Illuminating the Jaredite Records

by Daniel L. Belnap (RSC)

New form the Book of Mormon Academy at Brigham Young University. This volume explores the relationship between the Nephite and the Jaredite records culturally, politically, literarily, and theologically. The first approach looks through a cultural-historical lens, in which elements of Jaredite culture are discussed, including the impact of a Jaredite subculture on Nephite politics during the reign of the judges, a Mesopotamian perspective of seership and divination, and the brother of Jared's experience as a spiritual transition. The second grouping looks at the book of Ether through a narratological lens, with all three papers exploring different aspects of Moroni's construction of the book of Ether. The third grouping explores the book of Ether's depiction of women, as it contains one of the most described yet ambivalent females in the Book of Mormon, both historically and in our contemporary era. Finally, the book of Ether is reviewed via a teaching lens. In Alma 37, Alma the Younger explained the teaching value of the Jaredite records. These last two studies examine ways in which the book of Ether in particular can be taught to a modern audience.