Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

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_Mister Scratch
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Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

Post by _Mister Scratch »

This was passed along to me by an increasingly valuable "informant":

It was long thought that native American horses died out 10,000 BC, with the end of the ice age, but many specimens have been found that postdate that event, sometimes by thousands of years. To date, only one horse specimen of the time period covered by the Book of Mormon has been found. Discovered in Florida, it was carbon‑dated to about 100 BC, providing evidence that not all American horses postdate the arrival of the Spaniards. Other horse remains have been found in precolumbian archaeological contexts in Mexico, but none have, as yet, been radiocarbondated. Horse remains from Horsethief Cave, Wyoming, were subjected to thermoluminescence testing some years back and dated thereby to about 1000 BC. Plans are under way to narrow down the date using the AMS (accelerator mass spectrometer) method of radiocarbon dating. Elaine Anderson identified horse bones from Wolf Spider Cave, Colorado, as equine, and the radiocarbon date is AD 1260-1400, thus after Book of Mormon times but prior to the arrival of Columbus. Bones found in a cenote on Cozumel Island, Mexico, by archaeologist Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales have been radiocarbon dated to AD 1230-1300.


This junk science was authored by infamous potty-mouthed hatchet man John Tvedtnes, whose nasty online behavior has been documented. This article and more can be read at his decently done website:

http://www.bookofmormonresearch.org/

It's interesting to note that much of the text on this website seems (relatively speaking) calm and even-handed, and yet Tvedtnes is an "associate" at the trash repository known as SHIELDS, and he has published extensively in the incredibly tendentious and biased "journal" called FARMS Review. So, what's going on?

In any event, what I really wanted to take note of was the fact that, in a different thread, Dr. Gadianton Robbers suggested that Tvednes was a "hubris-drunk" apologist. Indeed, Tvedtnes's self-promotion on his website seems to bear out that assessment:

John A. Tvedtnes (MA in Linguistics and MA in Middle East Studies (Hebrew), University of Utah) retired in 2007 as a senior resident scholar with the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts at Brigham Young University. He has taught at the University of Utah and at the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies and the BYU Salt Lake Center and has lectured in Israel and the United States. At this writing, he has authored 10 books and more than 300 articles.
(emphasis added)

Now, 300 is quite a lot. Does anyone besides me wonder what kinds of documents Tvedtnes is counting as "articles"? See for yourself:

“Newly-Discovered First-Century Documents,” a spoof posted on FAIR and other web sites.

“An Anthropologist Looks at the Bible,” a spoof posted on the SHIELDS web site under a pseudonym, “B. Ware Kee,” which treats the Bible the same way critics treat the Book of Mormon.

“Solving the Christian Puzzle,” a spoof posted on the SHIELDS and other web sites, which demonstrates how the tactics of the Southern Baptist Convention’s “Solving the Mormon Puzzle” can be used against any Christian group.

“Did Luke Preach ‘Another Jesus’?” a spoof based on the claim that Latter-day Saints worship a “different Jesus” from the one in the Bible, posted on FAIR web site.


Huh? He is counting the crap on FAIR and SHIELDS as an article? Wow, by this sort of reckoning, many of us here on MDB are top-shelf scholars! Gee, when will I receive my honorary doctorate from FARMS and/or SHIELDS?

Elsewhere, Tvedtnes lists things twice, helping to contribute to the bloated article count:

Traditions About the Early Life of Abraham (co-authored with Brian M. Hauglid and John Gee) (Provo: FARMS, 2001). ADD CHAPTERS ETC.

“Abrahamic Lore in Support of the Book of Abraham,” FARMS videotape and audiotape with transcript (Paper TVE-99a). Presented as part of the FARMS Book of Abraham Lecture Series, 1999. The statistics given in this presentation became outdated as more ancient texts supporting the Book of Abraham came to our attention. The research reflects findings that ultimately led to the publication of the 2001 book Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham,” co-edited by John Tvedtnes, Brian Hauglid, and John Gee.
(emphasis added)

C'mon, now. Counting *this* as an article? I don't think so. It just seems quite a stretch. Here are some other examples of Tvedtnes's "articles":

“Scriptural Doubles” (scriptural quiz), The New Era, April 1972

“Identification” (scriptural quiz), The New Era, May 1975

“Calls to Service” (scriptural quiz), The New Era, February 1976. Reprinted in Tambuli, September 1983


Uh, since when is a scriptural quiz on a par with a scholarly article? In any case, readers can see for themselves what Tvedtnes's "300 article" publishing career has been like. Enjoy!
_JustMe
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Re: Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

Post by _JustMe »

You really are a silly one.
_Mister Scratch
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Re: Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

Post by _Mister Scratch »

JustMe wrote:You really are a silly one.


Really? Am I as silly as someone who uses scripture quizzes and "spoofs" on SHIELDS in order to inflate my "article" tally? Honestly, why do you think Tvedtnes did that? Is he desperate to reassure the Saints that everything is A-okay?
_Gadianton
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Re: Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

Post by _Gadianton »

Mister Scratch wrote:
JustMe wrote:You really are a silly one.


Really? Am I as silly as someone who uses scripture quizzes and "spoofs" on SHIELDS in order to inflate my "article" tally? Honestly, why do you think Tvedtnes did that? Is he desperate to reassure the Saints that everything is A-okay?


This is an odd and perplexing practice you've documented for us today. I wonder if it finds a corollary with the baptismal practices of South America?
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_harmony
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Re: Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

Post by _harmony »

Mister Scratch wrote:
John A. Tvedtnes (MA in Linguistics and MA in Middle East Studies (Hebrew), University of Utah) retired in 2007 as a senior resident scholar with the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts at Brigham Young University. He has taught at the University of Utah and at the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies and the BYU Salt Lake Center and has lectured in Israel and the United States. At this writing, he has authored 10 books and more than 300 articles.


Wait a minute. he's a senior resident scholar and he's only Master's level? What the heck? He's not even a PhD?

Well, the next time an apologist pulls the 'my degree is higher than your degree', I'm going to point out that my degree is equal their senior resident scholar's degree.

Good grief.
(Nevo, Jan 23) And the Melchizedek Priesthood may not have been restored until the summer of 1830, several months after the organization of the Church.
_Daniel Peterson
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Re: Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

Post by _Daniel Peterson »

Mister Scratch wrote:This was passed along to me by an increasingly valuable "informant"

Weird.

Mister Scratch wrote:This junk science

Maybe it's junk science. Maybe it's not.

You've offered nothing substantive either way.

Mister Scratch wrote:infamous potty-mouthed hatchet man John Tvedtnes

I've known John Tvedtnes for just slightly more than three decades.

Your typically hostile reductionist caricature doesn't do the man justice. (Not, of course, that you would care.)

Mister Scratch wrote:whose nasty online behavior has been documented

It's interesting to see you branching out a bit in your targets for character assassination, but it would be better if you got out of the defamatory gossip game altogether.

Mister Scratch wrote:much of the text on this website seems (relatively speaking) calm and even-handed

How disappointed you must have been.

Mister Scratch wrote:the incredibly tendentious and biased "journal" called FARMS Review

Which is available, in its totality, for inspection by horrified onlookers at

http://farms.BYU.edu/publications/review/

Mister Scratch wrote:in a different thread, Dr. Gadianton Robbers suggested that Tvednes was a "hubris-drunk" apologist. Indeed, Tvedtnes's self-promotion on his website seems to bear out that assessment

"Scratch . . . always tries to see the good in people." (Gadianton, 7-11-08, MDB)

Mister Scratch wrote:Enjoy!

I seriously doubt that there is anybody else here who could possibly take the kind of malicious glee that you do in such things.
_Daniel Peterson
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Re: Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

Post by _Daniel Peterson »

harmony wrote:Wait a minute. he's a senior resident scholar and he's only Master's level? What the heck? He's not even a PhD?

He was a senior resident scholar with the Maxwell Institute and was never considered for a professorship at BYU precisely because he lacked the Ph.D. But he completed all of the course and residency requirements for a doctorate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, failing only to complete his dissertation.

harmony wrote:Well, the next time an apologist pulls the 'my degree is higher than your degree', I'm going to point out that my degree is equal their senior resident scholar's degree.

I wish you joy of the exercise.

Incidentally, I wonder what the Scartchmeister has actually read by John Tvedtnes. Has the Scartchmeister read any books by Tvedtnes? How many? One? Any at all? Has he read any of Tvedtnes's substantive articles? If so, how many? One? Two?

Or does attempted character assassination and personal attack leave Scartch too little time for reading?
_Mister Scratch
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Re: Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

Post by _Mister Scratch »

Daniel Peterson wrote:
harmony wrote:Wait a minute. he's a senior resident scholar and he's only Master's level? What the heck? He's not even a PhD?

He was a senior resident scholar with the Maxwell Institute and was never considered for a professorship at BYU precisely because he lacked the Ph.D. But he completed all of the course and residency requirements for a doctorate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, failing only to complete his dissertation.


Tvedtnes is now an "associate" for SHIELDS.

Perhaps he could have finished it if he hadn't squandered so much time doing "spoofs" for SHIELDS and scripture quizzes.

harmony wrote:Well, the next time an apologist pulls the 'my degree is higher than your degree', I'm going to point out that my degree is equal their senior resident scholar's degree.

I wish you joy of the exercise.

Incidentally, I wonder what the Scartchmeister has actually read by John Tvedtnes. Has the Scartchmeister read any books by Tvedtnes? How many? One? Any at all? Has he read any of Tvedtnes's substantive articles? If so, how many? One? Two?


Incidentally, I wonder what DCP thinks about Tvedtnes's resume padding? Is this standard practice amongst Mopologists? Did John T. also include poems he wrote in elementary school among his "300 articles"?

And "substantive"? Pshaw. The word becomes completely meaningless in lieu of what Tvedtnes has chosen to include on his online CV.

I seriously doubt that there is anybody else here who could possibly take the kind of malicious glee that you do in such things.


Well, you do, as your "leaked" skinny-l messages clearly demonstrate. Ever hear of karma, Professor P.?
_Daniel Peterson
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Re: Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

Post by _Daniel Peterson »

Mister Scratch wrote:Perhaps he could have finished it if he hadn't squandered so much time doing "spoofs" for SHIELDS and scripture quizzes.

Perhaps.

I assume that you know his biography even less well than you know his writing.

What have you actually read by John Tvedtnes? Have you read any books by Tvedtnes? How many? One? Any at all? Have you read any of Tvedtnes's substantive articles? If so, how many? One? Two?

Mister Scratch wrote:Incidentally, I wonder what DCP thinks about Tvedtnes's resume padding?

He's free to do whatever he wants on such things. I genuinely don't care.

Mister Scratch wrote:And "substantive"? Pshaw. The word becomes completely meaningless in lieu of what Tvedtnes has chosen to include on his online CV.

In other words, you've read little or nothing.

Which is not surprising. Your interests run to personal criticism rather than substance.
_consiglieri
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Re: Tvedtnes: Author of "more than 300" articles?

Post by _consiglieri »

Although I have known John a substantially shorter period than DCP, I have read many of his articles and books and find him to be a careful and thorough scholar, with a vast amount of knowledge in his noggin, and a humble manner of dispensing it. He has always been charitable and courteous to me personally, and I am not going to sit idly by while somebody takes cheap shots at him--somebody who has the cerebral equivalent of "penis envy."

Although Tvedtnes would likely not say this about himself, I will say on his behalf that he has forgotten more than you will ever know.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri
You prove yourself of the devil and anti-mormon every word you utter, because only the devil perverts facts to make their case.--ldsfaqs (6-24-13)
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