ePub feed of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Latest Episodes
Exploring Semitic and Egyptian in Uto-Aztecan Languages - John S. Robertson
Review of Brian D. Stubbs, Exploring the Explanatory Power of Semitic and Egyptian in Uto-Aztecan, Provo, UT: Grover Publications, 2015. 436 pp. Continue reading →
On Doubting Nephi’s Break Between 1 and 2 Nephi: A Critique of Joseph Spencer’s An Other Testament: On typology - Noel B. Reynolds
In 2012 Joseph Spencer published an analysis of 1st and 2nd Nephi that interprets a phrase in 1 Nephi 19:5 as implying the true break in Nephi’s writings is not between the two scriptural books we now use but rather to be found at the end of 2 Nephi 5 ...
Overcoming Obstacles: Becoming a Great Missionary - Craig L. Foster
Matthew Jensen’s book Overcoming Obstacles: Becoming a Great Missionary shows how missionaries can remove their “perfect missionary” mask and learn to truly care about their investigators and what is best for them. In the process,
Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith’s First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory - Robert A. Rees
Critics of Joseph Smith assert that he invented or imagined the First Vision and then deliberately altered the details in his subsequent first-person accounts of the event (also reflected in accounts recorded or related by others) to mislead his follow...
The Healing and Exalting Powers of Christ Weave Together at Easter - Ann Madsen
In this personal essay, Ann Madsen reflects on the ways in which the healing power of Christ converges with His exalting power at Easter. Cold gives way to warmth, pride to submission, and reflection to sanctification.
Scriptures with Pictures: Methodology, Unexamined Assumptions, and the Study of the Book of Abraham - Mark J. Johnson
Research on the origins and nature of the Book of Abraham and the accompanying facsimiles has long been hampered by faulty methodology. And while the last few years have seen a significant reexamination of the assumptions that represent the underpinnin...
Looking Back, Almost Five Years On - Daniel C. Peterson
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.
“By the Blood Ye Are Sanctified”: The Symbolic, Salvific, Interrelated, Additive, Retrospective, and Anticipatory Nature of the Ordinances of Spiritual Rebirth in John 3 and Moses 6 - Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
In chapter 3 of the Gospel of John, Jesus described spiritual rebirth as consisting of two parts: being “born of water and of the spirit.” To this requirement of being “born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit,
Bare Record: The Nephite Archivist, The Record of Records, and the Book of Mormon Provenance - Anita Wells
This paper looks at the Book of Mormon through the lens of library science and the concept of archival provenance. The Nephites cared deeply about their records, and Mormon documented a thorough chain of custody for the plates he edited. However,
Seers and Stones: The Translation of the Book of Mormon as Divine Visions of an Old-Time Seer - Stan Spencer
Joseph Smith used the term the Urim and Thummim to refer to the pair of seer stones, or “interpreters,” he obtained for translating the Book of Mormon as well as to other seer stones he used in a similar manner. According to witness accounts,