Audio podcast of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture

This is Scripture Roundtable 104 from The Interpreter Foundation, in which we discuss the New Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson #6, “They Straightway Left Their Nets,” focusing on scriptures in Luke 4-6, and Matthew 10.

This is Scripture Roundtable 103 from The Interpreter Foundation, in which we discuss the New Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson #5, “Born Again,” focusing on scriptures in John 3-4.

The Book of Mormon’s first anti-Christ, Sherem, “came among” the Nephites before their first generation was ended. Because he was an eloquent believer in the Law of Moses, there has been a variety of surmise as to his background. Was he a Lamanite, or a Jaredite or Mulekite trader? Was his presence among the separated Nephites evidence of early interaction between the Nephites and other civilisations in Nephite lands from the time of their first arrival? This short article reviews the various suggestions about Sherem’s identity and suggests he was most likely a descendant of the original Lehite party but that his identity was purposely suppressed so as not to give him more credibility than he deserved.

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.

This is a video of the Life Sciences Panel Discussion at the Science & Mormonism: Cosmos, Earth & Man symposium, including Michael R. Stark, Emily Bates, R. Paul Evans, Steven L. Peck, and Trent D. Stephens, which took place on November 9, 2013.

The variety of command syntax found in the Book of Mormon is very different from what is seen in the King James Bible. Yet it is sophisticated and principled, evincing Early Modern English linguistic competence. Interestingly, the syntactic match between the 1829 text and a prominent text from the late 15th century is surprisingly good. All the evidence indicates that Joseph Smith would not have produced the structures found in the text using the King James Bible as a model, nor from his own language. The overall usage profile of command syntax seen in the Book of Mormon strongly supports the view that the Lord revealed specific words to Joseph Smith, not simply ideas.

This is a video of Steven L. Peck's presentation on "Why Evolution and LDS Thought are Fully Compatible: Overcoming our Suspicions of Science" at the Science & Mormonism: Cosmos, Earth & Man symposium which took place on November 9, 2013.

Christ was a baby, then a toddler, then a boy, then a young man, and he experienced life at every stage.

This is a video of Jeffrey M. Bradshaw's presentation on "Science and Genesis: A Personal View" at the Science & Mormonism: Cosmos, Earth & Man symposium which took place on November 9, 2013.

This is Scripture Roundtable 102 from The Interpreter Foundation, in which we discuss the New Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson #4, “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord,” focusing on scriptures in Matthew 3-4 and John 1.

This is Scripture Roundtable 101 from The Interpreter Foundation, in which we discuss the New Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson #3, “Unto You Is Born … a Saviour,” focusing on scriptures in Luke 2 and Matthew 2.

Scholars from many religious backgrounds--including Latter-day Saints--have noted both temple themes and parallel structures in the Jacob Cycle (Genesis 28-35). The present paper surveys that body of work and then offers a new structural understanding of the text, one that is uniquely LDS. This interpretation focuses on the entwining of temple and family themes in the narrative, showing how the form of the text uses each to support the other.

The best available evidence for the Book of Mormon continues to support a limited Mesoamerican model. However, Alma 63 indicates that there was a massive northward migration in the mid-first century bc. I argue that these north-bound immigrants spread out over the centuries and established settlements that were geographically distant from the core Nephite area, far beyond the scope of the text of the Book of Mormon. I introduce the Hinterland Hypothesis and argue that it can harmonize the Mesoamerican evidence for the Book of Mormon with Joseph Smith’s statements concerning Nephite and Lamanite material culture in North America. Archaeological and anthropological evidence is used to demonstrate that migrations and cultural influence did in fact spread northward from Mesoamerica into North America in pre-Columbian times.

This is a video of Amy L. Williams's presentation on "Answering New Atheism and Seeking a Sure Knowledge of God" at the Science & Mormonism: Cosmos, Earth & Man symposium which took place on November 9, 2013.

The Book of Mormon has been explained by some as a product of Joseph Smith’s 19th century environment. Advocates of this thesis have argued that the phrase secret combinations is a reference to Freemasonry, and reflect Joseph’s preoccupation with this fraternity during the Book of Mormon’s composition in 1828–29. It is claimed that this phrase is rarely, if ever, used in a non-Masonic context during 1828–29, and that a type of “semantic narrowing” occurred which restricted the term to Freemasonry. Past studies have found a few counter-examples, which are reviewed, but none from during the precise years of interest. This study describes many newly-identified counterexamples, including: anti-Masonic authors who use the term to refer to non-Masonic groups, books translated in the United States, legislature bills, grand jury instructions, and works which so characterize slave rebellions, various historical groups and movements, Biblical figures, and religious groups. These examples are found before, during, and after the critical 1828–29 period. Examples from 1832 onward likewise demonstrate that no semantic shift occurred which restricted secret combination to Masonry. This element of the environmental hypothesis has now been robustly disproven.