's interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls. When I told them otherwise, they said they were confused or something to that effect.

I wish they could have stayed longer. We were just getting into the Book of Mormon and Spaulding when they realized they were going to be late for the big shin dig at the chapel that evening.

Were you there for that final evening in Dresden, Dan?

[_Daniel Peterson]

Were you there for that final evening in Dresden, Dan?

No.

I'm not sure that I understand what needs to be "cleared up" with regard to the Dead Sea Scrolls traveling exhibit.

Was it designed to inform people about the Dead Sea Scrolls? Obviously. And I think it did so rather well. So did lots of others. In the Upper Midwest, the phase of its existence that I monitored fairly well, rabbis brought their congregations to see it, priests and ministers brought their youth classes, etc.

Was it designed as an outreach for the Church? Absolutely yes. It was typically, in the United States at least, housed in stake centers -- and we designed it with the typical stake center configuration in mind. In New Zealand and elsewhere, it has been housed at temple visitor centers.

Does it suggest, passingly and at the very end, a parallel between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Mormon? Yes, it does. Do its designers genuinely see such a parallel? Yes, we do. Are Mormons missionary-minded? Yes, we are.

There should be no surprise here.

[_harmony]

I went to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit when it was in San Diego a couple of years ago. It was jammed, wall to wall, with so many people, if you actually got see one of them, you were doing well. Very cool, though... very cool.

I was there, as well.

But that was a distinct exhibit. Neither the Maxwell Institute nor the Church was directly connected with it, though (if I recall correctly) some of my BYU/Institute colleagues went down to speak at public functions connected with it because of their membership in the international Dead Sea Scrolls editorial team.

I paid $26 per ticket to see it. I thought it was worth it.

It ranked right up there with the King Tut exhibit at the Chicago Art Museum that I saw several years ago. Also very cool.

And, as you would notice if you read the literature from it, co-sponsored by the Church.

The church sponsored the King Tut exhibit? I don't think so. I'll have to find my souveniers from it, but I don't remember that.

The exhibit in Germany was a small traveling exhibit that was originally created in connection with the Chicago exhibit, designed to travel to smaller cities in the Upper Midwest as a companion to the larger show in Chicago itself.

I think we're talking about 2 different exhibits in Chicago.

[_harmony]

Were you there for that final evening in Dresden, Dan?

No.

I'm not sure that I understand what needs to be "cleared up" with regard to the Dead Sea Scrolls traveling exhibit.

Was it designed to inform people about the Dead Sea Scrolls? Obviously. And I think it did so rather well. So did lots of others. In the Upper Midwest, the phase of its existence that I monitored fairly well, rabbis brought their congregations to see it, priests and ministers brought their youth classes, etc.

Was it designed as an outreach for the Church? Absolutely yes. It was typically, in the United States at least, housed in stake centers -- and we designed it with the typical stake center configuration in mind. In New Zealand and elsewhere, it has been housed at temple visitor centers.

Does it suggest, passingly and at the very end, a parallel between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Mormon? Yes, it does. Do its designers genuinely see such a parallel? Yes, we do. Are Mormons missionary-minded? Yes, we are.

There should be no surprise here.

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit I saw in San Diego was not housed anywhere near a church or stake center. It was housed at the Natual History Museum at Balboa Park. And I had to pay to get in.

There were no gold plates.

[_gramps]

Were you there for that final evening in Dresden, Dan?

No.

I'm not sure that I understand what needs to be "cleared up" with regard to the Dead Sea Scrolls traveling exhibit.

Was it designed to inform people about the Dead Sea Scrolls? Obviously. And I think it did so rather well. So did lots of others. In the Upper Midwest, the phase of its existence that I monitored fairly well, rabbis brought their congregations to see it, priests and ministers brought their youth classes, etc.

Was it designed as an outreach for the Church? Absolutely yes. It was typically, in the United States at least, housed in stake centers -- and we designed it with the typical stake center configuration in mind. In New Zealand and elsewhere, it has been housed at temple visitor centers.

Does it suggest, passingly and at the very end, a parallel between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Mormon? Yes, it does. Do its designers genuinely see such a parallel? Yes, we do. Are Mormons missionary-minded? Yes, we are.

There should be no surprise here.

Thanks for clearing that up. I wonder why the Public Relations missionaries with whom I visited, misunderstood the purpose of the exhibit? It was kind of odd to me.

How did the exhibit do in Germany, anyway, given its stated purposes?

[_Daniel Peterson]

I couldn't really tell you how well the exhibit did in Germany. I wasn't connected with it in that phase. Some of my colleagues went over and spoke in connection with it. I suppose I could ask them.

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit I saw in San Diego was not housed anywhere near a church or stake center. It was housed at the Natual History Museum at Balboa Park. And I had to pay to get in.

There were no gold plates.

That was a distinct exhibit. Neither the Maxwell Institute nor the Church was directly connected with it, though (if I recall correctly) some of my BYU/Institute colleagues went down to speak at public functions connected with it because of their membership in the international Dead Sea Scrolls editorial team.

Yes, we're talking about two different exhibits in Chicago. My mistake. The Church co-sponsored a DSS exhibit that was housed at the Field Museum in Chicago a number of years ago.

[_gramps]

About the exhibit: It was pretty cool at first and I learned a lot. We were the only two visitors there at the time of our visit. The Bishop warmly greeted us at the door and gave us some literature. We had visited rthe chapel a month or two before, so my girlfriend could experience a Fast and Testimony for herself, but he didn't remember us. We chat in the chapel and watched a movie about the BYU/MI Dead Sea Scrolls Initiative. Shortly before the end of the movie, I leaned over and asked my girlfriend when she thought the missionaries would appear. Well, the door opened and in came two kids, really excited because someone had come to the exhibit. They said hi to us and mentioned that the missionaries were coming soon. We chuckled. The kids were cute and could barely contain themselves.

We left the chapel and were given headphones with our chosen language, and went into the one room exhibit. As I said before, the first half was great, and I learned a lot and the models were very helpful. About halfway through, things start to change to the missionary phase of the exhibit. And I don't remember the exact order, but there is an exhibit of some plates that had been found with writing on them (not from the new world, I don't believe) and then there was reference to Isaiah and Ezekial (I can't remember anymore) and the two sticks, etc.

Then, there is something before you get to Joseph Smith praying in the grove of trees, but I can't recall it right now. After Joseph Smith, visitors come to the final exhibit, which is a replica of the Gold Plates, in glass, on top of a pedestal. We guessed, and the missionaries didn't know when we asked them either, that it was some kind of Arabic language. It certainly wasn't Reformed Egyptian, or Egyptian for that matter.

The missionaries walk in, and the kids start jumping around, at about the time you get to the grove, if not earlier, maybe around the two sticks area. You don't really notice them at first, if you aren't expecting them to arrive, that is, but I watched them slip in and start looking at the exhibit near the plates.

Anyway, we did end up in a conversation with the missionaries. The family and the two kids were nearby, trying to catch the conversation. They weren't super happy when they heard we were living together, though not married and that I had been a Mormon. That kind of soured the kids' hopes, for which I felt really bad.

[_Daniel Peterson]

Unless I'm much mistaken, there was nothing in the exhibit as we designed it and showed it about the Sacred Grove. Perhaps that's been added since Public Affairs assumed responsibility for the exhibit.

The replica of the Gold Plates is probably the same one we used, though. And the writing on it certainly isn't Arabic. If I remember correctly, it was based on the Anthon Transcript.