Benjamin Urrutia
Benjamin Urrutia (born January 24, 1950) is an author and scholar. With
Biography
Urrutia was born in
Urrutia has also elaborated on Nibley's argument that the word
Over the years, Urrutia has written and published a number of articles, letters, poems and reviews on matters related to the work of J. R. R. Tolkien.[3]
Benjamin Urrutia contributed stories to every volume of the LDSF series – anthologies of Science Fiction with LDS themes. He edited the second[4] and third[5] volumes of the series.
Urrutia has been a book reviewer since 1970 and a film critic since 1981. As of 2017, he is a book reviewer and the principal film critic for The Peaceable Table.[6] He is a strong advocate of Christian vegetarianism.
Ideas
New Testament and Talmud
Urrutia contends that Rabbi
The
A Talmudic legend has a Rabbi meeting the Messiah at the gates of Rome, where he is binding his wounds among the homeless poor. Asked when he will be coming, the Anointed One replies: "Today!" Perhaps this means: You need not expect a future coming of the Messiah. He is here today. Look for him among the homeless, the wounded, the hungry and oppressed.[9]
In Chapter 8 of the Gospel of John, "the Jews who believed in Jesus" affirm that, being Children of Abraham, they have never been slaves. However, Jews observing the mainstream
Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament
Urrutia applied the Structuralist theories of Claude Lévi-Strauss to the first chapter of the Bible in the article "The Structure of Genesis, Chapter One."[11]
Accepting Jeff Popick's theory that the Forbidden Fruit is a symbolic reference to animal flesh, Benjamin offered an additional argument in favor of this exegesis: "Whether the serpent ... is the 'most subtle' of beasts or not, he certainly is a most carnivorous one. If Mr. Serpent taught our ancestors to eat forbidden food, he taught it by example. And nothing he eats is vegan or kosher."[12]
Urrutia found intriguing connections between the Israelite hero
Urrutia found and pointed out some interesting similarities between
Urrutia examined Kabbalistic and other sources and found evidence Yahweh was anciently considered the Son of El.[15]
Urrutia pointed out parallels between the relationship of the Nuer to the Dinka with that of the Israelites to the Canaanites, and suggested a glottochronological approach.[16]
Urrutia wrote a brief article on the Egyptian religious ritual of the Opening of the Mouth. In it, he traces common themes between the Opening of the Mouth and Psalm 51, such as opening the mouth (or of the lips, in Psalm 51), healing of broken bones, and washing the inner organs with special cleansing spices.[17]
Urrutia pointed out that there are hints in the Bible that the Biblical authors may have known that not all the sons of Zedekiah perished in the Chaldean invasion.[18]
Ancient languages
The name Mormon is explained by Urrutia as derived from the Egyptian words Mor ("love") and Mon ("firmly established").[1]
In 1984, Urrutia produced the first translation ever of the 'Spangler Nodule', an iron nodule allegedly found in Ohio in 1800 with an inscription carved on it. According to Urrutia, the text says YHWWY (which, Urrutia suggests, may be a variant of the Tetragrammaton).[19]
Contemporary issues
Urrutia was influenced by the Structuralism of Claude Lévi-Strauss, but took exception to the French anthropologist's too-easy acceptance of anti-Mormon slanders.[20]
In a review of a book that presents cases of children who have made substantial and even complete recovery from
Reception
A reviewer in The Washington Post wrote: "In general, Davenport and scholar Benjamin Urrutia translate as plainly as possible, often giving familiar phrases a contemporary lilt: 'No one can work for two bosses...' Throughout, The Logia of Yeshua freshens familiar New Testament injunctions, encouraging us to think anew about their meanings."[22]
Robert Jonas wrote in the
Professor Raphael Patai responded to Urrutia's ideas, and the two scholars had a lively dialogue for two issues of American Anthropologist. [24]
Publications
- ISBN 1-887178-70-8
See also
- Baptism of Jesus
- Christian vegetarianism
- Jesuism
- Josephus on Jesus
- People with Basque ancestors
- Urrutia
References
- ^ a b Benjamin Urrutia, "The Name Connection", New Era, June 1983, 39
- ^ See Bruce Warren, "A Cautious Interpretation of a Mesoamerican Myth: Reflections Upon Olmec-Jaredite Roots," in the Newsletter and Proceedings of the Society for Early Historic Archaeology, Number 154, July 1983. Warren accepts Urrutia's connection between the Olmec and the Jaredite peoples, and more specifically the meaning of Shiblon as "Lion Cub." This he uses to make a connection between Shiblon and Ixbalanque, one of the Hero Twins of Maya Mythology. "The consonants ... of Shiblon are equivalent to the consonants of the first part of Ixbalanque ('ix' is pronounced 'ish')." The names are as close semantically as they are phonetically, as Ixbalanque means "Jaguar Cub."
- ^ See Mythlore from 1978 to 1986, e.g.
- ISBN 0-9614960-0-2
- ISBN 0-9614960-1-0
- ^ VegetarianFriends.net
- ^ Benjamin Urrutia, "Pilgrimage," The Peaceable Table, October 2008. [1]
- ^ The Logia of Yeshua, logion 2 and note 2.
- ^ Benjamin Urrutia, "Gems," The Peaceable Table, March 2009.
- ^ Benjamin Urrutia, Review of Guided by the Faith of Christ, by Stephen R. Kaufman. The Peaceable Table, November 2008.
- ^ In Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 8:3–4 (1973)
- ^ Review by Benjamin Urrutia of The Real Forbidden Fruit by Jeff Popick. The Peaceable Table, March 2007.
- ^ "Family Conflicts," Mythlore 41 (1985).
- ^ "The Legendary Nimrod and the Historical Amenhotep III," Newsletter and Proceedings of the Society for Early Historic Archaeology, 155 (1983)
- ^ "El or Yahweh?" American Anthropologist, December 1972. "About El, Asherah, Yahweh and Anath," American Anthropologist, August 1973.
- ^ Man, the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 8:3, September 1973
- ^ Urrutia, "Psalm 51 and the Egyptian Opening of the Mouth Ceremony," in Sarah Israelit-Groll (editor), Scripta Hierosolymitana – Egyptological Studies – Publications of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Magnes Press, pages 222–223 (1982).
- ISBN 0-87579-600-1
- ^ Benjamin Urrutia, "Translation of the Spangler Nodule," Newsletter and Proceedings of the Society for Early Historic Archaeology, number 155 (1984).
- ^ Benjamin Urrutia, "Lévi-Strauss and Mormonism," American Anthropologist, 76, June 1974.
- ^ Review of Mother Warriors – The Peaceable Table, January 2009.
- ^ Book Review of The Logia of Yeshua in The Washington Post, April 7, 1996
- ^ Book Review by Robert Jonas of The Logia of Yeshua – Shambhala Sun, September 1996 – page 71
- ^ See American Anthropologist, December 1972 and August 1973, articles by Raphael Patai.
External links
- The Peaceable Table, including a number of articles, cartoons, poems, reviews and stories by Benjamin Urrutia, plus this classic interview:
- Article by Benjamin Urrutia:Interview with Master Yoda."
- [2]
- According to the website [3] Archived December 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, there are eight people in the USA named Benjamin Urrutia. This one and seven others.
- Dialogue, A Journal of Mormon Thought website
- Urrutia, Benjamin, at Mormon SF Bibliography: Poetry
- The Lewis Legacy, Kathryn Lindskoog, The C. S. Lewis Foundation for Truth in Publishing June 1, 1997