During The Process, Davis Realized Her Syllabus Could Have Been In Icelandic And No Student Would Have Known the Difference |
Davis told the Mormon Tabernacle Enquirer that just over 15
years ago the angel Moroni visited her while she was on sabbatical in upstate
New York. “This glorious personage appeared to me,” said Davis, “so of course
the first thing I did was the handshake test.” Davis said that after passing
the handshake test, “the angel told me that I was to translate the sealed
portion of the Book of Mormon.”
What the angel told Davis next was the most troubling part
of the visit. “The angel told me,” recounted Davis, “that my calling was that
of Isaiah as recording in chapter 6.” Davis explained that she was told to “Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye
indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their
ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with
their ears, and understand with their heart.”
The command to reveal but in such a way that no one would
see it posed quite the vexing problem for Davis. She spent many sleepless
nights trying to figure out how to do something so paradoxical. “The answer came
suddenly one day,” explained Davis. “There I was in class, you know, toward the
end of the semester, and three students came up to me with questions that were
clearly answered in the syllabus. And then it hit me: no one will ever find the
scripture I’ve been commanded to translate if I just put it there!”
Davis has experimented with where to put this additional
scripture in her course syllabus. “At first I sprinkled it around, you know, in
case someone started to read, but then I just put huge chunks of it anywhere,
since no one even pretends to look it over!” Davis said that “at this point it
doesn’t matter where I put it, but if the portion is really moving or powerful
or spiritually compelling, I put it in the ‘Assignments Deadlines’ section
since clearly no one ever looks there.”
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