Two new articles went up at noon on Friday on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. I hope that you will enjoy them: “Trees and the Love of God,” written by David M. Belnap and Nalini M. Nadkarni Abstract: Trees play real and metaphorical roles in the beliefs and holy scriptures of many world religions, and believers and non-believers throughout the world are uplifted spiritually by trees. In the Book of Mormon, a tree with delicious, sweet fruit appeared in... Read more
Two more items have appeared on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. They are: Conference Talks: Clothed with Glory: Sacred Vestments and the Restoration, from the 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference Matthew Roper spoke on “Clothed with Glory: Sacred Vestments and the Restoration” at the fourth Temple on Mount Zion Conference, held on Saturday, 10 November 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. The presentations were filmed, and both video and audio recordings of... Read more
We entered Queen Charlotte Sound this morning and sailed until we reached the town of Picton. Today marked the very first time that I have set foot on New Zealand’s South Island. I’ve seen the South Island once before, from Wellington across the Cook Strait on a clear day. But I’ve waited a long time to actually reach it. We disembarked from our boat and eventually boarded a tour bus with guide/driver who took us down Highway 1, New... Read more
Newly posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 8 “O How Great the Plan of Our God!”: 2 Nephi 6-10 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... Read more
We missed Auckland today. A mechanical problem with one of our ship’s lifeboats — which was used as a “tender” to transport passengers in the Bay of Islands — prevented it from being raised back into position for departure. And, of course, the ship was not allowed to set sail without its full complement of functioning life boats. (Somebody in the maritime trade must have watched the movie Titanic.) So, instead of departing at the scheduled 8:00 PM, we... Read more
My friend Professor Louis Midgley has had a life-long love affair with New Zealand and, being here once again, it’s very easy to remember and to understand why. We arrived today at the Bay of Islands, on the northeastern coast of the North Island. Most specifically, our ship dropped anchor just off Waitangi, where the pivotal treaty was signed in 1840. Our private mini-bus tour took us to, among other things, a kauri forest, a kauri woodworking shop, the... Read more
I return briefly to Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer’s posthumously-published 2008 book Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of the Human Mind, which I recently re-read while flying over the Pacific. And, just to refresh memories, I again cite here the brief bio that appears at the end of that volume: Known as Lisby by her many friends and colleagues, Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer was an internationally known psychoanalyst, researcher, and clinician, the author of groundbreaking papers on female development, clinical... Read more
As discomfiting as it certainly is to our critics, the Interpreter Foundation continues to produce materials for the Latter-day Saints and for any who are interested in the Restoration, and to do so at an alarmingly non-glacial pace. Here are the most recent publications from the Foundation: “Second Nephi as a Legal Document,” written by Martin Oman Evans Abstract: Considering conventions of the ancient Near East, 2 Nephi can be understood as a legal document or legal archive. Factors supporting... Read more
We began the day with almost all of our group taking a multi-hour minibus tour of mostly eastern Sydney, looking at the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the magnificent Sydney Opera House and including really good fish and chips and shrimp, followed by gelato, at Bondi Beach. As I sit down to commence writing this blog entry, we’re just emerging from Sydney’s huge and excellent harbor (harbour?). From our veranda of our cabin, I’m looking southward at the sheer cliffs... Read more
Amazingly, something new has appeared on the website of the Interpreter Foundation! It is “Conference Talks: Consecration and Sacrilege in Early Rabbinic Judaism” Avram Shannon spoke on “Consecration and Sacrilege in Early Rabbinic Judaism” at the fourth Temple on Mount Zion Conference, held on Saturday, 10 November 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. The presentations were filmed, and both video and audio recordings of each presentation are available. The videos are currently available both... Read more
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