Don’t Forget the Authentic Ancient Metal Plates

By David Larsen | Published: April 8, 2011

For those disappointed that the recent “discovery” of those lead metal plates from Jordan has turned out to be bogus, Bryce Haymond’s recent post may cheer you up a bit!

Bryce provides details of the many examples of inscribed metal plates found in the last century that have been deemed authentic.  He provides pictures, descriptions and sources you can look up for:

  • The Etruscan Gold Book (Bulgaria, dating to 600 BC)
  • The Pyrgi Gold Tablets (Italy, 500 BC)
  • The Copper Scroll (Qumran, 1st Century AD)
  • Diamond-Cutter Sutra Gold Plates (Korea, 8th Century AD)
  • The Silver Scrolls (Near Jerusalem, 600 BC)
  • Darius I Persepolis Gold Plates (Found in stone box, Persepolis, 518-515 BC)
  • The Orphic Gold Plates (Greece/Italy, various dates up to 4th Century BC)
  • The Achaemenid Golden Codex (authenticity unsure, Iran, 550 – 330 BC)

While Bryce approaches these findings from an LDS perspective, anyone interested in the discovery of ancient inscriptions on metal plates (especially due to the hype surrounding the latest claims) will find his post fascinating!

Check it out here: http://www.templestudy.com/2011/04/07/authentic-ancient-metal-plates/

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UK Temple Studies Group Symposium V: The Temple Hidden in the Bible

By David Larsen | Published: April 8, 2011

The Temple Studies Group website has just posted information regarding their next symposium, to be held July 2 at the Temple Church in London.  I will definitely be there!  Anyone else planning on going? The focus of this symposium will be on finding the Temple hidden in the Bible.  There are four confirmed speakers with one more planned.

From http://www.templestudiesgroup.com/Symposia.htm:

Symposium V will be held on Saturday 2 July 2011, 10am-4pm. Since 2011 is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, the subject will be The Temple Hidden in the Bible.

  • Dr Paul Joyce [Oxford] Images of the first Temple hidden in Ezekiel.
  • Dr David Sheppard [Chester] The Temple hidden in the Isaiah Targum.
  • Dr Scott Mandelbrote [Cambridge] Temple images in early printed Bibles.
  • Dr Margaret Barker The Temple in Kings and Chronicles.

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The Temple Institute: 1 Nisan, The 2nd Annual International Temple Mount Awareness Day

By David Larsen | Published: April 5, 2011
The following is from an email sent out by the Jerusalem-based The Temple Institute. This event is scheduled for today, April 5th.


APRIL 5TH/ROSH CHODESH NISAN HAS ARRIVED!
THE 2ND ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL TEMPLE MOUNT AWARENESS DAY:

6 HOUR LIVE STREAMING VIDEO EVENT
This day is the anniversary of the dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. This day is the first day of the Divine service.

This day is the day on which fire descended from Heaven onto the altar,

and this day is the first day in which the Shechina, the Divine Presence, rested in the Tabernacle.

Nisan is the first of our months, the month of Redemption, the month in which our forefathers were redeemed from Egyptian bondage. But the month is called so not only because of the upcoming Festival of Passover and our ancestors’ passage from slavery to freedom. Tradition teaches that in the future, as well, the great and final redemption will take place in Nisan. Let us do our part to make it happen!

Join us today as we mark this day with a 6 hour live streaming video 2ND ANNUAL TEMPLE MOUNT AWARENESS HAPPENING!

[...]

To follow these proceedings, check out the Temple Institute’s website here: http://www.templeinstitute.org/2nd-annual-international-temple-mount-awareness-day.htm

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Margaret Barker Misquoted about Lead Codices

By David Larsen | Published: April 2, 2011

I recently came across a blog post by Thomas Verenna that shares an email he sent to Margaret Barker about her recent quotes which have been appearing in the media.  According to this, Barker claims that she has been grossly misquoted. She says:

“Alas, I was not quoted correctly. I am discovering all sorts of things that I am supposed to have said.

My points are that they are codices and not scrolls, and ‘what are they forgeries of’ if they are forgeries.

Everything else is media generated.”

[...]

If this is true (and I’m sure it is), it’s really sad that today’s media is so willing to lie, cheat, and trample on people’s reputations in order to make a story.  Verenna notes that it appears that Davies was misquoted as well.

In other “metal plates” news, Daniel McClellan offers evidence that not only are some of the bronze codices arguably forgeries, but there is evidence that some of the lead ones are as well. While (as Bill Hamblin notes in the comments) this is not absolutely conclusive, it’s beginning to look that way more and more. See his post here: http://danielomcclellan.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/on-the-lead-vs-bronze-codices/

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Metal Plates in Dire Straits

By David Larsen | Published: April 1, 2011

From the latest updates I’ve seen, things aren’t looking good for our Jordanian lead plates. As more scholars gain access to photos of the plates and are beginning to be able to evaluate the inscriptions and images, there are some who are quite certain that they are forgeries.  I think it will still be some time before we can know that conclusively, but that is the growing suspicion.

Bryce Haymond has put together a great summary of some of the most recent findings and opinions, organized into evidence supporting their authenticity vs. evidence of forgery.  There seems to be more evidence for them being forgeries. Please see his post at TempleStudy.com here: http://www.templestudy.com/2011/03/31/jordanian-lead-plates-authentic-forgery/#more-2396

Daniel McClellin has the content of an email that was sent by Peter Thonemann at Oxford to David Elkington (the archaeologist who is leading the investigation into the plates) in which Thonemann demonstrates how the (one) bronze tablet that he was shown was apparently made rather recently by someone who did not know Greek, as there are errors in the writing that suggest to Thonemann that the writer didn’t even know the Greek alphabet. Furthermore, the writings don’t make sense as they stand and appear to have been copied from known Greek inscriptions. You can read the full email at Daniel’s site: http://danielomcclellan.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/peter-thonemann-on-the-lead-codices/

Rice University Professor April DeConick gives her opinion (not positive) on the plates: http://forbiddengospels.blogspot.com/2011/03/lead-tablets-come-on.html

It’s beginning to look like the plates, despite all the fun hype, may be too good to be true.

UPDATE: Jim Davila, at PaleoJudaica, has further information on and discussion of the Thonemann email. See here: http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2011_03_27_archive.html#7454369078247746754

As Professor Davila notes, the Deseret News now has a good article up about the plates as well: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700123230/Ancient-metal-plates-found-in-Middle-East.html?pg=1

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Heavenly Ascents News

By David Larsen | Published: March 28, 2011

Just wanted to give you a brief update of some things I’ve been doing lately.

I posted (a couple of weeks back now) some material over at The Millennial Star about the reforms of King Josiah and the Deuteronomists and how these reforms may have affected the theological themes found in the Old Testament we read today.  This post is based on material I posted here on Heavenly Ascents a couple of years ago, but I think it’s still worth sharing. You can see it here: http://www.millennialstar.org/the-deuteronomists-and-the-suppression-of-ancient-truths/

I was recently invited to be a contributor at Reviews of Biblical and Early Christian Studies (rbecs.wordpress.com). This website is run by Dan Batovici, PhD student here at the University of St Andrews, and a few other postgrad students at Cambridge and Durham universities. The main purpose of the site is to provide reviews of the latest publications in the fields of Biblical Studies and Early Christian Studies and also to give reports on important seminar presentations given at the respective universities.  I am honored to be able to contribute to this very helpful site.  You can see my first post here. I give a report of Dr Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer’s seminar paper on “The Geographical and Theological Location of Isaiah 40-55″.

Dan and I, along with Beth Tracy and other colleagues here at the University of St Andrews, are organizing a graduate conference that will be taking place in June, entitled “The 1st St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies: Authoritative Texts and Reception History.” I will be presenting a paper on the early Christian interpretation of older Melchizedek traditions. You can read more about the conference here.

Read More »

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New Press Releases on Metal Plates Discovery

By David Larsen | Published: March 25, 2011

Another quick update on this topic. Many of you have probably seen this by now.

A couple of press releases are now circulating related to the cache of metal plates.

Bryce Haymond over at TempleStudy.com links to one, plus he give a great outline of the nature of the plates and what some people think may be on them (he mentions “secret teachings” and “Temple based documentation”).

See his post here: http://www.templestudy.com/2011/03/22/ancient-sealed-metal-plates-secret-temple-texts-discovered-middle-east/

Jim Davila links to the same press release, with his comments here.

The following is another, slightly different press release that I have just uploaded to Scribd. My thanks to Rick Huchel for this, who got it from Margaret Barker.

Lead Plates Press Release

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Biblical Scholars Weigh in on Discovery of Metal Plates

By David Larsen | Published: March 22, 2011

Via Jim Davila at PaleoJudaica

Just an update on my last post regarding the supposed discovery of a cache of ancient inscriptions written on metal plates.  This find continues to generate interest and a number of biblical scholars, including Margaret Barker, Philip Davies, and Jim Davila, have expressed opinions on the matter, based on what information they’ve been able to get hold of.

On PaleoJudaica, Jim Davila has a link to a DailyMail article, “Are lead tablets discovered in a remote cave in Jordan the secret writings about the last years of Jesus?” This article is quite sensationalist and left me wondering how the content of the plates went from possibly being related to the Kabbalah to being about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Davila is probably correct to suggest that this is a “silly misunderstanding” of the journalist.

The redeeming virtue of the article is that it quotes both Barker and Davies on the topic.

Speaking of Margaret Barker, the articles notes:

She has had access to photgraphs taken of the codices and scrolls, and is wary of confirming their authenticity.
But she said if the material is genuine then the books could be ‘vital and unique’ evidence of the earliest Christians.
‘If they are a forgery, what are they are forgery of?’ she said.’ Most fakes are drawn from existing material, but there is nothing like this that I have seen.’

For Philip Davies:

However, Philip Davies, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Sheffield University is convinced the codices are genuine after studying one.
He has told colleagues privately that he believes the find is unlikely to have been forged, say the Sunday Times.

The DailyMail also notes that:

Two samples were sent to a laboratory in England where they were examined by Peter Northover, head of the materials science-based archaeology group.
The verdict was inconclusive without more tests, but he said the composition was ‘consistent with a range of ancient lead.’

Read More »

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