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Channel: Daniel C. Peterson | The Interpreter Foundation
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Looking Back, Almost Five Years On

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...

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The Life-giving “Water” of the Restoration

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...

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The Power is In Them

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...

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The Book of Mormon Witnesses and Their Challenge to Secularism

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...

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The Word and the Kingdom

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...

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John Tvedtnes

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...

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Richard Lloyd Anderson (1926-2018)

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...

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Is Faith Compatible with Reason?

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...

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Celebrating Two New Books in the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project

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...

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The Interpreter Foundation and an Apostolic Charge

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...

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Research and More Research

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,...

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Compassion as the Heart of the Gospel

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.”...

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Recent Reflections While Partaking of the Sacrament

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...

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A Critical Text

[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...

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Light Began Once More to Grow

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...

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Today’s Interpreter Milestone

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,...

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A Democratic Salvation

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...

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A Note in Favor of Rereading Great Works, Including the Scriptures

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...

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Temples All the Way Down: Some Notes on the Mi‘raj of Muhammad

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...

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The End from the Beginning

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...

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“To Seek the Law of the Lord”

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...

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Reckoning with the Mortally Inevitable

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,...

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It Came from Beyond

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...

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Notes on Mormonism and the Trinity

[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...

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New Vice President for 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...

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Two Essays on Sustaining and Enlarging the Doctrine

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...

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New Vice President for 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...

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“All Can Partake, Freely”

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...

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Variety and Complexity in the Witnesses to the Book of Mormon

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...

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Vast Prairies and Trackless Wilds of Snow: A Good Test of Sincerity

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...

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De Profundis

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...

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Announcing Special Screenings of “Witnesses” During BYU Education Week

  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...

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Better Kingdom-Building through Triage

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...

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Celebrating Exactitude,When It’s Appropriate

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...

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Oh, That I Were an Angel!

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...

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Deseret Book’s What is My Witness Event

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...

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Christmas and a Condescending God

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...

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If God Does Not Exist, Is Everything Permitted?

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...

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

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...

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An Unexpected Case for an Anthropomorphic God

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...

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Contending without Contention

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...

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Michael Lyon Tributes

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...

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Should I Be My Brother’s Keeper? Yes and No

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...

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This Friday: A Special Showing of Witnesses

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...

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When an Evident Fact Cannot Be Allowed to Be True

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...

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It’s the Most Generous Time of the Year

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...

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Videos of the Tenth-Birthday Party for 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...

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Beautiful Patience

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...

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How Things Look from Here

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...

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“In This Batter’d Caravanserai”

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...

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