INTRODUCTION TO THE AKLATAN, PART I

Recommendations

Hello! Shalom! Aloha! Mabuhay!

If this is your first visit to Modern Apocrypha, I have only two recommendations for continuing on with minimal confusion:

1) Please begin with the first introductory post (found HERE) and work your way forward. Almost all the posts on this blog flow chronologically and will make more sense with the background and context of previous ones. Jumping in anywhere might be disorienting.

2) Please read along in the texts posted off to the right. I try not to summarize too much in the commentary and discussion, and being at least somewhat familiar with what we're discussing or I'm commenting on will be most beneficial and edifying for all involved. Plus, going along with the theme of this blog, any hidden truths to be brought to light will be found within the text itself and not necessarily within my ramblings.

Okay, fine, three recommendations:
3) Please read with an open heart, mind, and spirit. See what truths you can find in these works--ones which speak to you. Namaste : )

Sunday, April 27, 2014

INTRODUCTION TO THE AKLATAN, PART I

The Aklatan is the most recent of the texts I'll be discussing in this blog, and probably one of the most important, or at least most relevant, to LDS audiences. First published in 2007, it has been referred to as the Book of Mormon of the Philippines, as the text itself and it's publication have close parallels to that of the Book of Mormon--ministering of heavenly beings, miraculous discovery and translation, dispersion and gathering of lost Israel, ancient "Christian" prophets, visitation of a resurrected Christ, prophecy of the latter days, etc. The publisher, however, is a self-proclaimed lifelong Catholic.

The name, Aklatan, (pronounced a-KLAT-an) is Tagalog for "library" or "collection of books", and is the equivalent of the the English word "bible", which itself comes from the Greek biblia, meaning "books", since the Bible is a collection of dozens of "books"--writings, histories, letters, etc. Also, in some places you'll see the Aklatan referred to as Ang Aklatan; ang is simply the definite article, or "the" in English. I personally prefer to drop it.

I'll be covering the good majority of the history of the Aklatan along with the available text, but if you're interested, the official website can be found HERE.