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Recent Reflections While Partaking Of The Sacrament, Daniel C. Peterson

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

Sometimes, obedience to the principles of the Gospel and tending faithfully to our stewardships can seem — and can be — a burden. Moreover, we mortal humans are fallible and weak, and we’re free. Accordingly, I’m convinced that the Father (a supremely masterful strategist and tactician) builds in redundancies so as to ensure that his purposes will be achieved even when his mortal servants falter. At the very heart of his plan, though, there could be no redundancy. Only one person could do what absolutely, desperately, needed to be done.

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

No abstract provided.

Is Faith Compatible With Reason?, Daniel C. Peterson

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

In this article I argue that faith is not only rationally justifiable but also inescapable simply because our decisions regarding ultimate questions must necessarily be made under conditions of objective uncertainty. I review remarks by several prominent thinkers on the subject — both avowed atheists and several writers who have addressed the challenge implicit in issues related to faith and reason. I end my discussion by citing William James, who articulated clearly the choices we must make in addressing these “ultimate questions.”

The Word And The Kingdom, Daniel C. Peterson

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

Members of the Church have been charged since ancient times with the covenant need to share the Gospel message with those around them. In more recent times, this has been described as a need for “every member” to be a missionary. There are many ways that we can do so through the use of modern technology and the dedication of our talents. The “ministry of the word” beckons each of us onward.

The Interpreter Foundation And An Apostolic Charge, Daniel C. Peterson

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

In April 2006, Dallin H. Oaks, in unpublished remarks at the naming of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship (as the successor to FARMS), reminded listeners that “this institute belongs to God.” On November 10, 2018, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (also in unpublished remarks, titled “The Maxwell Legacy of the 21st Century”) renewed that commitment: the Institute should be “as faithful as eternal truth, and as bright as the light of truth that is in us.” This is, likewise, the vision of T he Interpreter Foundation, in contrast to Latter-day Saint “academic ventures” at some universities. It should …

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

No abstract provided.

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

No abstract provided.

It Took A Village To Prepare For The Restoration, David C. Peterson

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

“No man,” wrote the early seventeenth-century English poet John Donne, “is an island entire of itself.” Likewise, nothing in human history springs entirely from a vacuum, ex nihilo. Even the Restoration, although it was initiated by God and is orchestrated in the heavens, draws on resources created by previous generations of men and women. We are borne on a tide of scriptural texts and freedoms bequeathed to us by our ancestors, whom we should not forget.

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

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Looking Back, Almost Five Years On, Daniel C. Peterson

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

As the axiom states, hindsight is 20/20. As Volume 24 of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture nears the press, it seems relevant to look back to a tumultuous time nearly five years ago when the Interpreter Foundation was visualized and launched. If history has any value at all (particularly recent history), it provides a context for understanding the course on which we find ourselves. For the Interpreter Foundation, that course continues to be full of surprises and promise.

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

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The Life-Giving “Water” Of The Restoration, Daniel C. Peterson

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

Where there is water, there is life, not only literally, as in the Nile River in Egypt and in the cities of Mesopotamia, but also symbolically, as we read in the words of the prophet Ezekiel, who in vision saw a magnificent spring of fresh water flowing east from the temple, healing even the waters of the Dead Sea (Ezekiel 47). A psalm also testifies to the divine beneficence of water (Psalm 1) and John, in Revelation, quotes the Lord as giving to those “athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely” (21:10‒14), a “crystal clear river” that …

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

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The Power Is In Them, Daniel C. Peterson

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

The Interpreter Foundation has spent five years dedicated to publishing quality scholarship regarding the gospel, history, and scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The result is a body of work both to be proud of and to stand upon as we move forward. Profound appreciation is given to those who have contributed to this effort, and an invitation is extended to be part of future explorations and exhortations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Book Of Mormon Witnesses And Their Challenge To Secularism, Daniel C. Peterson

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

T here has been much comment recently on the growth in numbers of the religious “nones.” Not all of them are actually non-theists, but secularism or naturalism is undoubtedly on the rise — and Latter-day Saints have not escaped damage from the trend. Several recent books and articles have sought to help their readers live with doubt, cope with uncertainty, or find value or joy in the Mormon community even when some, most, or perhaps even all of its founding narrative has come to seem untenable. I believe, however, that naturalism should be directly challenged and that the Book of …

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

No abstract provided.

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

No abstract provided.

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

No abstract provided.

Many Witnesses To A Marvelous Work, Daniel Peterson

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

At the end of October each year, speakers from the Church Educational System, as well as other gospel scholars, gather at Brigham Young University to make presentations at the Sidney B. Sperry Symposium. The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder is a compilation of the addresses given at the forty-fourth symposium, in 2015. This volume does not so much delve into the doctrine of the Book of Mormon as it studies the history behind its coming into the world. Just as the doctrine itself is inspirational, the story behind the coming forth of …

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

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Making Visible The Beauty And Goodness Of The Gospel, Daniel C. Peterson

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

Apologetics is typically seen as a purely cerebral activity designed to convince others of the truth or, at least, of the plausibility of certain propositions, typically but not always religious. In the case of the Gospel, however, mere intellectual assent isn’t enough—not in the eyes of God and, probably, not for the typical mortal human being. To please God, we must live our lives according to the Gospel, not merely concede its truth. But living such lives to the end requires that we love God and the Gospel and find them desirable, in addition to checking off a list of …

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

No abstract provided.

A Modern View Of Ancient Temple Worship, Julie J. Nichols

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

This well-produced, noteworthy volume adds to the growing number of resources available to help make more meaningful the complex and historically rich experience of the temple.

Cloud Illusions And The Perfect Day, Daniel C. Peterson

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

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow it’s cloud illusions I recall.1

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.2

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

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On Being A Tool, Daniel C. Peterson

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

Members, missionaries, and apologists must never lose sight of the fact that the gospel isn’t merely about abstractions and theoretical principles. It’s also, and most importantly, about people, about people with their own life stories, fears, hopes, and questions. Thus, if we want to be optimally effective, we must listen to people, understand them, and craft our message to reach them individually, where they are. The Interpreter Foundation is committed to helping with this task, but it cannot replace personalized instruction and caring.

Three Degrees Of Gospel Understanding, Daniel C. Peterson

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

Few fireside talks outlive the week in which they are given. But Professor Stanley Kimball’s remarks, offered one evening long ago in southern California, have stayed with me for nearly three and a half decades. In my view, they offer a key to surviving challenges or even what have come to be called “faith crises” — and, indeed, a key not only to surviving them but to thriving spiritually by having overcome them.

The Small Voice, David C. Peterson

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

Revelation comes in various forms, some of them spectacular and some of them extremely subtle. The scriptures and the history of the Restoration offer numerous examples across the entire spectrum. Whatever its form, however, divine revelation remains divine revelation, and it is the avowed mission of the Interpreter Foundation to thoughtfully ponder such revelation, to try to explicate its meaning, and to illustrate its richness. In turn, such examination can itself provide an opportunity for personal revelation—both for the examiners and, we hope, for those who read or hear the results of their work.

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

No abstract provided.

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

No abstract provided.