Robert Boylan on Synagogues in the Book of Mormon

On a scholarly paper from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute, when reviewing an anti-mormon material, biblical scholar, Theologian, and Latter Day Saint apologist, Robert Boylan wrote:

It has been a long-standing criticism of the Book of Mormon that its mention of “synagogues” represents an impossibility in the text.But Webster’s 1828 dictionary defined the term in a rather generic manner as a place of assembly for Jews, so its appearance in the Book of Mormon as an English translation is not problematic. The original scholarly consensus was that synagogues did not exist until after the destruction of the second temple in ad 70, notwithstanding the mention of synagogues in the Gospels. With the discovery of synagogues in Egypt dating to the first and second centuries bc, the date was extended to the postexilic era. And further evidence indicates an even earlier date for the origin of the synagogue.

In 621 bc, with the discovery of the Book of the Law (probably Deuteronomy), the Deuteronomic reformation occurred with Josiah at its head (see 2 Kings 22–24). At this time blood sacrifices and temple worship were centralized in Jerusalem, resulting in local congregationsof Israelites who met for worship, prayer, and instruction. [15] According to some scholars, such gatherings that took place in the chambers of city gates were the original synagogues. Furthermore, the use of certain terms such as bet haʿam (Jeremiah 39:8), miqdash-me ʿat (Ezekiel 11:16), and moʿade ʾel (Psalm 74:8) have been invoked to substantiate a preexilic date for synagogue origins.[16] (Boylan, Robert [2010] "On Not Understanding the Book of Mormon," Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011: Vol. 22 : No. 1 , Article 8. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr/vol22/iss1/8 )

Notes:

15. For a summary, see “Synagogues in the Book of Mormon,” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, ed. John W. Welch (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992), 194.

16. Lee Levine, The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years, 2nd ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005), 21–34.

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