Author Archives: A. Keith Thompson

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About A. Keith Thompson

A. Keith Thompson LLB (Hons); M Jur; PhD is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, and teaches constitutional law at Notre Dame’s Sydney Law School. He also practices commercial and property law in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia. He formerly served 20 years as International Legal Counsel for the Church in the Pacific and Africa Areas and has also served in the Church as Bishop, Stake President, and Mission President. He and his wife, Anita, have eight children and six grandchildren so far.

Nephite insights into Israelite Worship Practices before the Babylonian Captivity

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Abstract: General historical consensus holds that synagogues originated before the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, and therefore probably originated during the Babylonian captivity. The suggestion in Philo and Josephus that synagogues may have originated during the exodus was discredited by some historians in the 17th century, yet the Book of Mormon speaks of synagogues, sanctuaries, and places of worship in a manner which suggests that Lehi and his party brought some form of synagogal worship with them when they left Jerusalem around 600 BC. This essay revisits the most up to date scholarship regarding the origin of the synagogue and suggests that the Book of Mormon record provides ample reason to look for the origins of the synagogue much earlier that has become the academic custom. Continue reading →