Hugh Nibley

Biography

Hugh Nibley was born in Portland, Oregon, son of Alexander Nibley and Agnes Sloan. Among their other sons were Sloan Nibley, Richard Nibley, and Reid N. Nibley. Their father Alexander was the son of Charles W. Nibley, Presiding Bishop of the church and later member of the First Presidency. Alexander's mother, wife of Charles, was Rebecca Neibaur. Rebecca was the daughter of Alexander Neibaur, a Jewish native of Alsace who had moved to England and converted to Mormonism. She later emigrated to America. Alexander Nibley served as mission president of the Netherlands in 1906 and 1907.

At 17, Nibley served an LDS mission in Germany for two-and-a-half years, from 1927 to 1930. Nibley's memoirs, edited by his son, state as he departed for his mission, LDS Apostle Melvin Ballard told the missionaries to warn the Germans to repent or they would be burnt by fire. A woman in Karlsruhe was so angry at hearing this prophecy from Nibley that she chased him with a butcher's cleaver. When Nibley returned in 1945, he found many German cities had been destroyed, including the butcher's shop.

Nibley enrolled at University of California, Los Angeles, and earned a doctorate as a University Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley in 1938, graduating summa cum laude.

Enlisting in the United States Army for World War II, he eventually became a Master Sergeant working in military intelligence for the 101st Airborne Division of the famed "Screaming Eagles." Part of the Utah Beach division during the D-Day invasion, he landed by glider at Eindhoven as part of Operation Market Garden, and witnessed the aftermath of Nazi concentration camps. A fellow sergeant remarked, "Everything happens to Nibley, but nothing happens to him." He was fortunate in the war, as he was never captured, killed or wounded.

After his return from war, he married Phyllis Draper in September 1946, and eventually the couple had eight children.

At the request of Apostle John A. Widtsoe, he became a professor at Brigham Young University in 1946, teaching history, foreign language, and religion. Retiring from a staff position in 1975, he continued working as a professor emeritus until 1994. He maintained a small office in the Harold B. Lee Library, working on his magnum opus, titled One Eternal Round, focusing on the hypocephalus ("Facsimile 2") in the Book of Abraham. Late in life, Nibley gave authorization to have his biography written, published in 2003.

Bedridden by illness for the last two years of his life, Nibley died on 24 February 2005 in his home in Provo, Utah at the age of 94. His son Alex Nibley later edited his World War II memoirs, published in 2006. He gave the materials for his final book to FARMS in the fall of 2002, which was published in March 2010 as commemoration for what would have been his 100th birthday. Nibley's daughter Martha Beck published Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith in 2005, describing her departure from the LDS Church, and claiming in 1990 she had recovered repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse by her father. The allegations received national publicity. Nibley had long been aware of the allegations and denied them. Beck's seven siblings responded saying the accusations were false. Boyd Petersen, Nibley's biographer and son-in-law, also rejected Beck's claims.

Social and political viewpoints

Nibley was an active Democrat and an ardent conservationist, often criticizing Republican policies. He was strongly opposed to the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. He authored Approaching Zion, critiquing capitalism and socialism, and endorsing the law of consecration.

Nibley was also bothered by a perceived culture the unthinking, sometimes dogmatic application of the Brigham Young University's honor code, particularly the hairstyle and dress standards.

Nibley further criticized LDS culture for a supposed acceptance of kitsch art over high art, for sermons favoring jingle-like phrases over doctrine, and for demolishing pioneer-era structures for new construction.

Scholarship

Nibley, along with B. H. Roberts, is one of the most influential apologists within Mormonism, praised by Evangelical scholars Mosser and Owen. Nibley's research included Egyptian, Hebrew, and early Christian histories. Often taking notes in Gregg shorthand and other languages. Nibley "insisted on reading the relevant primary and secondary sources in the original and could read Arabic, Coptic, Dutch, Egyptian, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Old Norse, Russian and other languages at sight." William J. Hamblin, a colleague at BYU, said, "Nibley's methodology consists more of comparative literature than history." Douglas F. Salmon has examined in depth Nibley's comparative method, focusing on his work on Enoch.

Nibley also wrote about LDS Temples, the historical Enoch, similarities between Christian Gnostic and Latter-day Saint beliefs, and what he believed to be anti-Mormon works. He wrote a brief and somewhat emotional response to Fawn M. Brodie's No Man Knows My History, titled No Ma'am, That's Not History. He wrote many scholarly articles, including a widely referenced study of the Roman sparsiones. His Berkeley dissertation was on Roman Festival Games. He has been published in Classical Journal, Western Political Quarterly, Western Speech, Jewish Quarterly Review, Church History, Revue de Qumran, Vigililae Christianae, The Historian, The American Political Science Review, and the Encyclopaedia Judaica. Possibly his most contentious essay was "The Passing of the Church: Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme," from 1961. He shifted from scholarly to LDS publications in the mid-sixties. He researched new translations of some significant Arabic and Egyptian words. These included: Itn - which should be globe, orb, sphere, rather than the usual "disk".

Scholarly criticism

Kent P. Jackson and Ronald V. Huggins have criticized Nibley for misusing or misrepresenting sources, and poor citation, though Shirley S. Ricks has defended Nibley on these points. However, Jackson also complimented "his ability to see the big picture," and others who reviewed his works similarly stated that Nibley "does very well" in use of sources.

Nibley has also been criticized for his use of evidence drawn from widely disparate cultures and time periods without proper justification. Specifically, Douglas F. Salmon accuses him of "parallelomania" in his effort to connect the Book of Mormon to various ancient texts, noting:

The number of parallels that Nibley has been able to uncover from amazingly disparate and arcane sources is truly staggering. Unfortunately, there seems to be a neglect of any methodological reflection or articulation in this endeavor.

Students

Notable students of Nibley include, Krešimir Ćosić, Avraham Gileadi, John Gee, Anthony E. Larson, and Benjamin Urrutia.

Publications

1. Old Testament and Related Studies; ISBN 0-87579-032-1 (Hardcover, 1986)
2. Enoch the Prophet; ISBN 0-87579-047-X (Hardcover, 1986)
3. The World and the Prophets; ISBN 0-87579-078-X (Hardcover, 1987)
4. Mormonism and Early Christianity; ISBN 0-87579-127-1 (Hardcover, 1987)
5. Lehi in the Desert/The World of the Jaredites/There Were Jaredites; ISBN 0-87579-132-8 (Hardcover, 1988)
6. An Approach to the Book of Mormon; ISBN 0-87579-138-7 (Hardcover, 1988)
7. Since Cumorah; ISBN 0-87579-139-5 (Hardcover, 1988)
8. The Prophetic Book of Mormon; ISBN 0-87579-179-4 (Hardcover, 1989)
9. Approaching Zion; ISBN 0-87579-252-9 (Hardcover, 1989)
10. Ancient State: The Rulers & the Ruled; ISBN 0-87579-375-4 (Hardcover, 1991)
11. Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass: The Art of Telling Tales about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young; ISBN 0-87579-516-1 (Hardcover, 1991) (includes No, Ma'am, That's Not History)
12. Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present; ISBN 0-87579-523-4 (Hardcover, 1992)
13. Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints; ISBN 0-87579-818-7 (Hardcover, 1994)
14. Abraham in Egypt; ISBN 1-57345-527-X (Hardcover, 2000)
15. Apostles and Bishops in Early Christianity; ISBN 1-59038-389-3 (Hardcover, 2005)
16. The Message of Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment; ISBN 1-59038-539-X (Hardcover, 2006)
17. Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple; ISBN 1-60641-003-2 (Hardcover, 2008)
18. An Approach to the Book of Abraham; ISBN 1-60641-054-7 (Hardcover, 2009)
19. One Eternal Round; ISBN 1-60641-237-X (Hardcover, 2010)

Books about Nibley