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Articles 121 - 150 of 326
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Understanding The Year 1820, Craig L. Foster
Understanding The Year 1820, Craig L. Foster
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Richard E. Bennett’s 1820: Dawning of the Restoration takes a look at this significant year in a global historical context. He has produced a fascinating book for both members of the Church and non-members
From Dust To Exalted Crown: Royal And Temple Themes Common To The Psalms And The Dead Sea Scrolls, David J. Larsen
From Dust To Exalted Crown: Royal And Temple Themes Common To The Psalms And The Dead Sea Scrolls, David J. Larsen
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
David J. Larsen, after showing how many of the Qumran texts rely on the “Royal Psalms” in the Bible—which have a vital connection to the temple drama—then goes on to exaltation in the views of the Qumran community. He indicates how Adam and Eve are archetypal for Israelite temple ritual, which makes humans kings and priests, bringing the participant into the presence of God by a journey accompanied with covenants, making him part of the Divine Council. Bestowed with knowledge of the divine mysteries, one then becomes a teacher helping others on the way through divine mysteries, who then, as …
Full Issue
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
The Implications Of Some Standard Assumptions Of New Testament Scholars: Responding To A Modern Anti-Christ, John Gee
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
In a recent book, Raphael Lataster correctly argues that the acceptance of the general premises of New Testament scholarship, exemplified in the writings of Bart Ehrman, brings into question whether Jesus ever existed. Latter-day Saints who are serious about their witness of Jesus Christ need to be aware that acceptance of these presuppositions undermines their witness of the reality of Jesus Christ and his atonement and makes their faith vain.
The Goodness Of God And His Children As A Fundamental Theological Concept In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds
The Goodness Of God And His Children As A Fundamental Theological Concept In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
The phrase goodness of God does occur occasionally in the Hebrew Bible but has not been considered by Old Testament scholars to be an independent principle in Israelite theology. Rather, it has been interpreted as just another way of talking about God’s acts of hesed, or loving kindness for his covenant people and is usually interpreted in the context of the covenants Israel received through Abraham and Moses. The Book of Mormon clearly echoes that Old Testament pattern but also presents two additional conceptual frameworks that are explained in terms of the goodness of God. It advances an explicit divine …
Additional Janus Parallels In The Book Of Mormon, Paul Y. Hoskisson
Additional Janus Parallels In The Book Of Mormon, Paul Y. Hoskisson
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
A little more than 40 years ago, Cyrus Gordon discovered and described for the first time an ancient literary technique which he had found in the Hebrew Bible, and he gave it a name — a Janus parallel. That is why no one, more than 40 years ago, could have faked a Hebrew Janus parallel in an English translation of an ancient document. But, as I reasoned, if Janus parallels were a Hebrew literary device at the time Lehi left Jerusalem (for an analog see chiasmus), then such parallels probably can be found in the Book of Mormon. In this …
The People Of Canaan: A New Reading Of Moses 7, Adam Stokes
The People Of Canaan: A New Reading Of Moses 7, Adam Stokes
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Moses 7 is one of the most famous passages in all of Restoration scripture. It is also one of the most problematic in regard to its description of the people of Canaan as black (v. 8) and as a people who were not preached to by the patriarch Enoch (v. 12). Later there is also a mention of “the seed of Cain,” who also are said to be black (v. 22). This article examines the history of interpretation of Moses 7 and proposes an alternative understanding based on a close reading of the text. In contrast to traditional views, it …
An Ishmael Buried Near Nahom, Neal Rappleye
An Ishmael Buried Near Nahom, Neal Rappleye
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Latter-day Saint scholars generally agree that “the place called… Nahom,” where Ishmael was buried (1 Nephi 16:34) is identified as the Nihm tribal region in Yemen. Significantly, a funerary stela with the name ys1mʿʾl — the South Arabian equivalent of Ishmael — was found near the Nihm region and dated to ca. 6th century bc. Although it cannot be determined with certainty that this is the Ishmael from the Book of Mormon, circumstantial evidence suggests that such is a possibility worth considering.
Subtle Hebraic Features In The Book Of Mormon, Amanda Colleen Brown
Subtle Hebraic Features In The Book Of Mormon, Amanda Colleen Brown
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Donald W. Parry combines a lifetime of insights about the Old Testament and Book of Mormon into one volume. Written for a nonacademic audience, this book provides a glimpse into some of the Book of Mormon’s literary complexities that originate from Hebrew grammar and style.
Full Issue
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Giving The Book Of Ether Its Proper Due, Brant Gardner
Giving The Book Of Ether Its Proper Due, Brant Gardner
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Illuminating the Jaredite Record collects ten papers by different Book of Mormon scholars. This is the second publication from the Book of Mormon Academy at Brigham Young University, a collection of scholars interested in the Book of Mormon. As with the first volume, the authors approach the text from different perspectives and thereby illuminate different aspects of the text.
Much More Than A Reader: The Latest In Chiastic Studies For Interested Scholars And Lay Readers Alike, Steven L. Olsen
Much More Than A Reader: The Latest In Chiastic Studies For Interested Scholars And Lay Readers Alike, Steven L. Olsen
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
This collection of essays represents the latest scholarship on chiasmus. They were selected from papers delivered at an academic conference at Brigham Young University in 2017. Articles reflect both “the state of the art” and the state of the technique in chiastic studies.
Feet Of Clay: Queer Theory And The Church Of Jesus Christ, Gregory L. Smith
Feet Of Clay: Queer Theory And The Church Of Jesus Christ, Gregory L. Smith
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Tabernacles of Clay examines the discourse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through a “queer theory” lens. This review examines its first two chapters’ use of sources regarding Church teachings about eternal biological sex and homosexual behavior. These chapters claim that the Church treated homosexual sin leniently and said little about such acts until the more “homophobic” 1950s. There are, in fact, many examples of homosexual behavior being condemned by Church leaders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Tabernacles further claims that in the 1950s–1970s, some in the Church saw biological sex as “created and contingent” …
Be Ye Therefore Loyal, Even As Your Father Which Is In Heaven Is Loyal, Taylor Halverson
Be Ye Therefore Loyal, Even As Your Father Which Is In Heaven Is Loyal, Taylor Halverson
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
The scriptures are saturated with covenantal words and terms. Any serious or close reading of the scriptures that misses or ignores the covenantal words, phrases, and literary structure of scripture runs the risk of missing the full purpose of why God preserved the scriptures for us. This is especially true for the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon, which emerged out of an Old Testament cultural context. Research during the past century on ancient Near Eastern covenants has brought clarity to the covenantal meaning and context of a variety of words and literary structures in the Old Testament and …
Full Issue
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Coming Down And Bringing Down: Pejorative Onomastic Allusions To The Jaredites In Helaman 6:25, 6:38, And Ether 2:11, Matthew L. Bowen
Coming Down And Bringing Down: Pejorative Onomastic Allusions To The Jaredites In Helaman 6:25, 6:38, And Ether 2:11, Matthew L. Bowen
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Mormon uses pejorative wordplay on the name Jaredites based on the meaning of the Hebrew verb yārad. The onomastic rhetoric involving the meaning of yārad first surfaces in Helaman 6 where Mormon also employs wordplay on the name Cain in terms of qānâ or “getting gain.” The first wordplay occurs in the negative purpose clause “lest they should be a means of bringing down [cf. lĕhôrîd] the people unto destruction” (Helaman 6:25) and the second in the prepositional phrase “until they had come down [cf. yārĕdû/yordû] to believe in their works” (Helaman 6:38). Mormon uses these pejorative wordplays as a …
An Ingenious And Inspiring Literary Analysis Of Alma 30–42, Blake T. Ostler
An Ingenious And Inspiring Literary Analysis Of Alma 30–42, Blake T. Ostler
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Mark A. Wrathall’s analytic treatment of Alma 30–42 is a sheer gift that inspires insight into the theological depth of Alma’s thought. His reading of Alma teases out insights not previously recognized and not easily discovered regarding belief and knowledge and their relation to faith and committed action. This extremely rewarding introduction provides a glimpse at the best any writer in the Latter-day Saint tradition has written on Alma’s thoughts and goals.
The Book Of Moses As A Temple Text, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
The Book Of Moses As A Temple Text, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
In this fascinating article, Jeff Bradshaw details how the Book of Moses might be understood as a temple text, including elements of temple architecture, furnishings, and ritual in the story of the Creation and the Fall. Bradshaw shows how the second half of the Book of Moses follows a general pattern of a specific sequence of covenants that will resonate with members of the Church who have received the temple endowment. The story of Enoch and his people provides a vivid demonstration of the final steps on the path that leads back to God and exaltation.
Sensationalism: A One-Sided Perspective, Susan Easton Black
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.
Four Idolatrous Gods In The Book Of Abraham, John Gee
Four Idolatrous Gods In The Book Of Abraham, John Gee
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Although unknown as deities in Joseph Smith’s day, the names of four associated idolatrous gods (Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmackrah, and Korash) mentioned in the Book of Abraham are attested anciently. Two of them are known to have connections with the practices attributed to them in the Book of Abraham. The odds of Joseph Smith guessing the names correctly is astronomical.
Formed In And Called From The Womb, Dana M. Pike
Formed In And Called From The Womb, Dana M. Pike
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Drawing on his deep knowledge of biblical Hebrew, Dana Pike gives us a close reading of Jeremiah 1:5, the most important Old Testament verse relating to the Latter-day Saint understanding of premortal existence of human spirits and the foreordination of prophets to their appointed callings. He shows that the plain sense of this verse cannot be easily dismissed: first, and consistent with Latter-day Saint understanding, God knew Jeremiah before he was conceived and that afterward, in a second phase that transpired in the womb, he was, “according to the Israelite perspective preserved in the Bible,” appointed to become a prophet.
John W. Welch: A Personal Reminiscence, Stephen E. Robinson
John W. Welch: A Personal Reminiscence, Stephen E. Robinson
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
In these glimpses of the early private life of a very public figure, Stephen E. Robinson provides a portrait that will enable readers to see how the child became father to the man.
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
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 …
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
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 …
Notes On Mormonism And The Trinity, Daniel C. Peterson
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 …
“I Of Myself Am A Wicked Man”: Some Notes On Allusion And Textual Dependency In Omni 1:1-2, Matthew L. Bowen
“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
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
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.
“A Prophet Like Moses” (Deuteronomy 18:15–18) In The Book Of Mormon, The Bible, And The Dead Sea Scrolls, David R. Seely
“A Prophet Like Moses” (Deuteronomy 18:15–18) In The Book Of Mormon, The Bible, And The Dead Sea Scrolls, David R. Seely
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
David Seely provides a wide-ranging survey of interpretations of the prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15–18 concerning “a prophet like unto Moses.” He examines relevant passages in the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and the Dead Sea Scrolls and shows how the prophecy has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ and others, continuing with Joseph Smith’s role in the Restoration and onward to the present day.