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

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

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  • The Unwritten Debates in Moroni1’s Letter

    Abstract: Moroni1’s letter in Alma 60 is not simply an angry and intemperate screed against the government; it also responds to arguments about just tactics (what modern readers would call ethics) taking place among Nephite leaders at this time. Moroni1’s letter argues for his preferred strategies of active defense and ambush, while interpreting defeat as […]

    The post The Unwritten Debates in Moroni1’s Letter first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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  • “Our Great God Has in Goodness Sent These”: Notes on the Goodness of God, the Didactic Good of Nephi’s Small Plates, and Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s Renaming

    Abstract: Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s speech (Alma 24:7–16) reveals multiple allusions to significant texts in Nephi’s small plates record. Thus, when he declares “I thank my God, my beloved people, that our great God has in goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us,” he appears to allude to an inclusio that bookends […]

    The post “Our Great God Has in Goodness Sent These”: Notes on the Goodness of God, the Didactic Good of Nephi’s Small Plates, and Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s Renaming first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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  • The Plagiary of the Daughters of the Lamanites

    Abstract: Repetition is a feature of all ancient Hebraic narrative. Modern readers may misunderstand this quality of biblical and Book of Mormon narrative. Biblical and Book of Mormon writers believed that history repeated, with what happened to the ancestors happening again to their posterity. Fawn Brodie and her acolytes misapprehend Book of Mormon narrative when—instead […]

    The post The Plagiary of the Daughters of the Lamanites first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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  • Christ is Risen! Truly, He is Risen!

    Abstract: There is no more important message than that of the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s life-transforming and world-transforming. It is also the most joyous news imaginable. What Jesus did on our behalf leaves us forever in his debt and should put him at the center of our lives. Easter Sunday,” President Russell […]

    The post Christ is Risen! Truly, He is Risen! first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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  • King Benjamin’s Sermon as a Type of Temple Endowment

    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 order of Melchizedek, imparted teachings that bear resemblance to the Latter-day Saint temple endowment ceremony first introduced in Nauvoo. Several […]

    The post King Benjamin’s Sermon as a Type of Temple Endowment first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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  • Premortal Life and Mortal Life: A Fearful Symmetry

    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 probation. In life, we are not expected merely to preserve our innocence in defiance of worldly tendencies, nor are we compelled to cede to cynicism in […]

    The post Premortal Life and Mortal Life: A Fearful Symmetry first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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  • Test-Recovering the Lost Concept of Truth in the Restoration Scriptures: Another Key to Understanding God’s Word
    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-understood meaning is that which is real or factual. However, the earliest meaning in English is that which is true in an entirely different way, in the sense of fidelity, loyalty, and faithfulness. The King James translators frequently used “truth” in this latter sense. The sense of “truth” as “faithfulness” remained well known in the nineteenth century. Some passages in the Book of Mormon and other Restoration scriptures reveal deeper insights when read with this understanding. Pondering both meanings of “truth” in the scriptures can serve as a source of inspiration and learning.


    A conversation such as the following is probably familiar: “Do I turn left at the next intersection?” “Right! No, I mean, correct! Left!” We joke about occasional confusion between the two major meanings of the word right but seldom get seriously confounded. The two quite different meanings, which are remotely derived from the same origin, are easily distinguishable now by context.
    In a famous statement by Pontius Pilate, just as he agreed to the death of the Savior of the world, he asked “What is truth?” This paper will provide at least partial help in answering that question.
    The changeable nature of word meaning creates challenges for discipleship and a serious study of the scriptures. Shifts in meaning may generate novel nuance or striking differences. Once-common words can become quaint or obscure, which can be a stumbling block in reading King James period literature.
    [Page 446]The meaning of truth at first glance seems obvious: that which is true and factual, corresponding to reality. Truth (true-th) is the quality or condition of being true. However, truth can and in the past frequently did refer to the meaning of true as faithful or loyal. Although in less common usage now, we readily understand true/faithful in such phrases as “true to one’s beliefs” or “true to his or her favorite team.” We are familiar with this use in the hymn “True to the Faith.”1 Elder David A. Bednar intentionally used both meanings of true in an address in the October 2012 General Conference with a short chiasm: “We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel.”2 Truth is the noun (nominative) form of the adjective true and can derive from either underlying meaning. Some passages in the scriptures of the Restoration yield richer significance when read with both meanings in mind.
    What is Truth?
    Before examining scriptural use of the word truth, let us look at its origin. It is revealing to look at the use of truth in popular literature at the time of the translation of the KJV and at the time of the publication of the Book of Mormon.
    Origins and Early Use in English
    Truth as faithfulness is in fact the older attested meaning, documented in Old English. The broad meaning is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as the “quality or character of being true to a person, principle, cause, etc.; steadfast allegiance; faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, constancy,” with four subdefinitions.3 This is followed by an observation: “now somewhat rare.”
    For simplicity, this usage will be listed here as truth/fidelity. The word derives from Germanic and Proto-Germanic words meaning “firm, solid,
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  • Recovering the Lost Concept of Truth in the Restoration Scriptures: Another Key to Understanding God’s Word

    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-understood meaning is that which is real or factual. However, the earliest meaning in English is that which is true in an entirely different way, in the sense of fidelity, […]

    The post Recovering the Lost Concept of Truth in the Restoration Scriptures: Another Key to Understanding God’s Word first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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  • Proper Names and Political Claims: Semitic Echoes as Foundations for Claims to the Nephite Throne

    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 provide a deeper level of context to the Nephite political challenges in the books of Mosiah through 3 Nephi. Specifically, the English phonemes for […]

    The post Proper Names and Political Claims: Semitic Echoes as Foundations for Claims to the Nephite Throne first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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  • Prophet or Loss: Mosiah1/Zeniff, Benjamin/Noah, Mosiah2/Limhi and the Emergence of the Almas

    Abstract: Mormon’s 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 carefully crafted historical narratives. His use of frame narratives is especially artful. In the Book of Mosiah, Mormon frames the dispiriting account of Zeniff and Noah’s rule […]

    The post Prophet or Loss: Mosiah1/Zeniff, Benjamin/Noah, Mosiah2/Limhi and the Emergence of the Almas first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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A nonprofit educational journal focused on the scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Bible, Doctrine and Covenants, early LDS…