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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No abstract provided.

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

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

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

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 …

Scriptures Through The Jeweler’S Lens, Mark J. Johnson

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

Among the many revelatory works of Joseph Smith, members and scholars alike seem to give lesser attention to what is found in the Pearl of Great Price. In The Pearl of Greatest Price, Terryl Givens and Brian Hauglid attempt to provide some of the attention that has been lacking. The result is a book that, while spotty in places, provides a good resource that should receive wide exposure in academic circles. Believing members, on the other hand, may find the book lacking or downright questionable because of the secular approach it takes to dealing with scripture understood to have a …

An Other Approach To Isaiah Studies, Joshua M. Sears

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

A recent review of Joseph M. Spencer’s book The Vision of All: Twenty-Five Lectures on Isaiah in Nephi’s Record made the case that the book contains several challenges and problems, in particular that it advocates a theologically deficient interpretation of Isaiah that denies Isaiah’s witness of Jesus Christ. This response provides an alternative reading of Spencer’s work and suggests these assertions are often based on misunderstanding. At stake in this conversation is the question of whether or not there is more than one valid way to read Isaiah that draws upon a faithful, Restoration perspective. While Spencer may interpret and …

“We May Not Understand Our Words”: The Book Of Abraham And The Concept Of Translation In The Pearl Of Greatest Price, John S. Thompson

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

In recent years there has been an effort among some scholars to make sense of the historical sources surrounding Joseph Smith’s claims to be a translator of ancient records. Terryl Givens, with some assistance from Brian Hauglid, has explored the evidence surrounding the Book of Abraham and suggests that, in this case, Joseph Smith may not have translated an ancient record of Abraham’s writings into English as typically believed in the Latter-day Saint community. Consequently, Givens provides four alternative ways the work of “translating” may have been understood or practiced by the Prophet and his scribes. This essay highlights some …

Keeping Sacredness In Mind: A Critical Analysis Of Mircea Eliade’S The Sacred And The Profane, Jonathon Engstrom

Theses & ETDs

The contents of this paper critically examine The Sacred and The Profane by Mircea Eliade. This paper analyzes and criticizes two major argumentative points put forward by Eliade in The Sacred and Profane regarding the nature of sacredness as a concept and what it means for something to be sacred. Mircea Eliade makes some arguments which would be compelling if the premises from which they stem were better substantiated. The First Chapter is most chiefly concerned with the nature of sacredness and engaging with the ideas which stem from Eliade’s flawed premise that sacredness is a manifest quality of the …

Crying Out Together: Forming A Hermeneutic Of Powerful Suffering, Harley Burgess

MA in Religion Theses

Process theology, along with its connection to questions of suffering and theodicy, presents a perspective that is largely absent within biblical scholarship. Similarly, a lack of clear cohesion with the biblical text is an evident critique of process theology. A hermeneutic that is directly informed by process-oriented passibilism meets a need that is present in both biblical scholarship and process theology, allowing for a deeper understanding of biblical depictions of suffering. This thesis aims to incorporate the theological conclusions of passibilist process theology into a new hermeneutical strategy that will allow for a more comprehensive examination of suffering in the …

A Multinational Study Of The Etiology And Clinical Teleology Of Moral Evaluations Of Patient Behaviors, Anna Yu Lee

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation is a collection of four studies which collectively explore a hypothesized construct of ‘moral evaluation of patient behaviors’ (MEPB) as a driver of health professionals’ readiness to interact humanistically with their patients. In these studies, ‘humanistic interactions’ refer to the non-technical, intangible skills and factors of clinical competence; the factors specifically explored in these studies were compassion toward patients, self-efficacy for treating patients, and optimism toward patient treatment. For the purpose of specificity, all factors were examined as they pertained to patients with substance use disorders. Survey data from a convenience sample of 524 health professionals (i.e. physicians, …

Ways, Proofs, And The Intelligibility Of God: Thomas Aquinas’S Five Ways As Leading Into The Intelligibility Of An Existing God, Bruce John Paolozzi

CGU Theses & Dissertations

There is some question about how to understand Thomas Aquinas’s five ways of demonstrating that God exists. Often philosophers and theologians portray Thomas as a strict Aristotelian rationalist with a strong emphasis on syllogistic epistemology. Against this view a competing existential, metaphysical, and theological understanding of the five ways has been gradually gaining ground, beginning in the early 20th century, due to the work of existential Thomists such as Etienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain, and Joseph Owen. This understanding has been expanded more recently in the work of John Wippel and others. The rise of the existential view has led to …

Tongue Of Flesh - Tongues Of Fire: Enoch’S Encounter With The Heavenly Court In 1 Enoch 14-16 In Comparison With The Encounters In The Hebrew Bible, Christopher David Clarke

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The connections between Enoch’s encounter with the heavenly court in 1 Enoch 14-16 has long been connected with the similar encounters of Micaiah ben Imlah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. All four of these encounters depict a meeting between a mortal and the heavenly court, including the enthroned Deity, that results in an individual receiving a commission to fulfill a task decided upon by the court. Although most scholars recognize the similarities between Enoch’s ascent into heaven and the encounters in the Hebrew Bible, these scholars have largely concentrated on the connections between Ezekiel’s and Enoch’s encounters. This …

Toward A New Conception Of Human Subjectivity For The Age Of Globalization: Revisiting The Hegelian Vision Of “Spiritual Subjectivity”, Yun Kwon Yoo

CGU Theses & Dissertations

My major argument in this dissertation is that Hegelian spiritual subjectivity can and should serve as a philosophical basis for envisioning a new conception of human subjectivity for the age of globalization. Why, then, does globalization demand a new conception of human subjectivity at all? What constitutes the Hegelian spiritual subjectivity such that it is not only relevant and but also necessary to the contemporary, postmodern context of globalization? My dissertation largely addresses these two questions. As for the first question, it requires my critical analysis of the context in which we are living. We are living in an era …

The Marian Library Newsletter: Issue No. 70, University Of Dayton. Marian Library

Marian Library Newsletter

Features:

• Director's column: At the Manger on CBS This Morning; Marian Library volunteers; sharing library materials and expertise across the curriculum and around the world; invisible work; and a new way of delivering the newsletter.
• Rare books: Treasures of 15th-century Europe
• Staff spotlights: Graduating seniors Melody Conrad and Emily Trick
• Global reach: Myriad materials and myriad languages in the Marian Library
• Diary gives glimpses of art, worship, travel in 1930s Europe
• Recent acquisitions
• Grant funds preservation of Marian stamp collection
• Nativity activity draws 450 students to creche exhibit
• Marian postcards
• New: Spot-the-differences puzzle

Anna Julia Cooper: Radical Relationality And The Ethics Of Interdependence, Carol Wayne White

Faculty Contributions to Books

In her range of activities as orator, scholar, community activist, and educator, Anna Julia Cooper demonstrates a basic orientation toward life that paradigmatically exemplifies a proto-feminist politics based in intersectional analysis. Addressing problematic gendered, racialized, and class power dynamics in various institutions, Cooper sought a readjustment of relationships among all Americans that would ensure the dignity and worth of each individual. A close reading of her corpus also shows Cooper consistently identifying principles that advanced nuanced approaches to justice, freedom, and equality. In this chapter, I propose that Cooper’s mature intellectual vision demonstrates a particular vision of a transformed America, …

University Of New Hampshire Undergraduate Academic Catalog, 2020-2021, University Of New Hampshire

Undergraduate Catalog

No abstract provided.

Mobilizing The Social Power Of Iconic And Performative Texts For Justice And Reform, James Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

In the ten years of its existence, SCRIPT has succeeded in promoting and publishing an increasing variety of scholarship on iconic and performative texts. Culturally specific studies have provided the basis for comparative theorizing about the phenomena. This body of scholarship has put us in a better position to analyze current events involving iconic books and performative texts. It can also enable us to make creative suggestions for strengthening movements for justice and social reform by ritualizing iconic and performative texts. Here, I provide three examples of how to employ SCRIPT research to strengthen contemporary movements for social and environmental …

The Mandaean Book Of John: Text And Translation, James F. Mcgrath, Charles G. Häberl

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract provided.

Pathways To African Feminism And Development, Mwangi Anna Petkova, Mbugua Rosemary, Muleka Joseph, Carter Phillis, Gunde Anthony, Chika Ubendu, Sulaiman Lanre, George Nyabuga

Graduate School of Media and Communications

The African Women Studies Centre is a training, research, evidence-based policy, advocacy and lobbying institution of the University of Nairobi. The Centre is committed to promoting African Women’s experiences and worldview in scholarship, policy and institutional development. Among the Centre’s publications are - The Beginnings; Rebuilding the Broken African Pot; Gender and Policy Analysis Tools; Making Women’s Perspectives Count in Policy Development and Implementation; and Status Report on the Kenya National Food Security. In the spirit of the multi-disciplinary nature of the AWSC, Pathways to African Feminism and Development promotes African women’s studies in all aspects of scholarship and development. …