Mormon writers and those interested in Mormon writing are about to gather for the 2008 annual conference of the Association for Mormon Letters, to be held Saturday, March 8, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., mostly at the Ernest L. Wilkinson Student Center at Brigham Young University.

The theme is "The Scriptures as Literature, Literature as Scripture."

The keynote speaker is Harold Rawlings, a noted Bible scholar. A prolific Baptist pastor, author and lecturer, he operates the Rawlings Foundation in Florence, Ky. He holds a doctorate from Louisiana Baptist University. He has collected one of the nation's finest private collections of old Bibles and manuscripts, many of which he brings to illustrate his lectures.

Rawlings is an expert on the problems of various translators of the Bible, including John Wycliffe, William Tyndale and modern translators who have met considerable resistance in trying to modernize the Bible with language changes.

His book, "Trial By Fire: The Struggle to Get the Bible into English," is a popular study of the process of translation. He has also written "Basic Baptist Beliefs." Rawlings will speak on "The History of the Bible" from 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium.

Some of the speakers on Saturday morning include LDS writers John Hall ("BYU's New Testament Commentary Project); Ron Esplin and Bob Woodford ("The Joseph Smith Papers Project"); William Brugger ("Mormon Maritime Migration in Meter"); and Don Parry ("Isaiah's Use of Double Meanings in the Song of Suffering Servant — Isaiah 5:3).

From 12:30-2 p.m., there will be readings of student creative works and a luncheon and awards meeting.

Afternoon speakers include Kenny Mayes ("Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon"); Scot Bayles "(Intertextuality in Scripture"); Alan Mitchell ("This New Song — Literary Qualities of the Doctrine and Covenants"); and Neal Kramer ("The Narrative Function of Nehor").

Susan Howe of BYU's English Department will moderate a panel on "The Writings of Clinton W. Larsen." Members of the panel include Bruce Jorgensen and Marilyn Brown Porter.

Other afternoon speakers will be Jeff Swift ("Last Chance: Moroni's Motivations and Epistle Rhetoric"); Dallin Lewis ("Hearken, all ye people: The Doctrine and Covenants as an Epic"); and Stephanie Johnson ("Book of Mormon as a Complex Literary Work").

The convention is free, but the luncheon is $15 ($20 at the door). For registration and information about other speakers, see the full schedule of the conference, aml@mormonletters.org.

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E-mail: dennis@desnews.com