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Articles 1 - 30 of 72
Full-Text Articles in Mormon Studies
Front Matter
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
The Seed Of The Serpent And The Seed Of The Woman In The Standard Works, Noel Hudson
The Seed Of The Serpent And The Seed Of The Woman In The Standard Works, Noel Hudson
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
The curse of the serpent in Genesis 3:15 is presented as an archetype for the battle between good and evil. An ancient Hebrew literary form that ties together multiple stories through a common set of images, situations, repeated words, and phrases, is termed a leitmotif. A biblical leitmotif based on the curse of the serpent in Genesis 3 and the curse of Cain in Genesis 4 is found throughout both the Old and New Testaments and is referred to as the seed of the serpent leitmotif. Hebrew prophets, early Christians, and protestant reformers all found the seed of …
Birth And Rebirth: The Fish In Mesoamerican Art And Its Implication On Stela 5, Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico, Diane E. Wirth
Birth And Rebirth: The Fish In Mesoamerican Art And Its Implication On Stela 5, Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico, Diane E. Wirth
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
A revealing analysis of fish iconography in Mesoamerica, in relation to the ancestral couple on Stela 5, Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico, holds an unforeseen element that may reveal a key to the Tree of Life referred to in the Book of Mormon. This key is supported by Mesoamerican, Hebrew, and Egyptian traditions.
Front Matter
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Chapter 1: Book Of Mormon Animals, Matthew Roper
Chapter 1: Book Of Mormon Animals, Matthew Roper
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Chapter 2: Warfare In The Book Of Mormon, Matthew Roper
Chapter 2: Warfare In The Book Of Mormon, Matthew Roper
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Chapter 4: Ancient Culture, Matthew Roper
Chapter 4: Ancient Culture, Matthew Roper
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Chapter 5: Book Of Mormon Names, Matthew Roper
Chapter 5: Book Of Mormon Names, Matthew Roper
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Chapter 6: Old World Journeys By Land And Sea, Matthew Roper
Chapter 6: Old World Journeys By Land And Sea, Matthew Roper
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Chapter 7: Records, Writing, And Language, Matthew Roper
Chapter 7: Records, Writing, And Language, Matthew Roper
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Chapter 8: Events In Third Nephi, Matthew Roper
Chapter 8: Events In Third Nephi, Matthew Roper
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Chapter 9: Concluding Observations, Matthew Roper
Chapter 9: Concluding Observations, Matthew Roper
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Full Issue
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
The Flimsiest Show On Earth, Blake T. Ostler
The Flimsiest Show On Earth, Blake T. Ostler
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Every so often an anti-Mormon book comes along that lowers the bar for attacks on the faith. How the Book of Mormon Came to Pass is one such work. It relies on speculation, conjecture, and tenuous connections to render, out of whole cloth, a hypothesis for the Book of Mormon’s creation that is almost laughable.
A Fitting Tribute To The Prophet Of The Restoration, Steven L. Olsen
A Fitting Tribute To The Prophet Of The Restoration, Steven L. Olsen
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Joseph Smith: A Life Lived in Crescendo is one of the most extensive and ambitious scholarly works on the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its twenty-one essays address various issues relating to the culmination of the Prophet’s ministry. They provide diverse and profound insights worthy of examination by serious students of the latter-day Restoration.
Latter-Day Saint Theology And The Problem Of Evil, Val Larsen, Newell D. Wright
Latter-Day Saint Theology And The Problem Of Evil, Val Larsen, Newell D. Wright
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
The classical formulation of God as the sole, self-existent Being and ground of all that exists poses a philosophical problem. If God is omniscient and omnipotent, why does evil exist? Why does he not save humankind from moral and natural evil? If we embrace the full set of classical assumptions of creedal Christianity, these questions have no satisfactory answer and God cannot be absolved of responsibility for evil. This paper reviews and rejects several classical and modern philosophical formulations that try to solve the problem of evil. It then argues that the problem of evil dissolves if we accept Restoration …
Wonder No More: A Review Of Into Arabia, Brant A. Gardner
Wonder No More: A Review Of Into Arabia, Brant A. Gardner
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Into Arabia is a collected reprint of six articles. The first chapter reprints an article that first appeared in BYU Studies. The other five appeared in Interpreter. Both BYU Studies and Interpreter are peer-reviewed academic journals, which means that all these articles were examined and reviewed prior to publication. Thus, my review is more of a synopsis of the importance of each chapter rather than a detailed critique.
Easter As Threshold: Trauma, Transformation, And God’S Presence In Liminal Spaces, Joseph W. Green
Easter As Threshold: Trauma, Transformation, And God’S Presence In Liminal Spaces, Joseph W. Green
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Using the context of Easter, this personal essay explores perceptions of God’s presence and absence during human suffering. There is a theological thread that ties Christ’s suffering for our griefs and sorrows during his Atonement directly to his ability to succor us as we enter into despair due to our own trauma. Our suffering occurs during moments of transition and vulnerability known as “liminal spaces.” It is in these moments that the Savior meets us at the threshold, helping us move through trauma toward transformation in Christ. Our ability to move forward openly in liminal spaces will help us to …
Honorable Intentions With An Unreliable Methodology: Lucas’S Response Underscores The Problems, Jeff Lindsay
Honorable Intentions With An Unreliable Methodology: Lucas’S Response Underscores The Problems, Jeff Lindsay
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
James Lucas has made a passionate response to the negative review I offered for his and Jonathan Neville’s book By Means of Urim & Thummim. Though we agree on many important issues, there are some troubling gaps that readers of their book need to understand. Some of these issues may be illustrated in the methodology of Lucas’s response. In general, the unreliable methodology and its often extreme, unnuanced approach to dealing with complex, unclear issues must be challenged, as painful as that has been. The complaints in my review remain intact if not further underscored by Lucas’s response. The …
The Bands Of Death, The Chains Of Hell, And The Seed Motif, Noel Hudson
The Bands Of Death, The Chains Of Hell, And The Seed Motif, Noel Hudson
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
This article continues a discussion of the imagery, words, and phrases that make up a specific leitmotif, called the seed motif. Two instances of the seed motif found in Alma are discussed as a seemingly intentional diptych in which one narrative reflects the other, but in the negative. Five specific examples from the motif are examined in greater detail, with a look at their origin and usage throughout the record. The narrative of Abinadi is presented as a unique iteration of the seed motif wherein the concept of the bands of death is introduced. The paper concludes by discussing the …
Through A Glass Darkly: Was There A Twentieth-Century Corruption Of 1 Corinthians 13:12?, Charles Dike
Through A Glass Darkly: Was There A Twentieth-Century Corruption Of 1 Corinthians 13:12?, Charles Dike
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
This paper considers the well-known account of Paul having been struck blind on the road to Damascus and his equally well-known statement that “for now we see through a glass darkly.” Both are examined in light of a solar eclipse that occurred across the Mediterranean in AD 49. It is possible that Paul could have been referring to an experience of viewing the solar eclipse through a filter. The article provides an exploration of potential astronomical aids that may have been available to first-century viewers of the eclipse. Views of solar phenomenon are shown and then Jewish and Christian thoughts …
Joseph And Oliver Told The Truth About The Translation: A Response To Brant Gardner’S And Jeff Lindsay’S Reviews, James W. Lucas
Joseph And Oliver Told The Truth About The Translation: A Response To Brant Gardner’S And Jeff Lindsay’S Reviews, James W. Lucas
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Two recent reviews of By Means of the Urim & Thummim: Restoring Translation to the Restoration by Jeff Lindsay and Brant Gardner seriously misrepresent the book’s argument. Perhaps most significantly, they largely sidestep the book’s central thesis that the statements by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery that the Book of Mormon was translated from the plates using the “Urim and Thummim” interpreters which God provided with the plates should be at the center of any account of the Book of Mormon’s production. Prioritizing problematic and unreliable seer stone accounts conflicts with the testimonies of these primary eyewitnesses, and thus is …
The Heavenly Lamb, Sacrifices On The Heavenly Altar, And The Song Of The Lamb, Meir Bar-Iian
The Heavenly Lamb, Sacrifices On The Heavenly Altar, And The Song Of The Lamb, Meir Bar-Iian
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
The symbolic image of the Lamb of God is well-known in the New Testament and The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. This image derives from the Old Testament, later adopted by early Christians. Words of Gad the Seer is an apocalyptic pseudepigraphal book written in pseudo-biblical Hebrew from a manuscript copied in the eighteenth century. After over thirty-three years of investigation, many aspects of this recently discovered text are coming to light. There are more than twenty similarities between this largely unknown book and the book of Revelation, though one was written by a Jewish man who became Christian …
The Literary Structure Of Alma 23–27, Derek Squire
The Literary Structure Of Alma 23–27, Derek Squire
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
This article presents a macro-chiasm for Alma 23:16 through Alma 27:30 that covers the account of the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi from the time they first take upon themselves that name to the time they relocate to the Nephite land of Jershon and are subsequently called the people of Ammon. The central element of this chiasm highlights the martyrdom of some Lamanite believers in the wilderness by the hand of the seed of Amulon in fulfillment of Abinadi’s prophecy in Mosiah 17:15. The meaning behind this puzzling prophecy may be illuminated by analyzing the structure of this macro-chiasm. It underscores the …
“Get Thou Up Into The Temple”: Receiving Revelation And Becoming Holy In The House Of The Lord, Matthew L. Bowen
“Get Thou Up Into The Temple”: Receiving Revelation And Becoming Holy In The House Of The Lord, Matthew L. Bowen
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Psalms 15:1–5, 24:2–3, and 48:1 [MT 2], as temple hymns of the Jerusalem Temple, are consistent with other texts such as Isaiah 2:2–3 and Genesis 22:14, which envision the holy temple as the “mountain of the Lord” into which one must ritually ascend. The examples of Moses, Nephi, Jacob, and others who ascended into this “mountain” demonstrate that this ascent facilitates the reception of divine revelation necessary in our mortal journey to become holy through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This sacred ascent is necessary for our eventual, individual, and collective “perfection” in Christ, and it is one that he …
The Lamb Of God: A Note On The Significance Of Meir Bar-Ilan’S Paper For Latter-Day Saints, Jeff Lindsay
The Lamb Of God: A Note On The Significance Of Meir Bar-Ilan’S Paper For Latter-Day Saints, Jeff Lindsay
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Dr. Meir Bar-Ilan’s paper, “The Heavenly Lamb, Sacrifices on the Heavenly Altar, and the Song of the Lamb,” appearing concurrently in Interpreter, is a welcome contribution from a noted Jewish scholar. Bar-Ilan has called the world’s attention to a remarkable Hebrew manuscript with origins in antiquity, Words of Gad the Seer. Those interested in the relationship between Jewish texts and Latter-day Saint scriptures may also wish to compare the findings in Bar-Ilan’s paper with treatments of the Lamb of God in the Book of Mormon and the Book of Moses.
Front Matter
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
No abstract provided.
The Covenant Path Of The Ancient Temple In 2 Nephi 31:19–20, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
The Covenant Path Of The Ancient Temple In 2 Nephi 31:19–20, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
In this article, I discuss how the ancient analogue to what President Nelson has called “the covenant path” might be seen in the Book of Mormon and elsewhere in scripture not so much as a journey of covenant-keeping that takes us to the temple but as a journey that takes us through the temple. Throughout the Book of Mormon, observant readers will find not only the general outline of the doctrine of Christ but also corresponding details about the covenant path as represented in temple layout and furnishings. Nowhere is this truth better illustrated than in 2 Nephi 31:19–20 where …
Chiasmus In The Book Of Jarom, Stephen Kent Ehat
Chiasmus In The Book Of Jarom, Stephen Kent Ehat
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Jarom strongly evidences the use of chiasmus to structure his short book. This paper seeks to uncover, display, and discuss the chiastic patterning of the book and hopefully suggests an enhanced understanding of the hidden beauty and deep meaning of this brief but important text. The book of Jarom indeed offers more than what may otherwise be revealed by only a cursory reading of its fifteen verses. Awareness of the chiastic pattern of the text reinforces an understanding of Jarom’s important message.
Prepping For The Last Battle, Daniel C. Peterson
Prepping For The Last Battle, Daniel C. Peterson
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Intellectually acute, deeply learned, brilliantly imaginative, yet popular and easily accessible, C. S. Lewis was arguably the greatest Christian apologist of at least the past century. I believe that Latter-day Saints can benefit greatly from reading him and re-reading him and that those who are unfamiliar with his writing have an enviable treat awaiting them. I’m also convinced, by my own experience, that those who return to his work after having read some of it once, long ago, will find his books at least as good as they seemed on first acquaintance. In fact, they may even find, as I …