The Interview: The balance between the LDS Church’s operation of its non-profit and for-profit endeavors has always come with both benefits and repercussions. Censure of the City Creek building project reignited this divisive topic as critics contended that more funds should be directed toward humanitarian pursuits and less towards financial ones. It’s an ongoing discussion layered with complexities as the church decides how best to generate the funds necessary to fulfill the mission of the church. The example of the Utah–Idaho Sugar Company is a micro study in the costs and benefits of for-profit ventures. Historian Matthew C. Godfrey is an expert on the church’s involvement in the sugar industry. In this episode, he discusses with Laura Harris Hales some of the challenges that face the church when it becomes involved in business.

The sugar business in Utah began in earnest in the late 1880s when there was interest on the part of some individuals to produce sugar from beets. Needing capital in order to finance the construction of a factory, they approached Wilford Woodruff and asked if the church could provide some funding.

Wilford Woodruff was already interested in getting the church involved in more businesses. And as he thought more about getting the church involved in the sugar industry, he said he received a revelation that it was the Lord’s will that the church become involved in the sugar business.

From that revelation, he met with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and he instructed several of them, including Heber J. Grant and Joseph F. Smith, to go out among Utah businessmen and raise money for the sugar factory. The apostles raised the necessary funds, and in 1889 the Utah Sugar Company was formed. The church didn’t have a financial interest in the company, but simply boosters for it. But as the 1890s wore on and as the company got into some financial difficulties, Wilford Woodruff, again believing that God wanted this industry established, got the church involved financially in the industry.

Woodruff’s interest in the business was two-fold: to provide the Saints with economic opportunities and allow the Saints to be self-sufficient in sugar. Woodruff and Joseph F. Smith both talked about the need to provide some labor opportunities for the Saints in the Great Basin. The labor could come as employees working in the factory to actually extract the sugar or as farmers growing the sugar beets for cash.

The fact that Wilford Woodruff said it was the mind and will of God that the church become involved in the sugar industry set it apart from other business ventures. It carried with it a level of commitment and compelled the church to seek for outside funding after the panic of 1893 to keep it afloat.

At that time, the Utah Sugar Company became tied to the eastern Sugar Trust, and the company ceased producing sugar only on a regional basis. Now, eastern businessmen were investing in something the church started because of a revelation. With outside investment, the Utah Sugar Company had to be very concerned about business practices so they could make a profit. Having received financial backing from the Sugar Trust, those involved in Utah Sugar expanded into other areas in Utah and into Idaho, leading to the formation in 1907 of the Utah–Idaho Sugar Company.

Utah–Idaho leaders wanted the company to make money and tried to keep costs down and prices to consumers up. But beet growers, most of whom were Mormon, wanted as much as they could get for their beets. This was no longer the mutual cooperative economy characterized by Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution; this was for-profit capitalism. That’s a huge transition from how the church had participated in businesses in the past.

Thomas Alexander referred to this time period as “Mormonism in Transition.

You can listen to or download the May 13 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. It will also be included in our podcast feed (http://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast). This week’s show was hosted by Allen Wyatt, John Gee, and Kevin Christensen. On this special Mother's Day program, topics discussed included John Gee's latest book, "An Introduction to the Book of Abraham," the Church's split with the Boy Scouts, the role of mothers within the Church, and mothers and fathers according to "The Family: A Proclamation to the World."

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: May 13, 2018. 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 May 6 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. It will also be included in our podcast feed (http://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast). This week’s show was hosted by Neal Rappleye, Martin Tanner, Jasmin Gimenez, Stephen Smoot, and Hales Swift. Topics discussed included happenings at Book of Mormon Central, evidence of sunken cities in ancient America, evidences for "reformed Egyptian," evidence of Jews writing in Egyptian, Balak and Balaam (Gospel Doctrine lesson 16), and the Babylonian Talmud.

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: May 6, 2018. 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.

 

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Abstract: Section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants contains what is commonly known by Latter-day Saints as the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood. Priesthood leaders in the church are expected to teach and explain this Oath and Covenant to … Continue reading →

The Interview:  Laura Harris Hales of LDS Perspectives Podcast recently interviewed Sharalyn D. Howcroft on Foundational Texts of Mormonism: Examining Major Early Sources, a new book that carefully analyzes essential texts that are repeatedly used by historians as they reconstruct Mormonism's founding era. Scholars have frequently mined early Mormon historical sources for the information that they contain, though with little attention to source criticism.

A noteworthy exception is the work of Dean C. Jessee. Jessee's examination of The History of the Church showed that unlike the subtitle of its first six volumes—Period I: History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, by Himself—the history was written by a dozen different scribes and clerks, not Smith. Although Smith started the history, his office staff quickly assumed most of the burden of production, barely half of it was completed at the time of Smith's death in 1844, and it took many more years before it was finished. Jessee's scholarship showed the necessity of understanding authorship, textual origins, and record production.

Foundational Texts of Mormonism was conceived as a compilation of essays honoring Dean C. Jessee. Taking a page from Dr. Jessee's playbook, this volume scrutinizes documents as products of history rather than sources of historical information. When records are examined as artifacts of the culture from which they originate, it reveals things about historical sources beyond the content of the records themselves.

Chapters in the book provide original and notable contributions on early Mormon history sources using methodologies advocated by Jessee. Richard Lyman Bushman's "The Gold Plates as Foundational Text" focuses on the Book of Mormon's account of its creation, viewing the gold plates as a document in the Book of Mormon narrative. Its disparate texts reflect both divinely inspired and human elements.

Grant Hardy's "Textual Criticism and the Book of Mormon" assesses Royal Skousen's Book of Mormon Critical Text Project and what it divulges about the process of dictation and textual transmission, including Joseph Smith's views on scriptural text.

Thomas A. Wayment, in "Intertextuality and the Purpose of Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible" studies Joseph Smith's motivation for revising the Bible and how it steered Smith to re-envision the Bible.

Grant Underwood, in "The Dictations, Compilation, and Canonization of Joseph Smith's Revelations" traces the unfolding of Smith's revelations from their initial dictation to canonization.

In "Joseph Smith's Missouri Prison Letters and the Mormon Textual Community," David W. Grua examines Smith's epistles given to the Latter-day Saint community during his incarceration, and how they connected the suffering of the Saints with revelation.

Jennifer Reeder in "The Textual Culture of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society Leadership and Minute Book" studies the undercurrent of polygamous relationships evident in the society's minute book, based on what was and was not recorded.

William V. Smith's chapter on "Joseph Smith's Sermons and the Early Mormon Documentary Record," examines how a more extensive documentary record of Smith's sermons was the direct result of the increased importance place upon Smith's preaching.

In "Joseph Smith's Nauvoo Journals," Alex D. Smith and Andrew H. Hedges analyze Smith's journals kept during the last two and a half years of his life and their contribution to our understanding of Smith's last few years and the Nauvoo community at that time.

The prolific writings of Wilford Woodruff are reviewed in Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's "The Early Diaries of Wilford Woodruff, 1835–1839." Woodruff's painstaking care when recording his diary indirectly ch...

You can listen to or download the April 29 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. It will also be included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feed/podcast). This week’s host was Martin Tanner, discussing a variety of topics, including Joseph Smith’s educational background, Martin Harris and Charles Anton, the Joseph Smith Papers Project, the fate of the 12 apostles, Emma Smith, and Early New Testament Manuscripts.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MST), 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: April 29, 2018. 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 April 29 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. It will also be included in our podcast feed (http://interpreterfoundation.org/feed/podcast). This week’s host was Martin Tanner, discussing a variety of topics, including Joseph Smith’s educational background, Martin Harris and Charles Anton, the Joseph Smith Papers Project, the fate of the 12 apostles, Emma Smith, and Early New Testament Manuscripts.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MST), 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: April 29, 2018. 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.

 

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Abstract: As the Church expands among the many nations, peoples, and tongues of the earth, new challenges arise that require the organization and the members of the Church to better meet the needs of the peoples in various nations and … Continue reading →