Dan Peterson on the best way to understand scripture

[_Kishkumen]

Not many people (other than our Orthodox Jewish friends) would use Leviticus as a guide to behaviour today, but it still repays attention, as literature if nothing else. Have you read Mary Douglas on the book?

I should have known better! Yes, for those who put in the effort of understanding it, even Leviticus has riches. It is at a further cultural remove, however. I might liken it to the difference between studying Latin and studying Greek. Greek has incredible wealth in its literature and thought, but most people will not get past the added unfamiliarity of the alphabet. Latin survives and even thrives in some places because it lacks that further hurdle. And yet I would say that it is 18k gold, not Greek's 24k. I am not sure I would say that Leviticus is 24k gold, but it is at a further remove from our religious sensibilities than the prophets and the New Testament. Just my 2 cents.

[_Kishkumen]

Yes, this. I think you're onto something here. There is of course no way to know how things might have turned out had Joseph not be killed, but in your opinion is this how he intended things to end up? The sense I get is that it is not, that he envisioned a kind of school of prophets, with many authoring scripture, perhaps independently. How he might have imagined this working is fuzzy to me. It makes me think of Harry Potter honestly. There is a common magic but individual wizards conjuring it up in different forms. However he might have envisioned things at one point though, it seems clear he was consumed by his own ego.

I think you are exactly right. He had a difficult time balancing an expansive vision and a desire to stay in control of the situation. He was happy to work with others in bringing forth scripture, but once someone got too independent or threatening (Hiram Page), then something had to be done to quash that problem. But it is important to remember that he started out as a member of a community of diviners. He was also clearly influenced by certain close peers in the process: Cowdery, Rigdon, Bennett, Phelps. I don't think it is possible to maintain a rigid hierarchy and a fluid collection of scripture. But then I think it is time for the rigid hierarchy to go. In a sense it is already, inasmuch as people increasingly ignore oracles with no spiritual vitality or meat.