Digital Commons Network^™

The Transformation Of Chris Madsen In 1875-76: From Troubled Young Man In Denmark To Mature Wild West Hero In America, Frans 0rsted Andersen

The Bridge

In October 2018, I pub- lished a book about Chris Madsen with the title Et liv pa kanten. En biografisk fortcel- ling om Chris Madsen's utrolige liv (A life on the edge. A bi- ography about the incredible life of Chris Madsen). The second edition, which I cite in this article, was published in 2019. This book grew out of two separate projects: one aimed at publishing texts that can encourage boys and men to read more books (again), and another focused on Dan- ish emigration to the US in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Law And Policy Impacts On Teacher Attrition In Public Education: Data Suggesting A New Focus Beyond The Silver Bullets Of Targeted Stem And Other Salary Increases, Joseph Hanks, Scott E. Ferrin, Randall S. Davies, Steven S. Christensen, Scott P. Harris, W. Bryan Bowles

BYU Education & Law Journal

Most current legislative and policy efforts to combat teacher shortages in public schools in the U.S. focus on raising teacher salaries, or on incentivizing certain key subject matters in the sciences and math, known as Science, Technology and Math (STEM) initiatives. The ostensible purpose of these legislative and policy efforts is to increase induction and subsequent retention of highly qualified teachers who will then impact educational attainment of students. The major tool used has been salary incentives for new teachers or salary augmentation for existing teachers in certain subject matters. This research investigates teacher perceptions on factors that impact their …

Niklaus Leuenberger: Predating Gandhi In 1653?, Hans Leuenberger

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The 1653 Peasant War can be subdivided in the following phases:

The beginning of the rebellion in the Entlebuch Valley, Canton

Lucerne. The massive popular revolt under the leadership of Niklaus

Leuenberger, chairman of the “League of Huttwil,” as of the

signing of the Oath of Huttwil [Bundesbrief] with the aim

of a renewal of the Oath of Rütli of 1291 [author’s remark],

through to the conclusion of the Murifeld Peace Treaty.

A History Of The Swiss In California, Richard Hacken

Swiss American Historical Society Review

In 1848, the same year that Switzerland’s political structure

took on its present constitutional form as a modern nation-state, a Swiss

settler-entrepreneur named John Sutter became aware of gold deposits

at his mill in Alta California. This led directly to the California Gold

Rush. Two years later, in 1850, the United States accepted the freshly

acquired and promising region now known as “California” into the

Union as a state. Swiss immigrants enhanced the development of California

from its very inception.

Cube, Gate, And Measuring Tools: A Biblical Pattern, Matthew B. Brown

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

This article explores the biblical pattern that relates the templerelated symbols of the cube, the gate, and measuring tools. The tools of architecture and measurement were associated with the kingship motifs of creation and conquering chaos, and on the day when a person was initiated as a king in ancient Israel, all of these concepts were applied to him.

Baptized For The Dead, Kevin L. Barney

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

This thorough treatment of the mention of baptism for the dead in 1 Corinthians 15:29 gives a meticulous analysis of Paul’s Greek argument, and lays out the dozens (or perhaps hundreds) of theories that have been put forth with respect to its interpretation. Barney concludes that “the most natural reading” and the “majority contemporary scholarly reading” is that of “vicarious baptism.” Therefore, “the Prophet Joseph Smith’s reading of the passage to refer to such a practice was indeed correct.”

Medieval Christian Views Of Hebrew As The Language Of Magic, Andrew C. Skinner

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

The view of Hebrew as a language of magic, for which precedents can be discerned in the Bible and in rabbinic tradition, spilled over into early and medieval Christianity. Andrew Skinner adroitly explores the material and theological history of this trajectory, showing how this contributed to the emergence of Christian Kabbalah in the sixteenth century.

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Dwight Page

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Although a French national, John Calvin spent a large part

of his career as a pastor and a theologian in Switzerland. Specifically,

he resided in Geneva between 1541 and 1564 and transformed the city

into his beloved Protestant City of God, a safe haven for Protestant

refugees from all over Europe. Indeed, so thorough was the Reformation

in Geneva that the city became known as the Protestant Rome and

the center of the new Protestant faith. In the sixteenth century, at the

time of the Reformation, Geneva was truly the Mecca to which many

Protestants gravitated and to which many …

Sensationalism: A One-Sided Perspective, Susan Easton Black

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

While Benjamin Park shows promise as a writer and historian, his book, Kingdom of Nauvoo, opts for poorly sourced sensationalism instead of illuminating the joy of Nauvoo’s true history.

The Covenant Of Christ’S Gospel In The Book Of Mormon, Steven L. Olsen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

With the trained eye of an anthropologist and a historian, Steven Olsen refutes claims that the Book of Mormon is a simple hodge-podge of biblical phrases and responses to controversies that Joseph Smith absorbed from his surroundings. Through a careful discussion of four main claims, he illustrates his thesis that the Book of Mormon “evidences a high degree of focus and coherence, as though its principal writers intentionally crafted the record from a unified and comprehensive perspective.” He shows that the Book of Mormon is not merely a history in the conventional sense, but rather is purposeful in the selection …

Where Did The Names Mahaway And Mahujah Come From? A Response To Colby Townsend’S “Returning To The Sources,” Part 2 Of 2, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Matthew L. Bowen, Ryan Dahle

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

In the present article, Part 2 of 2 of a set of articles supporting Colby Townsend’s efforts to raise awareness of the importance of textual criticism, we focus on his argument that Joseph Smith created the Book of Moses names Mahijah and Mahujah after seeing a table of name variants in the Hebrew text of Genesis 4:18 in a Bible commentary written by Adam Clarke. While we are not averse in principle to the general possibility that Joseph Smith may have relied on study aids as part of his translation of the Bible, we discuss why in this case such …

Moses 1 And The Apocalypse Of Abraham: Twin Sons Of Different Mothers?, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, David J. Larsen, Stephen T. Whitlock

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

This article highlights the striking resemblances between Moses 1 and a corresponding account from the Apocalypse of Abraham (ApAb), one of the earliest and most important Jewish texts describing heavenly ascent. Careful comparative analysis demonstrates a sustained sequence of detailed affinities in narrative structure that go beyond what Joseph Smith could have created out of whole cloth from his environment and his imagination. The article also highlights important implications for the study of the Book of Moses as a temple text. Previous studies have suggested that the story of Enoch found in the Pearl of Great Price might be understood …

Full Issue

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Theories And Assumptions: A Review Of William L. Davis’S Visions In A Seer Stone, Brian C. Hales

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Within the genre of Book of Mormon studies, William L. Davis’s Visions in a Seer Stone presents readers with an innovative message that reports how Joseph Smith was able to produce the words of the Book of Mormon without supernatural assistance. Using oral performance skills that Smith ostensibly gained prior to 1829, his three-month “prodigious flow of verbal art and narrative creation” (7) became the Book of Mormon. Davis’s theory describes a two-part literary pattern in the Book of Mormon where summary outlines (called “heads) in the text are consistently expanded in subsequent sections of the narrative. Termed “laying down …

Tocqueville On New Prophets And The Tyranny Of Public Opinion, Louis Midgley

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Louis Midgley discusses the rise and fall in popularity of Alexis de Toqueville’s unrivaled volumes entitled Democracy in America and the impressive renaissance of interest they have enjoyed since 1930. They were published at a time when Europe was looking for guiding principles to replace aristocratic governments with democratic regimes. Importantly, however, Toqueville also reflected broadly on the crucial roles of religion and family in sustaining the virtues necessary for stable democracies. Toqueville’s arguments that faith in God and in immortality are essential for maintaining a strong society of a free people are more crucial than ever to Latter-day Saints …

“I Will Deliver Thy Sons”: An Onomastic Approach To Three Iterations Of An Oracle To Mosiah Ii (Mosiah 28:7; Alma 17:35, 19:23), Matthew L. Bowen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Three times in his narrative Mormon recounts the Lord’s oracle (revelation) to Mosiah II regarding his sons undertaking a mission among the Lamanites (Mosiah 28:7, Alma 17:35, and Alma 19:23). In all three instances, the Lord’s promises of deliverance revolve around the meaning of the name Mosiah (“Yahweh is Deliverer” or “Yahweh is Savior”), emphasizing that the Lord (Hebrew yhwh) himself would act in his covenant role as môšîaʿ in delivering Mosiah’s sons, and sparing Ammon in particular. In two of the iterations of the oracle, Mosiah 28:7 and Alma 19:23, we find additional wordplay on the name Ammon (“faithful”) …

Notes On Mormonism And The Trinity, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

With “awe, humility, and circumspection,” Daniel C. Peterson provides a useful summary and discussion of Latter-day Saint beliefs as they relate to traditional Christian conceptions of the Trinity. In particular, his discussions reveals the many nuances of the questions raised, including the precise nature of the unity of the three persons of the Godhead and how the overall conception relates to doctrines of salvation and practical discipleship, which continued to be a controversial issue in both the Eastern and Western Churches for centuries. Peterson argues that the Latter-day Saint doctrine affirms both biblical precedents and, to a degree, some modern …

A Uni-Dimensional Picture Of A Multi-Faceted Nauvoo Community, Richard E. Bennett

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Benjamin Park recently wrote a substantive revisionist history of Nauvoo, Illinois, the one-time Church capital under the leadership of Joseph Smith, Jr. This article serves as a critical review of Park’s work. Congratulating the author for placing this well-known Latter-day Saint story within the larger Jacksonian American democratic context, as well as for utilizing a great many primary sources hardly used before, Richard Bennett in this critical review assesses both the strengths and the weaknesses of this important new book. While complimenting Park for his significant contributions on politics, women, and race in Nauvoo, Bennett nonetheless finds much to criticize …

“I Of Myself Am A Wicked Man”: Some Notes On Allusion And Textual Dependency In Omni 1:1-2, Matthew L. Bowen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Omni greatly revered his ancestors and their personal accounts on the small plates of Nephi. A close examination of Omni’s brief autobiography (Omni 1:1–3) evidences borrowing from all four of his predecessors’ writings. Moreover, his self-description, “I of myself am a wicked man,” constitutes far more than a confession of religious dereliction. That self-assessment alludes to Nephi’s autobiographical wordplay on his name in terms “good” and “having been born of goodly parents” and his grandfather Enos’s similarly self-referential wordplay in describing his own father Jacob as a “just man.” Omni’s name most likely represents a hypocoristic form of a longer …

Textual Criticism And The Book Of Moses: A Response To Colby Townsend’S “Returning To The Sources,” Part 1 Of 2, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Ryan Dahle

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Textual criticism tries by a variety of methods to understand the “original” or “best” wording of a document that may exist in multiple, conflicting versions or where the manuscripts are confusing or difficult to read. The present article, Part 1 of a two-part series by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and Ryan Dahle, commends Colby Townsend’s efforts to raise awareness of the importance of textual criticism, while differing on some interpretations. Among the differences discussed is the question of whether it is better to read Moses 7:28 as it was dictated in Old Testament 1 version of the Joseph Smith Translation manuscript …

Notes On Book Of Mormon Heads, Stephen O. Smoot

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

This paper looks at the two types of heads used in the Book of Mormon. It argues against a recent theory that these heads served as mnemonic cues that enabled Joseph Smith to extemporaneously compose and dictate the text. Instead, it argues that the function and form of heads in the Book of Mormon finds ancient precedent in Egyptian literary culture and scribal practice. A brief addendum on the ancient precedent for the chapter breaks in the original text of the Book of Mormon is also provided.

Chiastic Structuring Of Large Texts: Second Nephi As A Case Study1, Noel B. Reynolds

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

In this important paper, Noel Reynolds extends his 1980 argument for the chiastic structure of 1 Nephi to demonstrate that 2 Nephi can be seen as a matching structure with a similar nature. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that chiasmus is not a phenomenon that confines itself to the details of words and phrases at the level of scriptural verses but can extend to much larger units of meaning, allowing the rhetorical beauty and emphasis of their overall messages to shine more brilliantly when they are considered as purposefully crafted wholes.

Is Decrypting The Genetic Legacy Of America’S Indigenous Populations Key To The Historicity Of The Book Of Mormon?, Ugo A. Perego, Jayne E. Ekins

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Some critics of the Book of Mormon suppose that the DNA characteristics of modern Native Americans should be compatible with “Israelite” rather than with Asian genetics. The authors point out that while DNA is a valid tool to study ancient and modern populations, we must be careful about drawing absolute conclusions. They show that many of the conclusions of critics are based on unwarranted assumptions. There are specific limitations that cannot be ignored when using the available genetic data to infer conclusions regarding the DNA of Book of Mormon peoples. Such conclusions are not founded on solid science but are …

Full Issue

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

“God Hath Taken Away His Plainness”: Some Notes On Jacob 4:14, Revelation, Canon, Covenant, And Law, Matthew L. Bowen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

This article examines Jacob’s statement “God hath taken away his plainness from [the Jews]” (Jacob 4:14) as one of several scriptural texts employing language that revolves around the Deuteronomic canon formulae (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32 [13:1]; cf. Revelation 22:18‒19). It further examines the textual dependency of Jacob 4:13‒14 on Nephi’s earlier writings, 1 Nephi 13 and 2 Nephi 25 in particular. The three texts in the Hebrew Bible that use the verb bʾr (Deuteronomy 1:5; 27:8; Habakkuk 2:2) — each having covenant and “law” implications — all shed light on what Nephi and Jacob may have meant when they described “plain” …

The Visions Of Moses And Joseph Smith’S Bible Translation, Kent P. Jackson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

This contribution focuses on the earliest and one of the most significant chapters of the Book of Moses: Moses 1, sometimes called the “Visions of Moses.” Kent Jackson summarizes the sources available relating to the production of this chapter, illuminating obscure corners of its often misunderstood background with his extensive knowledge of the history, manuscripts, and significance of the Joseph Smith Translation.

A Priesthood Restoration Narrative For Latter-Day Saints Believers, Brian C. Hales

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

With ready access to all the documents acquired by the Joseph Smith Papers project, Michael Hubbard MacKay, co-editor of the Joseph Smith Papers’ Documents, Volume 1: July 1828–June 1831, presents a new historical reconstruction of the priesthood restoration in Prophetic Authority: Democratic Hierarchy and the Mormon Priesthood. MacKay summarizes how Joseph Smith’s initial authority was based primarily on charisma drawn from the Book of Mormon translation and his revelations. The transition next to apostolic authority — derived from priesthood keys restored by Peter, James and John — is also detailed. MacKay contextualizes the priesthood as part of Smith’s efforts to …

Full Issue

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

“We Are A Remnant Of The Seed Of Joseph”: Moroni’S Interpretive Use Of Joseph’S Coat And The Martial Nēs-Imagery Of Isaiah 11:11–12, Matthew L. Bowen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Genesis 30:23–24 offers a double etiology for Joseph in terms of “taking away”/“gathering” (ʾāsap) and “adding” (yāsap). In addition to its later narratological use of the foregoing, the Joseph cycle (Genesis 37–50) evidences a third dimension of onomastic wordplay involving Joseph’s kĕtōnet passîm, an uncertain phrase traditionally translated “coat of many colours” (from LXX), but perhaps better translated, “coat of manifold pieces.” Moroni1, quoting from a longer version of the Joseph story from the brass plates, refers to “Joseph, whose coat was rent by his brethren into many pieces” (Alma 46:23). As a military and spiritual leader, Moroni1 twice uses …