Done. 60 lbs. One mile. Kinda tough for this middle-aged but relatively healthy person, but doable. Would've been easier if the weight was in book size and form. I ran with a weightlifting bar. A farm hand type person would've done much better.
Tom wrote: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 What about all the other steel bits & bobs mentioned in the Book of Mormon?
Nephi taught his people to work steel among other things. And it looks like the Jaredites invented steel independantly after separating from the rest of humanity in 2200BC or thereabouts. (Ether 7: 9)
Interestingly, the references to 'steel' are only in the replacement 116 pages & Ether.
If we take the verse literally, it implies that Nephi's steel bow was a viable technology before it broke. Does it say it even worked once? No. Nephi's brothers were probably pissed because it may never have worked. Dumb little brother buying some crap from the flea market.
I'd like to see the competition where they unplug the bottom of their boat to let the water out.
..or see how far a beheaded acrobat can walk around on his hands while gasping for air..
