Nibley: Footnote faker or not?

[_Markk]

Well, I don't agree that Nibley was a hack. He had a different standard and a different objective when he used his learning in his discussion of Mormonism. To say that he was merely a hireling is very unfair. Nibley sacrificed much to do what he did for something he believed in very deeply. It was his offering to his God. Yes, it was flawed and there are certainly grounds for serious criticism. But I also see a lot of room for sympathy, understanding, and respect.

I think it is very fair to call him a hireling of sorts, in that the GA or the mopoligists for the very most part did not correct him, and let members put him on a pedestal, and got on board.

Well, I don't agree that Nibley was a hack. He had a different standard and a different objective when he used his learning in his discussion of Mormonism.

What does that mean...what was his standard and what was his objective?

What did he sacrifice? My guess is he made a fairly good living, and and was a rock star and a favored speaker.

[_Kishkumen]

I think it is very fair to call him a hireling of sorts, in that the GA or the mopoligists for the very most part did not correct him, and let members put him on a pedestal, and got on board.

You seem to be mistaking a religion based on prophetic authority for a scholarly exercise. Who was going to correct him or was qualified to do so, for much of his career?

Moreover, I think you overestimate his general reception among LDS people. Few people know about Nibley, and even fewer have read him.

What does that mean...what was his standard and what was his objective?

Standard: does it resonate with Joseph Smith's revelations?

Objective: to increase faith in Joseph Smith's revelations.

What did he sacrifice? My guess is he made a fairly good living, and and was a rock star and a favored speaker.

He lived a very humble existence. You should have seen the ancient little compact car the guy drove, or the small house he lived in.

[_Blixa]

What did he sacrifice? My guess is he made a fairly good living, and and was a rock star and a favored speaker.

He sacrificed what could have been a decent scholarly career. He did not profit materially from every account I've read---especially Martha Beck's and "rock star" is for GA's not some professor. I think the church got a veneer of academic accomplishment from Nibley's work, I don't think he really got much in return. He was used. And yes, he acceded to that use, but the church got the better bargain.

[_Rosebud]

Thanks for posting Kish. I commented in the other thread you started.

I'm going to hang my hat in this discussion for now as I have said all I really have to say about the generalities and the human behavior patterns and I don't have much to say about case specifics as I have acknowledged openly from the beginning. I wish all Nibleys and Mopologists and scholars and people who like to try to prove their intellectual prowess on message boards on their merry ways.

Enjoy.

You're welcome, Rosebud. I am glad you found the other thread, which is much better suited for the kind of posts you have been adding to this one. As for your comments on proving intellectual prowess, it seems to me Symmachus has no need to prove anything. Symmachus' fine intellect shines through in every post.

Patronizing. As was the other thread. Happy to have made a post there even so and even though your "victim-hero" paradigm was lame and patronizing itself. Whoever said Beck was a hero to anyone besides herself in her own empowerment? I'm used to being spoken to patronizingly, however (as all Mormon women are). And am also very very sick of it. So just stop.

You and S aren't the only people trying to show off intellectual prowess in this thread, as you noticed before when some poster name dropped "Harvard." The Nibley Effect. This thread wouldn't be a Nibley thread without it.

Anyway, carry on with your rocket science that is out of everyone else's intellectual reach. That way you can win all arguments and the poor, less educated souls among us can defer to your brilliance just as we deferred to Nibley's ;). The cycle continues.

[_Rosebud]

Oh, and I disagree that this was the wrong thread. This was the right thread. Something new needed to be said about this tired subject in the context of the all old. And, as I said before, it needed to be said for the sake of the real victims who are reading (whether or not Beck falls into that category) and have, no doubt, read countless similar and tired threads before this one.

[_Kishkumen]

Patronizing. As was the other thread. Happy to have made a post there even so and even though your "victim-hero" paradigm was lame and patronizing itself. Whoever said Beck was a hero to anyone besides herself in her own empowerment? I'm used to being spoken to patronizingly, however (as all Mormon women are). And am also very very sick of it. So just stop.

You and S aren't the only people trying to show off intellectual prowess in this thread, as you noticed before when some poster name dropped "Harvard." The Nibley Effect. This thread wouldn't be a Nibley thread without it.

Anyway, carry on with your rocket science that is out of everyone else's intellectual reach. That way you can win all arguments and the poor, less educated souls among us can defer to your brilliance just as we deferred to Nibley's ;). The cycle continues.

Give it a rest, Rosebud. Or take the chip off your shoulder. Good God. What is your problem? This is how we roll for fun on the MDB. Sorry you don't care for it, but we are not about to change just for you. The whole intellectual thing is partly just for fun and show here. We have been doing this with Gadianton and Doctor Scratch as a send up of LDS apologetics at BYU for years now. Symmachus evidently gets it.

[_Jesse Pinkman]

Patronizing. As was the other thread. Happy to have made a post there even so and even though your "victim-hero" paradigm was lame and patronizing itself. Whoever said Beck was a hero to anyone besides herself in her own empowerment? I'm used to being spoken to patronizingly, however (as all Mormon women are). And am also very very sick of it. So just stop.

You and S aren't the only people trying to show off intellectual prowess in this thread, as you noticed before when some poster name dropped "Harvard." The Nibley Effect. This thread wouldn't be a Nibley thread without it.

Anyway, carry on with your rocket science that is out of everyone else's intellectual reach. That way you can win all arguments and the poor, less educated souls among us can defer to your brilliance just as we deferred to Nibley's ;). The cycle continues.

Give it a rest, Rosebud. Or take the chip off your shoulder. Good God. What is your problem? This is how we roll for fun on the MDB. Sorry you don't care for it, but we are not about to change just for you. The whole intellectual thing is partly just for fun and show here. We have been doing this with Gadianton and Doctor Scratch as a send up of LDS apologetics at BYU for years now. Symmachus evidently gets it.

Cassius University and The Goddess Suite are 2 of the mainstays of MDB that have existed almost since MDB's inception.

[_Rosebud]

It's a message board thing, Kish, not just an MDB thing. Smart people win message board battles.

And it's even more pronounced when Nibley comes up.

Night.

[_Markk]

What did he sacrifice? My guess is he made a fairly good living, and and was a rock star and a favored speaker.

He sacrificed what could have been a decent scholarly career. He did not profit materially from every account I've read---especially Martha Beck's and "rock star" is for GA's not some professor. I think the church got a veneer of academic accomplishment from Nibley's work, I don't think he really got much in return. He was used. And yes, he acceded to that use, but the church got the better bargain.

I know many folks that would kill for a career like Nibley's, I will concede he sacrificed for his country as a patriot, but hardly a "scholar."

[_Lemmie]

Oh, and I disagree that this was the wrong thread. This was the right thread. Something new needed to be said about this tired subject in the context of the all old. And, as I said before, it needed to be said for the sake of the real victims who are reading (whether or not Beck falls into that category) and have, no doubt, read countless similar and tired threads before this one.

Actually there was a quite profitable segment of the thread newly (at least for me) discussing the role of peer and/or an in house type review that gave some good insights into Nibley's process. Sorry you missed it.