An edited collection of documents on the the history and doctrines surrounding Mormon temples. Includes excerpts from leaders' diaries, minutes of Quorum of the Twelve meetings, pastoral letters, sermons, and official publications.

Temple Worship eloquently describes the joys and blessings of temple worship--and how we can get the most out of our temple experience. In this inspiring, practical book, Andrew Skinner shows how the temple represents the "ultimate" in our worship, how temple ordinances are tied to the Atonement, how temple blessings apply to all--especially to those who walk life's road alone--and how the temple prepares us for exaltation.--From publisher description.

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.

This year's Sperry Symposium discusses ascending into the Lord's mountain within the context of theophany, ancient temple worship, sacred space, sacrifice, offerings, and hymns and songs in the text of the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon.

Preface to the new edition -- Understanding the divine liturgy. Development of Christian worship in the Bible -- Worship in the early church -- Revelation and worship -- The royal priesthood -- Heavenly worship -- A journey through the liturgy. The interior of an Orthodox church -- The preparation service -- The liturgy of the word -- The liturgy of the Eucharist -- The Great Anaphora -- The Holy Communion -- The Thanksgiving -- Conclusion. A call to worship.

This major work examines the subject of Temple and Worship in biblical Israel, ranging from their ancient Near Eastern and archaeological background, through the Old Testament and Late Second Temple Judaism, and up to the New Testament. It is the product of an international team of twenty-three noted scholars. Special attention is paid to such subjects as the ideology of temples and the evidence for high places in Israel and the Canaanite world; the architecture and symbolism of Solomon's Temple; the attitude of various parts of the Old Testament to the Temple and cult, including that of several prophets; the light shed on Temple worship by the Psalms; the role and fate of the Ark of the Covenant; and the Day of Atonement. It also examines attitudes to the Temple in the Septuagint, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, first-century Judaism, and the New Testament. This important work is the product of an impressive array of twenty-three noted scholars. The contributors include John Barton, H.G.M. Williamson, John Day, Susan Gillingham, John Jarick, C.T.R. Hayward, Michael Knibb, George Brooke, Martin Goodman, Christopher Rowland and Larry Kreitzer.

A pioneer in the fields of astrophysics and astro-archeology, J. Norman Lockyer believed that ancient Egyptian monuments were constructed "in strict relation to the stars." In this celebrated study, he explores the relationship between astronomy and architecture in the age of the pharaohs. Lockyer addresses one of the many points already extensively investigated by Egyptologists: the chronology of the kings of Egypt. All experts are in accord regarding the identity of the first monarch, but they cannot agree upon the dates of his reign within a thousand years. The author contends that by applying a knowledge of astronomy to the actual site orientation of the region's pyramids and temples, accurate dating can be achieved. In order to accomplish this, Lockyer had to determine the level of the ancient Egyptian ideas of astronomy. Some of his inferences have been invalidated by subsequent scholarship, but many of his other conclusions stand firm and continue to provide sensational leads into contemporary understanding of archaic astronomy.

A veil of secrecy surrounds Mormon temple worship. While officially intended to preserve the sacredness of the experience, the silence leaves many Latter-day Saints mystified. What are the derivation and development of the holy endowment, and if these were known, would the experience be more meaningful? Modern parishioners lack context to interpret the arcane and syncretistic elements of the symbolism. For instance, David Buerger traces the evolution of the initiatory rites, including the New Testament-like foot washings, which originated in the Ohio period of Mormon history; the more elaborate Old Testament-like washings and anointings, which began in Illinois and were performed in large bathtubs, with oil poured over the initiate's head; and the vestigial contemporary sprinkling and dabbing, which were begun in Utah. He shows why the dramatic portions of the ceremony blend anachronistic events--an innovation foreign to the original drama. Buerger addresses the abandonment of the adoption sealing, which once linked unrelated families, and the near-disappearance of the second anointing, which is the crowning ordinance of the temple. He notes other recent changes as well. Biblical models, Masonic prototypes, folk beliefs, and frontier resourcefulness all went into the creation of this highest form of Mormon Temple worship. Diary entries and other primary sources document its evolution.

On the various rituals performed at a Hindu temple.