One Eternal Round

The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley #19

by Hugh Nibley, Michael Rhodes, Michael Lyon

One Eternal Round is the culmination of Hugh Nibleys thoughst on the book of Abraham and represents over fifteen years of research and writing. The volume includes penetrating insights into Egyptian pharaohs and medieval Jewish and Islamic traditions about Abraham; Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian myths; the Aztec calendar stone; Hopi Indian ceremonies; and early Jewish and Christian apocrypha, as well as the relationship of myth, ritual, and history. The final groundbreaking chapter delves into geometry and mathematical relationships depicted on Facsimile 2. All these are woven together into a magnificent tapestry of evidence demonstrating that the book of Abraham and its facsimiles represent actual ancient materials and traditions. This book would not have come to fruition without the efforts of co-author Michael D. Rhodes. It will include illustrations by Michael P. Lyon.

Genres: Lds, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity

640 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2010

About the author

Hugh Winder Nibley was one of Mormonism's most celebrated scholars. Nibley is notable for his extensive research and publication on ancient languages and culture, his vigorous defense of doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and for frankly discussing what he saw as the shortcomings of the LDS people and culture.

A prolific author and professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, he was fluent in over ten languages, including Classical Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Egyptian, Coptic, Arabic, German, French, English, and Spanish languages. He also studied Dutch and Russian during World War II.

In addition to his efforts as a scholar, Nibley was well known for writings and lectures on LDS scripture and doctrinal topics, many of which were published in LDS Church magazines. His book “An Approach to the Book of Mormon” was used as a lesson manual for the LDS Church in 1957.

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong when I only give it 3 (I would say 3.5, but can't do 1/2s) out of 5 stars, it's filled with a wealth of fascinating information and theories. Nibley again amazed me with his encyclopedic knowledge that would take me 3 lifetimes to match. I loved the subject matter - this is the most comprehensive treatment of facsimile #2 in the Book of Abraham ever written, and anyone who's read much Nibley knows his fascination with and deep study of the Book of Abraham. Indeed, Nibley here gives us his characteristic massive breadth of comparative studies on a new level, and in parts of this book his brilliance really shines. The reason I give it only 3.5 stars doesn't reflect the quality of writing and research as much as it reflects the circumstances which led to the final form of this book. Dr. Nibley passed away 5 years before this book was published, and Michael Rhodes was left with thousands of pages of manuscripts and research to organize into a cohesive book in a way that would stay true to its original author. I applaud him for his efforts, but as a result the book does feel a little disjointed at times. For much of the book I felt like I was getting loads of information dumped on me rather than being presented with well organized, interesting arguments and theories. Yes, I know that a lot of Nibley's works can feel that way to some extent due to the fact that he knows so much, but this just felt not quite fully organized. Again, I'm grateful to Dr. Rhodes for working so hard on such a difficult task in order to bring us this book, and I don't mean to belittle his hard work. I honestly don't know that it could have been done better without straying too far from Nibley's original work. In summary, the book's subject matter was deep, broad, and fascinating, but overall it felt a little disorganized at times. However, I certainly recommend it to Nibley fans. It is his final and perhaps most daring work - it's just a shame he wasn't alive to finish it all himself.

[Kevin Christensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to One Eternal Round after having read all of Nibley's other books, and several Rhodes essays. The book has been a long time coming, and for me, it was worth the wait. Rhodes provides and informative and touching introduction on the history of the manuscripts, and his decision to complete the volume. His own preparation is remarkable. We get chapters the history of the facsimilies, the critics, and then chapters providing a figure by figure interpretation of the Hypocephalus. We get surprising connections between the Book of Breathings and the Hypocephalus that oought not seem so surprising because, after all, they come from the same collection. The author's trace connections in ascension literature, and then, other interesting gadgets that performed similar functions, showing a long standing ancient pattern. I'd read an earlier version of the chapter on ties to Alexander the Great, and was pleased to see a formal version here. Then a closing chapter on sacred geometry embodied in the Hypocephalus, and some useful appendices, with other useful images of hypocelali.

I loved it, but as a Nibleyophile, that was a forgone conclusion

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! A little dense in places, but chock-full of evidences and interesting historical facts and references.

[Brent Winslow · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I turned 8 - I received my first triple combination. During my younger years, whenever I had down time at church or during family scripture study, I would turn to the maps or the illustrations in Abraham. Nibley's One Eternal Round provides an exhaustive description of the hypocephalus or Facsimile 2. On first read, some portions were esoteric, but overall the treatment is approachable, thorough and pleasant to read.

[L Gustafson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great read. It is dense but every chapter was insightful. A background of egyptian religion would be helpful to have before reading this. Nibley's other books about the Book of Abraham should probably be read before this one but even without reading those other books, it will change the way you look at the book of Abraham and in particular, the hypocephali. I was sad when it was over.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not about golf, come to find out… but there were still some interesting parts. It was not the typical Nibley as we all know and love, but it certainly explained the J.S. hypocephalus thoroughly! I read the book on a kindle and wished I had a copy of the facsimiles to reference every time I read. So I would recommend having a reference copy on hand.

[Bubba · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this book six stars if I could. If you have ever looked at Facsimile 2 and wondered what you were looking at, read this. Additional insight is provided to the entire Pearl of Great Price.

[Dylan Bates]

I mean, Nibley is the GOAT on this kind of stuff. Learned so much about Egypt and other parts of ancient history. It is mostly anthropology with a little bit of apologetics sprinkled through like little Easter eggs.

[Kathy Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, but over my head in many instances. It would be helpful to have a background in Egyptology and classical studies in order to understand more.

[Jonathan Waite · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating academic overview of Dr. Nibley's writings on Facsimile #2 from the Pearl of Great Price. Those not accustomed to Nibley's writings might be hard pressed to follow his sometimes stream-of-consciousness books. It was difficult for me to follow where he was going with some of his lines of reasoning. And at the end of this book, I don't believe he succinctly put together an impenetrable defense of Joseph Smith's translation. Then again, that is the problem with historical artifacts -- there aren't many easy answers. Nibley did provide some fascinating tie-ins with MANY other historical religious, scientific and cultural artifacts/items/customs, that i don't see how other academics can say "Smith made this all up". Either you have to say he aped this off some other academic (which in itself is unbelievable given the amount of information available in the early 1800s) or some other source. In the latter case, he'd have to have some kind of Ph.D. background to put most of it together. In any case, the book has very fascinating parts and some tedious sections. I don't believe Nibley is for everyone as he sometimes assumes you are as knowledgeable as he is in many of the topics he covers (which I'm not). I guess for the nebulous nature of his defense of Fac #2, i gave this 3 stars instead of 5 but feel like I understand the hypocephalus and facsimile a lot better than I did before. Overall, i do love Nibley's tie-in he constantly makes in his writings (in this and other books) of the temple as the microcosm of the universe and the historical theme throughout times and cultures of the annual gathering/rite and its relationship to the temple.

[Rich Hasler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am never sure what to say. This is one of the great books I have read and is my second time reading it. I have read books by Hugh Nibley all of my life and consider it a blessing to have lived when he lived, studied and shared the incredible observations and insights of his brilliant and devoted mind with us. I met him once and consider it to be one of the great moments of my life. My one regret was not to have taken his classes when I studied at BYU. What a mind and what a credit, this last book of his is! Michael Rhoades did an amazing job of collating and completing this work after Nibley’s death!

When I read the things he wrote, I cannot but think how powerful and liberating his, positive study and accepting approach to these subjects is. Meanwhile, the pseudo intellectuals who spend their time striving to tear down revealed truths shrink and shrivel into a whining oblivion.

This time I read every figure explanation and every footnote and got so much more from it. I always suffer depression when I finish a book so I will grieve and in a few months, start it again, I am sure...

[Terry Earley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could not give this 4 stars because I can never fully comprehend the mind of Nibley.

He spends so many early pages on the details of the hypocephalus, that I finally had to shamelessly scan and skip ahead. Once fully engaged, this book really grabbed me, however.

The amazing continuity of human comprehension is not readily apparent until one begins to open ancient history and finds that the same spiritual concepts keep repeating themselves in different forms as cycles, driving one to the obvious conclusion that they must have had a common, higher and unifying source.

That common source can only be God Himself. Over the centuries, the message gets garbled and confused, but Nibley shows us some of the common threads if we are patient to look for them.

This book is only for the patient reader. Still, a treasure trove of one of the great minds.

[Karl Nehring · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although there are things about this book I wish were better -- for example, I wish it had more of an introduction and even more so, a conclusion or summation of some sort -- it truly does fit into the category of "amazing," and thus earns a full five stars. There is an amazing amount of scholarship on display here; if anything, there really is too much. This book could have been much larger, or better yet, could have been broken down into several volumes. Dr. Nibley simply ran out of time. But thanks to the heroic efforts of Michael Rhodes, we have at least this imposing volume, which certainly gives us plenty to chew on for a long time to come.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Draws from all of the expected sources (Egyptian funerary, early Christian, classical Greek, kabbalistic, arabic, coptic, etc.) and some totally arcane and unexpected ones (alchemy, numerology, geometry) to cast light on the J.S. hypocephalus. A final flourish of thought on the Book of Abraham and its relationship to the temple from one who has studied the subject intently for the better part of 50 years.

[Ernie Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This undoubtedly one of the most marvelous books I've ever read. It was mostly compiled but never published prior to Hugh Nibley's death. It took Michael Rhodes, one of Nibley's prodigy students four years to compile into a book. This book is not for the lazy reader. It is mostly about facsimile 2 in the Book of Abraham. I applaud Michael Rhodes. We were in the same ward in Berlin in the late 1970s.

[Glasdow Teacosy]

As a compendium of all of Nibley's various notes written for a book he never finished before he died, it is best to think of this final version as a collection of disparate essays with a common theme. Sometimes, in fact, I feel they are more like research notes Nibley had planned to pull from when writing the book, as opposed to being presented as the actual book. I wonder if my impression will change as I move further into the book, but for now this is how the book feels to me.

[Deila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like reading a textbook, but of course I loved it and pushed through, savoring the new thoughts and marking them. Definitely one to read again in order to remember all of the great information. Nibley is one of my favorites because I can re-read him and learn more.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant insights and symbolism. Thank you, D. Lassetter for recommending this gem!

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but took a lot of perserverance. Very well researched--going through the index and reference section in the back was fascinating.

[Brett Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredible. Complex. Thorough. Convincing. Pure Nibley.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very deep and thought provoking. Will probably need to read it several times to truly understand. (kind of like reading the scriptures in that sense)