The Interpreter Foundation Podcast

Why did the Saints strike a deal with the same U.S. government that they blamed for Joseph Smith’s death and their expulsion from Missouri?

What kept thousands from abandoning the journey when scurvy and starvation turned Winter Quarters into a place of mass death?

How did temple covenants become a practical force that held a scattered, desperate people together?

The post Becoming Brigham Episode 40: The Price of Faith first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Abstract: This study argues that Nephi deliberately arranges his prologue (1 Nephi 1:1–20) so that its structure conveys meaning, using composition not merely to organize events but to guide interpretation. He divides the material into three editorial units, marked by “I Nephi” declarations, and three narrative units recounting his father’s experience. These form two distinct triads—editorial and narrative—each with its own internal progression. Nephi then interweaves these triads into a coordinated parallel structure that preserves their independent sequences while generating additional meaning through correspondence. In this way, the logic enacted in Lehi’s experience is formalized at the editorial level, ultimately establishing covenant deliverance as a governing principle. By aligning editorial framing with narrative enactment, Nephi uses structure not only to organize material but to interpret it, so that meaning emerges through arrangement as well as sequence. Form thus serves persuasion: the composition directs readers to discern divine justice and mercy through an ordered structure culminating in deliverance.

The post Framing Judgment and Deliverance: Structure and Meaning in 1 Nephi 1 first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Presented at “For a Wise Purpose in Him”Perspectives on the Small Plates of Nephi (1 Nephi–Words of Mormon)A Conference in Honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, 2026 Sponsored by The Interpreter Foundation Cosponsored by the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture, FAIR Latter-day Saints, Scripture Central, and the Ancient […]

The post Jared Marcum: The Slaying of Laban: Nephi as Redeemer (Gō’ēl) and Type of Christ first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Presented at “For a Wise Purpose in Him”Perspectives on the Small Plates of Nephi (1 Nephi–Words of Mormon)A Conference in Honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, 2026 Sponsored by The Interpreter Foundation Cosponsored by the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture, FAIR Latter-day Saints, Scripture Central, and the Ancient […]

The post Lara Buckwalter: A Synchronic Semantic Analysis of the Book of Mormon: Early Modern English Word Senses in 1 and 2 Nephi first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Presented at “For a Wise Purpose in Him”Perspectives on the Small Plates of Nephi (1 Nephi–Words of Mormon)A Conference in Honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, 2026 Sponsored by The Interpreter Foundation Cosponsored by the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture, FAIR Latter-day Saints, Scripture Central, and the Ancient […]

The post Lauren Hastings: A Synchronic Semantic Analysis of the Book of Mormon: Early Modern English Word Senses in 1 and 2 Nephi first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Presented at “For a Wise Purpose in Him”Perspectives on the Small Plates of Nephi (1 Nephi–Words of Mormon)A Conference in Honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, 2026 Sponsored by The Interpreter Foundation Cosponsored by the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture, FAIR Latter-day Saints, Scripture Central, and the Ancient […]

The post Loren Spendlove and Matthew Bowen: Enduring to the End first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Presented at “For a Wise Purpose in Him”Perspectives on the Small Plates of Nephi (1 Nephi–Words of Mormon)A Conference in Honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, 2026 Sponsored by The Interpreter Foundation Cosponsored by the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture, FAIR Latter-day Saints, Scripture Central, and the Ancient […]

The post Christopher Blythe: “One Mighty Among Them”: Interpreting 2 Nephi 3 in Latter-day Saint Sectarianism first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

How did Brigham Young keep a freezing, starving camp of thousands moving when he himself was so ill he could barely stand?

Why did the carefully planned 1846 dash to the Rockies become a year-long ordeal across Iowa?

How did the Saints’ temple covenants sustain them when weather, mobs, and other hardships made every mile feel like failure?

The post Becoming Brigham Episode 39: Mud and Deliverance first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Presented at “For a Wise Purpose in Him”Perspectives on the Small Plates of Nephi (1 Nephi–Words of Mormon)A Conference in Honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, 2026 Sponsored by The Interpreter Foundation Cosponsored by the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture, FAIR Latter-day Saints, Scripture Central, and the Ancient […]

The post Mike Harris: Murmuring in 1 Nephi: A Plain and Precious Warning for Latter-day Readers first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Presented at “For a Wise Purpose in Him”Perspectives on the Small Plates of Nephi (1 Nephi–Words of Mormon)A Conference in Honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, 2026 Sponsored by The Interpreter Foundation Cosponsored by the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture, FAIR Latter-day Saints, Scripture Central, and the Ancient […]

The post Craig S. Nelson: An Exegesis of 2 Nephi 2: Lehi’s Recitation of the Grand Council in Heaven first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.