"For Their Good Have I Written Them": The Onomastic Allusivity and Literary Function of 2 Nephi 25:8

by Matthew L. Bowen

Overview

Abstract: Nephi's writings exhibit a distinctive focus on "good" and divine "goodness," reflecting the meaning of Nephi's Egyptian name (derived from nfr) meaning "good," "goodly," "fine," or "fair." Beyond the inclusio playing on his own name in terms of "good" and "goodness" (1 Nephi 1:1; 2 Nephi 33:3–4, 10, 12), he uses a similar inclusio (2 Nephi 5:30–31; 25:7–8) to frame and demarcate a smaller portion of his personal record in which he incorporated a substantial portion of the prophecies of Isaiah (2 Nephi 6–24). This smaller inclusio frames the Isaianic material as having been incorporated into Nephi's "good" writings on the small plates with an express purpose: the present and future "good" of his and his brothers' descendants down to the latter days.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940186561927
Publisher:	Interpreter Foundation
Publication date:	09/22/2022
Series:	Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship , #53
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	357 KB

About the Author

Matthew L. Bowen was raised in Orem, Utah, and graduated from Brigham Young University. He holds a PhD in Biblical Studies from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and is currently an associate professor in religious education at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. He is also the author of Name as Key-Word: Collected Essays on Onomastic Wordplay and The Temple in Mormon Scripture (Salt Lake City: Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2018). With Aaron P. Schade, he is the coauthor of The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days (Provo, UT; Salt Lake City: Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, 2021). He and his wife (the former Suzanne Blattberg) are the parents of three children: Zachariah, Nathan, and Adele.