{"id":113828,"date":"2025-11-30T00:41:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T07:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=113828"},"modified":"2025-11-30T00:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T07:41:08","slug":"a-tribute-to-a-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/11\/a-tribute-to-a-friend.html","title":{"rendered":"A Tribute to a Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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\"Part<\/a>
An aerial view of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, in Washington DC. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was pleased to be able to participate on Saturday evening in an Interpreter Foundation event, a program followed by a light dinner that was jointly organized by the Foundation and by his children, in celebration of my former teacher and longtime friend and colleague Noel Reynolds. \u00a0The occasion was the presentation to Noel of a festschrift \u2014 a volume of essays by friends and associates, in his honor. \u00a0It was a very pleasant evening, attended by a good number of people (in some cases of people that I haven\u2019t seen for too long a time). \u00a0The only blemish on the evening was the absence of an actual final copy of the festschrift: \u00a0The recent government shutdown made it impossible for us to secure a Library of Congress Control Number of LCCN in time to have the festschrift ready for presentation today\u2019s event, which we had already scheduled so that friends and family could attend. \u00a0The finished festschrift will be ready shortly. \u00a0For now, we presented Noel with a spiral-bound copy of the final copyedited and typeset version.<\/p>\n

I append below the remarks that I gave at the beginning of the evening:<\/p>\n

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Noel Reynolds has led a consequential life.\u00a0 He has made a difference.\u00a0 In many areas.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an honor to pay some small measure of tribute to him.\u00a0 I\u2019m pleased to represent the Interpreter Foundation today, to welcome you to this event, and much more<\/em> pleased that the Foundation was able to support the production of a festschrift in his honor.<\/p>\n

I begin with Noel\u2019s most fundamentally important area of consequence, as a Patriarch:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Noel and Sydney are the parents of a remarkable family of eleven children.\u00a0 In itself, that is a major contribution that will, obviously, resound for generations to come. \u00a0By definition.<\/p>\n

He has provided important leadership in the Church:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

After serving his youthful mission in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay, Noel married Sydney and, thereafter, they have been equally yoked.\u00a0 For five years, she was a member of the Primary General Board of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>.\u00a0 And then she served as a member of the Church\u2019s Primary General Presidency from 1999 to 2005.<\/p>\n

Noel has served as a bishop and stake president.\u00a0 With Sydney at his side, he presided over the Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission, and then, with her as temple matron, as\u00a0president\u00a0of the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple.<\/p>\n

He has been of consequence as an Academic Administrator:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

After finishing graduate studies at Harvard University, Noel taught on the faculty of Brigham Young University from 1971 to 2011, taking breaks to serve as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the University of Edinburgh, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. \u00a0(I remember well his unique office in the bomb shelter of BYU\u2019s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, which is located on Mount Scopus, directly adjacent to the Hebrew University\u2019s main campus. \u00a0I thought that, if we were hit in a surprise attack, he might be the only survivor.)<\/p>\n

Noel chaired the Department of Philosophy at BYU before joining the Department of Political Science.\u00a0 Eventually, he served as an associate academic vice president at BYU.<\/p>\n

And, while he has spent a considerable amount of time as both a Church leader and a University officer, he has nonetheless managed to make significant contributions as an Academic and a Scholar:<\/strong><\/p>\n

His scholarly interests and publications cover an exceptionally wide range, from political and legal philosophy (his professional focus), and ancient Greek philosophy, through the American Founding, authorship studies, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and ancient studies more generally, to what we once innocently called \u201cMormon studies.\u201d\u00a0 (I\u2019m still searching for a manageable replacement name for that area of academic work.)<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll cite just four examples of his broad range of interests:<\/p>\n