Free Republic

Not many Mormon scholars could get away with lambasting the faithful for their excessive materialism, their fondness for the military and hunting, or their kitschy church art and still remain a favorite son. Fewer still could be a mentor to church defenders and LDS social critics at the same time. And almost no other Mormon thinker could offer Homer's Odyssey as a bedtime story to his children, simultaneously translating the original Greek into English. But that was Hugh Winder Nibley. Nibley, credited with launching the scholarly examination of Mormon scriptures, died Thursday at his Provo home weeks before his 95th...

We're on the book of Jacob. I've decided that more than any book in the Book of Mormon this has the ring of absolute truth, historical and everything else. When they first arrived there, you'll notice, the first thing they did was go scrambling after gold and silver because there was a lot in the mountains. That happened, of course, in Utah within the first year. By the second year everybody was going out in all directions looking for gold and silver. All sorts of projects were launched, and Brigham Young had his hands full just trying to keep a...