Nice Review of BYU Near Eastern Volume

[_Daniel Peterson]

For my many fans here, a review of a volume in the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, which I founded, direct, and serve as editor-in-chief:

http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol11No2/H ... ssell.html

Let the cheers and huzzahs commence!







.

[_The Nehor]

I think the question we all want to ask is how much tithing money was sent in as a bribe to get this obviously apologetic work applauded? One Million? Two Million?

[_Sethbag]

Huzzah!

I think those of us who went to BYU can confirm that an awful lot of good work goes on there that is unconnected with Mormon apologetics. Statistically, I'd guess that almost none of what goes on there is in fact related to Mormon apologetics - at boards like this we just happen to focus on that part that is.

I think what causes dissonance for some folks is the idea that you, who are obviously involved in Mormon apologetics, also do work in a discipline that is not related to Mormon apologetics. I don't know why that should be such a hard concept, but for some, apparently it is.

I'm glad to see your non-apologetics work receive praise and whatnot. And there's no reason anybody here ought to disagree with that, though I know someone will.

[_Dr. Shades]

Besides this ongoing project, is there any other program at BYU that is considered, worldwide, to be the cutting-edge?

[_Daniel Peterson]

Besides this ongoing project, is there any other program at BYU that is considered, worldwide, to be the cutting-edge?

Yes.

[_Dr. Shades]

What is it?

[_Daniel Peterson]

What is it?

Just from my own little academic neighborhood, I would say that our Dead Sea Scrolls database project, our searchable electronic edition of the Popul Vuh, our electronic publication of materials from the Vatican Apostolic Library, our documentary film about the ancient Arabian frankincense trail, our work recovering damaged papyrus texts from the ruins of Herculaneum, and other such projects are all pretty cutting edge and world class, as is Dan Graham's work on Aristotle and the Pre-Socratics. As is Bill Hamblin's work on ancient Near Eastern warfare. As is John Gee's work on ancient Egyptian hypocephali. So is my colleague Kirk Belnap's founding and direction of the National Middle East Languages Resource Center. So is my colleague Dana Bourgerie's founding and direction of the China Flagship Program. So is my colleague Dil Parkinson's work on Arabic lexicography.

And those are just a few items essentially from my academic backyard. There are plenty of others. I didn't mention, for example, the fact that Dana Pike, Andrew Skinner, David Seeley, and Donald Parry are active members of the international Dead Sea Scrolls editorial team.

If you want me to start listing things from other colleges and departments at BYU, though, you're going to have to pay me by the hour.

[_Dr. Shades]

If indeed all those projects are world-renowned, then that's pretty impressive.

[_Daniel Peterson]

If indeed all those projects are world-renowned, then that's pretty impressive.

Well, of course, they're not world-renowned in the sense that Brangelina are world-renowned.

But in the international academic circles that pay attention to such matters as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Pre-Socratics, ancient Near Eastern history, Arabic lexicography, the Popul Vuh, Egyptian funerary texts, and the like, these are truly world-class, cutting-edge undertakings.

[_Sethbag]

I studied a lot in three different colleges, or departments, at BYU. They were the Physics department, the Computer Science department, and the German department. None of the stuff I ever did in any of those three departments related to the church, religion, God, Mormonism, or anything like unto it in any way, shape, or form, except that one Physics teacher introduced himself as a non-Mormon and reassured the class that he already owned several copies of the Book of Mormon and didn't need any more (LOL).

Sure, the beard card testing center nonsense, and some other nonsense related to offcampus housing, and the weekly shutdown of the campus so people would go to the devotionals, and the whole ecclesiastical endorsement thing was all obviously geared toward keeping students in the church. But the actual academic material from those departments outside of, say, the Religion department, or now the Maxwell Institute, seemed pretty secular and free from much if any Mormon-specific content. So in an academic sense, unless your degree was in Mormon Studies or whatever, the education at BYU is about as good as one would expect at any similarly large* and funded university, staffed with well-meaning professors - and better than some, I'm sure.

*also keep in mind that there really aren't any similarly large private universities - I think BYU is the largest privately funded university in existence