Originally begun in collaboration with Professor W. L. Moran, this work collects all of the extant cuneiform tablets inscribed with lists of temples. The temple lists are classified in terms of their organization, whether associated with lexical lists, organized theologically, topographically, or hierarchically--presenting deities and temples according to their relative rank. The main part of the book is an up-to-date gazetteer of the ceremonial names of ancient Mesopotamian temples. This gazetteer replaces similar (though less complete) listings from earlier in the century and provides (where known) location, divine owner, and other relevant information for each temple listed. By including not only names from temple lists, but also from other literary genres, Professor George has provided a standard reference guide that Assyriologists and others with interest in Mesopotamian religion will consult with regularity for years to come. Indexes to the gazetteer of divine, personal, and royal names, and of cuneiform tablets enhance the reference value of this unique tool. The sixteen plates include some material not previously published.

On a summer day in 1828, Book of Mormon scribe and witness Martin Harris was emptying drawers, upending furniture, and ripping apart mattresses as he desperately looked for a stack of papers he had sworn to God to protect. Those pages containing the only copy of the first three months of the Joseph Smith's translation of the golden plates were forever lost, and the detailed stories they held forgotten over the ensuing years--until now. In this highly anticipated work, author Don Bradley presents over a decade of historical and scriptural research to not only tell the story of the lost pages but to reconstruct many of the detailed stories written on them. Questions explored and answered include: Was the lost manuscript actually 116 pages? How did Mormon's abridgment of this period differ from the accounts in Nephi's small plates? Where did the brass plates and Laban's sword come from? How did Lehi's family and their descendants live the Law of Moses without the temple and Aaronic priesthood? How did the Liahona operate? Why is Joseph of Egypt emphasized so much in the Book of Mormon? How were the first Nephites similar to the very last? What message did God write on the temple wall for Aminadi to translate? How did the Jaredite interpreters come into the hands of the Nephite kings? Why was King Benjamin so beloved by his people? Despite the likely demise of those pages to the sands of time, the answers to these questions and many more are now available for the first time in nearly two centuries in The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon's Missing Stories.

Who was Jesus? Historical sources portray a person who was complex, multi-layered, and often contradictory to the tidy portrait that much of modern Christianity paints him as. Even the gospel accounts render him as both judge and healer, teacher and temple, servant and savior. A Doubter's Guide to Jesus is a persuasive and often challenging investigation into the historical figure found in the earliest sources. These sources, which include references both direct and indirect—from Roman, Jewish, and Christian accounts—offer us more than simple evidence that Jesus existed; they begin to form a picture that is both deeply credible and profoundly counterintuitive. Each chapter explores the evidence for a different aspect of the most influential figure in human history, exploring: His words and their impact. The scandal of his social life. His preference for the poor and lowly. The meaning of his death and influence of his promises. The goal is not to turn Jesus into something neater, more systematic and digestible; but to see him more clearly as someone who stretches our imaginations, confronts our beliefs, and challenges our lifestyles. After two millennia of spiritual devotion and more than two centuries of modern critical research, we still cannot fit Jesus into a box—and this is as challenging as it is deeply compelling.

BRIGHAM YOUNG, second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and first Governor of Utah, was the founder and chief builder of the Great Intermountain West of the United States of America. He is recognized as one of the foremost colonizers and empire builders of all time. His unsurpassed methods of conquering for human use the Great American Desert, have been adopted to some degree by all who, since his day, have been engaged in the reclamation and settlement of unoccupied lands, especially under a low rainfall. Statesmen, scholars and business men have acclaimed the leadership, organizing power and sound philosophy which brought social and economic happiness to the people who were led into the wilderness by Brigham Young. He not only brought contentment to the people, gathered from many lands, but he guided the Church over which he presided, until, at his death, it was larger in numbers and more firmly established than ever before. The tremendous world significance of the labors of Brigham Young, and the universal applicability of his methods, under modern conditions, make it certain that the work he accomplished was not due, primarily, to the gigantic personality of the man. Rather, the success achieved must have been due to the possession of a life philosophy of sufficient depth and extent to meet varying human needs. Another man, of less dominant personality, armed with the same principles, would have won success. As he, himself, would say, it was the possession of the Gospel of Life and Salvation that enabled him and his associates to do the work so well. In fact, Brigham Young was first a spiritual teacher and secondly a material leader. The religion that he professed made him the man that he became; its principles were used in guiding the people in all their affairs. Books enough to fill a library have been written about the history, character and accomplishments of Brigham Young. Few of these books attempt to analyze the system of doctrine and practice that brought unbounded success to the Latter-day Saints. Many display such extreme religious partisanship that even the sympathetic reader can place no reliance upon their statements. Something harsher might be said about the large number of books written about Brigham Young and his times that manifestly aim to secure popularity by appealing to the sensational and the lurid, at the expense of truth. Even recently, when the years have given perspective, some writers have set up hypotheses concerning Brigham Young, and have proceeded to argue the case—as if that were history! It is amazing that intelligent people, knowing the high order of accomplishments of the Latter-day Saints, give credence to the weird and crude stories, appealing to the baser emotions of mankind, which fill the pages of anti-"Mormon" literature. In this book Brigham Young is allowed to speak for himself. Excerpts have been made from his many discourses, and these have been arranged to show the coherent system of faith which he continuously taught his people and by which he was enabled to win success for his followers. The philosophy thus set forth is clear and unmistakable in its purpose. It reveals Brigham Young as a man who applied the simple principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the everyday affairs of men; and who proved the efficacy, in common life, among common men, of the Gospel of the Son of God. This book was made possible because Brigham Young secured stenographic reports of his addresses. As he traveled among the people, reporters accompanied him. All that he said was recorded. Practically all of these discourses (from December 16, 1851 to August 19, 1877) were published in the Journal of Discourses, which was widely distributed. The public utterances of few great historical figures have been so faithfully and fully preserved. Clearly, this mass of material, covering nearly thirty years of incessant public speaking could not be presented with any hope of serving the general reader, save in the form of selections of essential doctrines. The discourses, from which this volume has been culled, were spoken extemporaneously. The state papers of Governor Brigham Young, and the epistles signed by him and his counselors in the Presidency of the Church, have not been used in this collection. The excerpts here presented came from his lips under the inspiration, at the moment, of the Power that guided his life. The corrections for the printer, as shown by existing manuscripts, were few and of minor consequence. The discourses are a remarkable self-revelation of the character and moving impulses of a man who accomplished huge tasks for his generation. It is marvelous that the enemies of Brigham Young, with this wealth of material before them, have found so little to use to his disadvantage. But, a dishonest or insincere man would not have had his public utterances reported and published all over the world. The consistency of the views presented, from the first to the last discourse, would be astounding, were it not for the fact that he clung constantly for interpretation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he had been taught it by the Prophet Joseph Smith. His devotion to his teacher and predecessor, the Prophet, is tenderly beautiful. The school education of Brigham Young was very limited, but his discourses show a wide knowledge of men and affairs and an excellent power to use the English language clearly and forcefully. Often, his simple eloquence rises to great heights. Those who heard him speak have declared that they were held in tense attention, however long the address might be. His vivid imagination, dramatic power and unquestioned sincerity made him a natural orator. He seldom confined himself to one subject in his discourses. The needs of the day were the themes about which he wound his teachings.