Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Maxwell Institute Publications 2011 Bountiful Harvest: Essays in Honor of S. Kent Brown Andrew C. Skinner D. Morgan Davis Carl Griffin Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/mi Part of the Religious Education Commons Recommended Citation Skinner, Andrew C.; Davis, D. Morgan; and Griffin,a C rl, "Bountiful Harvest: Essays in Honor of S. Kent Brown" (2011). Maxwell Institute Publications. 17. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/mi/17 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maxwell Institute Publications by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. bountiful harvest bountiful harvest essays in honor of s. kent brown Edited by Andrew C. Skinner, D. Morgan Davis, and Carl Griffin Cover design by Stephen Hales Creative, Inc. Frontispiece by Mark A. Philbrick Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship Brigham Young University Provo, UT 84602 maxwellinstitute.byu.edu © 2011 The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bountiful harvest : essays in honor of S. Kent Brown / edited by Andrew C. Skinner, D. Morgan Davis, and Carl Griffin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8425-2804-7 (alk. paper) 1. Theology. 2. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I. Brown, S. Kent. II. Skinner, Andrew C., 1951- III. Davis, D. Morgan, 1968- IV. Griffin, Carl W. BX8637.B63 2011 230'.93--dc23 2011032826 Contents Introduction ...................................................................... ix 1. “Faith Alone” in Romans 3:28 JST Kevin L. Barney ..................................................................... 1 2. “Rest Assured, Martin Harris Will Be Here in Time” Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter ............................... 31 3. Seeing the Hand of God in All Things: A Different Approach to Evil and Suffering M. Gerald Bradford ............................................................ 73 4. “Living in Negligent Ease”: Evidence for al-Ghazālī’s Crisis of Conscience in His Iqtiṣād fī al-iʿtiqād D. Morgan Davis ................................................................ 99 5. Usage of the Title elohim in the Hebrew Bible and Early Latter-day Saint Literature Ryan Conrad Davis and Paul Y. Hoskisson .......................... 113 6. An Egyptian View of Abraham John Gee ............................................................................ 137 7. South Arabian Pottery in Khor Mughsayl, Oman: An Early Settlement Connection William D. Glanzman ........................................................ 157 8. Cyrillona’s On Zacchaeus Carl Griffin ........................................................................ 175 vi Ƶ Contents 9. “If . And”: A Hebrew Construction in the Book of Moses Kent P. Jackson ................................................................. 205 10. John Philoponus: Egyptian Exegete, Ecclesiastical Politician Leslie S. B. MacCoull ......................................................... 211 11. Reconciling the Irreconcilable: Joseph Smith and the Enigma of Mormonism Robert L. Millet ................................................................. 223 12. From History to Hermeneutics: The Talmud as a Historical Source Jacob Neusner .................................................................... 247 13. Joseph Smith’s Interpretation of the New Testament Parables of the Kingdom Monte S. Nyman ................................................................ 263 14. Exploratory Notes on the Futuwwa and Its Several Incarnations Daniel C. Peterson ............................................................ 287 15. Exploring the Biblical Phrase “God of the Spirits of All Flesh” Dana M. Pike .................................................................... 313 16. Alma the Younger’s Seminal Sermon at Zarahemla Robert A. Rees ................................................................... 329 17. “With Her Gauzy Veil before Her Face”: The Veiling of Women in Antiquity Stephen D. Ricks and Shirley S. Ricks ................................. 345 18. Good Friday and the Copts: Glimpses into the Drama of This Holy Day Marian Robertson-Wilson ................................................... 357 Bountiful HarvestƵvii 19. Two Crucified Men: Insights into the Death of Jesus of Nazareth Andrew C. Skinner ........................................................... 369 20. 4Q521 and What It Might Mean for Q 3–7 Gaye Strathearn ................................................................ 395 21. How Rich Was Paul? . And Why It Matters John W. Welch ................................................................... 425 Works of S. Kent Brown ................................................. 455 Citation Index .................................................................. 467 Subject Index .................................................................... 474 Introduction or more than four decades S. Kent Brown has been a welcome Fpresence on the Provo, Utah, campus of Brigham Young Uni- versity (BYU), first as a student for a brief period and then as a teacher. As a professor of ancient scripture and Near Eastern stud- ies he has devoted his academic life to expanding the borders of our knowledge about the history and religions of the Fertile Crescent and helping others to understand that part of the world. It is no exaggeration to say that thousands of students have benefited from his knowledge, wisdom, and kindness. Professor Brown is truly a gentle man and a scholar, a shrinking set in the world of academe today. Many on the BYU campus have known him not only as a teacher, but also as a constant and steady mentor and friend. Several others beyond Provo and even the United States have been privi- leged to call him a colleague and comrade in the common cause of lifting and building the world through careful and articulate schol- arship. Truly, his reach is international. It came as no surprise, therefore, that several of us wanted to extend our appreciation to him for all he has done by presenting a collection of essays in his honor as he approaches his eighth de- cade. This volume constitutes that offering. All of the authors are scholars who have had an association with Kent through the years; some were themselves students mentored by him. The breadth of Kent Brown’s expertise is impressive, as the bibliography of his works attests. He is arguably a world expert on early Christian literature and history, especially Coptic Chris- tianity. Yet, the majority of his writings and other creative works x Ƶ Introduction have been geared to helping members of his own confessional af- filiation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to under- stand their faith tradition. Thus, Kent is equally at home in the text of the Book of Mormon as he is in the world of the New Testa- ment. Latter-day Saints can be grateful that someone with Kent’s discerning eye, scholarly ability, tremendous set of linguistic and historical-critical skills, and his deep commitment to their faith has expended so much careful effort to elucidate the underpinnings of their brand of Christianity. No less an able administrator than scholar, Kent Brown served well the university community where he made his academic home the last three and a half decades until his retirement in 2009. The leadership positions he has held include department chair of Ancient Scripture, director of BYU’s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Stud- ies, director of Ancient Studies, and director of the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies in the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU. After his “official” retirement, he re- sponded to the university’s special request and returned to Jerusalem once again to serve as the Jerusalem Center’s academic coordinator and associate director. Kent has always taken very seriously the ideal of a consecrated life—giving back to the university his time, talents, and resources without expectation of reward. All who know him re- gard Kent Brown as a consensus builder and leader by example. For years Kent served as editor of the Maxwell Institute's Jour- nal of Book of Mormon Studies. He has corresponded with a wide variety of authors and writers, mature scholars to beginning stu- dents, professionals to laypersons. They and the journal are better because of his editorial oversight. Kent Brown was also among the first of his colleagues at the Maxwell Institute to appreciate the power of visual media to illumi- nate and instruct a new generation of learners raised in the digital world. He conceived, cowrote, and coproduced four documentary films, two of which have helped to change the way Latter-day Saints Bountiful HarvestƵxi understand Book of Mormon geography in an ancient setting. For all of his work on the text and history of the Book of Mormon, he still regards it as one of the most fruitful arenas for the LDS scholar. The Golden Road, a documentary on the fabled incense trail that ran from southern Arabia to the Mediterranean, has been warmly received by those in modern Middle Eastern countries associated with the ancient trade route. All of the foregoing helps to explain the eclectic contents of the present volume. Kent Brown has touched upon so many