Daniel C. Peterson | The Interpreter Foundation: Recent Episodes
Daniel C. Peterson | The Interpreter Foundation
Abstract: 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 […]
The post Prepping for the Last Battle first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Photo by Natalia Y. on Unsplash Dear Friends: We’re coming to the end of 2024. Accordingly, on behalf of The Interpreter Foundation, I want to look back at some of the year’s highlights and forward to one or two of the things that we anticipate for 2025. Please think of it as something of an […]
The post Something of an Annual Report first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: In preparing the next generation, it really is helpful when parents don’t stand alone and they have the help of others outside the family. This is one of the reasons why the seemingly growing gulf between gospel values and the values of the societies around us is such a cause for concern: “The truths […]
The post It Helps to Have a Village first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
We at the Interpreter Foundation were saddened to learn on the morning of Tuesday, 20 August 2024, of the death of our dear friend and associate George Mitton. As his obituary illustrates, he and his remarkable wife, Ewan Harbrecht Mitton, had led very full lives and made many contributions before they moved back to Utah […]
The post Death and funeral of George Mitton first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: While, for understandable reasons, Protestant Christendom tends to downplay the question, the more ancient Christian churches have historically placed considerable weight on what is often termed “apostolic succession.” The Catholic church, for instance, strongly affirms the “primacy of Peter” and the status of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, as ancient Peter’s lineal successor. […]
The post Who Holds the Keys? first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
I was profoundly saddened to learn just this morning of the death of Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye. I first met her a number of years ago at a small discussion-retreat in a cabin above Salt Lake City. I puzzled throughout much of that day over who this diminutive, bald, very bright Asian Latter-day Saint woman might […]
The post Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: There is no more important message than that of the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s life-transforming and world-transforming. It is also the most joyous news imaginable. What Jesus did on our behalf leaves us forever in his debt and should put him at the center of our lives. Easter Sunday,” President Russell […]
The post Christ is Risen! Truly, He is Risen! first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: Hints of a different and better world — sometimes dimly remembered, often intuited, and commonly hoped for — and of a glorious, mighty power behind the world in which we currently live, are all around us. They are not so powerful that they cannot be missed or even ignored, but they have been and […]
The post “Signals of Transcendence” first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: The Restoration began with the stunning divine declaration to the Prophet Joseph Smith that the Christian sects of his day were “all wrong,” that “all their creeds were an abomination in [God’s] sight.” It’s a powerful condemnation, but what, exactly, does it mean? Later in his life, Joseph reflected that he felt that creeds […]
The post Credo first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: In the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, based upon verses composed by an eleventh-century Persian mathematician and astronomer, the English Victorian poet Edward FitzGerald eloquently portrays human life in an indifferent, deterministic universe that lacks any evident purpose and is bereft of divine Providence. The poem’s suggested response to such a universe is an unambitious […]
The post “In This Batter’d Caravanserai” first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: Do defenders of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ see themselves as fighting a desperate rearguard battle against the evidence, hoping to save at least a faint shred of credibility for its claims? Hardly. But, at the same time, we don’t pretend to be able to prove those claims beyond any possibility of doubt. […]
Abstract: Believers in the God of Abraham — who include not only Jews and Christians but also Muslims — are exhorted to call upon him every day, as well as in times of need. We are promised that he will respond to petitionary prayers. Moreover, we are assured that, in the end, believers will prosper, […]
The post Beautiful Patience first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
On Saturday, 17 September 2022, we held a special tenth-birthday party for the Interpreter Foundation at the Riverside Country Club in Provo. Invited guests included Foundation volunteers and major donors. Unfortunately, limitations of space and budget precluded us from inviting everybody who has stepped forward to support and advance the work of the Foundation. So […]
The post Videos of the Tenth-Birthday Party for the Interpreter Foundation first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
For various reasons — some probably having to do with the emotions and sentiments of the holiday season and others no doubt connected with American tax policy and the Internal Revenue Service — a disproportionate percentage of annual charitable donations are made during the final quarter of the year, at least in the United States […]
The post It’s the Most Generous Time of the Year first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: Miracles occur relatively often in scripture, as do people who, for various reasons, want or even need to deny their occurrence. The arguments that are deployed to justify such denial haven’t changed all that much over the centuries. In fact, they’re still around today. Most if not all present or former missionaries for The […]
The post When an Evident Fact Cannot Be Allowed to Be True first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
I would like to call your attention to an event — a special showing of the film Witnesses, accompanied by questions and answers and discussion — that will be held on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo this coming Friday evening, September 16. Admission is free, and there is abundant public parking that […]
The post This Friday: A Special Showing of Witnesses first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: We typically teach and often even sing that we should be our brothers’ (and sisters’) keepers. And we do it with the very best and most holy of intentions. For many of us, indeed, loving and caring for our brothers and sisters is at the very heart of what it means to live a life […]
The post Should I Be My Brother’s Keeper? Yes and No first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
I’ve been blessed to be surrounded for many years by interesting people, and Michael Lyon was among the most interesting of them all. Michael, who passed away on Wednesday, 29 June 2022, after a lengthy illness, may not have been widely known among the general audience of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies […]
The post Michael Lyon Tributes first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: “Think not,” said the Savior at Matthew 10:34, “that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” And this has in fact been the case — too often literally, but certainly figuratively. In the Old Testament, the Lord accurately foretold the situation that we commonly see: […]
The post Contending without Contention first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: Given the knowledge of the corporeal, embodied nature of God that the Prophet Joseph Smith received in his 1820 First Vision, Latter-day Saints have argued from their earliest days that the Bible is most accurately understood as teaching precisely the same thing — that God has a body and that humans are literally created in […]
The post An Unexpected Case for an Anthropomorphic God first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
The Interpreter Foundation was launched about 501.5 weeks ago, over a soup and salad lunch at the Olive Garden restaurant in Provo. We had no organization, no money, no bank account, no institutional support. But, owing to unexpected recent developments, we felt that action needed to be taken very quickly in order to maintain a […]
The post 500 Weeks of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: Can people be good without believing in God? Obviously, yes. They can. Is atheistic naturalism capable of supplying a foundation for morality? That is a separate question, to which more than a few theists have answered No. However, a relatively new book by a very prominent student of religion and society suggests otherwise. A […]
The post If God Does Not Exist, Is Everything Permitted? first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: As religious holidays go, Christmas has been domesticated unusually well — and effectively commercialized — among people and even whole cultures that don’t accept (or even care about) the central theological claim that Christmas asserts. After all, who doesn’t like cute little babies, at least when they’re not crying? But that theological claim is […]
The post Christmas and a Condescending God first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
The Interpreter Foundation is pleased to share here a video of an event that Deseret Book and Excel Entertainment sponsored in Provo on October 14, 2021. The event celebrated the release of the Interpreter Foundation’s dramatic film, Witnesses, on DVD and via streaming. Most though not quite all of the program was occupied by a […]
The post Deseret Book’s What is My Witness Event first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: Alma’s conversion experience was both unusual and unusually powerful, and yet he fervently wished that he could provide others with the same experience. So much so, in fact, that he actually feared that he might be sinning in his wish by seeming to oppose the will of God. Increasingly, though, I find myself sharing that […]
The post Oh, That I Were an Angel! first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: It’s almost always better to be right than to be wrong, to be exact than to be sloppy. In scholarship generally and serious scriptural study specifically, it’s important to work toward precision in both interpretation and explanation. However, the Lord is fully capable of reaching us where we are, despite our imperfect languages and […]
The post Celebrating Exactitude,When It’s Appropriate first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: We are called to take the Gospel to the entire world, but our numbers are few and our time and resources are limited. This is where cold calculation can help. A field-surgical technique pioneered during the Napoleonic Wars of the early nineteenth century and refined in the butchery of World War I a century […]
The post Better Kingdom-Building through Triage first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
After a respectable theatrical run that began on 2 June, “Witnesses,” the Interpreter Foundation’s dramatic feature film, has been slowly winding down. (For a list of remaining theaters where “Witnesses” is still playing, see “Get Tickets,” at witnessesfilm.com,) Theaters are full right now with big studio films. It’s a very competitive time in cinemas, […]
The post Announcing Special Screenings of “Witnesses” During BYU Education Week first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: Is the Gospel profound? Yes, it is. And one of the goals of the Interpreter Foundation is to call attention to that sometimes-overlooked profundity. In one sense, though, the question is a peripheral one. If we were drowning — which, figuratively and from the vantage point of eternity, we absolutely are — we wouldn’t complain […]
The post De Profundis first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: Embarking roughly six months after the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the 1830–1831 “mission to the Lamanites” faced challenges that we pampered moderns can scarcely imagine. Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer Jr., Parley P. Pratt, Ziba Peterson, and, eventually, Frederick G. Williams demonstrated beyond reasonable dispute the depth of their commitment to the Restoration and […]
The post Vast Prairies and Trackless Wilds of Snow: A Good Test of Sincerity first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: This paper examines the testimonies of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon— not only the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses, but many others who experienced and testified of the reality of the Book of Mormon plates. Together, these testimonies offer impressive support for the claims of Joseph Smith regarding the Book of Mormon and, thus, the Restoration. The variety […]
The post Variety and Complexity in the Witnesses to the Book of Mormon first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: The Interpreter Foundation welcomes faithful ideas, insights, and manuscripts from people of all backgrounds. In this brief essay, I share some that were recently shared with me regarding Lehi’s vision of the tree of life, as recorded in 1 Nephi 8. Among other things, Lehi seems to have been shown that the divine offer of salvation extends […]
The post “All Can Partake, Freely” first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
I am pleased to announce that Shirley S. Ricks has agreed to join the executive board of the Interpreter Foundation and, thus, to serve as one of its vice presidents. This is especially gratifying to me, personally, since I’ve known Shirley since shortly after I returned from my mission in German-speaking Switzerland. Shirley Smith grew […]
The post New Vice President for The Interpreter Foundation first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Abstract: In a pair of recent books, Patrick Mason and Terryl and Fiona Givens seek to revitalize, reinvigorate, and deepen our understanding of basic terms and concepts of the Restoration. I welcome such efforts, convinced (even where I sometimes quibble) that the conversations they will engender among faithful and committed believers can be very healthy. Now that “the […]
The post Two Essays on Sustaining and Enlarging the Doctrine first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
On behalf of The Interpreter Foundation, I’m pleased to announce that Kristine Wardle Frederickson has accepted an invitation to serve as one of the Foundation’s vice presidents and as a member of its Board of Trustees. Dr. Frederickson received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Utah, where her dissertation explored religious underpinnings in […]
The post New Vice President for The Interpreter Foundation first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page 87]Abstract: 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 […]
The post Notes on Mormonism and the Trinity first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: The early Latter-day Saints viewed the Book of Mormon not only as a symbol of Joseph Smith’s prophetic calling but also as the most powerful evidence for that calling. However, perhaps because they were ardent believers in the Bible who had been formed in a distinctly Bible-drenched culture and perhaps also because many of them had […]
The post It Came from Beyond first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: Every human enterprise — even the best, including science and scholarship — is marred by human weakness, by our inescapable biases, incapacities, limitations, preconceptions, and sometimes, yes, sins. It is a legacy of the Fall. With this in mind, we should approach even the greatest scientific, cultural, and academic achievements with both grateful appreciation […]
The post Reckoning with the Mortally Inevitable first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page 41]Abstract: This prefatory material to the festschrift for John W. Welch gives an overview of his exceptional life, full of variety and intensity. As James R. Rasband writes: “His candle burns bright whatever the project.” Hoskisson and Peterson characterize “Jack” as a “polymath” as they give a thumbnail sketch of the history of FARMS […]
The post “To Seek the Law of the Lord” first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: We are often at the dubious mercy of people, forces, and events that are beyond our control. But a trust in Providence — a word that is used relatively seldom these days for power that transcends even those people, forces, and events and that can, in the end, overrule them for our good — can […]
The post The End from the Beginning first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page 111]Abstract: In this article, Daniel C. Peterson describes the famous “night” journey that Muhammad allegedly made from Arabia to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem through the heavens and into the presence of God. His ascension through various gates of heaven, passing by the gatekeepers, is compared with biblical and Latter-day Saint teachings. Elements of the […]
The post Temples All the Way Down: Some Notes on the Mi‘raj of Muhammad first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: When I was young, I learned an important lesson that has stayed with me through my life. This lesson has led me, on many occasions, to reread great works by great authors. The scriptures are no exceptions, and rereading them can be beneficial to any reader. When I was still quite young, perhaps around fourteen or […]
The post A Note in Favor of Rereading Great Works, Including the Scriptures first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: Over the centuries, many religious thinkers — precisely because they are religious thinkers — have put a premium on intellectual attainment as a prerequisite for salvation. This has sometimes yielded an elitism or snobbishness that is utterly foreign to the teachings of the Savior. The Gospel as taught in The Church of Jesus […]
The post A Democratic Salvation first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Today marks the four hundreth (400th) consecutive Friday on which Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship has published at least one new article. That’s not a bad record, especially in view of the fact that the Interpreter Foundation was launched, and its journal conceived, just 401.5 weeks ago. This success could not […]
The post Today’s Interpreter Milestone first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: Readers are surely aware that the birth of the Christ child is the reason we celebrate Christmas. Members of the Church may be less aware, though, of the notable birth of a child, millennia later, of distant secondary importance. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were […]
The post Light Began Once More to Grow first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[An interview of Royal Skousen by his friend and colleague Dan Peterson regarding the Book of Mormon critical text project to which Skousen has dedicated his career. This interview was conducted September 10, 2019, via email and was published in the quarterly magazine of BYU’s College of Humanities.] What is a critical text of the […]
The post A Critical Text first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: 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 […]
The post Recent Reflections While Partaking of the Sacrament first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: The Greek philosopher Aristotle, clearly one of the world’s great geniuses, created the concept of the “unmoved mover,” which moves “other things, but is, itself, unmoved by anything else.” This label became the standard Jewish, Christian, and Muslim description of an impersonal God — a God without body, parts or passions — a […]
The post Compassion as the Heart of the Gospel first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: Young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have grown up with a plethora of information available to answer the questions they may have about the Gospel. This, in turn, has allowed discordant information to cause concern in many members, ultimately drawing some away from the Gospel. In a recent address to young, […]
The post Research and More Research first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: 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 […]
The post The Interpreter Foundation and an Apostolic Charge first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
On Tuesday, September 25, at 7 p.m., BYU Professor Royal Skousen will speak on the just-published The Nature of the Original Language, parts 3 and 4 of volume 3 of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. The lecture will include additional commentary by Stanford Carmack, Skousen’s collaborator in authoring and researching these two new […]
The post Celebrating Two New Books in the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: 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 […]
The post Is Faith Compatible with Reason? first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
I received the sad news this morning that Richard Lloyd Anderson, a quiet and modest giant among Latter-day Saint scholars and one of the great defenders of Joseph Smith and the claims of the Restored Gospel in this dispensation, passed away late Sunday night. Richard was well into his nineties, and, even amidst my recent […]
The post Richard Lloyd Anderson (1926-2018) first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
We’ve just received the sad news of the passing, on Sunday, 3 June 2018, of our friend and colleague John A. Tvedtnes. John was born to a Roman Catholic family on 26 January 1941 in Mandan, North Dakota. Introduced to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when his family moved to Salt Lake […]
The post John Tvedtnes first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii]Abstract: 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 […]
The post The Word and the Kingdom first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
[Page vii] There 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 […]
The post The Book of Mormon Witnesses and Their Challenge to Secularism first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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 post The Power is In Them first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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 flows from the center of the temple in the New Jerusalem. Also in the last days, “in the barren deserts there shall come forth pools of living water” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:29). We, the writers and volunteer staff of the Interpreter Foundation, invite readers to help spread and defend the life-giving water of the Restoration, for “the harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few” (Matthew 9:37).
The post The Life-giving “Water” of the Restoration first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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.
The post Looking Back, Almost Five Years On first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
“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.
The post It Took a Village to Prepare for the Restoration first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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.
The post The Small Voice first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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 post Three Degrees of Gospel Understanding first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Loss, pain, and suffering are too often, it seems, co-sojourners through our lives. To one degree or another, we all become familiar with these elements of a life lived in an imperfect world. It is inevitable — and virtually universal — that such companions foster questions about the meaning of life and whether there is a God who is the author, director, and finisher of that meaning. For those who conclude that God is real and has part in our lives, suffering can have or acquire eternal significance, enhanced by the personal realization that God, too, suffers and has suffered. In the Christian paradigm, God shares our suffering and we, in turn, share in His. In the depths of our sorrow we have, literally, a “co-sufferer” sharing our journey. As Christians, we are called upon to take upon ourselves the name of Christ. This act not only gives us a new name, but may require us to bear loss, pain, and suffering as did Christ — to acquire the “marks of Jesus” in our own lives. Indeed, for some, such bearing may be a key part of becoming what God plans for us to become.
The post Reflecting on the “Marks of Jesus” first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Review of Dennis Largey, Andrew Hedges, John Hilton III, and Kerry Hull, eds. The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, in cooperation with Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 2015, pp 308.
Abstract: 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 the Book of Mormon serves as an inspiration and a testament to its truthfulness.
The post Many Witnesses to a Marvelous Work first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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.
The post On Being a Tool first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
The Sun makes life possible on Earth. It’s the source of virtually all of the energy that we use or need. No wonder many ancient civilizations worshipped it as a god. During the daytime, it’s the principal reason that we can see anything. Indeed, it’s so bright in itself that we find it difficult, if not impossible, to look directly at it.
The post Cloud Illusions and the Perfect Day first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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 required faith-statements. Can apologetics play a role in encouraging and cultivating such attitudes as well as in convincing our heads? This article maintains that apologetics can and should play such a role, and invites those with the appropriate gifts and abilities to make the effort to do so.
The post Making Visible the Beauty and Goodness of the Gospel first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
The temporarily rather comfortable “fit” between the Restored Gospel and American civic religion is a thing of the past, and we contemporary Latter-day Saints seem to find ourselves in a more and more marginalized position, theologically and socially. This was where our predecessors, both earlier in this dispensation and among the first Christians, were located, and it may not be an altogether bad thing. It will, for instance, force us to take our beliefs more seriously, less casually. And it may well drive us back to the unique resources provided by the Restoration, which have much to offer.
The post Toward Ever More Intelligent Discipleship first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Some critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, chiefly of the secular variety, claim that Latter-day Saints are mind-controlled robots who are forbidden to think for themselves. I collected an example of this claim nearly twenty years ago that will serve to represent many other such expressions before and since.
The post Questioning: The Divine Plan first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
A review of Richard J. Mouw, Talking with Mormons: An Invitation to Evangelicals. Grand Rapids and Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2012, 99 pages.
The post Seeing Ourselves Through the Eyes of a Friendly and Thoughtful Evangelical first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
From the birth of modern science at the end of the sixteenth century, Galileo famously believed that God had written two books — the scriptures and the Book of Nature. The scriptures, he contended, should be interpreted by scholars and theologians, whereas the Book of Nature was the province of scientists.
The post An Exhortation to Study God’s Two “Books” first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
We’re approaching Christmas and the end of 2014. It seems appropriate, therefore, to thank all those whose generous donations of time, energy, and money have made the accomplishments of The Interpreter Foundation possible.
The post A Letter from Daniel C. Peterson first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Both reason and experience are essential to religious life, which should be neither completely irrational nor entirely cerebral. But surely, of the two, the experience of direct and convincing revelation would and should trump academic debate, and most obviously so for its recipient. The Interpreter Foundation was established in the conviction that reasoned discussion and analysis necessarily has a place in faithful discipleship, but also in the confidence that divine revelation has genuinely occurred. The role of reason, accordingly, is a helpful one. It serves an important ancillary function. However, it does not supplant experience with God and the divine and must never imagine that it can. Academic scholarship can refine and clarify ideas, correct assumptions, defend truth claims, generate insights, and deepen understanding, but, while human inquiry sometimes creates openings for revelation, it will never replace direct divine communication. Interpreter knows its place.
The post Reason, Experience, and the Existence of God first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
I’m delighted to hear that Royal Skousen’s superb and helpful Yale University Press edition of The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text has just gone into its third printing.
The post The Yale Book of Mormon text goes into its third printing first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
I’ve recently picked Stephen T. Davis’s Risen Indeed: Making Sense of the Resurrection up again. It’s an impressive book that had a pivotal effect on my thinking when it first appeared. Davis, the Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College in California, argues that “Christians are within their intellectual rights in believing that Jesus was raised from the dead.” “The thesis of the book,” he explains, “is that the two central Christian resurrection claims — namely, that Jesus was bodily raised from the dead and that we will all be raised from the dead — are defensible claims.”
The post The Sibling Scandals of the Resurrection first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Philosophers and theologians, believers and unbelievers, friends to faith and enemies, scientists, historians — these and many others have devoted a very great deal of time and attention for centuries to the relationship between faith and reason. There is little if any general consensus on the matter, and I have no intention, in just a few pages here, of trying to settle things. I’m inclined, though, to share a few thoughts on the topic from my Latter-day Saint perspective.
The post Some Notes on Faith and Reason first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
As I write, Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture is closing in on its hundredth straight week of publishing at least one article every Friday.
The post A Letter from the President and Chairman of the Board first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Among the covenant obligations taken upon themselves by faithful Latter-day Saints is the consecration of their talents, gifts, and abilities to the building of the Kingdom of God on the earth. Those who established and lead The Interpreter Foundation see their mission in terms of this covenant. The Foundation’s goal is to foster honest and accessible scholarship in service to the Church and Kingdom of God, scholarship that will be of use and benefit to our fellow Latter-day Saints.
The post Reflections on the Mission of The Interpreter Foundation first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
On 27 September 1991 Elder Maxwell addressed that year’s “FARMS Annual Recognition Banquet,” as it was then called, in the Wilkinson Student Center on the BYU campus... I have received permission from Elder Maxwell’s family to reproduce here the transcription of Elder Maxwell’s remarks at the banquet that was made from a recording by my friend and former Maxwell Institute colleague Matthew Roper on 5 October 1991, slightly more than a week after the event. While a more polished version of the speech eventually appeared in BYU Studies, it was considerably shortened and the references to its specific audience were largely eliminated. So far as I am aware, Elder Maxwell’s full banquet remarks have never before appeared publicly.
The post Elder Neal A. Maxwell on Consecration, Scholarship, and the Defense of the Kingdom first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
I first became involved in apologetics because I wanted to defend the truth of beliefs that are important to me and to defend the character of leaders for whom I have great respect, even veneration, against attack. I’m offended by falsehoods, prejudice, and injustice. I wanted to help faltering members who were sometimes besieged by intellectual challenges for which they had no adequate response. I also desired to assist interested observers to see sufficient plausibility in the Gospel’s claims that they would be able to make its truth a matter of sincere and receptive prayer. My hope was to clear away obstacles that might obscure their recognition of truth. These continue to be my motivations, and I expect that others who are engaged in apologetics feel much the same way.
The post Introduction, Volume 6: The Modest But Important End of Apologetics first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
A new two-volume Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics has just appeared from the venerable European publishing house E. J. Brill. It includes two articles requested by the editors from John A. Tvedtnes: “Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon” “Hebrew Names in the Book of Mormon” The articles include a reading list, which depends mostly upon publications from […]
The post Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Publishes Two Articles Discussing Hebrew and the Book of Mormon first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
This introduction to Volume 5 considers the modern notion of a cessation of Bible-like divine manifestations and revelations, a belief which Joseph Smith encountered when he told others of the First Vision. This perception of an end to miracles and visions had become common by Joseph's time, as evidenced by various writers, and continues to the present day. The Latter-day Saints, however, continue to believe in modern-day revelation, which we believe gives us a unique vantage point for the study of the Bible and other scripture, as illustrated in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture.
The post Introduction, Volume 5 first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Technological innovations have enabled the continuation and growth of the Church in these Latter-days, as well as this organization, The Interpreter Foundation.
The post Standing on the Shoulders of Giants first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
Al-Ghazālī and Ibn Rushd, two of the greatest thinkers in the Islamic tradition, gave a great deal of thought to the relationship between faith and reason, and to what should be done when received religious tradition appears to conflict with what reason appears to demonstrate. With whom should such problems and their resolutions be shared? Mainstream Christians and Jews have studied the works of the two men for centuries; perhaps what they say will prove interesting to Latter-day Saints, as well.
The post Reflecting on Gospel Scholarship with Abū al-Walīd and Abū Ḥāmid first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
The following essay was presented on 3 August 2012 as “Of ‘Mormon Studies’ and Apologetics” at the conclusion of the annual conference of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) in Sandy, Utah. It represents the first public announcement and appearance of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, which had been founded only slightly more than a week earlier, on 26 July. In my view, that rapid launch was the near-miraculous product of selfless collaboration and devotion to a cause on the part of several people—notable among them David E. Bokovoy, Alison V. P. Coutts, William J. Hamblin, Bryce M. Haymond, Louis C. Midgley, George L. Mitton, Stephen D. Ricks, and Mark Alan Wright—and I’m profoundly grateful to them. This essay, which may even have some slight historical value, is something of a personal charter statement regarding that cause. It is published here with no substantial alteration.
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This is the introduction to volume 1 of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, in which Daniel C. Peterson discusses the topic of "Charity in Defending the Kingdom."
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