HUGH NIBLEY: A QUIET GIANT WHO SAW THROUGH THE ROBES
🧙♂️ HUGH NIBLEY: A QUIET GIANT WHO SAW THROUGH THE ROBES
Posted on The True Remnant Blog
Dr. Hugh Nibley at BYU—surrounded by dusty volumes, sacred echoes, and a subtle fire in his eyes.
🤝 A Word Before We Begin
Let me say this right up front:
The Church has done a lot of good. There have been some brilliant minds, beautiful families, faithful Saints who truly love the Lord. I’ve walked beside many of them.
One of the men I’ve always respected—truly a hero of mine—is Hugh Nibley.
He was a scholar. A spiritual man. A temple-focused truth seeker who seemed to say what he wanted, but still had to walk the line. He spoke carefully, even when his words burned.
This post isn’t to tear down—but to study. To ask the honest question:
“Who did Hugh Nibley really align with? Brigham and the leaders since? Or Joseph Smith and the original restoration?”
Let’s take a look.
⚖️ Not a Company Man
There’s a strange thing that happens when a man of God walks through the halls of Babylon.
He learns to smile quietly.
He learns to speak in riddles and chiasms.
And sometimes—just sometimes—he turns over the tables and calls out the false priesthood in plain view.
That’s what Hugh Nibley did.
He worked at BYU. He taught religion. But don’t let that fool you.
He saw through the whole system.
🏛 The Robes of a False Priesthood
At a graduation ceremony, looking out over the caps and gowns, Nibley said:
“These are the black robes of a false priesthood.”
People laughed.
But he wasn’t joking.
Nibley saw how education had become its own religion—offering degrees like sacraments, praising titles instead of truth, and dressing it all up in borrowed temple symbolism.
He wasn’t impressed by credentials. He wanted wisdom. Consecration. Godliness.
📖 A Man of the Restoration
What made Nibley different?
He didn’t just believe in Joseph Smith—he studied him.
He dove into ancient texts and found temple patterns in the Book of the Dead. He saw Hebrew rituals mirrored in LDS endowments. He found early Christianity buried under Roman rubble—and he brought it to light.
He once said:
“The endowment is a ritual drama in which the ordinances of exaltation are presented in symbolic form.”
That’s not your standard Sunday School answer.
That’s a man digging through millennia to defend what Joseph revealed in the cornfields of America.
🔄 Nibley and Brigham — A Different Path
Let’s be honest.
Nibley didn’t echo Brigham Young.
He didn’t preach obedience to men.
He didn’t seek money, land, or legacy.
While Brigham built cities and empires, Nibley wrote Approaching Zion—a stinging rebuke of wealth and pride in the Church.
While modern leaders praised success and institutions, Nibley quietly quoted Alma:
“Preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord.”
He called out hypocrisy. He mourned over Babylon. He stayed in the Church—but his heart was with the meek, the poor, and the seekers.
🕊 A Scholar Among Saints
Hugh Nibley with the Joseph Smith Papyri—searching for the light behind the veil.
Nibley didn’t need a pulpit.
His essays spoke louder than any conference talk.
He wrote of Zion not as a myth—but a real condition of the heart. A society with no poor, no pride, no control—only consecration, oneness, and love.
He gave us language to describe what we’re now trying to build again.
He was one of us. Quietly.
📚 Want to Study More?
If you want to walk with Brother Nibley, here are a few of the books I recommend:
Approaching Zion — fire and beauty, all in one. A bold call to leave Babylon behind.
The World and the Prophets — puts our modern ideas of prophets back in their proper, ancient context.
Temple and Cosmos — temples as they were meant to be: cosmic, sacred, eternal.
The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri — deeper than any manual, this book uncovers the sacred patterns buried in time.
And here’s something I’ve noticed after years of searching...
When I line up Nibley’s teachings next to the Nemenhah Records, they sing in harmony.
But when I compare them to today’s LDS Church—its policies, its corporate voice, its focus on buildings and appearances—Nibley feels like a stranger in his own house.
He spoke of Zion the way the Nemenhah do: a society of peace, led by the Spirit, free of hierarchy, where the women are sacred and no one rules over another.
He warned of Babylon the way they do: quiet, persuasive, clothed in priestly robes and smiling authority.
To me, Nibley stood much closer to Joseph Smith’s original fire and to the Nemenhah vision than to anything coming from the institution since Brigham.
🙏 Final Thoughts
I just wanted to do a little post here—about one of the heroes of mine. Hugh Nibley was a man who walked carefully, spoke boldly, and taught deeply.
He was a light in the system.
He walked the line... but pointed to the Way.
May we be wise enough to follow it.
🕊🔥👣
Be believing. Be holy. Be free.
—The True Remnant
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