Item Detail
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30186
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2
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1
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English
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Reading and the Menardian Paradox in 3 Nephi
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Journal of Book of Mormon Studies
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January 1, 2017
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26
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Provo, UT
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Neil A. Maxwell Institute of Religion: Brigham Young University Press
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165-84
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Here I focus on the repetition of the Sermon on the Mount in 3 Nephi in order to offer a literary and theological reflection on the Book of Mormon itself. My question concerns not the content of the sermon so much as the moral stakes of reading scripture, and especially
of reading Mormon scripture, which I take to be scripture that places
special emphasis on its own weaknesses, textuality, and constructedness. Taking as my companion Jorge Luis Borges, I argue that these features (which exercise both the Book of Mormons defenders and its attackers) are necessary to the theological meaning of the text rather than difficulties that need to be explained. I suggest they highlight an essential meaning of the act of reading scripture germane to a theology of continuing revelation.