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Duane, well done! Thanks.
Hugh Nibley has some interesting comments on the ancient nature of leaders in the “Rule of Battle” scroll, concluding “However harsh and unsympathetic Moroni’s character may appear to the modern reader, he is a true child of ancient Israel.” The Prophetic Book of Mormon, pp 93-94.
Thank you, Duane. Grant does such a good job illuminating things in the Book of Mormon and introducing innovative and interesting ideas about it, that his opinions carry a lot of weight. And rightly so! You have shown that he is not perfect (none of us are), and were able to do it respectfully and convincingly.
I have really enjoyed reading his papers and books over the years (almost as much as Heather’s) and look forward to whatever they come out with next. I can say the same thing about you. Thank you for your insight about, and defense of, Captain Moroni, Jacob, the Ammonites, the Brethren, Prophets and Revelation, and more. Well done at every turn! I look forward to that next paper and am confident it will be more of the same. Keep up the good work. Thank you.
Regards,
Robb Smith
I wonder why Boyce felt we needed another hagiography of Moroni. Although his disagreements with Hardy are enumerated–they are more based in an approach to the text rather than the text itself, even though he suggests that it is text based. It would be an article almost as long to discuss the different readings.
It doesn’t appear noteworthy that Hardy calls the king-men “his [Moroni’s]” opponents, and try to hand a heavy argument on that very thin thread. When Boyce is careful to suggest that Moroni’s letter wasn’t only to Pahoran (and therefore somehow not as mistaken as the events declared it to be), his emphasis on these details feels too much like a defense rather than an analysis.
While I could probably find things to disagree with Hardy about concerning Moroni, I much prefer Hardy’s more three dimensional person to the saintly version Boyce seems to want to resurrect. Moroni was certainly admired, and Mormon thought so much of him that he spends a lot of text on his wars. Mormon named a son for him. We can take Mormon’s word for Moroni being a good man. We don’t need to find artificial ways of polishing his legacy to make him appear without human characteristics.