![\"Bonampak](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/01\/675px-Reproduction_of_Bonampak_murals_center_2.jpg\")
<\/a>These four new items were posted today on the moribund website of the comatose Interpreter Foundation:<\/p>\n
Anachronisms: Accidental Evidence in Book of Mormon Criticisms<\/em>: Chapter 2 \u201cWarfare in the Book of Mormon,\u201d<\/a> written by Matthew Roper<\/a><\/p>\n [Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> We are pleased to present chapter 2 from a book entitled<\/em> Anachronisms: Accidental Evidence in Book of Mormon Criticisms. It is presented in serialized form in this volume of <\/em>Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cInterpreting Interpreter<\/em>: (Non-)Anachronisms \u2013 Warfare,\u201d<\/a> written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/a><\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201cAnachronisms: Accidental Evidence in Book of Mormon Criticisms \u2014 Chapter 2: Warfare in the Book of Mormon<\/a>\u201d by Matthew Roper in Volume 65 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 A video introduction to this Interpreter article is now available on all of our social media channels, including on YouTube at https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/cqkzDWVsLaE<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Takeaway:<\/strong> Roper continues his examination of claimed Book of Mormon anachronisms, looking at 39 different aspects of warfare and weapons presented in the text. He concludes that 82% of these supposed anachronisms have received subsequent confirmation in the archaeological record, with only 2 items that are yet to trend toward confirmation (steel swords in the New World and Book of Mormon battle remains).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n \u201cChiasmus in the Book of Jarom,\u201d<\/a> written by Stephen Kent Ehat<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract:<\/strong> Jarom strongly evidences the use of chiasmus to structure his short book. This paper seeks to uncover, display, and discuss the chiastic patterning of the book and hopefully suggests an enhanced understanding of the hidden beauty and deep meaning of this brief but important text. The book of Jarom indeed offers more than what may otherwise be revealed by only a cursory reading of its fifteen verses. Awareness of the chiastic pattern of the text reinforces an understanding of Jarom\u2019s important message.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cInterpreting Interpreter<\/em>: Jarom\u2019s Chiasmus,\u201d<\/a> written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/a><\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201cChiasmus in the Book of Jarom<\/a>\u201d by Stephen Kent Ehat in Volume 64 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 A video introduction to this Interpreter article is now available on all of our social media channels, including on YouTube at https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/mN9_FT-ieeg<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Takeaway: \u00a0Ehat proposes a detailed verbal and thematic structure for the book of Jarom, with a chiasm centered on the theme of prosperity stemming from obedience to God\u2019s commandments.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n I\u2019ve written here before about my months of individual study with the late Father Georges Anawati OP (1905-1994) of Egypt\u2019s Institut Dominicain des Etudes Orientales.:<\/p>\n In the second of the above installments, I wrote about a specific experience that I had with him:<\/p>\n One day, while I was reading through a text with him at the Institut Dominicain des Etudes Orientales in Cairo, it suddenly hit me how wildly unlikely it was that the claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> were uniquely true. \u00a0Here I was, studying the sophisticated intellectual products of one of the world\u2019s great religions, Islam, with a Dominican priest and monk, an internationally prominent scholar, theologian, and philosopher, who, as such, was a sophisticated representative of another of the world\u2019s great religions, Catholic Christianity. \u00a0Greater Cairo alone was 15-20 times the size of the metropolitan Salt Lake City area.<\/p>\n Islam, as we know it, is nearly a millennium and a half old. \u00a0Catholicism claims a heritage of two thousand years. \u00a0By contrast, at the time that I was studying with Father Anawati, the Restoration was about a century and a half old. \u00a0For most of that time, our people had been isolated in the Great Basin West, preoccupied with digging irrigation canals and building small towns in a demanding, remote, semi-arid landscape.<\/p>\n Provincial and few in number, we had made few if any notable contributions to world culture. \u00a0Thomas Aquinas, Ibn Sina, Albertus Magnus, al-Farabi . . . \u00a0No Latter-day Saint has yet managed to enter that pantheon, even today. \u00a0Nor even close.<\/p>\n The audacity of Latter-day Saint claims seemed breathtaking.<\/p>\n And yet . . . \u00a0And yet . . . \u00a0It occurred to me almost immediately that my feelings at that moment must not be altogether different from those that an early Christian might have held at roughly the dawn of the third century. \u00a0In 200 AD, Michelangelo, Dante, Augustine, Milton, Handel, Kierkegaard, and the host of other great Christian thinkers, composers, writers, and artists yet to come were still far, and sometimes\u00a0very<\/em> far, in the future \u2014 and, in a sense, essentially inconceivable.<\/p>\n The mood passed quickly. \u00a0But I\u2019ve never forgotten it. \u00a0However, I don\u2019t worry about the issue much. \u00a0Have we climbed to the summit of world culture and science yet? \u00a0Probably not. \u00a0But good things will come, in their time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own,\u201d predicted the future apostle Orson F. Whitney in June 1888. \u00a0\u201cGod\u2019s ammunition is not exhausted. His brightest spirits are held in reserve for the latter times. In God\u2019s name and by his help we will build up a literature whose top shall touch heaven, though its foundations may now be low in earth. Let the smile of derision wreathe the face of scorn; let the frown of hatred darken the brow of bigotry. Small things are the seeds of great things, and, like the acorn that brings forth the oak, or the snowflake that forms the avalanche, God\u2019s kingdom will grow, and on wings of light and power soar to the summit of its destiny.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I was reminded of that experience with Father Anawati again yesterday, as I watched the dramatic spectacle of the announcement of a new pope. \u00a0More than 100,000 people were gathered in Gian Lorenzo Bernini\u2019s grand Piazza San Pietro, along with cameramen and commentators from CNN and the BBC and a host of other worldwide media, as the new pontiff appeared, flanked by scarlet-clad cardinals, on the central loggia<\/em> of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica. \u00a0I have no idea how many scores of millions of people watched the events unfold live or have watched them repeated since then during the hours of commentary that have followed.<\/p>\n \u201c\u201cNobody does drama like the one holy Catholic and apostolic church,\u201d said Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan of New York, reflecting on the \u201celectricity\u201d in St. Peter\u2019s Square when Pope Leo was announced as the new leader.\u201d (CNN<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Nothing remotely like this occurs with the apostolic succession of a new president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. \u00a0That act occurs with little drama or suspense and away from the gaze of the world \u2014 which pays very little attention, anyway. And yet . . . \u00a0And yet . . .<\/p>\n I\u2019m guessing that Peter and Paul received relatively little notice from the general public in Rome, especially compared to the Emperor Nero, their contemporary \u2014 to whom, let it be clear, except in terms of prominence, I am not<\/em> comparing Leo XIV or any of the other popes of my lifetime. \u00a0And yet, regarded both historically and sub specie aeternitatis<\/em>, Peter and Paul were the most consequential men in Rome in the year AD 64.<\/p>\n Incidentally, I note this: \u00a0\u201cChurch of Jesus Christ leaders offer \u2018heartfelt prayers and greetings\u2019 to Pope Leo XIV: The First Presidency responds to this \u2018significant moment in time for the Catholic Church\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\n
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