Category Archives: Priesthood

The Jewish Legends of Jacob vs. Esau: The Birthright and the Blessing

I have had a crazy week, so all I have to offer on this week’s Old Testament Lesson 10 (“Birthright Blessings; Marriage in the Covenant) is two excerpts from Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews. Now I realize that this work is not the best resource for reliable or primary-source material, but it is very interesting [...]
Also posted in Doctrinal Issues, Scripture, Sunday School Lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Melchizedek: King, Priest, and God and the Forbidden Degrees

The title of this post is actually somewhat deceptive as it implies that the post is going to be about Melchizedek, who can be considered a king, a priest, and also a god, and about the “Forbidden Degrees” (sounds tantalizing, eh?), which the title seems to suggest have some connection to Melchizedek. Well, as far [...]
Also posted in Apocalypticism/Mysticism, Doctrinal Issues, Early Christianity, Early Judaism, LDS Interest, Religious Scholars, Scripture, Temple | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Temple Studies Group Symposium III: Laurence P. Hemming

Laurence Hemming is one of the co-founders of the Temple Studies Group. He is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Lancaster and a Fellow, tutor in Philosophy and Liturgy, and member of the Advisory Board, of St. Bede’s Hall, an independent Catholic College in Oxford.  He [...]
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Temple Studies Symposium III: Archimandrite Ephrem

The Holy Oil in the Orthodox Church Although Prof. John Hall’s presentation was next after Dr. Barker’s, I am still working on the notes for his talk, so I will now post my notes from the esteemed Archimandrite Ephrem’s presentation covering the use of the anointing oil in the Orthodox Church, or, as he termed [...]
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RBL Review of Margaret Barker’s “The Hidden Tradition of the Kingdom of God”

I apologize for the dearth of good, solid posts recently. As we have been preparing for our move to Scotland, I haven’t had much time for blogging. I’ll be spending some time in Utah for the next few weeks and then we are off to the UK, so I probably won’t be very settled until [...]
Also posted in Religious Scholars, Temple | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments