We are rapidly closing in on the hundredth anniversary of President Russell M. Nelson’s birth. I hope he makes it. I’m praying that he makes it. (No, I don’t have any reliable insider information to the contrary; I simply recognize the fact that a man in his hundredth year is, by most post-diluvian standards, really old and that, according to the actuarial data, really old people occasionally die.) I expect that you’re aware of the request that President Nelson... Read more
A new Interpreter Foundation video short has once again gone up: “Martin Harris Returns.” I hope that you enjoy it. And I hope that you will share it, along with its increasingly numerous siblings. These video shorts are taken from the Interpreter Foundation docudrama Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. We want people to eventually take a look at the entire docudrama, if they haven’t already watched it; we think that it will be rewarding and well worth... Read more
Newly published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “Nurture and Harvest: A Continued Conversation with The Annotated Book of Mormon,” written by Kevin Christensen Abstract: Because Grant Hardy’s important book deliberately contextualizes the Book of Mormon in light of “the generally agreed upon findings of modern biblical scholars and historians,” it invites further discussion on points in which the Book of Mormon and other significant biblical scholars and historians challenge those findings. Hardy also declares... Read more
A new video short has been posted by the Interpreter Foundation. It is entitled “Martin Harris Returns.” We hope that you will enjoy it and that, if you do, you will share it with friends and kinfolk. Please help us to spread these, and to call attention to the docudrama Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, from which they have been drawn. Maurine Proctor, writing in Meridian Magazine, introduces an important new article: “Unveiling the Truth: The Real... Read more
I enjoyed this piece in the Deseret News, which was written by Jacob Hess: “What surprised a British journalist after spending time with Latter-day Saints: Eight discoveries in an in-depth profile about Latter-day Saints that challenged the stereotypes of a U.K. journalist and helped to ‘demystify’ the faith for her.” If you’re interested in reading the original article, written by Nina-Sophia Miralles, here it is: “Light Reading: Myth-Busting Mormonism in London: This column aims to illuminate dark corners as we... Read more
Gerrit Dirkmaat is featured in a new super-short video from the Interpreter Foundation entitled “The Faith of the Whitmers.” If you like it, share it! Thinking about what the Interpreter Foundation has accomplished since it was founded twelve years ago this week, and thinking of the critics who continually pretend to see evidence that the Foundation is in decline or that it has been marginalized and somehow rendered irrelevant, I’m reminded of the title of the 1953 Raymond Chandler... Read more
While in California a couple of weeks ago, I picked up a copy of Gerard Verschuuren, A Catholic Scientist Harmonizes Science and Faith (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2022). Dr. Verschuuren studied human genetics and the philosophy of science at Leiden University, the University of Utrecht, and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, all in The Netherlands, and now — since 1994 — lives and writes in the southern part of New Hampshire. I found the very first lines of his... Read more
The launch of the Interpreter Foundation was publicly announced twelve years ago, at the beginning of August 2012, during the concluding session of the 2012 FAIR conference. (The decision to launch the Foundation had been made only one week before, over soup and salad at the Olive Garden Restaurant in Provo.) As part of that public launch, the first article appeared in a new online publication that is now called Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.... Read more
A new very short video that features retired federal judge Paul Warner has now been posted by the Interpreter Foundation. Drawn from the Interpreter Foundation’s 2022 docudrama Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, it is entitled “They Never Denied Their Testimonies.” If you enjoy it, I hope that you will share it further. I’ve been slowly reading through Robert Christopher Coppes, Impressions of Near-Death Experiences: Quotations from Over 100 Experiencers (Durham, NC: International Association for Near-Death Studies, 2023).... Read more
Two new items have appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, and I hope that you’ll enjoy them: “The Anomaly: Elliott West’s Continental Reckoning and its Latter-day Saints,” written by Robert Swanson Review of Elliott West, Continental Reckoning: The American West in the Age of Expansion (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2023). 704 pages, $39.95 (hardcover). Abstract: This review explores how Latter-day Saints are portrayed in a new landmark history of the American West. Noting... Read more
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