![\"Good](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2023\/09\/IMG-7800-2.jpeg\")
<\/a>I\u2019m pleased to announce that a second (and final) set of \u201csneak peek\u201d early screenings for the new Interpreter Foundation film Six Days in August<\/em><\/a> will occur on Monday, 7 October \u2014 which is the day after General Conference \u2014 in the same nine Cinemark theaters that offered last night\u2019s showings: Salt Lake City, Draper, American Fork, Orem, Midvale\/Sandy, Farmington, Ogden, Provo, and West Jordan: \u201cSix Days in August<\/em> \u2013 Early Access\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n You might be amused to learn that some vocal hardcore online critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> (and of me, personally) are planning to do what they can to flood the web with negative reviews of Six Days in August<\/em>.<\/p>\n This happened with Witnesses<\/em>, as well. In a number of instances, it was patently obvious that those posting the \u201creviews\u201d hadn\u2019t even bothered to actually watch the film. \u00a0They faulted it, for example, because it had failed to mention either plural marriage or the failure of the bank in Kirtland, Ohio, because it was engaged in a \u201ccover up\u201d of those subjects, trying to \u201cerase\u201d them \u2014 even though entire scenes of Witnesses<\/em> were devoted to plural marriage and the Kirtland Bank failure.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not asking those who saw Six Days in August<\/em> last night \u2014 or who will see it on 7 October, or at its special formal premiere for actors and crew and Interpreter volunteers and major donors on 9 October, or on or after its general theatrical opening on 10 October \u2014 to write positive<\/em> reviews of it, though I obviously hope that audiences will like the movie. \u00a0But I, we, would very much appreciate it if\u00a0those who have actually seen the film <\/em>would share their genuine reactions to it on social media and, when, the opportunities arise, on review websites. \u00a0I\u2019m hoping for honest reactions to the film itself<\/em>, as opposed to mere pre-scripted expressions of contempt for the Church, disdain for Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and\/or burning hatred of me<\/em>.<\/p>\n In the meantime, the three brief (roughly two- to three-minute-long) interviews that John Donovan Wilson (aka Brigham Young) and I did on Wednesday morning with Tim Hughes and Amanda Dickson for KSL-Radio are now available at the Six Days in August<\/em> Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is in one of these interviews that I wrongly identified the theater chain in which the \u201csneak peeks\u201d are being given as Carmike, rather than Cinemark. \u00a0(See \u201cIn Which I Confess My Ability to Err.\u201d<\/a>) \u00a0Some have expressed puzzlement at the name Carmike<\/em>. \u00a0But the Carmike theaters were, in fact, a real chain<\/a>. \u00a0I wasn\u2019t hallucinating about them; I didn\u2019t make them up. \u00a0I just got it wrong, and I didn\u2019t realize that, as of 2017, the Carmike chain is no more. \u00a0Now, though, I do<\/em>. \u00a0Although an old dog, I can learn<\/em>.<\/p>\n With all of the attention that I\u2019ve been giving to Six Days in August,<\/em> I\u2019ve probably been neglecting tomorrow\u2019s biennial \u201cTemple on Mount Zion\u201d conference. \u00a0That\u2019s tomorrow. \u00a0Saturday. \u00a0Please don\u2019t overlook it! \u00a0I\u2019ll be there, and I hope to see you<\/em> there.<\/p>\n Seership, Craftsmanship, and Fellowship: \u00a0The Seventh Interpreter Matthew B. Brown Memorial Conference<\/a><\/p>\n As you can readily see, and as was prophesied by an anonymous critic years ago, the Interpreter Foundation is dead, or at least breathing its last. \u00a0Inquiring minds want to know: \u00a0Will Interpreter survive into next week? \u00a0Stay tuned!\u00a0 In the meanwhile, here below are a few more of its final gasps, the first four of which were published just a few minutes ago:<\/p>\n \u201cMore Evidence for Alma<\/em> as a Semitic Name,\u201d<\/a> written by Neal Rappleye<\/a> and Allen Hansen<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract:<\/strong> Beginning with Hugh Nibley, several Latter-day Saint scholars have highlighted a deed found among the Bar Kokhba documents as evidence of the name Alma as a Jewish male name in antiquity. Here we highlight a second attestation of the same name used for a Jewish male from a slightly earlier period, as well as other evidence from Hebrew toponymy that helps corroborate not only that Alma is a Hebrew name, but also supports the etymology proposed by Latter-day Saint scholars and is suggestive of wordplays previously identified in the Book of Mormon text. Past critics have mocked the name Alma as a feminine name, but since this criticism has now been answered, some have pivoted to claiming that Alma was, in fact, a man\u2019s name in Joseph Smith\u2019s time and place. We investigate this claim and demonstrate that the evidence for Alma as a male name in the United States\u2014and specifically upstate New York\u2014during the early 1800s has been vastly overstated. Overall, this combination of data suggests that Alma in the Book of Mormon is better accounted for by the ancient rather than modern evidence.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cInterpreting Interpreter<\/em>: A Semitic Alma,\u201d<\/a> written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201cMore Evidence for Alma as a Semitic Name<\/a>\u201d by Neal Rappleye and Allen Hansen in Volume 62 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>. All of the Interpreting Interpreter<\/em> articles may be seen at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/category\/summaries\/<\/a>. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter <\/em>series is available at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Takeaway:<\/strong> Rappleye and Hansen cover new evidence related to the use of Alma<\/em> as a male name in ancient Israel and note how straightforward searches for instances of the name in Joseph Smith\u2019s time can be misleading.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAccessing Nephi\u2019s Bountiful: A New Proposal for Reaching Irreantum,\u201d<\/a> written by Warren P. Aston<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract:<\/strong> Many Latter-day Saint scholars recognize that an excellent candidate for Nephi\u2019s Bountiful is found at the inlet Khor Kharfot in southern Oman at the end of the lengthy Wadi Sayq. Many researchers have reasonably assumed that Lehi\u2019s eastward travel from Nahom must have led to Wadi Sayq, which then leads directly to Khor Kharfot. However, there is a second route, through Wadi Kharfot, that leads to Khor Kharfot, joining Wadi Sayq near the inlet. Although almost unknown, this second wadi could also have offered a plausible route with some advantages to travelers arriving from the interior desert plateau. Specifics and details of terrain, distances, and directions are presented to support seriously considering this new proposal.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cInterpreting Interpreter<\/em>: Through Wadi Kharfot,\u201d<\/a> written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201cAccessing Nephi\u2019s Bountiful: A New Proposal for Reaching Irreantum<\/a>\u201d by Warren P. Aston in Volume 62 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>. All of the Interpreting Interpreter<\/em> articles may be seen at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/category\/summaries\/<\/a>. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter <\/em>series is available at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Takeaway:<\/strong> \u00a0Aston proposes that Lehi\u2019s group may have had the option of traveling to Bountiful through the shorter and narrower\u2014but perhaps more easily traversed\u2014Wadi Kharfot, in addition to the lengthier and broader Wadi Sayq.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Hugh Nibley Observed<\/em>: \u201cHugh Winder Nibley: The Man, the Scholar, the Legacy,\u201d<\/a> written by Gary P. Gillum<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhile I was investigating The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints in 1969, after spending seven years studying to be a minister of the gospel, there were two things I was reading: the Book of Mormon and an article a ward member had given me, \u2018A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price,\u2019 written by a scholar named Hugh Nibley. I had never heard of the Pearl of Great Price nor of Hugh Nibley, but what really surprised me as I read the article was that a scholar could combine faith and scholarship in such a remarkable manner\u2014especially after I had read so much Protestant theology. Here was a fascinating article on an unknown subject by an unknown author which reflected both scholarly rigor and steadfast faith, together with an attitude of awareness and openness that converted me to the proposition that I could study anything known or unknown, in or out of space and time, from both earthly and heavenly teachers, and from many perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Hugh Nibley Observed<\/em>, edited by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Shirley S. Ricks, and Stephen T. Whitlock. For more information, go to https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/books\/hugh-nibley-observed\/<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Now, however, as it often does, this blog goes very dark. \u00a0We turn to the endless litany of horrors that is to be found in the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons <\/em>Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122 for two chilling specimens:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>