You can listen to or download the December 13 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. It will also be included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast). The hosts were Terry Hutchinson, John Gee and Kevin Christensen. In this episode, our hosts discussed the peer review process and academic rigors. The second portion of the show was a roundtable discussing the upcoming Come Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants lesson #4 (D&C Sections 3-5). 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. Call in to 801-254-1640 with your questions and comments during the live show.

Original air date: December 13, 2020. 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.

 

You can listen to or download the December 6 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. It will also be included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast). The hosts were Neal Rappleye, Jasmine Rappleye, and Hales Swift. In this episode, our hosts discussed the recent Christmas devotional as well as radical orthodoxy. The second portion of the show was a roundtable discussing the upcoming Come Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants lesson #3 (D&C Section 2 and Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65). 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. Call in to 801-254-1640 with your questions and comments during the live show.

Original air date: December 6, 2020. 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.

 

This is an Interpreter Radio Roundtable for Come, Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 1, “Hearken, O Ye People,” on D&C 1. The panelists for this roundtable were Steve Densley, Matthew Bowen and Mark Johnson. This roundtable was extracted from the November 22, 2020 broadcast of Interpreter Radio. The complete show may be heard at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-november-22-2020/. 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. Call in to 801-254-1640 with your questions and comments during the live show.

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.

 

 

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One of my favorite Christmas stories comes from Provence, in the south of France. Two hundred years ago, during the French Revolution, the new government prevented the churches from displaying their traditional life-size nativity scenes. As a result, many people began to display small nativity scenes in their own homes. Besides the traditional shepherds and wise men, the nativity figurines included all the villagers of Bethlehem, who are dressed, not in the robes of Bible times, but rather in the traditional clothing of the trades of the French countryside: the musician, the miller, the fisherman, the knife sharpener, and the rich farmer. Each one was portrayed on his way to the stable, bringing his own special gift to the Christ child. This nighttime procession of the villagers to see the Holy Family is the scene pictured in the French Christmas carol “Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella!”[1]

The version of the story I will share today is narrated by an angel named Boufaréo, who speaks with an unmistakable accent from the south of France, where they pronounce their words in a musical way, often with a twang at the end. I will not attempt to mimic the accent, but here is what Boufaréo the angel said about that night:

I’m going to tell you how it all happened, because, after all, from where I was, it was me who had the best view of things. It was the night of December 24, and the wild west wind was blowing and all the people of Bethlehem went to bed early. And they pulled the covers over their heads so they didn’t have to listen to the wind howl. The west wind, which was a friend of the good Lord, had chased the clouds for thousands of miles, so that the sky would be all clean and all shining with stars for the birth of the little one. It was not a bad thought, but it brought the temperature right down. I only had my wings to cover me, and thought I was going to freeze to death. I hunkered down the best I could.

Finally, I saw them, the poor wretches. It was painful to watch. Saint Joseph walked in front, his beard shaken by the wind like a streamer. He tried to shield the holy Mother with his large shoulders. From time to time, he looked back and said:

“How are you doing, my beautiful one?”

“I can’t go on,” Mary replied.

“Keep it up just a little longer. Look, I see a cottage there, close by.”

“No one wants us,” said Mary despairingly.

“Well, maybe not the rich people, but, here, these are the poor. They will surely make a little place for us.”

Mary stumbled and reached out to Joseph, “Give me your arm.”

“Here, hold tight…” he said.

“Oh, how it pains! Aïe!” Mary cried.

“ Oh, aïe, aïe, aïe, aïe, aïe, aïe,” said Joseph, “what misery, oh, we are really in a fix. No money, no house, and a wife who is going to deliver in the middle of the night! And in such awful weather! Don’t be afraid … Wait, I’ll carry you.”

“Please forgive me for being so much trouble, Joseph,” said Mary.

“I’m sure it will all work out,” he replied. “But all the same, the good Lord, He is asking too much. When I agreed to marry you, I should have given Him my terms and conditions.”

“Do you regret it?” Mary asked, gently.

“No, but listen well, my beauty,” said Joseph. “Who am I? Me, a poor nobody. And the good Lord gave me the right to hold you by the hand, to carry you in my arms, you, the mother of His Little One.

This series is cross-posted with the permission of Book of Mormon Central

from their website at Pearl of Great Price Central

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In this Essay, we will describe the first part of the heavenly ascent of Moses 1 which, like the Apocalypse of Abraham 9:8, opens on “an exceedingly high mountain.”[1]

Although our text of primary interest is Moses 1, we felt that the particular affinities of Apocalypse of Abraham (ApAb) to the visions of the premortal spirit world in the Joseph Smith translation of the Book of Abraham were of such importance and relevance that they should not be ignored. These affinities, among others, will be discussed in the present Essay.

 

Prologue

Setting. Like the Book of Moses, the first chapter of the heavenly ascent section of ApAb mentions a high mountain.

Sacrifice. In ApAb, the high mountain is to be a place of sacrifice. The prophet wears his robe on the left shoulder, in priestly fashion, as he performs the sacrifice.[2] Consistent with the settings and situations described in ApAb and in Genesis 15, a figure from Facsimile 2 of the Book of Abraham states that knowledge was “revealed from God to Abraham, as he offered sacrifice upon an altar, which he had built unto the Lord.”[3] Though this detail is not explicitly mentioned in the Book of Moses, the implicit presumption of a similar setting is not implausible.[4]

 

The Prophet in the Spirit World

 

Aretology. In both the Book of Moses and ApAb, the prophet is given a description of God’s majesty. Formally, such a description is termed an “aretology.” The titles “Almighty” (Book of Moses) and “mighty” (ApAb ) recall the demonstration of God’s power over the waters as the first act of Creation[6] and in the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea.[7] Significantly, Moses will later “be made stronger than many waters … as if thou wert God.”[8]

Both “Endless” (Book of Moses) and “primordial”[9] (ApAb) are related to the characterization of God as being “without beginning of days or end of years.” “Endless”[10] corresponds to the Hebrew Ein Sof (“without end,” “beyond all limits”), a concept that in the medieval Kabbalah is sometimes depicted visually as a set of concentric circles with their “end embedded in their beginning, and their beginning in their end.”[11] Such imagery recalls the description in Latter-day Saint scripture of God’s course as “one eternal round.”[12]

God to show a vision of eternity. In both texts, a vision of eternity is promised. In Alexander Kulik’s translation of ApAb, he elaborates on ApAb’s mention of “secrets,”[13]

Review of Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity, edited by Michael Hubbard MacKay, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Brian M. Hauglid (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2020). 544 pages with index. Hardback, $70. Paperback $45, eBook $40.[Page 257]

Abstract: Producing Ancient Scripture is a collection of sixteen detailed essays with an introduction by the editors. This is the first such collection that examines the greater range of Joseph Smith’s translation projects. As such, it is uniquely positioned to begin more sophisticated answers about the relationship between Joseph Smith and both the concept of translation and the specific translation works he produced.

I find this a particularly difficult book to review. It is a large work, and even the separate articles are large in content and complex in understanding. A review that simply describes the contents of the book does not really do it justice. An in-depth interaction with each article could easily be nearly half as large at the text itself.

The next problem is that this review is being written for the Interpreter journal, which is subtitled “A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.” Publishing in this venue creates an expectation that I will review this book from the perspective of a believing Latter-day Saint, which I am doing. However, that also creates a superficial conflict with the nature of the articles in the book I’m reviewing. Producing Ancient Scripture is not devotional in nature; it is not necessarily faith- affirming. It is a work of scholarship, written by scholars for scholars, and made available for the rest of us to consult. By editorial choice, the articles do not examine the question of whether or not there was divine participation [Page 258]in Joseph’s translations. Therefore, even though I review the book as a believer, I do not review it on the basis of its relationship to faith.

In Producing Ancient Scripture, the authors carve out the middle ground where the issue isn’t belief but rather understanding. Terence J. Keegan discussed a similar issue with critical biblical scholarship. He notes that the “resulting tendency among recent scholars has been to emphasize the human activity involved in the production of Scripture while politely ignoring the question of precisely how they are of divine origin.”1 That wise scholarly approach informs this volume.

Joseph Smith’s translation projects occurred within a known timeframe and have the benefit of multiple recoverable accounts that clarify (and infelicitously muddy, at times) the human side of the production of what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider sacred scripture.

I will try to cover the essential introduction to the articles in this volume, and then provide some insights I have gained from the articles.

Overview of the Contents

Introductions to collected articles necessarily provide a brief indication of what those articles will be and something of the perceived importance. This introduction does that, but it also attempts to set the stage for the vision of the book as a whole. Readers really should resist the temptation to jump into a particular article and instead begin with the introduction. It demonstrates the validity of a work where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

In general, the book is organized into chronological sections that move through aspects of the various translation projects.

Abstract: Three times in his narrative Mormon recounts the Lord’s oracle (revelation) to Mosiah II regarding his sons undertaking a mission among the Lamanites (Mosiah 28:7, Alma 17:35, and Alma 19:23). In all three instances, the Lord’s promises of deliverance revolve around the meaning of the name Mosiah (“Yahweh is Deliverer” or “Yahweh is Savior”), emphasizing that the Lord (Hebrew yhwh) himself would act in his covenant role as môšîaʿ in delivering Mosiah’s sons, and sparing Ammon in particular. In two of the iterations of the oracle, Mosiah 28:7 and Alma 19:23, we find additional wordplay on the name Ammon (“faithful”) in terms of “many shall believe” (Hebrew yaʾămînû) in the first instance and ʾĕmûnâ (“faith,” “faithfulness”) in the latter. In Alma 19:23 the Lord also employs an additional wordplay on his own name, Yahweh (Jehovah), to emphasize his ability to bring to pass his promises to Mosiah regarding Ammon.

 

Ammon [Page 241]and his brothers’ decision to undertake an evangelizing mission among the Lamanites represents one of the axial moments in Lamanite-Nephite history as Mormon recounts it. The events of Alma 17–28 dramatically reshaped Lamanite-Nephite polity and interrelations for the remainder of that history. Thus, of similar seminal importance was the revelation or oracle that King Mosiah II received in which the Lord not only affirmed that Ammon and his brothers’ proposed mission would result in a large number of Lamanite conversions but also promised that he himself would “deliver” them from [Page 242]the Lamanites (Mosiah 28:7). Mormon invokes or refers to this oracle on three distinct occasions: first, near the time of Ammon and his brothers’ conversion (recounted in Mosiah 27:8‒37); second, at the time Ammon first faces martial combat among the Lamanites early in his mission (see Alma 17:27‒39); and third, when Ammon lay prone on the floor in an ecstatic vision next to Lamoni and his wife (see Alma 19:14‒36):

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Mosiah 28:6–7

Alma 17:35

Alma 19:23

And it came to pass that1 king Mosiah went and inquired of the Lord if he should let his sons go up among the Lamanites to preach the word. And the Lord said unto Mosiah: Let them go up, for many shall believe on their words. And they shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy sons out of the hands of the Lamanites.

Therefore they did not fear Ammon, for they supposed that one of their men could slay him according to their pleasure, for they knew not that the Lord had promised Mosiah that he would deliver his sons out of their hands, neither did they know anything concerning the Lord; therefore they delighted in the destruction of their brethren, and for this cause they stood to scatter the flocks of the king.

Now we see that Ammon could not be slain, for the Lord had said unto Mosiah his father: I will spare him, and it shall be unto him according to thy faith [ʾĕmûnātekā]. Therefore Mosiah trusted him unto the Lord.

Each reiteration of the oracle emphasizes different aspects of the initial oracle and even modifies specific elements. In this brief study, I examine the three iterations of the oracle to Mosiah, discussing the salient commonalities and differences between them and their significance. It emerges that the language of the oracle revolves around the meaning (or perceived meaning) of the name Mosiah in all three instances and the name Ammon in the first and the third. In all three, the Lord emphasizes that he will act in his coven...

 

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The Fall and the Redemption in Traditional Christmas Carols

Though the event is rarely mentioned in modern Christmas celebrations, the traditional carols of earlier centuries often give as much attention to the Fall of Adam as they do to the birth and redemption of Christ. For example, after describing the creation of Adam and Eve, the English carol “This is the truth sent from above”[2] continues:

3. Then after that ’twas God’s own choiceTo place them both in paradiseThere to remain from evil freeExcept they ate of such a tree.

4. But they did eat, which was a sin,And thus their ruin did begin—Ruined themselves, both you and me,And all of our posterity.

5. Thus we were heirs to endless woesTill God the Lord did interposeAnd so a promise soon did run:That he’d redeem us by his Son.

Though, of course, Latter-day Saints have a much more positive view of the Fall and reject the traditional conception of “original sin,” the message of such carols recalls the gratitude for redemption through Christ shared by all Christians.

 

Satan’s Hold on Adam by a Bond Is Broken by Christ

The first line of a fifteenth-century Christmas carol reads: “Adam lay ybounden / Bounden in a bond.”[5] The imagery of a “bond” comes as part of a long Christian tradition of stories about a series of unsuccessful attempts of Satan to deceive Adam and Eve, who become increasingly immune to his wiles through the knowledge and protective power provided by angelic teachings, covenants, and ordinances. One particular episode, the story of the cheirograph [i.e., contract, from Greek cheiro (hand) + graph (writing)] is illustrated at left above.

The story of the Cheirograph begins when the Devil claims ownership of the earth and accuses Adam of trespassing. In the image, part of the unique iconographical programme of four churches in North Moldavia, the robed Adam kneels before the naked Satan and “dutifully signs a bond of indebtedness that deeds over to [the ‘Lord of the Earth’ himself and] all his offspring.”[6] Satan’s plan to trap Adam through his legal machinations fails because, as Adam knows, God not Satan is the true “Lord of the earth.”[7]

A related sense of cheirograph is found in Colossians 2:14, where the Greek term should be translated “‘bond’ or ‘bill of indebtedness’ but not ‘contract.’ The text does not mention Satan or Adam and seems to say that at the Crucifixion, Christ erased the bill of indebtedness that humans had incurred by sinning and nailed it to the Cross.”[8] In other words, just as in Roman times cancelled bills were nailed up for display to publicly announce that the charges had been paid, so Christ was nailed to the cross to make it known to all that He had satisfied humankind’s debt of sin.

According to the ancient symbolism, the handwritten bond of justice was annulled by the “writing” of the nails in the pierced hands of the Savior — Christ’s cheirograph of mercy, as it is often called.[9] This symbolism is consistent with a late Ethiopian text of the attempt of the penitent thief who was crucified with Christ to enter Paradise. He succeeds at last only when he shows the Cherubim guarding...

This is an Interpreter Radio Roundtable for Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 50, “He Shall Come into the World to Redeem His People,” on Christmas. The panelists for this roundtable were Bruce Webster and Kris Frederickson. This roundtable was extracted from the November 15, 2020 broadcast of Interpreter Radio. The complete show may be heard at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-november-15-2020/. 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. Call in to 801-254-1640 with your questions and comments during the live show.

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.

 

This series is cross-posted with the permission of Book of Mormon Central

from their website at Pearl of Great Price Central

Listen to an audio recording of this Essay:

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In this Essay, we will describe how the heavenly ascent of Moses 1 provides a compelling prologue to the covenant-related themes of ritual ascent that can be found in the remaining chapters of the Book of Moses. Intriguingly, Moses 1 also provides a fitting introduction to the Book of Genesis. By calling this prologue “missing,” however, we are not claiming that it was ever an actual part of any early equivalent to Genesis.[1]

After describing how Moses 1 functions as a prologue to Genesis, we will outline resemblances between Moses 1 and a corresponding account from the Apocalypse of Abraham (ApAb), one of the earliest and most important Judaeo-Christian accounts of heavenly ascent. A comparison of the texts demonstrates a sustained sequence of detailed affinities in narrative structure that seem to go beyond what Joseph Smith could have created out of whole cloth from his environment and his imagination.[2]

 

The Role of Revelation in Temple Architecture and Ordinances

John M. Lundquist has described the ancient expectation that temple plans are to be received by revelation:[3]

Central to temple covenant systems all over the ancient Near East is the idea that the temple plan is revealed to the king or the prophet by deity. … Perhaps the best example of this aspect of temple building is the Sinai episode itself, in which, according to D. N. Freedman, “this heavenly temple or sanctuary with its throne room or Holy of Holies where the deity was seated on his cherubim throne constituted the tabnît or structure seen by Moses during his sojourn on the same mountain.”

Likewise, various accounts relate the process of revelation in the designs for modern temples.[4] And what is true for temple architecture is true for temple ordinances. Just as Moses received laws and instructions for temple worship by revelation, so also both initial instructions[5] and ongoing modifications[6] of temple ordinances and covenants in our day have come by revelation.

 

The Temple Vision of Creation, Fall, and Atonement Given to Moses

Given the nature of the textual linkages between Moses 1 and what follows in Moses 2–8, it seems reasonable to infer that the story of the Creation, Fall, and Atonement that provides the narrative backbone for the modern temple endowment was revealed to Moses immediately following his heavenly ascent.

Jewish tradition speaks of “several ascensions of Moses”: a first “at the beginning of his career,” a second “at the revelation of the Torah,” and a third “shortly before his death.”[7] The heavenly ascent recounted in Moses 1 corresponds to the first reported ascension, having taken place sometime after Jehovah called Moses out of the burning bush[8] but before Moses had returned to Egypt to deliver the children of Israel.