Roger was asked to moderate the lectures of some BYU Religion professors who were speaking at a conference at the University of Erfurt in Germany. We spent a week doing research, then interrupted the trip to meet the professors at the Berlin airport, show them the sites of Berlin and then attend the conference.
It was really fun. They are very interesting and we had them one or two at a time in our car (they rented two other cars so along with our car we had three cars to keep together as we traveled around). We would ask them questions about their current projects and then listen in amazement.
The most interesting to me were the two (Gerrit Dirkmaat and Michael MacKay) who had just finished their new book, From Darkness Into Light about the new research on Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon. I immediately ordered it on Kindle and finished reading it just this week. I highly recommend it. You will learn why it's not crazy that Joseph Smith put the seerstone in his hat to read it (yes, he really did that). And you'll also learn new things about why Joseph Smith sent some of the Egyptian characters to New York City to be looked at by scholars.
Do these look like professors???
A more dignified view of the professors.
We ate a delicious meal at a restaurant in Weimar.
Getting ready for the conference in Erfurt, Germany
sponsored by IAHR (International Association of the History of Religion)
The new book from Deseret Book, available on Amazon
No, I don't get commissions :)
http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Light-Michael-Hubbard-Mackay-ebook/dp/B00YD61FWO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445886299&sr=1-1&keywords=from+darkness+into+light
I'm so glad you got to talk to those neat professors and take them around Berlin. They couldn't ask for better tour guides than you and Dad! I am definitely interested in that book. There was a fascinating article in the Oct 2015 Ensign about the translation of the Book of Mormon. I found the topic of Joseph's seer stones fascinating and am grateful for the information shared in the article. Have you read it?
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