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New York Times
a day ago
- General
- New York Times
When Myth Is the Message
This personal reflection is part of a series called The Big Ideas, in which writers respond to a single question: What is history? You can read more by visiting The Big Ideas series page. We in the modern world tend to understand the word 'myth' as a synonym for 'falsehood.' But that is not how our ancestors understood it. Indeed, the ancient mind did not draw the same line between myth and fact that we do. Whether we are speaking of Zeus forcing his father to vomit up his siblings or Jesus being born in a manger, these tales were never meant to be read as factual reports. They were meant to fire the imagination, to illuminate hidden truths and, most of all, to bring about transformation. The power of myth lies in its capacity to move a listener from one state of being to another — from confusion to clarity, from despair to hope, from disorientation to meaning. Myths are the packaging for truth. They are the language of religion. Scripture deals in what might be called 'sacred history,' a narrative realm that blends fact and fiction to convey timeless truths. The authors and transmitters of these sacred texts were not seeking facts; they were seeking meaning. Our modern conception of history — the critical analysis of observable and verifiable past events — is only a handful of centuries old. It arose alongside the Enlightenment and the scientific method in the 1600s, and while immensely valuable, it is not the lens through which sacred texts were written. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bible or Book of Mormon? The books of scripture Latter-day Saint leaders used in global conference
The 32 speakers referred to the Bible 297 times at April's international general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They referenced the Book of Mormon 226 times, according to citations found in talk transcripts and footnotes published on 'The Savior is the Prince of Peace,' President Russell M. Nelson said, for example, a reference to Isaiah 9:6. 'We are to be his instruments for peace.' In all, messages at the two-day conference were rooted in holy writ. They included 702 quotations from, allusions to and mentions of scripture. The citations sorted out this way: New Testament — 229 Book of Mormon — 226 Doctrine and Covenants — 145 Old Testament — 68 Pearl of Great Price — 34 The Bible, then, made up 42% of the scriptures cited by Latter-day Saint leaders. Restoration scriptures comprised the other 58%. A historian said the count is interesting in a world of increasing scriptural illiteracy and in the context of how Latter-day Saint scriptural preferences are viewed inside and outside the church. The scripture references in the April conference track in interesting ways with historical scriptural usage in the church's general conferences and an increasing emphasis on scripture reading and study in the church. 'Clearly, a dividing line between those who hear the music of faith and those who are tone deaf or off key is the active study of the scriptures,' a senior church leader, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said earlier this month at BYU Women's Conference. New Testament references centered on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. For example, President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, led the conference through much of Luke 24, the report of the third day after Christ's Crucifixion and burial, when his disciples learned Christ was resurrected and had appeared to his disciples. The footnotes to one paragraph in another talk illustrate how some scriptural references were made. The first counselor in the church's children organization, Sister Amy A. Wright, of the Primary General Presidency, described the Christ that parents and teachers should share with children. She said, showing scriptural footnotes only: 'This Jesus should not be a fictional Jesus (See 2 Peter 1:16–18; Joseph Smith—History 1:17), 'Or a simplistic Jesus (See Doctrine and Covenants 110:1–4), 'Or a bodiless Jesus, 'Or a casual Jesus, 'Or an unknown Jesus (See Acts 17:23; Alma 30:52–53), 'But a glorified (See John 17:3–5), 'Omnipotent (See Mosiah 3:5), 'Resurrected (See Luke 24:1–6;3 Nephi 11), 'Exalted (See Philippians 2:9–11), 'Worshipful (See 2 Nephi 25:29), 'Powerful (See Exodus 19:16; Luke 4:32; John 1:12; Romans 13:1; 1 Nephi 17:48) 'Only Begotten Son of God (See John 3:16), 'Who is mighty to save (See 2 Nephi 31:19; Alma 7:14; 34:18)." Her reference to John 3:16 was one of 10 by conference speakers — 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' Speakers also used footnotes as a call to action for further scripture study. One suggested 11 chapters of Old Testament reading. Elder Gerrit W. Gong spoke about Joseph saving his family in Egypt and added a footnote for Genesis 37-47 that said, 'Joseph's bringing his father, Jacob, and his family to Egypt represents the tender reuniting of a long-separated son and father. It also becomes the means by which Jacob's family and covenant posterity, who will include Lehi and his family, are preserved.' Scripture reading and study has been a major emphasis of Latter-day Saint leaders for more than half a century, with one major landmark the 1986 conference talks of the church's new president, Ezra Taft Benson, who called for more emphasis on the Book of Mormon. Sales of the English Book of Mormon jumped 700,000 over the previous year, according to a 1999 study by Noel Reynolds in BYU Studies Quarterly. President Benson also emphasized the Book of Mormon in his first instructions to the church's general authorities, according to a 1989 BYU devotional delivered by Elder James A. Paramore of the Quorum of the Seventy. 'Brethren, I've read many of your talks again, and they are wonderful, but you don't use the Book of Mormon enough,' President Benson said, according to Paramore. 'May I ask you to know it and use it more, to testify of it to the world, and to have it go into every corner of the world.' The number of Book of Mormon scriptures used in general conference spiked from about 15% of citations in 1981 to 40% in 1987, according to data compiled by Richard C. Galbraith and reported by Reynolds. Book of Mormon references made up 32.2% of references in April 2025. The findings may be of interest to church members and outside observers, even though American culture has grown less biblical, said Nathan Oman, a church member, historian and professor of law at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. 'I will say one of the things that I think is striking is that among most people today, scriptural illiteracy is pretty high,' he said. 'Not very many people know the Bible particularly well, even people that go to church I don't necessarily think know the Bible or the scriptures really well.' April 2025 general conference speakers referenced John 64 times, Matthew 55 times, Luke 32 times and Mark, Isaiah and 1 and 2 Corinthians 16 times each. The April 2025 data that general conference speakers cited the Bible an average of 9.3 times challenges any remaining stereotypes among evangelical Protestants that Latter-day Saints don't believe or pay enough attention to the Bible, Oman said, though he believes that's a small number of people. April's speakers referred to the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon most often, 55 times, followed by 35 citations each for 2 Nephi and Mosiah and 28 for 3 Nephi. The Reynolds study showed that Latter-day Saints in the 1830s revered what they considered as the miraculous coming forth of the Book of Mormon. However, the Bible was the core of their teachings because all of the church's members were converts steeped in it, and there had been no time to build a curriculum around the Book of Mormon. While some leaders called for emphasizing it in the 1800s, major shifts toward it waited until the 1900s. Reynolds found that Book of Mormon study at BYU grew when the first significant increase in sections of a class on it began in 1948. The next big jump came in 1961, when the Book of Mormon became a required freshman course. The church made the Standard Works the curriculum for an eight-year cycle of study in 1972 and condensed it to a four-year cycle in 1981, with one year each dedicated to the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants/Pearl of Great Price. President Benson's re-emphasis was a key, and the curriculum for the church's Seminaries and Institutes, religion classes at its colleges and universities, and its Preach My Gospel manual for missionaries are steeped in all of the Standard Works. Latter-day Saint leaders led the way last month. In one interesting example, seven speakers referred to Matthew 25 a total of 17 times as they led the church through three of Christ's major parables. Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson shared the 13 verses about the parable of the 10 virgins. Elder Steven D. Shumway, a General Authority Seventy, spoke about 15 verses on the parable of the talents. Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles completed the chapter in his message on the lessons of those two parables and the concluding parable of the sheep and the goats. 'The best advice ... for you and for me is to follow the Savior's teachings,' Elder Renlund said. 'His instructions are neither mysterious nor complex. When we follow them, we do not need to fear or be anxious.'
