PDF feed of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

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Latest Episodes

King Benjamin’s Sermon as a Type of Temple Endowment
March 22, 2024

Abstract: To more permanently unify the Mulekites and the Nephites as a reunited kingdom of Israel, King Benjamin gathered his people at the temple, and in his role as a king and priest after the orde

Premortal Life and Mortal Life: A Fearful Symmetry
March 15, 2024

Abstract: Bodily weakness, along with the varied circumstances into which we were born, provide the essential initial and ongoing conditions that shape the challenges and opportunities of our mortal p

Recovering the Lost Concept of Truth in the Restoration Scriptures: Another Key to Understanding God’s Word
March 08, 2024

Abstract: The word truth has for practical purposes lost one of its original English-language meanings, and this has significant implications for understanding scriptures. The obvious, well-understo

Proper Names and Political Claims: Semitic Echoes as Foundations for Claims to the Nephite Throne
March 01, 2024

Abstract: The Book of Mormon contains examples of phonemes in character names that resemble Semitic root words. The possible meanings of the names and their timing in the Book of Mormon narrative prov

Prophet or Loss: Mosiah1/Zeniff, Benjamin/Noah, Mosiah2/Limhi and the Emergence of the Almas
February 23, 2024

Abstract: Mormons overwhelmingly dominant rhetorical purpose is to testify of Christ, which he and his protagonists often directly do. But he also communicates his testimony more subtly through caref

Trees and the Love of God
February 16, 2024

Abstract: Trees play real and metaphorical roles in the beliefs and holy scriptures of many world religions, and believers and non-believers throughout the world are uplifted spiritually by trees. In

Second Nephi as a Legal Document
February 09, 2024

Abstract: Considering conventions of the ancient Near East, 2 Nephi can be understood as a legal document or legal archive. Factors supporting this view include 1) Nephis allusions to sealing the rec

Temple Themes in the Book of Abraham
February 02, 2024

Abstract: The Book of Abraham is replete with temple themes, although not all of them are readily obvious from a surface reading of the text. Temple themes in the book include Abraham seeking to becom

An Important Addition to the Library
January 26, 2024

Review of Grant Hardy, The Annotated Book of Mormon (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023). 912 pages; $37.95 (hardcover). Abstract: Oxford University Press has published an annotated edition of th

Joseph Smith and the “Red Sea” in 2 Nephi 19:1
January 26, 2024

Abstract: When Nephi quotes Isaiah 9:1 in 2 Nephi 19:1, Isaiahs the way of the sea (KJV translation) becomes the way of the Red Sea in the Book of Mormon, a change that is often said to reflect a