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By Kent Larsen
FARMS Incorporated into New BYU Institute
PROVO, UTAH -- President Merrill J. Bateman recently announced the creation
of the Brigham Young University Institute for the Study and Preservation of
Ancient Religious Texts, which embraces BYU's Foundation for Ancient
Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) and the work of the former Center for
the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (CPART).
FARMS will be the name under which the Institute undertakes projects,
publications, and public relations and transacts business focused on topics
and audiences associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, said Daniel Oswald, executive director of the new Institute. The
infrastructure of FARMS-in publications, operations, development, and
administration-now provides the supporting infrastructure for the Institute.
"The establishment of this Institute represents BYU's commitment to the
preservation and understanding of religious texts," said President Bateman.
"Because of BYU's efforts, people of many religious traditions now have
access to ancient records that were previously unavailable. With this new
Institute, our hope is to increase access to many more of these rare
documents."
The production of the Dead Sea Scrolls on CD-ROM, the Islamic Translation
Series, and the image-acquisition and electronic publication pioneered by
CPART are noteworthy examples of the work being done at BYU, Oswald said.
"The Institute will now be the university framework in which these projects
find a comfortable and productive home."
The Institute will direct a number of projects that come under one of two
major divisions: (1) the study of ancient scripture and related subjects
(e.g., traditional FARMS research on the Book of Mormon, the Book of
Abraham, and early Christianity) and (2) the preservation, translation, and
dissemination of ancient religious texts (e.g., the Dead Sea Scrolls and
other Jewish texts and the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative).
Source:
FARMS Incorporated into New BYU Institute
Mormon Village 9May01 D3
By Cami Hurst
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