“Where Did Enoch Go After Genesis?”

QEII -- the real one -- with gold. — When I showed her around my British holdings a few years ago– obviously, after she had paid the entry fee and agreed to compensate me for my services as a guide — Queen Elizabeth II was plainly jealous of the amount of bullion that I had racked up from my apologetics work and my international tours. That, I’ll admit, was gratifying.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

The rear passenger-side door in our luxurious brand-new minivan — just under 275,000 miles on the odometer! — stopped opening, locking, and unlocking reliably, and we’ve had to go get that fixed. For the second time in the past several weeks. Just in time, as it happens, since our garage door just fell shut and we can’t get the car out onto the driveway until the repairman comes. Which is probably for the best since, owing to our ever-declining vision, we’ve both just had to replace our eyeglasses. And the flow of water from our kitchen faucet is down to a trickle again, roughly a month after a plumber came and fixed that same problem.

If I weren’t a lavishly paid Church apologist, this relentless recent onslaught of mundane expenses might bother me. Happily, however, I’ve seen the ballpark speculations that some of my online critics have posted about my income, and they fill me with financial confidence; such outlays for repairs don’t trouble me even a teeny little bit. Without giving away any details, let me just say that the salary figures that have been mentioned in media articles about BYU’s new hire of a basketball coach away from the NBA leave me chuckling in derisive condescension. (I will neither confirm nor deny the rumors that are circulating so rampantly out there, that BYU offered me the job first. Let me simply say that the University would need to pay me a heck of a lot more than that paltry sum if it ever hoped to lure me away from my current lucrative volunteer apologetic gig.)

ouiytr — Phoebe and Sidney Rigdon, as depicted in the forthcoming Interpreter Foundation film “Six Days in August”

Speaking of obscene apologetic profits, we’ve had two more substantial meetings this week regarding the eventual distribution of our forthcoming Interpreter Foundation film, Six Days in August. And we had a meeting last night with approximately sixty-five supporters and potential supporters of the project, generously hosted by Dr. Lynn Taylor Dayton and his wife, former Utah state senator Margaret Dayton. We had our Brigham Young (John Donovan Wilson) and our Mary Ann Angell Young (Twyla Wilson) there, along with our core team of filmmakers (Mark Goodman, James G. Jordan, and Russell Richins), who were the principal figures behind our earlier Witnesses film project.

We’re looking, right now, at a release of Six Days in August somewhere between early October (on the weekend following General Conference) and the very beginning of December. The last scene that needs to be filmed is a complex one and is, curiously, actually the opening scene of the movie. (See Matthew 20:16.) Our core filmmaking team and three of our principal actors will be flying back to Tennessee (where the requisite foliage coexists with oxen and a functional vintage stage coach) at the beginning of next week to capture that scene. But all will still not be done: Much remains, including editing, harmonizing the products of the various cameras and microphones, and so forth. And we’re still raising money for those final necessities. But we’re well down the road, thankfully, and we’re pretty pleased with the way the film is already shaping up.

Enoch, about to go heavenwards — In this stained glass window from Canterbury Cathedral in the United Kingdom, a hand reaches down from within a cloud (or behind a veil) to take Enoch into heaven.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Newly posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:

Conference Talks: “Enoch Walked with God, and He Was Not” Where Did Enoch Go After Genesis? (2020 Tracing Ancient Threads in the Book of Moses Conference), presented by Jared W. Ludlow

Jared W. Ludlow spoke at the Tracing Ancient Threads in the Book of Moses Conference on Saturday, 19 September 2020, about “‘Enoch Walked with God, and He Was Not’: Where Did Enoch Go After Genesis?” His paper traces the reception history and development of the figure of Enoch in some of the later Pseudepigrapha. It will examine how the figure of Enoch is portrayed in these texts and how they compare with his portrayal in the Book of Moses. While there are some similarities, such as his mediator role between God and earthly inhabitants, the Book of Moses also presents some unique features and information about Enoch such as raising an entire community towards God, not just ascending to the presence of God individually. Closely related to the figure of Enoch will be the content of some of his visions and what role he plays in dispensing knowledge to others of heavenly things.

All of the conference presentations were filmed, and both video and audio recordings of each presentation are available. Videos, audio recordings and transcripts are available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2020-book-of-moses-conference/papers/. The videos are also available on the Interpreter Foundation YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/theinterpreterfoundation. A YouTube playlist is also available at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRMn4gyXMWLv7A618LA-cCvxMqWRk8kxI.

Lisboa Temple in Lisbon — The Lisbon Portugal Temple, as seen from the adjacent stake center
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

I enjoyed this new four-minute video, and I predict that you also will: “Three Prophets Tell Us Why We Are Building So Many Temples”

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