The Interpreter Foundation Podcast

 

In the September 17th Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts Bruce Webster, Kris Frederickson, and Robert Boylan discuss New Testament lesson 42, “I Can Do All Things through Christ Which Strengtheneth Me” on Philippians and Colossians.

You can listen to or download the New Testament in Context segment of the September 17 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 September 17 radio show can be accessed at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-september-17-2023.

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: September 17, 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.

 

 

In this episode of The Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts are Bruce Webster, Kris Frederickson, and Robert Boylan. They discuss Come, Follow Me New Testament lesson 42 during the first hour and are joined during the second hour by Janiece Johnson to discuss her book on the Mountain Meadows Massacre. You can listen to or download the September 17th 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 42, “I Can Do All Things through Christ Which Strengtheneth Me” on Philippians and Colossians, will also be posted separately on Tuesday, October 3.

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: September 17, 2023. These recording have been edited to remove commercial breaks.

The New Testament in Context Lesson 42: “I Can Do All Things through Christ Which Strengtheneth Me” on Philippians and Colossians

Discussion: Convicting the Mormons: The Mountain Meadows Massacre in American Culture with author Janiece Johnson

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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.

 

Abstract: The book of Enos is considered to be a short, one-chapter treatise on prayer, yet it is more. Close examination of its text reveals it to be a text structurally centered on Christ and the divine covenant. Enos seeks and obtains from Him a covenant to preserve the records of the Nephites for the salvation of the Lamanites. Enos prays not only for his own remission of sins but also for the salvation both of his own people, the Nephites, and also of the Lamanites. He yearns in faith that the Lord will preserve the records of his people for the benefit of the Lamanites. This article outlines a possible overall chiastic structure of vv. 3–27 as well as a centrally situated smaller chiasm of vv. 15–16a, which focus on Christ and His covenant with Enos. The voice of the Lord speaks to the mind of Enos seven times, and the proposed chiastic structure of the text is meaningfully related to those seven divine communications. We have the Book of Mormon in our day because of the faithful prayers and faithful labors of prophets like Enos and because of the promises they received from Christ, whose covenant to preserve the records is made the focal point at the center of the Enos text.

Enos, like his uncle Nephi, manifestly desired to highlight in his writings his yearning that the written word of the Lord bless God’s children. Nephi earlier had written that he knew that the Lord God would consecrate his own prayers for the gain of his people and that the words which he had written in weakness would be made strong unto them, persuading them to do good (2 Nephi 33:4).

We usually pay due attention to Enos’s description of his struggle in prayer, by which he sought and obtained a remission of his sins (Enos 1:3–8). When we think of the book of Enos, our first impression generally is that it is a treatise on prayer. And in that we are correct. The book is a book about prayer, yes, but prayer that seeks more than Enos’s [Page 244]own personal redemption. He first writes that he intends to tell of the “wrestle” he had “before God” before he received a remission of his sins (v. 2). But by v. 8 he has received forgiveness. So why vv. 9–27? We should note that the Lord’s statements to him — “Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee; … thou shalt be blessed; … go to, thy faith hath made thee whole” (vv. 5, 8) — constitute the first of seven divine communications from the Lord into his mind. The first communication is a twofold response (in vv. 5 and 8, which answer Enos’s prayer and supplication for his own personal redemption (vv. 3–8). The second responds to his struggle in prayer for the redemption of the Nephites (vv. 9–10). And the third answers his prayer — and responds to his and his own people’s toils — for redemption of the Lamanites and the preservation of the Nephite record for their benefit (vv. 11–14). The central communication from the Lord states the Lord’s covenant with Enos that the Nephite records will be preserved for the benefit of the Lamanites (vv. 15–16a). The book is structured on three prayers uttered by Enos: for his own redemption, for the redemption of the Nephites, and for redemption of the Lamanites. Quoted seven times in the book, the Lord answers Enos’s prayers (vv. 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 27) and covenants to preserve the Nephite records (v. 16).

After introductory verses 1 and 2, Enos apparently structured vv. 3–27 of his text on the three accounts of the Lord’s voice to his mind: (1) the Lord’s answer to his own struggle in prayer for his own personal redemption (vv. 3–8 and 25–27, respectively, at the beginning and end of the book); (2) the Lord’s answer to his struggle in prayer on behalf of the Nephites (vv. 9–10 and 21–24, found in text just following the beginning and just before the end of the book); (3) the Lord’s promised fulfillment of Enos’s hope for the redemption of the Lamanites by the preservation of the Nephites’ writings (vv. 11–14 and vv. 16b–20,

Abstract: This article examines Mormon’s comparison of Moroni, the Nephite military leader, to Ammon, the son of Mosiah, in Alma 48:18 and how Mormon’s use and repetition of ʾmn-related terminology (“faithful,” “firm,” “faith,” “verily [surely]”) in Alma 48:7–17 lays a foundation for this comparison. Ammon’s name, phonologically and perhaps etymologically, suggests the meaning “faithful.” Mormon goes to extraordinary lengths in the Lamanite conversion narratives to show that Ammon is not only worthy of this name, but that his faithfulness is the catalyst for the transition of many Lamanites from unbelief to covenant faithfulness. Thus, in comparing Moroni directly to Ammon, Mormon makes a most emphatic statement regarding Moroni’s covenant faithfulness. Moreover, this comparison reveals his admiration for both men.

At the conclusion of Mormon’s famed panegyric1 for Moroni (Alma 48:7–18), the first person to whom Mormon favorably compares Moroni is Ammon, the son of Mosiah (see Alma 48:18). Although Mormon’s comparison also includes the other sons of Mosiah, of them he only mentions Ammon by name, suggesting that he is the main focus of the comparison. A close examination of Mormon’s language leading up to this comparison reveals the logic of and the rhetorical preparation for it.

Mormon’s earlier account of Ammon in the Lamanite conversion narratives had emphasized “the faithfulness of Ammon” (e.g., [Page 224]Alma 18:2, 10) as a major catalyst in the conversion of numerous Lamanites to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the reversal of generations of unbelief to surpassing “faithfulness.”2 In Hebrew, concepts of being “faithful,”3 “believ[ing],”4 “steadfastness,”5 “faithfulness” (and “faith”), “trustworthiness,”6 and “firmness” were expressed with lexical forms of the Hebrew verbal root ʾmn7 (apparently cognate with Egyptian mn = “be firm, established, enduring”; “be fixed, stick fast …”; “remain”)8 which sound like and may even be cognate with the name Ammon. Indeed, the onomastic connection between Ammon and forms of ʾmn — aural or etymological — is evidenced by the profusion of ʾmn-related terminology in the Lamanite conversion narratives (Alma 17–27).9

In this study,

Presented at:

2016 Temple on Mount Zion ConferenceSaturday, November 5, 2016https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2016-temple-on-mount-zion-conference/

Conference Proceedings:

Sacred Time, Sacred Space, & Sacred Meaning at https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/sacred-time-sacred-space-sacred-meaning/

Listen to an audio recording of this talk:

  Download audio recording

 

 

In the September 10th Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts Terry Hutchinson, John Gee, and Kevin Christensen discuss New Testament lesson 41, “For the Perfecting of the Saints” covering Ephesians.

You can listen to or download the New Testament in Context segment of the September 10 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 September 10 radio show can be accessed at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-september-10-2023.

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: September 10, 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: Although unable to write more than a hundredth part of his people’s history, Mormon seemingly found the time and plate-space to deliver literary justice on behalf of Gideon, who suffered a martyr’s death at the hand of the wicked Nehor. This article applies a literary approach buttressed by evidence from the Book of Mormon to suggest that Mormon intentionally supplied tightly-controlled repetitive elements, like the repetition of names, to point the reader to discover multiple literary sub-narratives connected by a carefully crafted network of themes running under the main narratives of the scriptures. The theories espoused in this work may have begun with the recognition of the reader-arresting repetition of Gideon’s name in Alma 6:7-8, but driven by scriptural data points soon connected Gideon with Abinadi, the Ammonites, and others. The repetitive and referential use of the moniker Nehor, Gideon’s murderer, on various peoples by Mormon seemed to connect thematically and organically to a justice prophesied by Abinadi. In parallel with the theme of justice laid upon the Nehor-populations, evidence is marshaled to also suggest that Mormon referenced the place-name of Gideon to intentionally hearken back to the man Gideon. Following the role of Gideon, as a place, we propose Mormon constructed a path for the martyr Gideon via proxy to meet the resurrected Lord in Bountiful. Mormon’s concern for the individual and his technique for rewriting Gideon’s story through proxy ultimately symbolizes the role Christ’s atoning power can take in each of our lives to save us.

Under the hands of its authors, the Book of Mormon creatively blends stringent didacticism and literary artistry into a piercing message of hope in the face of the tragedy of its own narrative. Mormon, the principle of three main authors of the book that bears his name, lived at the end-time of his people, a time of harsh brutality where he was [Page 168]exposed to “a continual scene of wickedness” (Mormon 2:18) and “blood and carnage” (Mormon 4:11). Somehow, surrounded by a people who “[had] lost their love, one towards another” and were “without mercy” (Moroni 9:5, 18), Mormon, in contrast, was miraculously “filled with charity” (Moroni 8:17). Rising above the cruel injustices of his own time, Mormon was able to revisit the records of his ancestors and pity their comparatively lesser injustices. On at least one occasion, this paper will suggest that Mormon’s sentimentality and compassion may have even moved him to mete out justice through literary means for injustices met on a man named Gideon. It is in this spirit of a narrator-focused approach that I attempt to discover the meaning behind Mormon’s repeated references to Gideon’s martyrdom at the hands of Nehor.

Increased attention to the narrators of the Book of Mormon has been a noteworthy trend in Book of Mormon scholarship since roughly 2010.1 This paper proposes that Mormon’s repetition of the names of Gideon and Nehor throughout the Book of Mormon are not coincidental, but serve as markers for the reader to discover authorial intent. Therefore, these repetitive and possibly intentional markers are catalogued as part of a methodology to read the Book of Mormon as the narrators intended and to uncover as much meaning as possible. These findings suggest that these narrators, like Mormon,

Presented at:

2016 Temple on Mount Zion ConferenceSaturday, November 5, 2016https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2016-temple-on-mount-zion-conference/

Conference Proceedings:

Sacred Time, Sacred Space, & Sacred Meaning at https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/sacred-time-sacred-space-sacred-meaning/

Listen to an audio recording of this talk:

  Download audio recording

 

 

In the September 3rd Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, with moderator Terry Hutchinson, our hosts Spencer Kraus, Brent Schmidt, and Hales Swift discuss New Testament lesson 40, “Walk in the Spirit” covering Galatians.

You can listen to or download the New Testament in Context segment of the September 3 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 September 3 radio show can be accessed at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-september-3-2023.

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: September 3, 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.