Professor Andrew Skinner at the Sept 2006 gathering

Andrew Skinner, Dean of Religious Education at BYU and previous chair of the department of Ancient Scripture, spoke on From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the DaVinci Code–What's of Value for Latter-day Saints. Dr. Skinner used his knowledge of archaeological finds and ancient texts through the millennia to tell us what's of interest and what's not.

One point that was made was that if we want to know what's true about such subjects, we do NOT go to popular novels or Hollywood media.

(2006) We have (had?) an audio recording of his talk but are - were -experimenting with a web space-friendly format. (2015) We will look for the audio. We know the format.

Professor Skinner's Background updated 2015:

Andrew C. Skinner is a professor of ancient scripture and Near Eastern studies.

He holds the Richard L. Evans Professorship of Religious Understanding at Brigham Young University, where he has served as dean of Religious Education and as chair of the department of Ancient Scripture at BYU. He was the first executive director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.

A member of the international editorial group that translated the Dead Sea Scrolls and author or coauthor of more than two hundred articles and books on religious and historical topics, Dr. Skinner taught at the BYU Jerusalem Center and was its associate director.

He has served in the Church in several capacities: bishop, counselor in the Israel district presidency, member of the Correlation Evaluation Committee, and member of the Sunday School General Board.

He and his wife, Janet Corbridge Skinner, are the parents of six children and grandparents of seven.

Publications include: Jerusalem: The Eternal City; New Testament Apostles Testify of Christ; Discoveries in the Judaean Desert: The Unidentified Fragments from Qumran Cave 4 (which is an analysis of all the unidentified Hebrew and Aramaic Dead Sea Scroll texts); Scriptural Parables for the Latter Days, The Savior's Final Week, Prophets, Priests, and Kings: Old Testament Figures Who Symbolize Christ, and Gethsemane.

One notable publication is: Temple Worship (20 Truths That Will Bless Your Life). Also he co-authored, with D. Kelly Ogden, a "Verse by Verse" series of volumes on the Old Testament, New Testament, and Book of Mormon.

A Special Election was held; New Officers elected.