Almost since his boyhood, Hugh Nibley has been interested in scholarship of the highest order. As a teacher, he has inspired others to become scholars themselves. And as a writer, he has opened doors to passages and rooms that others will be exploring for years to come.

This second of two volumes of essays honoring Hugh Nibley includes scholarly papers based on what the authors have learned from Nibley. Nearly every major subject that Dr. Nibley has encompassed in his vast learning and scholarly production is represented here by at least one article. Topics include the sacrament covenant in Third Nephi, the Lamanite view of Book of Mormon history, external evidences of the Book of Mormon, proper names in the Book of Mormon, the brass plates version of Genesis, the composition of Lehi’s family, ancient burials of metal documents in stone boxes, repentance as rethinking, Mormon history’s encounter with secular modernity, and Judaism in the 20th century.

The two volumes contain papers on subject areas that include the Bible and the ancient Near East, early and Eastern Christianity and formative Judaism, aspects of kingship and the sacred, the religion and society of Asia, the Classics, the scriptures of the Latter-day Saints, and modern themes dealing with religion, literature, and society. Especially notable are papers by world-renowned scholars, including Drs. Aziz Atiya, James Charlesworth, Cyrus Gordon, Jacob Milgrom, Jacob Neusner, and Raphael Patai, whose work in these volumes attests to the wide respect in which Dr. Nibley’s work, as well as his personal example, is held. Finally, these volumes include papers by authors representing the second or the third generations of Nibley’s influence, an influence that will surely endure through many generations of future scholars.