The Interpreter Foundation Podcast

Abstract: The Restoration of the Gospel began in an atmosphere of ardent and urgent expectations of the Second Coming of Christ. We are, after all, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those expectations were shared far beyond the ranks of those who eventually joined the Church. But the early nineteenth-century men and women who did become Latter-day Saints were commanded that, having been warned, they should warn their neighbors. However, nearly two full centuries since the founding of the Church, and more than two centuries since Joseph Smith’s First Vision, the Lord’s Second Advent has still not arrived. Does that mean that this isn’t a time for warning? That the time to warn our neighbors hasn’t yet come? No, not at all. We remain under the divinely given obligation to spread the word and, yes, to warn. And there are many ways to do so.

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In the October 29, 2025 episode of The Interpreter Foundation Podcast, our hosts Terry Hutchinson, John Gee, and John Thompson interview special guest Richard E. Turley Jr. about President Dallin Oaks (Turley is the author of In the Hands of the Lord: The Life of Dallin H. Oaks) and Turley's upcoming Joseph the Prophet biography commissioned by the First Presidency.

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In the October 7th Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Foundation Podcast, our hosts Terry Hutchinson, Kevin Christensen, and Mark Johnson discuss the Come, Follow Me Doctrine & Covenants lesson for November 3 – 9 covering D&C 125 – 128.

The post Interpreter Come, Follow Me Podcast: Doctrine & Covenants 125 – 128 for November 3 – 9 first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Abstract: This study argues that the Book of Mormon both adopts and develops the instructional wisdom tradition found in Proverbs 1–9 and other pre-exilic Near-Eastern texts. After outlining the structure, rhetoric, and themes of Hebrew instructional wisdom, it tracks those features through major Book of Mormon discourses. Particular attention is given to the personification of Wisdom, the tree-of-life and great-whore polarity, temple motifs, and the democratic invitation to pursue the “mysteries of God” through personal revelation. The analysis suggests that Book of Mormon authors preserve a strand of Israelite temple wisdom largely suppressed in the post-exilic biblical record. By reading restored scripture back into its ancient literary context, the paper offers fresh insight into both corpora: Proverbs’ “enigmas” become transparently eschatological, while the Book of Mormon’s doctrinal core takes on new depth as a deliberate wisdom inheritance. The study concludes that recognizing this shared sapiential framework clarifies the Book of Mormon’s purpose as a covenant guide and underscores its claim to recover “plain and most precious” truths lost from the biblical canon.

The post “His Secret is with the Righteous”: Instructional Wisdom in the Book of Mormon first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

In the October 15, 2025 episode of The Interpreter Foundation Podcast, our hosts Martin Tanner, Kris Frederickson and Bruce Webster discuss the new First Presidency and the shooting at the Chapel in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

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In the October 5th Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Foundation Podcast, our hosts Martin Tanner, Hales Swift, and Brent Schmidt discuss the Come, Follow Me Doctrine & Covenants lesson for October 27 – November 2 covering D&C 124.

The post Interpreter Come, Follow Me Podcast: Doctrine & Covenants 124 for October 27 – November 2 first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Abstract: This article is part two of an analysis of the literary structure of Alma 17–27. The current article analyzes the literary structure of Alma 21–22, which is “an account of the preaching of Aaron and Muloki and their brethren to the Lamanites” as noted in the heading before Alma 21. These two chapters were originally a single chapter in the first edition of the Book of Mormon. When Alma 21–22 is treated as a single chapter, it appears to have been organized into an extended parallel structure (A-B-C-A'-B'-C') in which matching elements share many strong links and parallels. This literary structure highlights the extraordinary range of missionary experiences that can occur while preaching the gospel. There also appears to be an eight-element chiasm that consists of Alma 21–22 and the conclusion to the preaching efforts of the sons of Mosiah in the first fifteen verses of Alma 23. This is the second of three macro-chiasms characterizing the overall structure of Alma 17–27.

The post The Literary Structure of Alma 21–22 first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

In the September 23, 2025 episode of The Interpreter Foundation Podcast, our hosts Martin Tanner and Bruce Webster discuss insights on Marriage, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and low marriage rates.

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During 1978, 1979, and 1980, Hugh Nibley taught a Doctrine and Covenants Sunday School class. Cassette recordings were made of these classes and some have survived and were digitized by Steve Whitlock and recently enhanced by Nick Galieti. Most of the tapes were in pretty bad condition. The original recordings usually don’t stop or start […]