PRELIMINARY REPORTS

Preliminary Reports are short notes or tentative papers, not yet ready for publication, but reflecting substantial research. They are made available to be critiqued and improved by others in the field or to facilitate further research.

1.     Gary Gillum, "Scripture Index to Hugh Nibley's Works: Book of Mormon," (60 pp.) . This index lists all of the Book of Mormon passages referred to in any of Hugh Nibley's publications or manuscripts.

2.     Stephen Ricks, "Liturgy and Cosmogony: The Ritual Use of Creation Accounts in the Ancient Near East," (7 pp.) .

3.     Robert F. Smith, "Shakespeare and the Book of Mormon," (8 pp.), an extensive analysis of the ancient roots, instead of Hamlet's, of Lehi's description of death as the "silent grave from which no traveler can return."

4.     John W. Welch, "The Judicial Process in the Trial of Abinadi," (36 pp.) This lawyerly look at Abinadi's trial in the context of ancient Israelite law shows it as much more complex and much less despotic than seminary classes might lead us to believe.

BOOK NOTICES

Noel Reynolds reports that his collection of essays further analyzing authorship in the Book of Mormon will be published by the BYU Religious Studies Center.

Students of chiasmus who read Italian may be interested in the publication of Il Chiasmo Nella Bibbia by A. DiMarco by Casa Editrice Marietti, Torino. It retails for 10,500 lire, including postage and handling.

Also, Jack Welch's Chiasmus in Antiquity, described in the last newsletter, has emerged from its German printer. All of its essay are in English, and it covers chiastic examples not only in the scriptures but in such languages as Sumero-Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ugaritic, and ancient Greek and Latin. Foreign exchange rates and the technical nature of this printing dictates a retail of DM 95 or arout $42. Through FARMS you may order books for $29. Allow time for delivery. DEADLINE FOR ORDERS: DECEMBER 31, 1981.

Reprints of individual chapters may become available in the future as part of the Reprint Series.

Robert Smith's bibliography and index in this volume is an unexpected boon. If, for example, you wonder if the creation story in Genesis might be chiastic, Bob's index would provide you with a long list of articles or books on the point.

The broad support FARMS has received from so many good people is a promise for the future that even the Foundation's most ambitious dreams can someday be accomplished. We hope that you will want to be part of making that happen.

Please plan to include FARMS in your year-end charitable giving, and contact Jack Welch if you have any particular tax planning needs. Because FARMS deliberately keeps its overhead to the minimum, almost every dollar can go straight to end­result work.

Our current goal is to find one hundred people to give $100 each. Be a FARMS Centurion and know that you are advancing scriptural research.

An encouraging number of people have volunteered to become regional directors. What does a regional director do? (1) Places FARMS literature in appropriate outlets such as Seventies bookstores and Institutes; (2) sends in the names of individuals interested in scriptural research, especially the Book of Mormon, who should be on the Newsletter mailing list; and (3) contacts individuals who might contribute financially to the effort.

To date, some of them include Randy Spackman of Orange County, California; Ted Hilton, of LaCañada, California; Lew Cramer of Los Angeles; David Isom of Denver; Marlin Dearden in the Connecticut/New York area; Russell Anderson, Hillsboro, Oregon; Diane Wirth, Danville, California; James McAlpin, Rome, Georgia.

Several others have made tentative commitments. Let us know if you'd be interested in this kind of service. Get started now and we'll send you more information and details.