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| − | [[The Book of Mormon]] > [[Alma]] > [[Alma 32|Chapter 32]]
| + | #REDIRECT [[Alma 32:6-16]] |
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| − | | [[Alma 32:6-10|Previous (Alma 32:6-10)]] || || [[Alma 32:16-20|Next (Alma 32:16-20)]]
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| − | == Questions ==
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| − | * ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add questions''
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| − | == Lexical notes ==
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| − | * ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add lexical notes''
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| − | == Exegesis ==
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| − | ===Verse 11===
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| − | Just as in [[Alma 32:10|verse 10]], Alma presents a structural tension in his second rhetorical question: while the rhetorical question he asks makes an appeal to absolute reason, his "I would ask" and his "do ye suppose" together ground the question in the situational reality of the missionary encounter. That is, there is a tension between the absolute, non-situational reason one should employ in thinking the question being asked, and yet Alma is careful to keep things located immediately in the situation in which the question is asked. This tension has been building, of course, since [[Alma 32:9|verse 9]], and it will come to a firt fruition in verse 12; thereafter it will guide the interpretation of the remainder of the chapter (see the commentary for [[Alma 32:8|verses 8-10]]).
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| − | Moreover, if the content of the previous verse also embodies the same sort of tension by intertwining the concrete act of worship with the abstract idea of a kind of absolute worship, the same is accomplished in this verse. Verse 10 at once points to and subverts the concrete reality of ''place'' in the act of worship, while the present verse at once points to and subverts the concrete reality of ''time'' in the same. That is, together, these two verses underscore the absolute necessity of a concrete place and time for the concrete act of worship, and yet in their very nature as rhetorical questions, they seem together to imply that worship is something abstract, a sort of broader way of being rather than a concrete act. This tension, however, is left off at this point until [[Alma 33:2]], while the remainder of the present chapter deals with the structural tension discussed in the paragraph above.
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| − | ===Verse 12===
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| − | As Alma abandons the question of the nature of worship, he confirms strictly the structural tension embodied in the two rhetorical questions he has just asked. Curiously, he here ties that tension directly to the Zoramite poor's being "cast out of your synagogues." That is, Alma suggests that there are two results of their losing their place of worship: they might become "humble" (concrete, face-to-face), and they might "learn wisdom" (abstract, non-situational). But lest this tension be thought overly unique, there is a good chance that Alma has in mind something like the wisdom saying of the Old Testament: "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (see [[Job 28:28]]; [[Ps 111:10]]; [[Prov 1:7]]; [[Prov 9:10|9:10]]). The meaning of this common biblical phrase is perhaps a place to begin thinking about this verse.
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| − | == Related links ==
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| − | * ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add related links''
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| − | ----
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| − | {|
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| − | | [[Alma 32:6-10|Previous (Alma 32:6-10)]] || || [[Alma 32:16-20|Next (Alma 32:16-20)]]
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| − | |}
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