In this episode of The Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts are Terry Hutchinson, John Gee, and Kevin Christensen. They discuss Come, Follow Me New Testament lesson 24, Zelph, Egyptian archeology, Church finances, the recent BYU New Testament Commentary Conference, and Mothers’ Day. You can listen to or download the May 14th broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. These audio tracks are also included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast).

The “New Testament in Context” portion of this show, for the Come, Follow Me New Testament lesson 24, “Continue Ye in My Love” covering John 14–17 will also be posted on Tuesday, May 30.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

Original air date: May 14, 2023. These recording have been edited to remove commercial breaks.

The New Testament in Context Lesson 24: “Continue Ye in My Love” covering John 14–17

Restoration Advocacy: Zelph

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Discussion: Egyptian archeology, Church finances, the BYU New Testament Commentary Conference, and Mothers’ Day

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The Interpreter Radio Show is a weekly discussion of matters of interest to the hosts, guests, and callers of the show. The views expressed on the Interpreter Radio Show are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Interpreter Foundation, nor should statements made on the show be construed as official doctrinal statements of the Church.

 

 

In this episode of The Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts are Terry Hutchinson, Spencer Kraus, Hales Swift, and Brent Schmidt. They discuss Come, Follow Me New Testament lesson 23, the windows in Jaredite barges, and the recent BYU New Testament Commentary Conference. You can listen to or download the May 7th broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. These audio tracks are also included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast).

The “New Testament in Context” portion of this show, for the Come, Follow Me New Testament lesson 23, “In Remembrance” covering Matthew 26, Mark 14, and John 13 will also be posted on Tuesday, May 23.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

Original air date: May 7, 2023. These recording have been edited to remove commercial breaks.

The New Testament in Context Lesson 23: “In Remembrance” covering Matthew 26, Mark 14, and John 13

Restoration Advocacy: Windows in the Jaredite barges? An anachronism?

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Discussion: The 2023 BYU New Testament Commentary Conference

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The Interpreter Radio Show is a weekly discussion of matters of interest to the hosts, guests, and callers of the show. The views expressed on the Interpreter Radio Show are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Interpreter Foundation, nor should statements made on the show be construed as official doctrinal statements of the Church.

 

Review of Brent J. Schmidt, Relational Faith: The Transformation and Restoration of Pistis as Knowledge, Trust, Confidence, and Covenantal Faithfulness (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2022). 356 pages, $21.95 (softcover).

Abstract: Brent Schmidt builds on his earlier book on relational grace by tackling the topic of relational faith. For those interested in historical trends in religious thought, this book provides intimate details of Greek and Latin terms and the gradual corruption of the original Pauline concept of faith by Augustine and other early and influential thinkers and theologians. Leading the reader through the conceptual reworking of the idea of faith by examining both well-known and lesser-known reformers, but somewhat skirting the faith-works debate, Schmidt ends up nevertheless convincingly demonstrating two facts. First, that faith as concrete action, not just as abstract belief, is a distinguishing doctrinal foundation that is consistently preached by leaders of the Church today. Second, Joseph Smith’s concept of faith as a covenantal relationship built on mutual trust was not a latter-day invention. Instead, it is a restoration of the concept of faith as originally understood by members of the church at the time of Paul.

Faith is an eternal principle. It will not disappear at death. In fact, it existed before the creation of the world, and it will exist after the final resurrection. But what, exactly, is it?

We know that faith is the instigator and motivator of all behavior. Without faith, we would do nothing – from the faith involved in planting a springtime seed to the faith exercised in switching on a lightbulb or popping a slice of bread into a toaster, we act only because we have faith in an outcome. It is the expectation or hope of that anticipated outcome that prompts any behavior. So, it is an action word.

[Page 266]Theologically, faith must be centered on Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith called faith in Christ, “the first principle in revealed religion, and the foundation of all righteousness.”1 Because faith is so critical to our very lives and beliefs, it is essential that we understand what faith is, how it functions, and how we can use it to act, rather than relegating it to merely being a hope or belief that acts upon us. Still, many members are ignorant of what faith (pistis) once was and how it worked at the time in which the apostle Paul was writing his epistles. Paul clearly had something in mind when he used that term and Brent Schmidt contends that Paul’s specific understanding of faith was largely lost to the world through corruption and distortion during the Dark Ages.

Accordingly, after writing his first book, Relational Grace,2 Schmidt began to also challenge what he saw as an unsustainable distortion in the understanding of faith. That errant understanding, which Schmidt asserts is now prevalent in mainstream Christianity, was restored through Joseph Smith. In his latest book, Relational Faith,3 Schmidt develops the idea that faith (pistis), like charity (charis), was originally built on a reciprocal and action-based two-way relationship. As he informs the reader, “Since pistis is also a divine gift, like charis, I hypothesized that pistis — biblical faith — might also have th...

Review of Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “A Guide to the Book of Abraham,” BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022). 302 pages.

Abstract: The new and special issue of BYU Studies containing “A Guide to the Book of Abraham” provides a welcome and easy-to-read approach to the historicity and issues surrounding the Book of Abraham in a way that will engage those beginning their studies in the Book of Abraham just as equally as those who have already become familiar with the subject.

Anyone who knows me well knows of my interest and deep love for the Book of Abraham and Egypt in general. If the books on my bookshelf don’t give it away, surely the life-sized sarcophagus, Rosetta Stone, or framed Facsimile replicas in my office at work will. Thus, when I hear of a new article, book, or podcast coming out dealing with the Book of Abraham, I’m usually one of the first to jump on it. For that reason, I was excited to read the most recent issue of BYU Studies Quarterly, which has been titled “A Guide to the Book of Abraham.”1 Coming in at a solid 300 pages, this special issue is the result of the combined efforts of authors Stephen O. Smoot, Kerry Muhlestein, John Gee, and John Thompson. There are numerous reasons why I believe A Guide to the Book of Abraham deserves a place on every Latter-day Saint’s bookshelf, which I will go into below, but before I suggest the value this volume holds, let me first provide a brief overview of its contents.

[Page 260]What’s in the Volume?

A Guide to the Book of Abraham is divided into three main sections, with a fair number of illustrations throughout. The first of these sections, “The Coming Forth of the Book of Abraham” happens to be the shortest of the three sections, although its five essays are comparatively lengthier than those found in the other two sections. As the section’s title suggests, these five chapters deal primarily with the historical context in which the Book of Abraham was produced. More specifically, it seeks to help answer questions relating to the papyri Joseph Smith possessed, how he translated them, the relevance of the “Kirtland Egyptian Papers,” and the relationship between the papyri and the Book of Abraham. A final chapter in this section focuses on the influence (or, rather, lack thereof) of the Book of Abraham on the controversial priesthood ban that was in place in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until 1978.

The next section, “The Book of Abraham in the Ancient World,” contains over thirty chapters that present some of the evidence for the Book of Abraham being an authentic text from antiquity. Much of this evidence comes from the examination of the actual text of the Book of Abraham, including evidence of Egyptianisms, chiasmus, ancient etymology, and more. While the authors later acknowledge that these pieces of evidence are not able to “prove” the truthfulness of the Book of Abraham, the thirty-plus essays in this section nevertheless leave readers with no excuse to not take the Book of Abraham’s claim of historical authenticity seriously.

Lastly, the facsimiles of the Book of Abraham are treated in a series of thirteen essays in the final section, including an important opening chapter that presents and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of various methodological approaches that have been used for studying the facsimiles. The remaining chapters of this section focus primarily on the iconographic elements of the facsimiles and their accompanying interpretations in the Pearl of Great Price.

What Value Can A Guide to the Book of Abraham Offer to Readers?

I’ll get right to the point: I highly recommend A Guide to ...

Summary:

The grammar of the Book of Mormon has been naively criticized since its publication in 1830. The supposedly bad grammar is a match with language found in the Early Modern English textual record. Syntactic usage, especially past tense with did and the command construction, points only to that era. Book of Mormon language exhibits well-formed variation typical of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Presented at:

2015 Exploring the Complexities in the English Language of the Book of MormonSaturday, March 14, 2015https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2015-exploring-the-complexities-in-the-english-language-of-the-book-of-mormon/

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In the April 23 Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts Steve Densley, Mark Johnson, and John S. Thompson discuss New Testament lesson 21, “Behold, Thy King Cometh,” covering Matthew 21–23, Mark 11, Luke 19–20, and John 12.

You can listen to or download the New Testament in Context segment of the April 23 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. It will also be included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast). The other segments of the April 23 radio show can be accessed at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-april-23-2023.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

 

Original air date: April 23, 2023. This recording has been edited to remove commercial breaks.

The Interpreter Radio Show is a weekly discussion of matters of interest to the hosts, guests, and callers of the show. The views expressed on the Interpreter Radio Show are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Interpreter Foundation, nor should statements made on the show be construed as official doctrinal statements of the Church.

 

Abstract: The Book of Mormon describes a dark mark on the skin that distinguished people who rebelled against God and his laws from those who obeyed God. The Old Testament refers to a mark that fits this description and has nothing to do with natural skin color. The law of Moses prohibited the Lord’s covenant people from cutting sacrilegious marks (ancient tattoos) into their skin. The Bible simply calls these prohibited tattoos “marks” (Leviticus 19:28). This biblical meaning of the word mark, together with biblical meanings of other related words, helps us understand all Book of Mormon passages associated with the Lamanite mark.

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In this paper, I seek to identify the most plausible intended meaning of all terms used in the Book of Mormon that relate to a “mark” that was set upon Laman, Lemuel, the sons of Ishmael, and their followers (see Alma 3:6–7). Descriptions of this mark use the words mark and skin and always mention a curse (see 2 Nephi 5:20–24, Jacob 3:3–10, Alma 3:4–19, and 3 Nephi 2:15–16). The mark made skin black (see 2 Nephi 5:21) or dark (see Jacob 3:9 and Alma 3:6), and skin was white in its absence (see 2 Nephi 5:21 and 3 Nephi 2:15). A detailed review of these words and their cultural and linguistic context can help clarify the nature of this mark.

As explained below, Nephites preserved their written language by reusing, in their own records, words from biblical (and non-biblical) passages found on the brass plates. Also, the translated text of the Book of Mormon shows heavy influence of Early Modern English. It uses words in ways unique to Early Modern English texts, including Early Modern English translations of the Old Testament. These ancient and modern lexical ties suggest that English words in the Book of Mormon may often have the same meanings they have in those early English Bibles. A careful review of the words mark, curse, skin, black, and white as used in the [Page 172]Book of Mormon indicates that Early Modern English biblical meanings do, in fact, apply. Indeed, these meanings can be applied consistently across the Book of Mormon — not just in selected passages.

With these meanings, these words appear to identify the Lamanite mark as a specific type of mark prohibited by the law of Moses (see Leviticus 19:28). It was a sacrilegious, permanent mark made by incision (an ancient tattoo) which, under the law of Moses, represented rebellion against God and his laws. This doesn’t mean that all tattoos indicate rebellion against God. In our day, tattoos are adopted for a wide variety of reasons. Even in the Book of Mormon, while the first Lamanites and some of their successors adopted this mark to rebel against God and his laws, others adopted it to continue traditions established by their fathers.1

As explained in detail below, Mesoamerican art and archaeological studies confirm the presence of profane tattoos (and scarification) in the ancient Americas. These ancient tattoos support the proposal of this paper, though it, like any proposal on the meaning of the controversial mark of the Lamanites, admittedly involves a degree of speculation.

The analysis in this paper is guided by the following general principles:

* The intended meaning of each Book of Mormon passage must align well with the stated intent of the Book of Mormon and with correct principles taught in the Book of Mormon and by today’s living prophets.

* The most plausible meaning of the text of the Book of Mormon is found in standard definitions of its revealed words, which are principally Early Modern English.

* The most likely meaning of a Book of Mormon word doesn’t always make for an easy read — it is...

Presented at:

2014 Temple on Mount Zion ConferenceSaturday, October 25, 2014https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2014-temple-on-mount-zion-conference/

Conference Proceedings:

The Temple: Ancient and Restored at https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/the-temple-ancient-and-restored/

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