Plain and Precious Things: The Temple Religion of the Book of Mormon's Visionary Men

This book is a historico-literary analysis of the Book of Mormon, focusing on the book of First Nephi. Nephi's small plates are a time capsule from the sixth century B.C., containing a "loser's eye view" of religion that strongly contrasts with the ideology of the Jerusalem establishment of the time. Lehi's dream and Nephi's interpretive vision are visionary-literary accounts of the two temple ordinances at the heart of the worship of Lehi's 'visionary men': the Peace Offerings and the Day of Atonement. Learning to see and understand those ordinances opens up the rest of the Book of Mormon, and ancient scripture in general.