Nephi's steel bow difficult to replicate at BYU competition

[_The Mormon Report]

For your amusement:

Nephi's steel bow difficult to replicate at BYU competition - MormonTimes.com








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[_Polygamy-Porter]

Next up?

Running with the golden plates.

Who can go the furthest while dodging football players and jumping hurdles while holding a 80-150lb replica of the supposed golden plates?

SFR (Stupid f***ing religion)

[_Pokatator]

"We didn't have to find the ore and beat it into steel," he said. "I appreciate now how much different it would be to work without prepared materials. It makes me think of how in the Bible it all worked out."

Bible, geez, how about how it all worked out in the Book of Mormon? Why not start with raw ore? Why not make some swords, too?

Bowden said this competition shows the benefits that come from actively thinking about the reality of the scriptures.

BYU might shake a few testimonies if they aren't careful with reality, but of course, the thinking has already been done.

"If this can be implemented, then other lessons can also be useful."

How about building chariots and then racing them with Tapirs?

[_Maxrep]

For your amusement:

Nephi's steel bow difficult to replicate at BYU competition - MormonTimes.com

None of the bows looked at all as if they could have been reproduced in Nephite times, nor do any look like they could have been wielded by one person, no matter how "large in stature".








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[Guest]

It is amazing how some college kids can make weapons that look like prop pieces from the movie Krull and can believe this somehow promotes faith in "steel" iron age tools.

If this were a university project devoted to learning, all participants would have walked away with confirmation that the story was pure fiction.

[Guest]

It appears that Professor Bowden and his students failed to consult with Professor William Hamblin prior to the competition and thus completely misread the Book of Mormon passage in question. Here is Professor Hamblin's explication of the meaning of the term "steel bow" in the Book of Mormon:

[T]he word "steel bow" is used in the King James Version of the Bible to translate the Hebrew phrase
"bronze" (nechushah) bow, and..."Nephi’s 'steel bow' could thus be Joseph Smith’s Jacobean English translation for an original Hebrew 'bronze bow'" ([Warfare in the Book of Mormon], 373-74). I do not maintain that this is somehow a mistranslation. If my original statement was unclear, let me elaborate. There was an ancient Near Eastern bow which was reinforced with bronze, called the "bronze bow" in Hebrew. For whatever reasons, the KJV translators used the English phrase "steel bow" to describe this weapon (2 Samuel 22:35; Psalm 18:34; Job 20:24). Thus, in Joseph Smith’s day, the phrase "steel bow" was the commonly accepted English term used to describe a particular ancient Near Eastern bronze reinforced composite bow, and should not be equated with late Medieval and early Renaissance steel bows. Indeed, I doubt very much that Joseph Smith even knew of the existence of such weapons. Even if one insists on seeing everything in the Book of Mormon as derivng solely from Joseph’s imagination, it is almost certain that Joseph got the term "steel bow" from the KJV Bible (374 and notes).

William Hamblin, "Sharper than a Two-Edged Sword," Sunstone 15/6 (Dec. 1991), 55.

[_Pokatator]

It appears that Professor Bowden and his students failed to consult with Professor William Hamblin prior to the competition and thus completely misread the Book of Mormon passage in question. Here is Professor Hamblin's explication of the meaning of the term "steel bow" in the Book of Mormon:

[T]he word "steel bow" is used in the King James Version of the Bible to translate the Hebrew phrase
"bronze" (nechushah) bow, and..."Nephi’s 'steel bow' could thus be Joseph Smith’s Jacobean English translation for an original Hebrew 'bronze bow'" ([Warfare in the Book of Mormon], 373-74). I do not maintain that this is somehow a mistranslation. If my original statement was unclear, let me elaborate. There was an ancient Near Eastern bow which was reinforced with bronze, called the "bronze bow" in Hebrew. For whatever reasons, the KJV translators used the English phrase "steel bow" to describe this weapon (2 Samuel 22:35; Psalm 18:34; Job 20:24). Thus, in Joseph Smith’s day, the phrase "steel bow" was the commonly accepted English term used to describe a particular ancient Near Eastern bronze reinforced composite bow, and should not be equated with late Medieval and early Renaissance steel bows. Indeed, I doubt very much that Joseph Smith even knew of the existence of such weapons. Even if one insists on seeing everything in the Book of Mormon as derivng solely from Joseph’s imagination, it is almost certain that Joseph got the term "steel bow" from the KJV Bible (374 and notes).

William Hamblin, "Sharper than a Two-Edged Sword," Sunstone 15/6 (Dec. 1991), 55.

So Hamblin opens the door a little wider to Joseph having plagiarized the KJV.

[_Tchild]

Hmmm. where were the BYU professors and archealogists to let this body of students know that there were no known steel production capabilities in the Americas circa 600 B.C. to 400 AD?

William Hamblin makes this apparent by the apologetic device of re-inventing the meaning of the word "steel". If steel production capacity existed, there wouldn't even be the need to reassign the word steel into an unanachronistic (is that a word?) equivalent; Bronze.

Professor Hamblin is correct however when he states:

it is almost certain that Joseph got the term "steel bow" from the KJV Bible (374 and notes).

Most won't argue that

[_The Dude]

It is amazing how some college kids can make weapons that look like prop pieces from the movie Krull can believe this somehow promotes faith in "steel" iron age tools.

If this were a university project devoted to learning, all participants would have walked away with confirmation that the story was pure fiction.

No kidding. None of them learned the real lesson of of the exercise. Apparently none of them have ever watched Mythbusters.

[_EAllusion]

[Edited out the redundant part]

I wouldn't get too carried away with this tough. Chances are the engineering department just wanted a creative competition and, being housed in BYU, felt some need to connect it to the Book of Mormon. I don't think historical accuracy, be it the real or LDS kind, was a big concern.