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Articles 151 - 180 of 326
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Missing Words: King James Bible Italics, The Translation Of The Book Of Mormon, And Joseph Smith As An Unlearned Reader And Editor Of A Visioned Text, Stan Spencer
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Chapters from Isaiah quoted in the Book of Mormon use the King James Bible as a base text yet frequently vary from it in minor ways, particularly in the earliest text of the Book of Mormon. A disproportionate number of these variants are due to the omission or replacement of words italicized in the KJV. Many of the minor variants were eliminated by the printer for the 1830 edition or by Joseph Smith himself for the 1837 edition, but others remain. Some of the minor variants are easily explained as errors of dictation, transcription, or copying, but others are not …
Temporal Mercies And Eternal Being: Using The Science Of Time To Understand God’S Nature And Our Own, Jared R. Stenson
Temporal Mercies And Eternal Being: Using The Science Of Time To Understand God’S Nature And Our Own, Jared R. Stenson
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
How does God relate to time? How do we? Modern science and revelation offer distinctive and fascinating perspectives to these questions. Specifically, the physical mechanisms underlying time have doctrinal parallels, they appear to be operative at the Fall, and they correlate with several phenomena that make God’s mercy possible.
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
“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” …
Faith, Hope, And Charity: The “Three Principal Rounds” Of The Ladder Of Heavenly Ascent1, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
Faith, Hope, And Charity: The “Three Principal Rounds” Of The Ladder Of Heavenly Ascent1, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
This chapter argues that “the scriptural triad of faith, hope, and charity should be understood as something more than a general set of personal attributes that must be developed in order for disciples to become like Christ. Instead, as part of the ‘guarded tradition of the Apostle’ [Paul] that is transmitted to readers in 1 Corinthians and elsewhere in scripture, these terms have been used to describe a distinct progression of ‘stages in a Christian’s earthly experience.’ The three stages that correlate to faith, hope, and charity were described by Joseph Smith as the ‘three principal rounds’ of a ladder …
The Visions Of Moses And Joseph Smith’S Bible Translation, Kent P. Jackson
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.
The Theology Of C. S. Lewis: A Latter-Day Saint Perspective, Robert L. Millet
The Theology Of C. S. Lewis: A Latter-Day Saint Perspective, Robert L. Millet
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
In this essay, Robert Millet describes the work and impact of C. S. Lewis as it pertains to the Latter-day Saints. He explores possible reasons why Church leaders have felt comfortable quoting Lewis in General Conference more than any other non-Latter-day Saint writer and provides a substantial list of the subjects for which his writings have had special appeal to the Saints. While acknowledging Lewis’ personal faults and the obvious points of difference between his faith and our own, Millet concludes with an expression of gratitude for his “lasting lessons and his noble legacy.”
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
“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 …
Itty Bitty Books With Big Lessons: Enos, Jarom, Omni, Jasmin Gimenez Rappleye
Itty Bitty Books With Big Lessons: Enos, Jarom, Omni, Jasmin Gimenez Rappleye
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Sharon Harris, a professor of English at Brigham Young University, offers an analysis of the theology of the “small books” of Enos, Jarom, and Omni in this next installment of The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. Harris argues that the theology of these small books focuses on the covenant with the Nephites and Lamanites, the importance of genealogy, and the role kenosis plays in several of these Book of Mormon prophets. Harris presents both new and familiar readings of these compact books, providing a fair contribution to their study.
Some Notes On Joseph Smith And Adam Clarke, Kent P. Jackson
Some Notes On Joseph Smith And Adam Clarke, Kent P. Jackson
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Authors of two recent articles believe they have found evidence that Joseph Smith, in preparing his revision of the Bible, drew ideas from a contemporary Bible commentary by British scholar Adam Clarke. The evidence, however, does not bear out this claim. I believe that none of the examples they provide can be traced to Clarke’s commentary, and almost all of them can be explained easily by other means. The authors do not look at their examples within the broader context of the revisions Joseph Smith made to the Bible, and thus they misinterpret them. Some of the revisions they attribute …
Nephi’S Obsession, Or, How To Talk With Nephi About God, Ralph C. Hancock
Nephi’S Obsession, Or, How To Talk With Nephi About God, Ralph C. Hancock
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Joseph Spencer’s intimate familiarity with the Book of Mormon text, based upon years of close textual study and informed by a well- developed theological sensibility, is in full evidence in this lead-off volume in Neal A. Maxwell Institute’s new series of books on the various books of the Book of Mormon. Leaving to prophets and apostles the responsibility for “declaring official doctrine,” this new series approaches the book with the tools of the “scholarly practice” of theology. In Spencer’s case at least, his practice is understood to be (1) informed by an emphasis on grace that is skeptical of claims …
Full Issue
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Memory And Millennials: A Review Of First Vision: Memory And Mormon Origins, Spencer R. Marsh
Memory And Millennials: A Review Of First Vision: Memory And Mormon Origins, Spencer R. Marsh
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
The multiple historical accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision have been an area of intense study, debate, and discussion for several decades. The newest addition to the discussion is a specialized monograph engaging the various accounts of the First Vision through the lens of psychology and, particularly, memory studies. This book, authored by Steven C. Harper, proves to be a valuable resource in answering some pressing questions about the integrity of the First Vision accounts, even though that was not the book’s explicitly stated purpose. This review highlights these contributions as interpreted through the lens of a Millennial reviewer — …
The Brass Plates Version Of Genesis, Noel B. Reynolds
The Brass Plates Version Of Genesis, Noel B. Reynolds
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
The Book of Mormon peoples repeatedly indicated that they were descendants of Joseph, the son of Jacob who was sold into Egypt by his brothers. The plates of brass that they took with them from Jerusalem c. 600 bce provided them with a version of many Old Testament books and others not included in our Hebrew Bible. Sometime after publishing his translation of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith undertook an inspired revision of the Bible. The opening chapters of his version of Genesis contain a lot of material not included in the Hebrew Bible. But intriguingly, distinctive phraseology in …
The Joseph Smith Papers And The Book Of Abraham: A Response To Recent Reviews, Matthew J. Grow, Matthew C. Godfrey
The Joseph Smith Papers And The Book Of Abraham: A Response To Recent Reviews, Matthew J. Grow, Matthew C. Godfrey
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
The Joseph Smith Papers welcomes engagement with its work and gratefully acknowledges the important work of various scholars on the Book of Abraham. Recent reviews in the Interpreter of Revelations and Translations, Volume 4, however, significantly misunderstand the purposes and conventions of the project. This response corrects some of those misconceptions, including the idea that the transcript is riddled with errors and the idea that personal agendas drive the analysis in the volume. The complex history of the Book of Abraham can be understood through multiple faithful perspectives, and the Joseph Smith Papers Project affirms the value of robust, respectful, …
A Passover Setting For Lehi’S Exodus, Don Bradley
A Passover Setting For Lehi’S Exodus, Don Bradley
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Later in his life, former Palmyra resident Fayette Lapham recounted with sharp detail an 1830 interview he conducted with Joseph Smith Sr. about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Among the details he reports that Lehi’s exodus from Jerusalem occurred during a “great feast.” This detail, not found in the published Book of Mormon, may reveal some of what Joseph Sr. knew from the lost 116 pages. By examining the small plates account of this narrative in 1 Nephi 1−5, we see not only that such a feast was possible, but that Lehi’s exodus and Nephi’s quest for …
Musings On The Birth Of The Savior Jesus Christ, Kristine Wardle Frederickson
Musings On The Birth Of The Savior Jesus Christ, Kristine Wardle Frederickson
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
In this essay, Kristine Wardle Frederickson muses about “the babe born in Bethlehem,” and who he was — and is — in consideration of those who nurtured, loved, and welcomed the infant Jehovah to Earth. Certain women played critical roles in preparing him for his infinite and eternal Atonement, and that preparation began long before Jesus came to Earth. Four women stand out as devoted mentors, disciples, and witnesses of Jesus Christ’s mission, and of his sublime perfection even on that first Christmas day: Heavenly Mother, Mary, Elisabeth, and Anna. At Christmastime, their witnesses are worthy of deep contemplation as …
An Approach To Isaiah Studies, Donald W. Parry
An Approach To Isaiah Studies, Donald W. Parry
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
This review makes a case, briefly, for the unmistakable presence of Jesus Christ in Isaiah’s text, which case is based on a corpus linguistic-based description of the Hebrew Bible, equivalent designations of deific names, self-identification declarations by the Lord, and more. And, importantly, one can never set aside the multiple teachings and testimonies of our modern prophets and apostles regarding Isaiah’s prophecies of Jesus Christ. Moreover, in my view, a knowledge of biblical Hebrew helps us to penetrate the very depths and heights of Isaiah’s text.
Hugh B. Brown’S Program For Latter-Day Saint Servicemen During Wwii, David L. Clark
Hugh B. Brown’S Program For Latter-Day Saint Servicemen During Wwii, David L. Clark
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Prior to U.S. involvement in WWII, the First Presidency asked Hugh B. Brown to initiate and serve as coordinator of a program that would reinforce the spiritual welfare of the increasing number of Latter-day Saint men entering the military. Brown initially answered the challenge by organizing religious services at training camps along the West Coast because of the large number of Church-member men training there. However, following Pearl Harbor, he expanded the program to 65 training camps in many parts of the country. He also created USO-type facilities in Salt Lake City and San Diego, distributed pocket-size scriptures, wrote faith-strengthening …
Section 1: Mormon The Writer, Brant Gardner
Section 1: Mormon The Writer, Brant Gardner
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Ammaron was entrusted with the sacred Nephite archives. Although he recorded Nephite history in the same way so many of his predecessors had, we have nothing that he wrote. As the penultimate official Nephite historian, we know that he wrote and cared for the sacred Nephite records in perilous times.11 Rather than his writings, however, we have the record of his efforts to preserve and continue the plates. We learn that: “Ammaron, being constrained by the Holy Ghost, did hide up the records which were sacred — yea, even all the sacred records which had been handed down from generation …
Chapter 2: Mormon And The Nephite Archive, Brant Gardner
Chapter 2: Mormon And The Nephite Archive, Brant Gardner
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Nephite written history began with Nephi, perhaps soon after the family arrived in the New World (1 Nephi 19:1). As far as we can tell, the Nephite historical tradition continued in an essentially unbroken line until Mormon, who was the last official historian.21 Nephite historians not only wrote, but preserved. Jacob specifically notes: “we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain; [b]ut whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away” (Jacob 4:1–2). The Old World tradition also preserved records,22 but something about the New World suggested the need …
Rethinking Alma 36, Noel B. Reynolds
Rethinking Alma 36, Noel B. Reynolds
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
While Alma 36 has long been one of the most admired examples of classical Hebrew chiasmus in the Book of Mormon, critiques in the last two decades have questioned whether, in fact, it really meets the requirements of classical biblical chiasms. The principal objections have pointed to the large sections of the chapter that are not easily included in the chiasm as outlined by John W. Welch and other proponents. Until now, this debate has not taken note of dramatic new developments in the analysis of Hebrew rhetoric over the last fifty years. The following essay turns to the discoveries …
“Somebody Wrote It:” The Book Of Mormon’S Missionary Message To A 21st-Century World, Jim Bennett
“Somebody Wrote It:” The Book Of Mormon’S Missionary Message To A 21st-Century World, Jim Bennett
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Nathan Oman’s “Welding Another Link in Wonder’s Chain: The Task of Latter-day Saint Intellectuals in the Church’s Third Century” wisely called for “new language in which to celebrate the Restoration.” That new language can be found in understanding the power of the Book of Mormon, which is the tangible miracle at the heart of the Restoration that defies the critics. My father, Senator Robert F. Bennett, devoted his final years to arguing that the Book of Mormon’s existence is a stumbling block to those who try to dismiss it as an obvious fraud. Those who scoff at the Book of …
Chapter 5: Mormon Writing, Brant Gardner
Chapter 5: Mormon Writing, Brant Gardner
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
When Moroni described what his father had written, he called it “an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi” (Title Page). Mormon himself similarly referred to what he had written: “after I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi...” (Words of Mormon 1:3). Nevertheless, Mormon doesn’t appear to use the term in the way we might expect.101 A modern reader expects that an abridgment makes a shorter but faithful version of a longer text. This is not what Mormon did. When Mormon wrote his eponymous book within his larger work, he said that “I write a …
Bibliography, Brant Gardner
Bibliography, Brant Gardner
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Section 2: Nephi The Writer Chapter 7: Nephi Preparing, Brant Gardner
Section 2: Nephi The Writer Chapter 7: Nephi Preparing, Brant Gardner
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
We have the Book of Mormon people because of Lehi. Nephi began the tradition that eventually allowed Mormon to create the Book of Mormon. Lehi led his family to the New World, but Nephi defined his descendants as a record-keeping people. The Nephites were a people of the Book both because Nephi (and his brothers) preserved a record-keeping tradition (the brass plates) and because he began a new one after arriving in the New World. Mormon may be most directly responsible for the Book of Mormon, but the records Mormon used (and many of the organizational structures that Mormon used) …
Chapter 11: Book Of 1 Nephi, Brant Gardner
Chapter 11: Book Of 1 Nephi, Brant Gardner
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Nephi begins his book according to traditions he learned in his scribal training.277 He adds a colophon,278 which had two functions: describe the contents of the book and to identify that author. The synoptic header prior to chapter I provides the outline of the events to be covered in Nephi’s first book: the departure of the family from Jerusalem, the journey into the wilderness, the return to Jerusalem for the brass plates, the acquisition of wives from Ishmael’s family, the arrival at Bountiful, the building of a ship, and the journey to the new world. Evidence from Mormon’s use of …
First Visions And Last Sermons: Affirming Divine Sociality, Rejecting The Greater Apostasy, Val Larsen
First Visions And Last Sermons: Affirming Divine Sociality, Rejecting The Greater Apostasy, Val Larsen
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
There is a kinship between Lehi and Joseph Smith. They are linked to each other by similar first visions, and they faced roughly the same theological problem. Resisted by elites who believe God is a Solitary Sovereign, both prophets affirm the pluralistic religion of Abraham, which features a sôd ’ĕlôhim (Council of Gods) in which the divine Father, Mother, and Son sit. These prophets are likewise linked by their last sermons: Lehi’s parting sermon/blessings of his sons and Joseph’s King Follett discourse. Along with the first visions and last sermons, the article closely reads Lehi’s dream, Nephi’s experience of Lehi’s …
Becoming Men And Women Of Understanding: Wordplay On Benjamin — An Addendum, Matthew L. Bowen
Becoming Men And Women Of Understanding: Wordplay On Benjamin — An Addendum, Matthew L. Bowen
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Royal and divine sonship/daughterhood (bānîm = “children”/“sons,” bānôt = “daughters”) is a prevalent theme throughout the Book of Mosiah. “Understanding” (Hebrew noun, bînâ or tĕbûnâ; verb, bîn) is also a key theme in that book. The initial juxtaposition of “sons” and “understanding” with the name “Benjamin” (binyāmîn, “son of the right hand”) in Mosiah 1:2–7 suggests the narrator’s association of the underlying terms with the name Benjamin likely on the basis of homophony. King Benjamin repeatedly invokes “understand” in his speech (forms of “understand” were derived from the root *byn in Hebrew; Mosiah 2:9, 40; 4:4; cf. 3:15) — a …