I’m afraid that I’ve fallen behind in chronicling the death-throes of the Interpreter Foundation, so I’ll make an effort here in this blog entry to catch up a bit on that sad tale of sorrow and woe. Here are a few things that have appeared in recent days:
““Behold, I Went to Hunt Beasts in the Forest”: An Addendum on Enos, Esau, and the Symbolic Geography of Seir,” written by Matthew Bowman
Abstract: Enos’s use of the onomastic wordplay in the Jacob and Esau cycle enables him to meaningfully allude to the symbolic geography of those stories and incorporate it into his New World setting (e.g., allusions to the river Jabbok and Peniel/Penuel, the site of Jacob’s “wrestle” with the divine “man”). A third instance of this type of allusion occurs with Enos’s recollection that he “went to hunt beasts in the forest[s]” (Enos 1:3), which appears to subtly allude to Mount Seir, the forested hill country in the land of Edom inhabited by Esau and his descendants.
“Die Prophezeiung Henochs: Some Observations on Section 36 in the German Edition of the Community of Christ Doctrine and Covenants,” written by Adam Stokes
Abstract: Multiple translations of the Doctrine and Covenants into German have been produced over the past century and a half. This essay looks at a more recent example of these translations as found in the Buch der Lehre und Bündnisse published electronically by the Community of Christ. Focusing on Community of Christ Doctrine and Covenants 36, the revelation of Zion to Enoch, the essay compares and contrasts the German text with its Vorlage. It also notes the ways in which the German translation attempts to “de-problematize” its source material, particularly in regard to its references to blackness and the racial implications of such references. The author argues that this effort resolves some issues while creating others.
“The Temple: Symbols, Sermons, and Settings: Bearing Testimony in Hebrew: A Comparison of Ancient Israelite Temple Rituals with Modern Latter-day Saint Fast and Testimony Meetings,” written by Ryan Conrad Davis
Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in The Temple: Symbols, Sermons, and Settings, edited by Stephen D. Ricks and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/the-temple-symbols-sermons-and-settings/.
“Comparison is at the heart of understanding the world. In fact, the father of modern linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure, has shown that meaning is created through difference. It is only when one recognizes difference that meaning emerges. Or, as Lehi put it, “it must needs be, that there is an opposition,” or an opposite, “in all things”; if something does not have an opposite, or something to contrast with, then “all things must needs be a compound in one.” Thus, in order to fully appreciate one thing, one must see another thing that the first is not.”
“Interpreting Interpreter: A Man of the Forest,” written by Kyler Rasmussen
This post is a summary of the article ““Behold, I Went to Hunt Beasts in the Forest”: An Addendum on Enos, Esau, and the Symbolic Geography of Seir” by Matthew L. Bowen in Volume 63 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. All of the Interpreting Interpreter articles may be seen at https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/summaries/. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.
A video introduction to the Interpreter article is now available on all of our social media channels, including on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLHM-zBfkPI.
The Takeaway: Bowen highlights some additional ways in which the story of Enos echoes the cyclical narrative of Jacob and Esau, noting that Enos’ references to hunting and forests correspond with the description of Esau as “a cunning hunter” and a “man of [forest] overgrowth”.
“Interpreting Interpreter: Retranslated Blackness,” by Kyler Rasmussen
This post is a summary of the article “Die Prophezeiung Henochs: Some Observations on Section 36 in the German Edition of the Community of Christ Doctrine and Covenants” by Adam Stokes in Volume 63 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. All of the Interpreting Interpreterarticles may be seen at https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/summaries/. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.
A video introduction to the Interpreter article is now available on all of our social media channels, including on YouTube at https://youtube.com/shorts/hkCymnAtfwE.
The Takeaway: Stokes examines the Community of Christ’s recent German translation of Enoch’s descriptions of Cain and Cainan, noting how it attempts to avoid the racial implications of some verses, arguing that while it aligns with interpretive precedent (with “blackness” as a spiritual descriptor), it also unintentionally reinforces the idea that blackness must be equated with depravity.
“Not by Bread Alone: From Disappointment to a Dream: Willy and Lilly Binene and the Saints of Luputa (Episode 8),” written by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
When ethnic violence broke out in the south of the DR Congo, Church members in Kolwezi escaped to Luputa, a faraway village in the center of the country. Elder Willy Sabwe Binene suffered a series of personal disappointments until his life took a turn for the better after he met his future wife Lilly, to whom the Lord had directed him in a dream. Through the efforts of the Binenes and a small group of other members, thousands were converted in Luputa and a stake was formed before the arrival of any full-time missionaries Led by stake president Binene, the entire village became united in a mammoth Church-sponsored water project with miles of trenches dug by hand over three years by rotating groups of neighbors.
For more information on the “Not by Bread Alone: Stories of the Saints in Africa” series, go to https://notbybreadalonefilm.com/en/
For more information in French, go to https://notbybreadalonefilm.com/fr/
To see all of our posts about The Church in Africa, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/africa/
Editor’s Note: Four years ago, Jonn Claybaugh began writing the Study and Teaching Helps series of articles for Interpreter. We now have these wonderful and useful posts for all four years of Come, Follow Me lessons. Beginning this year we will be reposting these articles, with dates, lesson numbers, and titles updated for the current year’s lessons. Jonn has graciously agreed to write new study aids for those lessons that do not directly correspond to 2020 lessons.
Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 46: “Rend That Veil of Unbelief”: Ether 1-5
This week for Come, Follow Me lesson 46 covering Ether 1-5, we have lectures 109 and 111 from Hugh Nibley’s Book of Mormon classes at Brigham Young University, covering Ether 1-2 and Ether 2-8, respectively.
During 1988, 1989, and 1990, Hugh Nibley taught Honors Book of Mormon classes for four semesters at Brigham Young University. The lectures were video-taped and audio cassettes and printed transcripts were made of the lectures. We believe these recordings will be interesting to listen to and valuable to your Come, Follow Me study program this year. Each week, we will include the lectures covering the Book of Mormon chapters being studied that week.
Interpreter Radio Show — October 27, 2024, including The Book of Mormon in Context for Ether 6-11
For the 27 October 2024 installment of the Interpreter Radio Show, John and Stacey Thompson discussed the recent article in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship by Diane E. Wirth and Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon lesson 47.
Their conversation was recorded, shorn of commercial breaks, and archived, and has now been made available to you at no charge and at your convenience.
The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard on Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.
The long, lingering death of the Interpreter Foundation, prophesied by a chorus of its critics since . . . well, since its foundation, has become reminiscent of the final, dramatic music (the famous “Liebestod”) from the 1859 opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner. In the Liebestod, Isolde sings over Tristan’s dead body while dying herself. She goes on and on and on and on and on. And on. And on. Like the Energizer Bunny.
Be sure to watch for further Interpreter Foundation death throes during the remainder of this week. And next week. And the week beyond. And next year.
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